Wednesday, September 17, 2014

3rd Commandment and Luke 4



Attending a conference on youth ministry some years ago, the speaker addressed the thought some express regarding worship. Why do I need to worship in church when I can find God in the woods? True, we can find God in the woods, but the deeper question for those who say that they prefer finding Him there is, “Do you worship Him there once a week?” The unspoken answer is unfortunately, “No.”
In America, fewer people are attending church and more are embracing atheism, agnosticism or nothing at all. While the Explanation of Luther’s Small Catechism states that God has not specified any particular day, it does remind us that He requires Christians to worship together. The church worships together on Sunday because Christ rose from the dead on Sunday.[i]
In today’s Gospel, Jesus embraces the bosom of Judaism. By his faithfulness, Jesus affirms the Sabbath, the Scriptures and the synagogue.[ii] He not only attends synagogue services regularly, but also participates by reading the Scriptures and commenting on them.
The synagogue was not only an assembly for worship, but also a school, community center and a place for administering justice. Here, Jesus felt at home with relatives and friends, but he is unwelcome quickly as wonder turns to wrath.
Without retelling the story, we must ask what infuriated the mob to reject Jesus. In presenting two well-known passages from 1st and 2nd Kings, Jesus reminded His hearers that in spite of the pressing needs in Israel, God directed the prophets to nourish and cure Gentiles.
Prior to his arrival in Nazareth, Jesus was in Capernaum. To us, it seems like no big deal, but to the good people of Nazareth, it was. They viewed the people of Capernaum with disdain because of the number of Gentiles living there. And the good people of Nazareth assumed the privileges God worked through Jesus – signs and miracles – should be reserved to themselves. That is what infuriated the mob.
Jesus went to the Gentiles not because He was rejected by the Jews. Jesus was rejected because He had gone to the Gentiles. Jesus spoke the truth in love and the good people of Nazareth welcomed it like a stick in the eye.
Jesus, a Jew and the son of Joseph, transcended their limited view of God’s grace, power and mercy, and they did not like being reminded of that by some clever guy who could cite how God actually works in the world.
What does all this have to do with The Third Commandment and us? We need God’s grace, power and mercy. We receive it when we gather here for worship. We simply open ourselves to God’s invitation and we carry His grace, power and mercy into a world that badly needs it.
Some people will eagerly welcome us because we carry God’s Word to them. Others will welcome it like a stick in the eye. It is not that we try to give offense. Rather, some prefer Satan, sin and self to the Gospel.
This evening, take time to reflect on how our presence in the world transcends how people identify us. Do people see us as men and women of the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church or the grace, power and mercy of God working through us? Do we prefer it when people speak well of us and marvel at the gracious words that come from our mouths or do we prefer being driven out of town?
Let us pray that when rejected like our Lord for the sake of the Gospel we may count on His protection. May we keep the Lord’s Day holy by holding His Word sacred, gladly hear it and learn it by heart. And when we do, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.


[i] Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House (2006), 67ff.
[ii] Fred Craddock, Luke. Louisville: John Knox Press (2009), 61.

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