Jim Kelly the quarterback of that team said that all of the adversity he faced prepared him to fight and win a battle with cancer. The head coach of the team, Marv Levy, urged his players onward using the vigor of Sir Winston Churchill who never, never, ever gave up and the anonymous poem featuring Sir Andrew Barton who urged “Fight on my men/A little I’m hurt but not yet slain/I’ll just lie down and bleed a while/And then I’ll rise and Fight again.” And perhaps most inspiring was the story of Scott Norwood the kicker. Norwood missed the game winning field goal in the 1991 Super Bowl, but faced the music answering press questions for 30 solid minutes after the game. When he returned to Buffalo the crowd hailed him by shouting, “We want Scott! We want Scott!” Overwhelmed with emotion the kicker prophetically promised to make it back to the big game the next year. If only Jesus had been born in Buffalo and not Bethlehem of Nazareth, maybe then his own people would have accepted him.
In the midst of the fourth chapter of Luke’s gospel account Jesus makes his way back to his hometown of Nazareth. As was his custom, he went to the synagogue to participate in the Sabbath. He was given a scroll to read and was handed the whole text from Isaiah. Rapidly he turned to the following portion:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because he has anointed me
To bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To let the oppressed go free,
To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
Jesus topped off this reading by saying, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Amazingly at first, all the religious leaders were amazed.The synagogue leaders thought of Jesus’ words as being gracious. They perhaps felt some warm and fuzzy feelings hearing what he said. Maybe they even went so far as to believe that they were going to bring the good news, release to captives, sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed, and all that comes with the Lord’s favor. And then, Jesus pokes at their amazement with these words coming from “Joseph’s son.”
The fervor with which Jesus unleashed his questions to the synagogue crowd presents difficult questions. If he was building a solid relationship with those people from his home town why would he push them in this way? For what reason would he bring up a proverb about a doctor curing himself if he had not yet faced overwhelming persecution? And, what is the point of talking about those whom Elijah and Elisha did not heal? The crowd does not just react to what Jesus said, but instead responded with homicidal intent. This overreaction speaks to why Jesus did what he did.
When Jesus spoke to the crowd those religious leaders created expectations with the passage from Isaiah. The people wanted not just to be a part of the year of the Lord’s favor, but they wanted it to happen exactly how they had envisioned it. They wanted to be the ones in power. They wanted to overthrow the Roman authorities. They thought they were the ones who were poor and would be raised by God. Mistakenly they thought that God’s favor only applied to them.
If Jesus were born in Buffalo, Burbank, or even Birmingham we might expect that he would be welcomed more fully than he was in Nazareth. Perhaps the crowd might shout, “We want Jesus! We want Jesus!” even in the face of not doing what we might want. However, we will continue to miss the Good News of Christ’s redemption if we believe that Jesus just came to show us the way. Jesus came to free everyone from believing that it is my way or the highway. It is time to accept the Truth that all are created, loved, and sustained by God.
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