Hey, it’s me!

Luke 4:14-21

January 21, 2007

Today we will begin a two-part series from the gospel of Luke, centering around Jesus’ return to his home town of Nazareth .

How many of you traveled to be with family over the holidays or during Thanksgiving?

Have any of you ever experienced something like this:

As a young adult, you go to your parent’s, or your older brother’s or sister’s house for a nice holiday gathering and meal; perhaps you haven’t all gotten together for quite some time, and now that you’re out of school and living on your own, you seek the acknowledgement and respect accorded an adult.

Unfortunately, to your relatives—who love you very much—you are still that little boy or girl.  Tales of your success in school or in business are met with the placid little smiles and the comments of “Isn’t that nice” or “That’s so cute” which are usually reserved for the toddler who gets the square peg into the square hole.

So much for your being taken seriously.

As author Thomas Wolfe said, "You can’t go home again," Was he right? And if you could and if you did what would it be like?

Or how about this: you’re having dinner with your family and the conversation after dinner goes into a topic you think you have some knowledge about, and so you begin carefully imparting that knowledge. You think you’re doing quite well and even impressing yourself a bit, until the awkward silence is broken by your five year old daughter who says, “What do YOU know about that stuff?”

Home—those four letters flood some minds with warm thoughts of laughter, family gatherings, Lava Lamps, and homemade dinners by the greatest cook on planet earth!

However, home for some brings harsh memories, fear, and a feeling that is somewhere between hopelessness and regret!

Today we heard about a time in the life of Jesus when he went home to Nazareth , the city of his upbringing.  In Luke’s Gospel we learn that even for the Lord Jesus Christ going home can sometimes be difficult!

We’ll look at the first part of this section today, where Jesus teaches in the synagogues.

Scripture tells us that Jesus went to Galilee , where “news about him spread through the whole countryside.”   He taught in the synagogues there, and everyone praised him. 

And now he was coming to Nazareth , where he had been brought up.  Jesus was coming back to his hometown, where familiar sights and faces greeted him! Yet this wasn’t to be a typical homecoming. 

Jesus comes to the synagogue that he must have frequented in the years he and His parents lived in Nazareth . From what Luke has already told us about our Lord’s discussion with the teachers in Jerusalem at the early age of 12 (Luke 2:41 -51), we must be willing to consider the likelihood that Jesus did the same kind of thing with the Jewish teachers in the synagogue at Nazareth as a young man. Thus, Jesus would have been a very familiar face in that place.

He comes to his home church on the Sabbath, where he begins to read the word of God. As he reads he states that what they’re hearing has come to fruition—in effect the very “Word” of God was standing in front of them!

So what happens?  Do those present bow down and worship him?  Do they praise God for this blessing?  No!  They missed it!

They turned to one another and with faces beaming recalled Jesus in his formative years, when as a boy he would amaze the synagogue teachers and Torah readers with his insight. 
And now, he has returned, and isn’t it nice to see him again, how wonderful to hear him read again, to see him again in the synagogue as was his custom each Sabbath.
Apparently, he got the square peg in the square hole.

The words of Isaiah which Jesus shared were refreshing, as they pointed people to the hope of a messiah who would come and liberate the Jewish people from the tyranny of the Romans.

They said, “Yes! It will be wonderful to be a part of a new political movement, where we will be in charge, led by the promised one!”  But they believed Jesus was speaking of the coming messiah, not himself!
After all, he was…just Jesus.  He was no expert, he was just a carpenter, just Mary’s boy, just a kid from up the street, they know his brothers and sisters.

He was just Jesus.  He couldn’t be referring to himself!
As the saying goes, “Familiarity breeds contempt.”

Jesus was trying to offer them the greatest news they could ever hear, that God loves them more than they can ever know, but because they were too familiar with him, they didn’t hear it.  Is the same true of us?

How do you respond when Jesus tries to speak to you, to bring you good news, to set you free from the addictions and chains that bind you?  To help you to recover your sight so that you can see the goodness that God has in store for you?

Are you so familiar with the Good News of Christ, having listened to the Gospel since you were a little child, that you no longer hear it?

Are we like the people in the synagogue, who listened to Jesus but did not hear him?  Are we distracted by the world and just not paying attention?

Before computers, walkie-talkies, and cell telephones, was the telegraph machine.
The first way to communicate over long distances was a series and sequence of clicks known as Morse Code.

Long ago, a young man answered an ad in the paper for a job as a telegraph operator.  He went to the address in the ad, stepped inside, signed his name at the bottom of a list of other applicants and took his seat.  It was a busy office filled with people and lots of noise.

After a few minutes, the young man stood up, walked through a door into an inner office and closed the door behind him.  The other applicants looked puzzled and thought certainly the young man would be removed from the list for skipping his turn, and they had a good laugh about it.

A few more minutes went by, and then that same door swung open and the young man reappeared with an older, distinguished looking gentleman who announced: “All those interested in the job as telegraph operator, attention please. Thank you for coming in, but the job has been filled. This young man is our new telegraph operator.”

Needless to say the other applicants were not too pleased. One of them stood forward and declared: “That’s not fair!  You haven’t even spoken to us. We were here before this young man and he was waiting for hardly a moment. Why does he get the job?”

The distinguished gentlemen replied kindly, “While you were sitting here waiting, I was repeatedly tapping out a message over the speaker in Morse Code. That message was, ‘If you hear and understand this message, please come into the inner office, the job is yours.’ This young man heard the message—you did not.”

Jesus said, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” (Rev. 3:20)

In other words, he’s saying, “Hey, it’s me!  I have great news for you if you would only listen and take me seriously!”

Listen, and let Jesus speak to your heart.  Let the Word of God into your life in a new and fresh way today, even though you may have heard it a thousand times before, and you want to say, “That’s nice,” or “Isn’t that cute.”

Let Jesus into your life, into your home, to the family table, and receive the blessing, freedom, and peace beyond all human understanding, that comes only from him.

For God loves you more than you can ever know, so much that he gave His only Son, so that all who should believe in him would never die, but have eternal life.