1 February 2004 St. Athanasius Lutheran Church
Epiphany 4 Vienna, VA
Jesu
Juva
“Disappointed?”
Text: Luke 4:21-32
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and
from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen.
The Super Bowl starts in (check watch) just about an
hour now. As usual, there’s been a lot
of build up for this game. We expect it
to be the best game of the year, between the two best teams. But we’re often disappointed. It is often quite less than we had hoped it would
be.
But there’s also another competition that’s about to
start, in just about an hour now, and that’s the competition for the best Super
Bowl commercial. Maybe this competition
has become what it is because the games have been so disappointing. This year, 30 seconds of commercial time cost
somewhere between 2.3 to 2.4 million dollars!
But here too, we’re often disappointed.
The commercials don’t live up to the hype. They are less than we had hoped they would
be.
Maybe next year.
But we’ll wake up tomorrow morning and go back to
work, back to school, back to our normal routines, and quickly forget about it
all. And that’s good. . . .
But what if you couldn’t? What if
the disappointment was in your life?
What if you were disappointed in God?
What if things were just turning out quite less than you hoped they
would?
There are a lot of people there, in that
situation. Many Christians. Disappointed.
Thinking that life should be better.
God should be taking better care of me.
Why believe in God if He’s not going to help me?
That’s what happened that day in Nazareth, as we heard
in the Holy Gospel. The folks in Jesus’
hometown had heard about all the things that He had been doing. Healing folks. Driving out demons. Changing water into wine. And now He was coming home, so there was a
lot of excitement, a lot of hype.
Jesus as usual goes to Church, to the synagogue. He reads the Scriptures and comments on
them. He reads from the prophet Isaiah: “The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news
to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim
liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty
those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” And He announces, “Today this Scripture
has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
He is the One of whom these words speak.
He is the One who will do these things.
He is the One.
And it’s the time right before kickoff! Excitement is the highest. He’s here, He said these kinds of things were
going to happen, this is one of our own, Joseph’s son – surely He will bestow
even more favors, more miracles, more blessings upon us than He did in
Capernaum!
And then Jesus says no. “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is
acceptable in his hometown.”
Look at the great prophets Elijah and Elisha. To whom were they sent? No, they didn’t just hit the miracle
lottery. That’s not how it works.
Well the disappointment of the people quickly turns
into wrath, into anger. A riot breaks
out and they try to throw Jesus off a cliff.
That’ll at least make them feel a little bit better! If the game’s not good, at least the
commercials will be! But they’re
disappointed again. The show was not to
be. Jesus “passes through their
midst” and goes away.
Disappointment.
Many people today throw Jesus out of their lives because He isn’t doing
what they think He should be doing. We
do it too. God, why did you put me in
this situation? God, why did you take my
spouse? God, why is my family falling
apart? God, why did I get this
disease? God, why do unbelievers and
scoundrels have a better and easier life than me? God, why aren’t you helping? I’ve been baptized! I’m one of your own! Isn’t it supposed to be better than
this? . . . Where’s a good cliff when you need one?
But notice what Jesus doesn’t do. What He doesn’t do in response to this
rejection, in response to this violence directed against Him. He doesn’t lash back, and berate the
people for their unrealistic expectations of Him. He doesn’t call down legions of angels
to protect Him. He doesn’t drive them
off that cliff, like what happened with a herd of pigs once; which is what they
probably deserved. He could have done
all of that. Be He didn’t. . . .
Instead, He simply walked away.
And I love how the bulletin cover pictures that! He just walks away. Alone.
Calmly. Quietly. Not because He wanted to leave them, but to
continue His work. To continue
teaching. For He had a job to do. A task.
To lay down His life for these very people. To lay down His life – not off a cliff, but
on a cross. To bear the punishment for
their sins, for their anger, for their murderous intent against Him, and for a
whole host of other sins. So that they
could be forgiven. That they would
believe – not in His miracles – but in His sacrifice.
Disappointment comes when we do not receive what we
expect. Or what we think we
deserve. Whether its disappointment in the
Super Bowl, or commercials, or the Christmas gifts we receive; or
disappointment in our families, in our friends, or in our lives; or
disappointment with God – it all comes for the same reason. We did not receive what we expected, or what
we think we deserved. But maybe the
problem is not with everyone else letting me down. Maybe the problem is in me. Maybe its not everyone else – including God –
who needs to change. Maybe its me
who needs to change.
That’s not easy to admit. That’s why saying “I’m sorry” is sometimes so
hard. That’s why repenting is sometimes
so hard. Throwing others off the cliff
is so much easier!
But what do we deserve from God? We said it again this evening. “I deserve your punishment now and
forever.” Are we disappointed we are
not receiving what we deserve? Or
perhaps you think you are! Perhaps that
is why your life is going as it is, for if anyone has a right to be
disappointed, its God! . . . Yet Jesus does not throw us off the
cliff like pigs. He instead went quietly
and purposefully and intentionally to the cross. He said, “Father, throw me off the
cliff instead. Throw me to the
serpent. Punish me instead of
them. Father, forgive them.”
And so in Christ we are not given what we deserve, but
what we do not deserve. Instead of
punishment, forgiveness. Instead of
anger, grace. Instead of abandonment,
love.
Now, life is still going to happen! You’re still going to have ups and
downs. You’re still going to have fights
and arguments. You’re still going to have
struggles and pains and disappointments.
But when you get to the edge of the cliff, when you’re life seems to be
on the edge, you have a Saviour who will not let you go. A Saviour who laid down His life for you, and
who rose from the dead for you, and ascended for you, not to leave you and walk
away from you and leave you on your own, but so He could say to you, “Lo,
I am with you always.” And truly
He is. Not so that you might win the
“miracle lottery,” but so that you might have a Saviour. Not that you believe because of the miracles,
but that you believe in His life and sacrifice for you.
And you’ll receive blessings too – make no mistake
about that! They will just perhaps be
different than you expect. “When I
was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a
child. When I became a man, I gave up
childish ways. For now we see in a
mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now
I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”
And you are fully known by God – more fully than you
know yourself. And He loves you
anyway! With the love that we heard
about from First Corinthians. That
chapter isn’t so much about us – its about Him.
His love for you. Love that is
patient and kind; that doesn’t envy or boast; that isn’t arrogant or rude; that
bears with you; that delivered up His own body to the flames for you; that puts
His body and blood here on the altar for you; that continues to give to you and
forgive you; that will never end. . .
. There may be a whole lot of things
that we want in this life, and even expect or think we deserve. But there is a more excellent way. Not of the cliff, but of the cross.
Somebody, in about 3 or 4 hours from now, is going to
walk off the football field in Houston with the Super Bowl trophy, champions
for a few months, until it all starts over again next year. Our Saviour fought on the field of battle on
Calvary and rose from the dead with the crown of life that will never fade
away. That crown that He gives to you. There is no next year. No Roman Numerals to keep track of. There is only one battle, and it has been
won. On the third day, and on the last
day, we will not be disappointed.
In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of
the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.