Rejection

Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJ

February 3, 2013

Year C: The Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Psalm 71:1-6

(1 Corinthians 13:1-13)

Luke 4:21-30

Rejection

            So, what do you think: was that the worst homecoming ever, or what?           

            There’s a lot going on in today’s gospel lesson – Luke has arranged the story to make some important points about Jesus and Jesus’ ministry.

            In this homecoming story, Luke wants us to get that Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit – that Jesus has been anointed by God as messiah –– and that the good news of Jesus will take root among the gentiles.

            But, at its heart, this worst homecoming ever is a story of rejection.

            Jesus is rejected - rejected by the people of his hometown – rejected by the relatives and neighbors who had probably known him his whole life.

            It must have been very painful.

            But, you know, thinking about and reflecting on Jesus’ terrible homecoming has made me feel closer to him.

            After all, we’ve all had hard experiences. If there’s one thing I’ve learned as a priest it’s that people – most of us - all of us – carry around a lot of baggage: pain, fear, resentment, regret.

            And one of the hardest experiences, one of the heaviest pieces of baggage, is rejection.

            Oddly enough, it’s often hard for us to remember exactly what joy feels like, but we sure can remember that sinking feeling - that drop of the stomach - that burning in our face – the drying up of our mouth - when we’ve faced rejection.

            Our youth may be may only be a vague memory but I bet a lot of us remember working up the courage to ask someone we liked out on a date only to be told, uh, no thanks. (Not something I experienced myself, but I’ve heard about it from others…)

            Rejection.

            During our senior year in high school, we may have gotten a pile of college acceptance letters but it’s the discouragingly thin envelopes signaling rejection that we remember so clearly.

            Rejection.

            So many people across the country and here in our own community have endured the pain of losing a job or being rejected for a job we really want - or rejected for a job really need.

            Rejection.

            Yes, one of life’s hardest experiences, one of the heaviest pieces of baggage, is rejection.

            But, maybe we can learn something about facing and responding to rejection in this sad story of Jesus in his hometown synagogue.

            So, let’s back up a little and put this passage into some context. Luke tells us that, after forty days in the wilderness successfully resisting Satan, Jesus begins his work.

            Luke writes, “Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread throughout all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.”

            So, Luke tells us, Jesus has resisted Satan and then has begun to make a name for himself in Galilee. So far, so good.

            And then Jesus returns to Nazareth for the worst homecoming ever.

            As we heard in church last week, Jesus went to the synagogue on the Sabbath, “as was his custom.”

            In the synagogue, Jesus read from the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah.

            “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.”           

            At this point we pick up with what I just read today.

            Jesus finishes reading from Isaiah and then Jesus says, “Today this prophecy has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

            Jesus boldly claims that he’s been anointed by God to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to captives and sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

            Some in the hometown crowd are impressed by this local boy made good. But they’re also surprised. They ask, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”

            And then, things get both confusing and ugly.

            Things get confusing because Luke has left out a key piece of information. This homecoming seems to be going pretty well, so why does Jesus think the people of Nazareth might say to him, “Doctor, cure yourself”? Doesn’t make sense. Well, we know from the other gospels that the people in Nazareth didn’t believe in Jesus. And, we’re told, because of their unbelief, Jesus was not able to perform the powerful works of healing in Nazareth that he had done in places like Capernaum.

            And then, according to Luke, Jesus reminds the hometown crowd of two stories from the Jewish scriptures – stories of the prophets Elijah and Elisha – stories of prophets who took God’s love to the non-Jews, who took God’s favor to the gentiles.

            Jesus suggests that by rejecting him the hometown crowd is missing the boat.

            And they don’t like that one bit.

            In Nazareth Jesus experienced rejection – rejection of the most painful kind – rejection by the people who’ve known him his whole life.

            Of course, this wasn’t the last time Jesus would face rejection – and it probably wasn’t the first, either.

            I wonder, what was it like for Jesus to grow up in a small town like Nazareth? Although it was near a major trading route, Nazareth was so small and insignificant it’s never once mentioned in the Old Testament. How did growing up in little Nazareth shape Jesus’ later life and ministry?

            The gospels give us only one story of Jesus’ youth – the story Luke tells of Jesus staying behind at the Jerusalem Temple while everybody else headed back home to Nazareth. You remember - Mary and Joseph were frantic until they found him in the Temple. But, Jesus doesn’t understand their anxiety. He asks them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 

            Not an ordinary kid.

            And we know from the gospels that Jesus’ family didn’t support his ministry – in fact they were embarrassed by it and feared for Jesus’ sanity and safety.

            All of this tells me that Jesus didn’t have an easy time of it growing up.

            In fact, I suspect that growing up, Jesus was an outcast – ridiculed, whispered about, excluded, and betrayed.

            Like us, Jesus had to deal with life’s hardness – especially the pain of rejection. Jesus probably faced rejection growing up and we know for sure faced rejection as an adult.

            And, like us, Jesus had a choice about how to respond to these painful experiences. Rejection can consume us with anger and resentment. But rejection can also ignite in us compassion for others, especially those who have been hurt or broken by the world.

            So, I believe it’s partly because of the pain of rejection that Jesus is willing and able to do the divine work of reaching out to the despised, the unloved, the people the world treats as disposable.

            I believe it’s partly because of the pain of rejection that Jesus is ultimately willing and able to give away his life for the whole world, but most especially for the outcasts.

            So, yes, in today’s gospel lesson, Luke wants us to get that Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit – that Jesus has been anointed by God as messiah – and that the good news of Jesus will take root among among the gentiles.

            But, at its heart, this homecoming story is a story of rejection.

            Or, rather, it’s a story of how Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, responded to rejection – and how we, also filled with the Holy Spirit, can respond to rejection.

            We know that Jesus’ rejection in Nazareth is just a foreshadowing of a much worse rejection on the cross.

            Yet, despite the rejections and pain of his life, Jesus never stopped reaching out to the outcasts, the poor, the captives, the blind and the oppressed – never stopped reaching out to everyone.

            Jesus never stopped reaching out – even when “he stretched out his arms of love on the hard wood of the Cross.”

            But we know the story didn’t end on the cross – Jesus’ story and our story doesn’t end with rejection and death but with forgiveness and resurrection.

            Life is hard, but with God’s help, our rejections – our painful experiences –- can ignite compassion – compassion for all the people around us who carry heavy baggage – compassion for the people on line in the soup kitchen and the food pantry – compassion for the people sitting among us right now.

            Life is hard, but, with God’s help, our rejections – our painful experiences - can ignite compassion for our suffering sisters and brothers all around us.

            May it be so.

            Amen.