Intro
What would you rather experience on Sunday, an astounding miracle, a strong
stirring of the emotions, or hearing the Word of God? Oh, that’s a loaded
question, isn’t it? Lutherans know how they should answer. But you also know
what everyone would say, if not aloud, then in the secrecy of their hearts.
But seriously, what would you rather come to church for? A miracle, a miracle
that would solve your most-perplexing problem? A stirring, emotional high to
make you feel better? Or would you prefer to listen to a man read from the
Bible and then explain what it means and how it applies? Hmm, hearing the
Bible--boring! Experiencing a miracle or an emotional high--that’s exciting
and thrilling!
Main Body
Today, our Scripture readings are all about preaching and hearing, the Word of
God in motion and in action. In our Gospel reading, Jesus the local boy, now
well-known, comes back to His hometown. The local boy, now a celebrity, stands
up to read in His hometown synagogue.
Jesus took the scroll of Isaiah from the attendant and He found the exact place
He was looking for: Chapter 61. He read: “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me,
because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent Me
to announce release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to set
the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
And then Jesus rolled up the scroll. That was all he read. Then He gave it
back to the attendant, and sat down to preach. Silence was in the synagogue
and all eyes were on Jesus. Every ear was open, waiting to hear what He was
going to say. And this is what He said: “Today, in your hearing, this
Scripture has been fulfilled.”
“That’s all? Who does this guy think He is? I remember Him when He was
growing up. Yeah, He was always a good kid. But He’s Joseph’s son. He grew
up around the corner. He played with the other kids? Who does this arrogant,
skinny man think He is? Messiah? God? How can He apply the words of the
prophet Isaiah to Himself?”
“Talk is cheap. Prove it, Jesus. If you’re a doctor, heal yourself. You
claim to fulfill the words of the prophet Isaiah; so prove it! Do what we
heard you did in Capernaum. Flex a little messianic muscle for us. Give us a
miracle or two, because it’s easier to say something than to do it. After all,
talk is cheap.”
And what did Jesus do? Nothing. Oh, He could have done miracles aplenty. He
could have silenced them in a split second, with one little act of divine
power. In just one little God-filled act, He could have done something
spectacular, like changing 150 gallons of water into wine, as He did at Cana.
But in Nazareth, Jesus doesn’t lift a finger. He could have had the whole
congregation cheering the hometown hero with one exciting miracle of divine
power. So why does Jesus leave them with nothing but the Word?
Why? Because we need nothing but the Word. Having the Word, we have all that
we need. But the folks of Nazareth saw Him only as “Joseph’s son,” not the
Messiah. They wanted something more.
Jesus didn’t give them what they wanted to hear. So their reaction wasn’t
surprising, is it? “When they heard this,” writes St. Luke, “everyone in the
synagogue was enraged. They got up, drove Jesus out of the town, and took Him
to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, intending to hurl Him over
the cliff.”
What about us? Let’s be honest. God opens His hand of blessing and showers
down blessing on top of blessing, and He says, “Trust me.” And we say, “Lord,
I trust you.” And then He closes His hand of blessing, as He closed it on
faithful Job, and the blessings dry up, and we hit a drought, and God says,
“Trust me.”
What then do we say? What then do we do? We say, “Where are you, God? If
you’re real, do something?” “If you do this, then I’ll go back to church.”
Do you think Jesus is trying to tell us something through not only His words,
but also His deeds? When you have the Word, you have everything. When you
hear the words of Holy Scripture read to you and preached to you, you have
everything. When you can hear the words of forgiveness spoken to you in the
thick of your sinfulness, you have everything. When you can hear the words of
Jesus giving you His Body and Blood to eat and drink, you have everything.
It’s when Jesus gives You His Word, Himself, that He blesses you the most.
It’s when Jesus gives You His Word, Himself, that you are the most privileged
and honored of all people in the world. We should all be willing to give up
ten-thousand awe-inspiring miracles for a simple word of forgiveness in the
Name of Jesus.
You can survive a drought of miracles. But you can’t survive a drought of
God’s Word. You can live forever if God never heals you of anything (although
He does all the time), but you can’t survive a moment without His Word. Faith
doesn’t come by flash and sizzle, but by hearing the Word of Christ. God
doesn’t wash away your sins through hype and hoopla, but through the baptismal
washing of water and the Word.
