The day they tried to kill the preacher
Mission Festival sermon for St. Paul, Slinger, WI
Luke 4:16-30 16He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. As was his custom, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. 17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: 18The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, 19and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. 20He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21He began to tell them, “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 22They all spoke well of him and were impressed by the words of grace that came from his mouth. And they kept saying, “Isn't this Joseph's son?” 23He told them, “Certainly you will quote this proverb to me, ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ Do here in your hometown everything we heard you did in Capernaum.” 24And he said, “Amen I tell you: No prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25But truly I tell you: There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut for three years and six months, while a great famine came over all the land. 26Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow of Zarephath, in Sidon. 27And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was healed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28All those who were in the synagogue were filled with rage when they heard these things. 29They got up and drove him out of the town. They led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30But he passed through the middle of them and went on his way.
Jesus quoted Isaiah: The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the afflicted (Isaiah 61:1). Amen.
I don’t know if any of you have done any kind of mission work. But mission work is filled with rejection. I have canvassed thousands of homes and had plenty of doors slammed in my face. Three decades ago, when I was a pastor of a mission church, I did phone canvassing. I’ve had plenty of conversations cut off by having the phone slammed down. (That was back with the old phones where people felt satisfaction from physically slamming down the receiver. It’s not quite the same feeling with a cell phone just pressing “end call.”)
Once in my mission congregation in Radcliff, KY, we had first-time visitors hear our announcement about closed communion. They stormed out of the sanctuary into our fellowship area and started cussing. The worshipers in the sanctuary could hear a string of four-letter words that were not appropriate for anywhere – especially a church.
When we are doing mission work for Christ, for his church here at St. Paul, or starting new mission churches in the Wisconsin Synod, we should expect rejection. People don’t want to confess their sins. They want their lifestyle choices accepted and affirmed. They don’t believe in sin, so they have no need for a Savior. There is no threat of hell, so there is no purpose for going to heaven. They make themselves gods, so they don’t want the true Lord God.
Be prepared for experiencing rejection when you are doing mission work. We hear in the Gospel today how Jesus experienced rejection in his hometown of Nazareth. This was the day they tried to kill the preacher.
Jesus had come home. The Nazarenes had heard about all the great miracles Jesus had been doing in the surrounding country and how he was preaching with authority. They filled up the synagogue on the Sabbath. During the Divine Service the hometown boy read from Isaiah 61. A big time Messianic prophecy! It’s where God promises to send a Savior. He would be the anointed Messianic preacher bringing spiritual healing for the brokenhearted, freedom for those in spiritual captivity, and spiritual sight for the spiritually blind.
At first the people were impressed. They liked what he had to say. But then Jesus preached some specific, brutal, attention-getting Law. He talked about how they and their ancestors had always been stubborn in their unbelief, deafness, and blindness. Jesus pointed out that because of their hard-hearted unbelief, God took his grace and miracles to the Gentiles – Elijah gave unending flour and oil to the widow in Zarephath and Elisha cured Naaman the Syrian of his leprosy.
The Nazarenes had heard how Jesus had been healing folks, driving out demons, and changing water into wine. That’s what they wanted. They wanted Jesus to be a nice guy. Compliment them. Praise them. Wow them with free things. Instead, they heard stinging words of rebuke. They heard specific Law … and it hurt. They didn’t like his message. Everything went downhill fast. In fact, that’s what the crowd wanted to do – throw Jesus down a hill … fast. That was the day they wanted to kill the preacher.
During last year’s spring break, four of our Water of Life high school seniors and three adults went on a mission trip to Hood River, Oregon. The week before we arrived, the pastor and the people of the church placed flyers on one thousand homes to let them know we would be coming on certain dates to collect food for the local food pantry.
We asked those who answered the door, “What do you think people want to see and hear in a church?” One lady answered that question, “I want Jesus to be like me. A Jesus who smokes weed.”
We invite people to get to know the real Jesus, but their hearts are stubborn and resistant, feeling no need to repent, and no hunger or thirst for God’s Word. They don’t think they need salvation, and they certainly don’t need conversion. They want a Jesus like them or who accepts them without making a change in their hearts and lives.
If you do door canvassing in Slinger, you’ll have people hide from you, yell at you, sick their dogs on you, or slam the door in your face. But thank the Lord that you and Pastor Golisch won’t ever have to experience phone canvassing. There is nothing more soul-sucking than phone canvassing.
You’ll invite friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers to worship with you. Many will flat-out say no. Others might come for a while and then abruptly stop. You’ll meet lots of people who only want a quick and convenient faith. They don’t want to be involved in your church with a commitment of membership and a consistency of confessional Lutheranism. They don’t want the heat of challenges, the persistence of doctrines, or the pain of persecution that comes with Christianity. They will be acting naturally … just like those Nazarenes.
