Our offensive Savior

Mark 6:1 Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. ² When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. "Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What's this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! ³ Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. ⁴ Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor." ⁵ He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. ⁶ And he was amazed at their lack of faith. Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village.

A few years ago, in my previous congregation in our little storefront church, we had a first-time visitor join us for worship on a communion Sunday. It was a young soldier, his wife and children and his dad. Everything was going fine in the worship service until we reached the communion liturgy. The soldier had read ahead in the bulletin and saw the announcement about closed communion and how we invite only those who are united in faith in the WELS to take communion with us. To say that he didn’t like that very much might be a bit of an understatement.

He got up and stormed out of the church into an adjoining room of the sanctuary (much like our Friendship Room). His dad followed him. While the service was still going on, you could hear the soldier ranting to his dad, “Who do they think they are?! Why can’t I take communion here?!” And he went on complaining loudly, lacing his outburst with expletives – all that could be heard by those still trying to worship in the sanctuary.

Now, that was the reaction of a visitor to a specific portion of God’s Word. But, sadly, I’ve encountered similar reactions to varying portions of God’s Word from church members. When I’ve talked to Shoreland students about why they don’t come regularly to worship, they honestly told me, “We get enough of God’s Word during the week.” I’ve heard similar responses from our WLS parents about why they don’t bring their children for Sunday School. “They’ve heard all those Bible stories before. They’ll be bored.” When I’ve invited members to come to Bible study, I’ve been told, “Pastor, I learned that stuff long ago in Sunday School and Confirmation Class. When I don’t believe it anymore, then I’ll show up.” When I’ve confronted a couple about their sin of living together instead of being married, they decided to find another church that will let them do what they want to do. For years I’ve witnessed a blasé attitude at attending congregational voters meetings, even when we are spending hundreds of thousands of their ministry dollars. They would rather complain after the fact.

Perhaps the most extreme example was how one Sunday, after church, the president of the congregation and I visited a member’s home who had not been in church for a very long time. The man, a big guy, (well, at least bigger than me) came out of the house in his pajamas, stood uncomfortably close to the two of us and proceeded to physically threaten us.

Those are just some of the reactions I’ve witnessed. Not from unbelievers or visitors, but from members of God’s church.

It is definitely sad, but it isn’t surprising. Not after reading each of our Bible lessons this morning. When God chose Ezekiel to be a prophet to Israel, He warned him that the people were very stubborn in their unbelief. When God spoke to Ezekiel, He said, “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their fathers have been in revolt against me to this very day. The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn” (Ezekiel 2:3-4).

And this was from the children of Israel, God’s chosen people! But the confidence Ezekiel had was this: “And whether they listen or fail to listen … they will know that a prophet has been among them” (Ezekiel 2:5).

The apostle Paul was under attack in congregations he had planted. The ears of members were being tickled by false teachers who had integrated themselves into their local congregations and were speaking against Paul in his absence. The words that Paul gave to young Pastor Timothy are definitely still applicable in the 21^st century: “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear” (2 Timothy 4:3). But still, Paul gave this advice: “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-- with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Timothy 4:2)

When I was a child, the people of Nazareth always amazed me. It seemed to me that the people of Nazareth should be proud of Jesus. He raised a girl from the dead. That happened in Capernaum, less than 30 miles from Nazareth. Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine, was less than 6 miles from Nazareth. Jesus taught and healed in the area all around his hometown, and yet, when He was in Nazareth itself, He experienced rejection. In their stubborn arrogance, the Nazarenes refused to learn more about Jesus. They actually took offense at Him. Mark records that Jesus was amazed at their lack of unbelief.

But now as an adult, church members amaze me, too. Who would ever expect members of a congregation to reject the study of God’s Word, to decline the opportunity to worship their Savior or refuse to make regular use of the free forgiveness that is offered in the Sacraments. Yet, it happens! It is our own stupid, stubborn, Christian arrogance. We think we know enough, do enough, believe enough.

You would think that people, whose eternity lies in the hands of Jesus Christ, would appreciate a pastor who wanted them to know about that Savior as much as possible. Nevertheless, pastors hear complaints when he encourages people too hard to actually sit down and open their Bibles and study God’s saving Word.

The first 6 letters of the word “Christian” spell Christ. You would think Christians would want Christ at the center of everything they do. You would think they would want to learn more about their Savior, worship their Savior and recreate and reorder their lives around their Savior. St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “For I resolved to know nothing while I was among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). In spite of this, there are many who call themselves Christians who become very angry when you suggest that Christ be the center of all that we do.