You have the Word. You have the Word in greater measure than ever before in
the history of God’s people. You have inexpensive Bibles in your own language,
with 50 translations to choose from. You have preaching, teaching, and the
Sacraments always available. But you come to Church only when you feel like
it. And you rarely bother to come to Sunday School.
If we’re Christians, why is it that many of us only come to Church once in a
while? We should be flocking in droves to hear the Word of Christ, to receive
His gifts of salvation. But the devil, the world, and our lazy sinful flesh
war against this, and all too often, we give in. Repent! Pray that God never
sends a drought of the Word, for it may soon be coming, we who have been
lukewarm followers of Christ.
Do you realize that Christ’s mission of delivering the Word that pointed to Him
is also the Church’s mission? Christ’s mission is the Church’s mission. The
two are inseparable. For we are His bride, and we are to do as He bids us to
do. We, too, are to deliver the Word that points to Christ.
But individually and collectively we’d rather have flash and sizzle, excitement
and thrills. We are more like the unbelieving Jews in Jesus’ day than the
transformed people of Christ, whom Christ has called us to be. We don’t want
to hear stuff like, “Today, in your hearing, this Scripture has been
fulfilled.” That’s boring.
Stuff like, “Today, in your hearing, this Scripture has been fulfilled,” means
that we are to preach Christ and Him crucified, as the Apostle Paul told the
Church to do. It’s having the Lord’s Supper often and celebrating it in a way
that shows that it is the new covenant that Christ instituted for His people,
not something optional we do when we feel like it. It to delight in the words
of forgiveness we speak to one another, each in our vocations where God has
placed us.
But when it comes to God, we often delight in the shifting sands of our
emotions instead of the solid rock of the Word. When we do that, we look to
ourselves--and we take our eyes off Christ, the founder and finisher of our
faith. When we take our eyes off Christ, we then chase after what we want
instead of what our Lord wants to give.
When we look to ourselves instead of Christ, we then decide if a worship
service was good if it makes us feel good. But what often makes us feel good
is not what God wants to give us. It’s not how you feel; it’s if you’ve
received what God wants to give you. It you don’t get what God wants to give
you, nothing else matters.
And what does God want to give you? He wants you to hear a sermon that
preaches Christ for your salvation. For that’s what Scripture tells pastors to
preach. He wants you to receive Jesus in His body and blood for the
forgiveness of your sins. He wants you to hear the absolving Word of Christ.
He wants the Church to sings hymns and songs that teach and correct us, that
point us away from ourselves to Christ.
Why does this even matter? Because nothing is more relevant than Christ’s
saving Word! That’s why worship for the last 2,000 years has looked the way it
has. That’s why for the last 2,000 years, the preached Word and the Lord’s
Supper have always been the main events of the Divine Service.
Through water, through preaching, through the bread and wine, through these,
Christ is present, even now. And what Christ gives us is always enough. It is
the wicked and adulterous generation that seeks for a sign, for something else
instead of what God wants to give. You know worship is good when you get what
Jesus wants to give you--salvation and the forgiveness of sins. If you get
that, you’ve had a good worship experience, even if you found it to be boring,
even if your sinful flesh despised it.
When we chase after what Christ doesn’t say He will give us, we lose the
Messiah, just as the Jews did some 2,000 years ago. Only when we delight in
knowing that the Word is enough, that the Word is all we need, only then we can
rejoice in Jesus’ words: “Today, in your hearing, this Scripture has been
fulfilled.”
Conclusion
Today, all that Jesus fulfilled in His perfect life, His innocent death, His
glorious resurrection, all that Jesus did is given to you. What Christ did is
fulfilled in ears full of His Word. Miracles, flash, emotions, and sizzle are
nothing more than experiences that will wash away in the end. But the Word of
the Lord remains forever.
In the Word of God, your sins are forgiven by Jesus’ blood. Jesus, the Word,
frees you from the commandments’ condemnation. He frees you from the power of
death. He rescues you from Satan’s oppression and enslavement. Yes, you, a
sinner, are holy and righteous before a holy and righteous God--all because of
Christ, all because “in your hearing, this Scripture has been fulfilled.” Amen.
--
Rich Futrell, Pastor
Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, Kimberling City, MO
Where we are to receive and confess the faith of the Church (in and with the
Augsburg Confession): The faith once delivered to the saints, the faith of
Christ Jesus, His Word of the Gospel, His full forgiveness of sins, His flesh
and blood given and poured out for us, and His gracious gift of life for body,
soul, and spirit.
___________________________________________________________________________
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