Churches planning for growth and transformation often write a mission statement – something short and sweet to capture the church's values; words against which every idea and program are tested before plunging ahead.  The words of Jesus' proclamation "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me... etc." are Jesus' mission statement.

            Jesus is a golden boy in Luke's telling.  He was born in humble circumstances but brought up by exemplary, righteous Jewish parents.  Luke has stated several times how Jesus continues to grow in wisdom and divine favor.  Jesus is filled with spirit power after successfully outwitting the deceiver who tested his mettle in the wilderness.  Glowing reports of his teaching and preaching spread like wildfire through Galilee.  Naturally, the home folks are tickled pink to have him grace their synagogue.  So, Luke brings Jesus home to kick off his ministry and mission, like a political candidate today might launch his campaign at the old home place to show his humble roots and strong support for godly values.

            The scripture reading he picked for his inaugural sermon was terrific, filled with history and promise.   Their ears perked up as the words from Isaiah rolled out – "good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind."  And summing it all up - "The year of the Lord's favor" - every Jew in Nazareth caught his drift.  It refers to the Jubilee year unrolling like a red carpet right up to their doorstep.  However, we need some explanation of the Jubilee that is supposed to turn society upside down every 50 years.   You recall the first creation story in Genesis – 6 "days" of work creating, followed by the 7^th day of Sabbath rest.  God rested, so human beings are to rest, even slaves and animals rest weekly.  Then, the book of Leviticus describes the sabbatical year, counting 6 years of work followed by a 7^th year of rest – fields were to lie fallow, slaves released, and debts erased.  Then also in Leviticus – 7 times this 7 year cycle completed the calculation that climaxed with the 50^th Jubilee year.  Not only were slaves released and debts erased but lands were to be returned to their original stewards, so that anyone who had lost their holdings through debt or drought would be restored as a trustee of God's estate.  These are mighty tall expectations Jesus is raising, to ring in a Jubilee year, which would not be well received by rich Jewish landowners or their Roman patrons.

The people were amazed; murmurs of disbelief and excitement ripple through the congregation.  Their hometown boy - "This IS Joseph's son, isn't it?"  Of course, and Joseph and Mary brought him up decent, he will know his duty to the hometown folks.  All these wonderful things are going to start right here in Nazareth.  God has finally remembered us poor little folk - Can you believe it?  Herod's glitzy temple in Jerusalem is not the center of the universe, and neither is that cesspool of pagan living right down the highway Sepphoris, where all our boys and men go to break their backs building for Rome.  We've got Jesus and naturally, he will start with us, his own kin. God knows there is plenty to do here.  Today, he said.

"If any city needed some good preaching, it was Nazareth.  If anyone could turn the city around, it was Jesus.  He knew of all the troubles in the city.  There were heathens all around.  Phoenicians lived to the west and north, Samaritans to the south, Greeks to the west in the new city of Sepphoris.  They were far away from the good influence of Jerusalem, surrounded by unholy influences.  It was hard to be a good, pious Jew in the city of Nazareth."[1]  But now that Jesus was back, roaring in like a first-century Superman, maybe he could save their city, make it a decent place to live and raise families.

If only Jesus had quit while he was ahead, for good pastors know that most of the time "less is more" in the words department.  The people didn't want words anyway, they wanted action, they wanted Jesus to start making good on some of those promises for release from burdens and healing diseases, paying back his loyal relatives for their investment in him as a youth.  They wanted Jesus to stick around and be their pastor, to take care of them.

Instead, Jesus continued to be a prophet, and prophets are prone to speaking unpopular truths, in this case, the announcement that God's grace is extended to all the wrong people.  At best, real prophets are ignored and ridiculed; at worst they are notoriously ill-treated by their listeners, like Jeremiah who ended up at the bottom of a well.  So, God's messenger Jesus spoiled the whole atmosphere and where all had been filled with amazement and pride, they become filled with rage as he provoked and refused to fill their expectations.

Jesus could have reassured them with stories of Jacob and David, when the Israelite underdog is handed victory by God.  Jesus had the gall to throw other Scripture into their faces.  Don't you just hate when that happens?  He summarized stories of two beloved prophets, Elijah and Elisha helping a pagan widow and a foreign king – it's right there in the Bible – 1 and 2 Kings.  So, the muttering turns from amazement to anger, louder and louder – "Did you hear that?" 'He's saying that God likes Gentiles better than Jews.  How dare he imply that to we the faithful, the pious?' 'Blasphemy!' And the penalty for blasphemy – death.  No wonder they tried to throw him off a cliff.  What the deceiver had been unsuccessful in goading Jesus into – jumping from the pinnacle, the angry crowd sought to carry out.

            Conditions are not too different today and we Christians do a lot of complaining about Christianity being pushed aside, along with a heavy dose of nostalgia for some imagined good old days when good people were rewarded for their piety and faith.  We find pagan influences on all sides of us, that is, "pagan" in the sense that every human being tends toward idol worship.  Any magazine rack reveals the idols that preoccupy us on their covers – pursuit of sexiness and beauty, male studs pumping iron, flashy cars, the easiest strategies on becoming rich.  Front page news story tell of yet another murder, or murder-suicide, we see the idol of twisted, jealous love that kills the beloved in order to possess him or her completely.

Jesus' hometown crowd hears his tactless reminder that God does not necessarily act the way we want God to act.  We believe that God is gracious, but often we are most interested in God's grace for ourselves, in keeping Jesus for ourselves.  Yet we are called upon to acknowledge that grace is extended to all, those outside our church doors, those outside our faith, those who are outside our boundaries of acceptability.  The choir's anthem celebrates how "Jesus lifted me;" in light of scripture, perhaps we should sing out "Jesus lifted you, or us or all sinners"