The Inaugural Sermon of Jesus

January 27. 2013
Third Sunday after Epiphany

Luke 4:14-21
Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’” 24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

Last week in America, Barack Obama was inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States. This has been in the news recently, and it will help us to understand today’s Gospel lesson.

Jesus is also starting the work of his public ministry. His inauguration ceremony was his Baptism in the Jordan River. His oath of office was taken in the wilderness when he was tempted by the devil and Jesus proclaimed, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve” (Luke 4:9). He had been preaching in synagogues in many towns in the province of Galilee. When Jesus came to Nazareth, his home town, he gave a sermon that summed up his agenda of Salvation.

President Obama gave a speech at his inauguration. He spoke about his hopes for America. He called upon people to be faithful to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. He talked about freedom and justice and equality.

Jesus, too, talked about freedom and justice and equality. This is what the Prophet Isaiah had proclaimed. Luke 4:18-19.

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

This is the mission work of Jesus. His death on the cross forgave the sins of slavery and injustice and inequality. The Gospel does not set new standards for society; rather the Gospel gives the power to do what the Law had always demanded.

To believe in the Gospel means to put it to work in your life. To believe something means that you live according to that ideal. For example, if you think a bridge is sturdy and strong, then you go across it. If a child thinks that Daddy will catch them, then they will jump into his arms. That is what belief is. If you believe in the rule of law, then you keep the law. If you believe the words of a T.V. commercial, then you buy the product. If you believe in freedom, then you live freely and help others to be free also. If you believe in the Gospel, then you live in the power of that Gospel. The Gospel is the Good News of God’s love and forgiveness in Jesus Christ. When you believe in the Gospel, you make that love and forgiveness a part of your life, it becomes the way you live. The Gospel becomes the power to love and forgive.

There were people who voted against Barack Obama. There are those who lament his taking office and fear they will lose things they hold precious. On the other hand there are those who rejoice in his taking office and hope to be able to keep what they hold precious. Either way, we need to pray for him and for the United States because his is not the Kingdom of God.

There were those also who opposed Jesus. They feared for those things they held precious. They feared that they would lose control of the Nation of Israel. But Jesus did not make the Nation of Israel the same as the Kingdom of God. It was different, much bigger. The true reign of God is the whole world. Jesus said, "My Kingdom is not of this world." It makes you wonder about what the kingdom of God really is. Hasn’t God been ruling the earth since creation? Has God been gone all that time? But hasn’t it been rather, that people have not accepted the rule of God in their lives? People have rejected their creator. They have rejected the true King of this world and have followed other things that rule their lives. Things other than the Lord God which rule the lives of people are called “idols.” There are idols of metal and stone. There are idols of money and power and pleasure. There are idols that are dynamic people who control the lives of the people who believe in them and follow them. There are idols of ideas and philosophies. And then there is the idol of your own self, when we feel that we are the center of the universe and want everything to be as we want it to be. All these idols and all of these kingdoms really have only one king, the devil. Satan’s kingdom is called Hell.

Jesus proclaimed freedom and justice and equality. That is to say, he proclaimed freedom from Hell. He proclaimed the freedom from sin. He proclaimed what his cross would bring us.

In this freedom of the Gospel, our job today as the Church and as individual Christians is to proclaim the same message as Jesus did. We too proclaim freedom and justice and equality. We proclaim it in word and in deed. Our inauguration was at our baptisms. We follow our eternal leader and Savior, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church


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