The fact is, we are not very different from the people of Nazareth. They took offense at the Savior who grew up among them. They were too familiar with Him. The gall it must have taken for them to physically reject their Savior God who was visibly teaching them in their own synagogue. Jesus could not do any miracles among them because their unbelief was so great.

How offended are we that we still continue to reject our Savior God who is visibly among us in Word and Sacrament? How often we missing out on God’s miracles of blessing He wishes to shower upon us because our unbelief is greater than our belief? Are we so familiar with Jesus that we don’t want get to know Him any better? What kind of gall does it take to say, “God, I don’t want to learn any more of your Word.” “Lord, I don’t want to change my life to conform to your Laws.” “Heavenly Father, I’ll come whenever I feel like it to worship the almighty God of heaven and earth.” “Holy Spirit, I’ll baptize my kids, just to get my parents off my back.” “Jesus, I know you gave everything for me, yet I need my time and money to take care of my own things.” “Lord, I’ll appreciate you sacrificing your Son on a bloody cross around my work and vacation and sleep schedule.” “God, worshiping and believing you is fine, but when you start making claims on my life, that’s when you’re crossing the line.”

We’re offended?! Do we even hear how ridiculous we sound? We’re offended?! Who are really the offensive ones here? What kind of gall does it take to tell the almighty God, “God, don’t go there! You’re expecting too much. You’re crossing the line. You’re not staying where you belong in my life!”

These are saddening, shocking reactions, but sadly, they aren’t all that surprising.

What is shocking and surprising, though, is the fact that our offensive Savior actually did cross the line. The fact that He was there that day in Nazareth, and the fact that He is here this day, is evidence of the fact that God crossed the line. He crossed the line between God and man and became the God/Man. He crossed the line between perfection and sin and became sin for us. He crossed the line between life and death and the Author of life died our death. God did cross the line that we had crossed – the line of sin and death – to reclaim us as His own. And so He came. He came and claimed our humanity. He came and claimed our sin. He came and claimed our punishment. He came and claimed our death and damnation. He came and claimed it all. That’s the cross! That’s our humanity, our sin, our guilt, our punishment, our death and damnation, our offense. That’s what we deserve. That’s what we’ve earned. That’s the line that we crossed.

But in the person of Jesus Christ, God came and crossed that line for us. And if we say to God, “God, don’t go there” – because we don’t want our sin exposed, because we don’t want to admit our guilt and rebellion, because we just want to feel good about ourselves – then we are really saying that we want to go there by ourselves! But if we go there by ourselves, we will never come back. Our sin, our guilt, our punishment, our offense, our death and damnation will consume us. ... But God came and crossed the line for us, to bring us back. He crossed the line into death so that in His resurrection from death to life, we too could rise again, and be born again to a new life. A new life with our sin and guilt forgiven. A new life with all the punishment against our sin already handed out. A new life with all of our offenses against God forgotten. A new life with our death and damnation defeated. A new life in Christ Jesus where when we hear, read and respond to God’s Word and fill our stomachs with it, it will be like Ezekiel eating the scroll of God’s Word. And it will taste as sweet as honey in our mouths. A new life in the Word where we will be “thoroughly equipped for every good work” and we “will be prepared in season and out of season.” A new life where we will recognize the Savior among us and no longer take offense at His presence in our lives.

The members of Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth took offense at Jesus and rejected Him because they thought the hands of Jesus were carpenter’s hands. We, the members of Jesus’ home at Epiphany, see them as they really are – the hands of God. They thought they were hands that shape wood. We see them as the hands that heal people. They thought it was the mouth of a child they knew growing up who was speaking to them. We know it is the very mouth of the Son of God who called the world into existence, calmed storms and drove out demons. They thought Jesus was an ordinary man from an ordinary family, not some prophet of God. We know that He is the Son of God who has come to make us members of that same family of God, through faith in the prophet who stands among us.

What happened in that synagogue in Nazareth that day is really what takes place here in our church each Sunday. Jesus comes to us, speaks to us, and makes claims – about Himself and on us. We can either be offended, close our ears and minds to it, shut our Bible and walk out of the church … or we can let our offensive Savior cross the line into our lives and make all the changes He wants and we need. Amen.