1 Corinthians 13:1-13

If I speak in the tongues of humans and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions and if I hand over my body so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophecy only in part, but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see only a reflection, as in a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.

Luke 4:21-30

Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months and there was a severe famine over all the land, yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many with a skin disease in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

In the Midst of the Struggle, We Find Peace

            The main point here is that God’s grace comes to us in the midst of our difficulties. Even at our lowest moments, God’s grace, God’s salvation is there.

            This week we continue reading from Luke chapter 4, and we recall from last week that Jesus walked back home to Nazareth to begin his teaching ministry. Standing in the synagogue, Jesus read from Isaiah, and this was the beginning of his preaching career.

Is not this Joseph’s son?

            So after reading Isaiah, Jesus sat down and said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” This is how he launches his first sermon, and initially, it’s well received. His approval rating is high. At first… But then, the grumbling begins. “Is not this Joseph’s son?” they say. There is a sense of condescending familiarity. “We knew him when he was a boy. He is one of us. He belongs to us. And so, we deserve some special treatment. We want some extra favors. After all, he is Joseph’s son, and we remember when he was just a kid.

            But Jesus understands people, and he has already anticipated this response. He’s ready for their heckling and badgering. So he says to them, “No prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown.” And at this point, he refers to two stories from ancient scripture. Our reading this morning has two embedded stories, two stories within a story.

            So Jesus refers to these stories, his audience gets the message, and they are not happy. As an angry mob, they run Jesus out of town and attempt to throw him off a cliff, but he escapes. “He passed through the midst of them and went on his way.”

Jews and Gentiles

            What made the people so angry? To answer this, we need to understand the division between Jews and Gentiles. For Jews at this time, Gentiles were unclean and ungodly people. Generally speaking, the ancient Jewish community considered themselves set apart, chosen by God. They felt that they enjoyed a privileged relationship with God. But Jesus arrives in Nazareth preaching from a wider perspective, and this upsets the Nazarenes. Let’s take a look at the two stories, and it will become clear. As longtime Bible readers, I’m sure you are familiar with these stories.

The two stories.

            The first story is about Elijah and the widow of Zarephath in Sidon. We read this story last November, (1 Kings 17) and you may recall that Elijah saves the widow and her son from starvation. What is key here, is that God specifically sent Elijah to Sidon, in Phoenicia, which is modern day Lebanon. For Elijah, and for Jesus, this is Gentile territory, not a place where a Jewish person would go. So in referring to this story, Jesus makes a strong statement about God’s grace. God’s grace is not only for the Jews, but rather, God’s grace is offered to all of humanity, and that includes people who are “not like us.”

            The second story is about Elisha and Naaman the Syrian. As you know, Naaman was a powerful military man who suffered from a skin disease. Naaman hears about the prophet Elisha and goes to him to be healed. Elisha tells Naaman to wash seven times in the Jordan River.

            Again, here is a story from ancient scripture (2 Kings 5). Jesus is in the synagogue, teaching the people using their own stories, their own sacred literature. And again, the key here is that Naaman is a Gentile. The God of Israel is helping a Gentile. So this is Jesus restating his point: God’s grace is offered to all of humanity, and that includes people who are “not like us.”

            The Nazarenes did not appreciate Jesus teaching them about God’s universal and unconditional love. They were offended by the idea that God might love the Gentiles. And so they ran Jesus out of town.

            This story presents some obvious lessons for us; first, we are reminded how quickly opinions can change, and secondly, we are reminded that God’s love and grace are offered to all people. And then, there is another point, found in the last line: “He passed through the midst of them and went on his way.”

In the midst of the struggle.

            Jesus stepped into the angry crowd, right into the midst of the problem he faced. Sometimes we live with a false idea about the future, a false hope about the future, thinking there will someday be a time when our problems disappear and we finally find peace. I call it: “if only” thinking. We say to ourselves things like: “If only I had the perfect house…or, if only I had the perfect partner… If only I had five million dollars. Or perhaps it’s about someone else: If only my son or my daughter would get their life together, if only they would do what I know is best for them, stop drinking, manage their money, get cleaned up. If only (fill in the blank), then, everything will be ok and I will finally find peace, sometime in the future.

            But we know, don’t we, that things don’t really work like this. This idea about the future is false. There will never be a time when there are no problems, when everything is perfect, allowing us to finally find peace. The invitation here is for us to consider that peace is found in the midst of the struggle, right in the middle of our problems.

            Often it is precisely because of a crisis, through a crisis, through our difficulties, that we find salvation. I once heard a preacher say, “Preaching to people is mostly a waste of time, unless you’re preaching to someone with a cancer diagnosis.” Suffering forces us to look for answers. Suffering teaches us how to love and forgive, so that we are not merely a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. Suffering teaches us endurance, so that we may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. And so, our salvation, our peace, our grace, is to be found, not somewhere in the future, but right here, in the midst of the struggle.

            Jesus walked into the midst of the angry mob and then went on his way. He was bringing God’s grace, the gospel message, to the people. And yet, he constantly faced problems. His ministry was one crisis after another. So, too, for us, there will never be a time without problems. But our salvation is to be found precisely here, in the midst of our problems. Precisely in the midst of our struggle. Right here and now.

            May we have the courage to face our problems, to seek God’s grace right in the midst of our suffering, and to continue on our way. Amen? Amen.