Luke 4:21-31

21 Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, "Is not this Joseph's son?" 23 He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!' And you will say, 'Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.'" 24 And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. 25 But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." 28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

I am fundamentally opposed to sports analogies when we are talking about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I can see it now. Everything was building up for the return of Jesus to his hometown Nazareth for the kickoff of his ministry. John the Baptist had been telling everybody that he was on the way. The story of a voice breaking forth from the heavens proclaiming that Jesus was the beloved Son of God had made it from village to village like a Holy Spirit inspired wave at the Superdome. Driven out into the desert to face the devil’s temptations Jesus probably felt a lot like Garrett Hartley when Minnesota called a time-out to ice him before the game winning kick. With the victory over the devil’s temptations Jesus was finally ready for the big game and the start of his ministry.

Perhaps it is best not to start a sermon while watching the NFC championship game. While I am sure that there are some who think that this is the best beginning to any sermon I have ever preached – I see Amanda and Glen are enjoying it – I don’t think it captures the essence of today’s reading for most of us…especially us Falcon fans.

For me the second song in the rock musical Jesus Christ Superstar really captures what was happening. So let’s listen to how Andrew Lloyd Webber’s lyrics capture the buzz around Jesus. Listen to what Jesus has to say about the buzz.

(Video Clip JCSS)

Word had been spreading, there definitely was a buzz surrounding Jesus. Fantastic tales of Jesus’ baptism, his mysterious disappearance into the desert, and his sudden reappearance in Galilee, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and the amazing things that he was saying. He was teaching in the synagogues and the people responded by glorifying him.

By the time that Jesus made it back to his hometown of Nazareth the word was out, the buzz was buzzing, and everybody was gathered to hear the good news that he had been saving just for them.

And in the middle of the synagogue he opened the book of the prophet Isaiah and read to the crowds:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."

And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.
Everybody was hanging on his every word; everybody was waiting to hear what he would say next.
Then he said to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Jesus’ first word to us that isn’t scripture is the word today.[1] Today the prophecy, the hope of Israel, the revelation of the anointed one, the Christ, Today all of these things are fulfilled. The time has come for the people of God, those held in captivity will be freed from their oppressors, the poor will get their fair share of the resources, today the blind will see and the deaf will hear.

And this is the good news, the contagious laughter and joy, the buzz about Jesus Christ. That today, in our hearing, the scripture has been fulfilled.
Christ’s the living word of God is speaking to us still, freeing us still, opening our eyes and our ears still. God’s word isn’t just for some future time but it is for us right now.

So what is the buzz that I am hearing.
CTS just finished a three day seminar on the Emergent Church Movement.
But there is a buzz about the use of the everyday, more and more common ways in which we use technology in worship and how this is speaking to a new generation.
During the seminar people were Tweeting and twirping on their phones, sending text messages.
I confess I don’t get it. But the gospel isn’t just for me and isn’t just delivered the way that I want to hear it.
Ken Birmingham’s relative


Jesus is buzzing in the Hispanic community.
For the last 20 years I have been working closely with an underground population, when Atlanta was booming and the construction and manufacturing industries couldn’t get enough labor, our government turned a blind eye to the immigration policies, but today things are different:
Unemployment at 20% or higher.
Roadblocks for driving without a drivers license - $800 to get out of jail
The laws that make it a felony to drive without a license/the fact that they can’t get a license.
Poverty, desperation, isolation, fear.
And yet when you talk to the residents very often the conversation turns to Jesus, and how their hope and strength lies in Jesus. And I am reminded again that in Jesus the unbearable is made bearable, that in Jesus they are able to face the challenges of the day. The buzz is literally on the streets.



These are the very people that Emma Lazarus wrote about with these famous words that sit at the base of the Statue of Liberty:

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

At our best we believe this, we realize that this is the ideal way of living. And yet sometimes we are like the people of Nazareth, the good news is meant for us, not them, especially in difficult times like today. Think about how Judas is portrayed in the scene we just watched, he challenges Christ by saying that his message is not for somebody like Mary.

Lately I have been dealing with anxiety about what the future holds for me. As I seek to be ordained, in a process that has taken over five years, and I hear about the limited opportunities available, especially in Atlanta, and as I wait out my mandatory year of candidacy, having completed my ordination exams and all other requirements needed for ordination, and as I face an unsure job market while at the same time dealing with the stresses of running a business during very difficult times both for me and my residents; where I am equally anxietous about what the future might hold. And in the midst of it all I have the image of hippie Jesus from Jesus Christ Superstar echoing the words of Luke.
Don't you mind about the future?Don't you try to think ahead?Save tomorrow for tomorrow;Think about today instead.

Because today is the day that I can live into God’s promise. In fact today is the day that I am living into God’s promise, because despite all my planning and anxiety about what will happen when I am ordained and working in a church, today, this day, I am sharing with you my thoughts and reflections on the text. Hopefully the Holy Spirit is working in you opening your eyes, your ears, and your heart, and healing you, strengthening you, and bringing you to wholeness and holiness. Hopefully in my sharing you hear God speaking to you in a new way.

You see the good news isn’t just for the people who are easily identifiable as poor and oppressed, but it is for all of us, and it isn’t for some future escatological time.

Christ is speaking to us today and in our hearing, the scripture has been fulfilled. Signs of fulfillment are everywhere: in the prayers for those who are sick, in the love poured into casserole dishes and prayer shawls, in our love that extends beyond the walls of the church at Clifton Night Shelter and Norcross Cooperative Ministries where the homeless and hungry are fed and housed. The words of the prophets are that were written on the tenement walls are now being re-written on tweets and blogs,

There is still a buzz about Jesus, thanks be to God.
[1] Craddock, Fred Luke:Interpretation (John Knox Press:Louisville, 1990) 63