But notice what Jesus did not do that day in his hometown. In response to their rejection and violence, Jesus does not lash out; he does not berate the people; he doesn’t call down a legion of angels to drive the people off the cliff. He could have done that. He had the divine right to do that. But he doesn’t. Instead, he simply walked away. Calmly. Quietly. Not because he wanted to leave them, but to continue his work. To continue teaching. For he had a job to do.
It wasn’t time for him to die yet. That would come three years later – not on a hill outside of Nazareth, but on a skull-shaped hill outside of Jerusalem. Not by falling off a cliff, but by being raised up on a cross. To lay down his life for these very people. To bear the punishment for their sins, for their anger, for their rejection, for their murderous intent against him, and for a whole host of other sins. So that they could be forgiven. That they could believe – not in his miracles – but in his sacrifice.
That is what Jesus always does. Jesus gives the opposite of what we deserve. Instead of punishment he gives peace. Instead of anger he gives grace. Instead of abandonment he gives love. Instead of throwing us off the cliff, he went quietly and purposefully and intentionally to the cross. He said, “Father, throw me off the cliff. Throw me to the serpent. Punish me instead of them. Father, forgive them.”
This is the message we need to hear and believe. This is the message we need to preach and promote. You’ve been blessed to do that here in Slinger for 152 years. Our Wisconsin Synod has been blessed to do that for 175 years throughout the United States and around the world. God wants his kingdom to continue to expand through more mission work.
The Wisconsin Synod has created a goal of starting 100 new home mission churches over 10 years. That’s 10 new dots on the map throughout North America each year from 2023 to 2033. During the same time, we want to fund 75 enhancement grants to help existing congregations who wish to start a new outreach effort to reach more souls.
But more outreach often means more rejection. More new churches may mean that some older churches might close. More pastors taking calls to churches with growing communities may mean it’s harder for churches with diminishing communities to attract pastors. These are difficult issues. They take time and discussion. They take prayer and trust in the Lord of the Church that he’ll lead our pastors, churches, and church body to make the right decisions with difficult circumstances.
Let’s be honest. We want ease, not difficulty. We want comfort, not the cross. We want predictability. But instead of predictability, we have something better – we have God’s promise: “Just as the rain and the snow come down from the sky and do not return there unless they first water the earth, make it give birth, and cause it to sprout, so that it gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater, in the same way my word that goes out from my mouth will not return to me empty. Rather, it will accomplish whatever I please, and it will succeed in the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11). God’s Word works. It will either be rejected or accepted. It will either harden or convert. It will either create enemies or create saints.
Jesus was rejected by those who were closest and most familiar with him. Rather than considering this rejection to be failure and then adjusting his message, Jesus calls attention to the fact that this is how it had always been and would always go. Old Testament prophets like Elijah and Elisha were similarly rejected within Israel’s borders. As a result, their message and miracles were given to outsiders. In the same way, Jesus’ rejection in his own hometown served as the impetus for taking his message and miracles elsewhere.
Just as they did in Nazareth, Jesus’ words will always offend. The people in our mission fields will not want to be confronted with their sins and their need for a Savior. Those who believe that all religions are the same won’t like the message that salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone. People will think it’s silly to believe that some drops of water save, or that some bread and wine is Christ’s body and blood, or some words from an old book can really bring comfort and consolation to twenty-first century problems. The people in America are no different than the people in Nazareth. They will all try to kill the preacher.
The words of Jesus will always offend. Just like the unwelcome diagnosis from the doctor is offensive. Just like the life-saving treatment with painful side effects is offensive. But what causes Jesus’ words to hurt is also what give them the power to heal. What Jesus preaches will often be a bitter pill to swallow, but it is exactly the pill our Good Physician knows we need. They may try to kill the preacher, but they can’t stop him. Jesus will continue to preach, continue to teach, continue to baptize, commune, comfort, heal, and save.
Don’t ever let rejection get you down. Jesus often turns rejection into reception. That’s what happened with Staci and Justin and their family. When Stacie and Justin were young adults, they rejected their WELS church and became involved in paganism … even Satanism. Later they found the Church of Latter Day Saints. Well, Latter Day Saints found them by knocking on their door.
Friends and family kept encouraging Justin and Stacie to check out our church in Racine. Last year, they enrolled their three children in our Lutheran elementary school. Justin and Stacie took adult
instruction classes with me and became members. I baptized their three children that same day. And now Stacie is pursuing becoming a WELS teacher.
Keep on inviting your friends and family to church with you. Keep on inviting them to make use of your preschool and childcare. Support the ministry of your church and church body with increased offerings and intensified prayers. Support the aggressive 100 in 10 outreach mission plan of our Wisconsin Synod. Jesus did not let rejection stop him. Don’t let rejection stop you. People may try to kill the preacher. But that preacher is their Great Physician of body and soul. Lord willing, through your efforts and Christ’s grace, he will change their rejection into reception. Amen.
Jesus quoted Isaiah: He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release for those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance for our God (Isaiah 61:1-2). Amen.