What amazes you? Is it something that is unexpected, overwhelming, or fills you with awe? A strong emotion? A powerful experience? A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that catches you up in the moment? The birth of a child, or a visit to Niagra Falls? A meal that is amazing – that is just prepared so well and tastes so good. An awesome 4th of July fireworks display? The exhilaration of a test drive in a race car at the Texas motor speedway? I suppose we use the word “amazing” in lots of different ways.
Our gospel reading uses the word “amazing” twice, and
there’s two different words behind it in the Greek. But maybe there’s even more that’s amazing
about this story. Let’s take a closer
look as Jesus visits his home town of Nazareth, and is amazing and amazed.
Though born in Bethlehem, Jesus grew up in Nazareth. A town in the northern part of Israel, modern
archaeology suggests that Nazareth was a town that supplied skilled laborers
(or carpenters, like Joseph) to a nearby construction project – the Roman city
of Sepphoris. But Nazareth, it is
believed, was a small town of some 400 people.
Certainly small enough that everyone would have known young Jesus, the
son of Joseph and Mary, known his family, etc.
But Jesus wasn’t like your typical carpenter from
Nazareth. He had left home for a while,
and had gained some measure of popularity through his preaching ministry, after
making a splash in Capernaum, and then all around the Sea of Galilee. And then there were the miracles, not only
the healings, but the exorcisms, the feeding of the 5000, the walking on
water. He had done many mighty works, as
signs confirming his preaching. The
miracles were like bright neon signs flashing and pointing to the preacher, and
to his message. Listen to this guy!
It starts out well enough, with Jesus entering the synagogue
to preach on a Sabbath day. That was his
custom. Whatever his preaching was, it
had an interesting effect on those citizens of Nazareth. They were amazed. Astonished. Shocked.
Maybe it was the content, maybe it was the delivery, maybe
it was both. Or maybe it was just that
fact that this man wasn’t who they expected him to be. Where does he get this wisdom? How does he do these miracles? Their questions start to give us a clue that
their amazement is not appreciative and positive, but rather jealousy,
resentment, and downright unbelief. We
are told, “They took offense at him.”
Not that he did anything to warrant the offense, but that’s how they
took him. They are amazed and astonished
in Jesus, but NOT in a good way.
And we might find it amazing that they reacted this
way. We might expect that the people of
Nazareth, of all people, would accept and receive Jesus eagerly. That they would see him as a hometown hero,
and take pride in his fame and accomplishments.
Even if only on a human level, it does strike us as kind of amazing that
they reacted to Jesus with such animosity.
Luke’s gospel also tells us of a visit Jesus made home to
Nazareth. And scholars disagree as to
whether Luke is telling about the same visit or another occasion, but in any
case, at the end of Luke’s account – the people of Nazareth are so offended by
Jesus that they try to throw him off a cliff!
Now THAT is an amazing reaction to a sermon!
Jesus, for his part, is also amazed. He is amazed at their unbelief. Jesus is only ever recorded as being amazed
by faith, or the lack of it. Of course,
maybe that’s because that’s what Jesus is always looking for – faith. It’s the most important thing to him. He doesn’t care whether it’s a man or woman,
a person of high or low standing, a Jew or a gentile. He desires that all people would have faith,
faith in him as their savior, and be saved.
He was amazed by the faith of the centurion, “even in Israel
I have not found such faith!” But here,
it’s the opposite. Even Jesus is amazed
at their lack of faith. He comments on
it with a little saying, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his
hometown”. A sort of truism that defies
shallow expectations. Sort of like,
“It’s the ones you love that hurt you the most.” or, “keep your friends close
and your enemies closer.” There’s a deep
irony about unbelief. Like sin itself,
it is not what it ought to be.
But from another perspective, what amazes us, spiritually
speaking? It is, perhaps, sometimes the
wrong things. We may be amazed by the
outward, the surface level, the shallow things.
That which glitters and gleams in the eyes of the world. So-and-so is so successful, God has really
blessed him. Oh, look how famous and
well-off they are, they must be really something. What talent!
What skill! What beauty! Amazing!
We see the outliers among us and are attracted to their worldly wonder,
like a shiny object, amazed by all the wrong things. But the Lord does not judge by such outward
things, and perhaps we ought not either.
Why not instead be amazed by the right things? Faith, or the lack of it. Just like Jesus would be. Isn’t it amazing when one sinner comes to
repentance and faith, and the angels in heaven rejoice? Isn’t it amazing that God makes such promises
to us of forgiveness, life, and salvation, and speaks those promises through a
simple man he calls into our midst? Are
you amazed that God himself would come to earth, be born of a woman, be born
under the law, and then fulfill that law perfectly on your behalf? Are you astonished that same God-man would
win your salvation not by conquering might, but by a humble, obedient death,
even death on a cross? Or that the same
savior who gave his body and blood on the cross, now gives his risen body and
blood to you, from the altar, to eat and drink?
These are the amazing things of faith, my friends, but do we
sometimes fail to be amazed as we should?
Do we take them for granted? Do
we forget all his benefits? Does “Jesus
died on the cross for you” become sort of ho-hum, we’ve heard it all
before? And not the life-changing,
eternity-altering great, good news we know it to be?
We sing about this in one of our best-loved hymns, “Amazing
Grace”. It’s true, God’s grace to us in
Christ is amazing. It’s not as we would
expect. How should God treat a wretch
like me, according to my sin? Not with
such undeserved love and mercy, and yet that it what he does in Christ! How can the lost be found? How should someone spiritually blind expect
to see anything of God’s salvation, and yet in that amazing grace he finds us,
and opens our eyes and our hearts, so
that now we see and believe!
And is it amazing that some reject Jesus Christ and his
precious gospel? In a way, yes, and we
can stand alongside Jesus and be astonished at such unbelief. But in another way, we shouldn’t be
surprised. It’s always been this
way. Some believe, and some reject. Some have faith, and others have none. Some receive Christ and his grace, and others
turn away, turn aside, each to his own way.
Some seed falls on bad soil, or amidst the weeds, and some lands in good
soil and produces abundantly. Oh, what of
that, Lord, what of that?
Sometimes a prophet like Ezekiel is sent to a stubborn
people, but whether they hear and believe or do not, they will know there has
been a prophet among them. Such is the
way of the Gospel, and of faith. The
world doesn’t know us, because it doesn’t know him. It hates us, because it first hated him. It shouldn’t surprise us or amaze us, because
no servant is above his master.
Jesus doesn’t force his hometown neighbors to believe. But like all people, his Gospel calls and
invites, encourages and welcomes. If one
hears and believes unto salvation – thanks be to God! And if another rejects faith and Christ and
his Gospel, that is his own choice.
But, dear Christian, never let the amazing grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ fail to amaze you. Receive
him in faith as he comes to your home town this day, in his word, and under
gifts of bread and wine that are his body and blood. Be offended by your own sin, but receive his
wisdom, his healing, and all his good gifts with thanksgiving. For he does his mighty work of forgiveness,
this day, in this place, for you.
Thanks be to God in Jesus Christ our Lord.
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