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.
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