Introduction: More often than we’d like, we find ourselves reading, or hearing about, a scandal. We hear that some congressman, or pastor, has run off with someone else’s wife. Or we read that some financier has been caught embezzling funds. Or we learn that someone on the PTO has said such and such to so and so about you know who! A scandal is something disgraceful or offensive. I think we’d all agree that each of the examples just cited qualify.

 

But how many of you consider Jesus to be a scandal? Hard as it may be to imagine, Jesus was considered by many in his day to be scandalous. In fact, if you like a good scandal, Jesus may be for you! Notice the astounding movement in our text for today from Jesus teaching in the synagogues and everyone praising him (v. 15), to all the people in the synagogue in Nazareth becoming furious with him (v. 28). In other words, people may have been impressed with what he said, but not all were persuaded. Some, in fact, were downright offended. What did he say that caused such a scandal? Why does he remain so scandalous today?

 

I. The Ministry Begins

            A. Beginning in 4:14, Luke moves into the third major section of his gospel. The first section detailed the infancy narratives surrounding the birth of Jesus. The second section set the stage for his ministry, beginning with the preparatory ministry of his relative, John the Baptist, and then continuing on with the preparation of Jesus himself that we saw take place at both his baptism and in his confrontation with the devil in the desert. Now, Luke begins to outline for us the actual activity of Jesus’ ministry, focusing on both what he says and what he does.

 

Illustration: In tomorrow morning’s newspaper, you will no doubt find a full account of this evening’s Super Bowl contest. Most likely, the article will not begin with a play-by-play description of the action. Instead, a few summary paragraphs will be offered in order to detail the essence of the game, and then the specific action will be discussed.

 

B. Like a good reporter, Luke begins with this summary statement of Jesus’ ministry: Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him (vv. 14-15). Through this summary, we learn that Jesus is still led by the Spirit – he is still living out of the relational love and power of the trinity – and, he has been drawing attention to himself through his frequent teaching in the synagogues. As a result, there was a growing popular interest, curiosity, and even excitement, as his ministry began.

 

II. In the Synagogue

            A. What was the excitement all about? Luke gives us a snapshot as he takes us to the synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus’ hometown. A synagogue for a first century Jew was kind of like a congregational church for twentieth century New Englanders – there was one on the main street of every town. It was the place where weekly worship and instruction was held. A typical, Sabbath day service would begin with a call to worship, followed by several prayers. These would be followed by two readings – one from the Pentateuch and one from the Prophets. After the reading, a teaching time or sermon took place. Worship concluded with a benediction.

 

            B. The synagogue had no professional clergy, so any distinguished person could be invited to read and comment on the text, much like Tony Campolo did here a couple of months ago. This became the practice of Jesus as he traveled from town to town. The scroll that was given to him at this particular time contained the words of the prophet Isaiah. Jesus turned to chapter 61, and read content that any devout Jew would have linked to the end-time deliverance by God of his people. A rescuer would come and save God’s people from foreign rulers and armies. The poor, the blind, the oppressed, both literally and symbolically, all would find release. After reading this, the congregation waited anxiously for an explanation. This was big stuff. All eyes were fastened on him. Jesus began in this way: “Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” In other words, “God’s rescue operation will come through me, and it has already begun in me. 

 

            C. Presumably, Jesus had more to say that Luke did not record. But whatever he said must have impressed the people, for Luke does say that all spoke well of him and that they were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. However, they also couldn’t believe that this was Joseph’s son, the carpenter’s kid. Now maybe they were impressed with how far he had come. But it’s just as likely that they knew his roots and therefore assumed he could not be anything special, especially the one through whom God’s rescue of the world was to come. As Matthew and Mark record this event, we read that the folks in Jesus’ hometown, who knew his heritage, actually took offense at him; they were scandalized, the Greek word being skandalizo (Ma. 13:53-58).

 

            D. If they were scandalized by who he was claiming to be, the words that Jesus speaks next actually heighten the scandal. In the days of the great prophets, Jesus reminds his listeners, Elijah was sent to help a widow, but she was not a Jew; she was a Gentile, even though there were many hungry widows in Israel. And Elisha, well he healed one leper, but that leper was the commander of an enemy army, even though there were many with leprosy in Israel. And there’s something else. In his reading from Isaiah 61, Jesus stopped just short of reading the line that said: “the day of vengeance of our God” (61:2b). Which means that he left out the judgment part of the end-time message, the judgment of Israel’s enemies, in order to emphasize that now was the time of grace and mercy, now was the time of the “Lord’s favor.” Couple this emphasis with the statements that God was interested in extending his love to the widow in Sidon and commander in Syria, and it put the congregation right over the edge. The scandal was complete: God was rescuing the wrong people! It’s what scandalized Jonah, who ran the other way when he learned that God wanted him to bring the offer of grace to the people of Nineveh.  

 

Jesus sermon in the synagogue was so scandalous because it revealed that God’s purpose was to reveal his grace to all people. Jesus hadn’t come to liberate Israel from her pagan enemies; he had come to liberate all who were poor and blind and oppressed, which included those enemies. Jesus hadn’t come to inflict punishment on the nations, but to bring God’s love and mercy to them. It was a shocking and offensive message to many who heard it. They wanted to put Jesus to death; eventually, they did.

 

III. The Scandal of Particularity  

            A. This message was, and remains, shocking. It is sometimes known by the phrase, “the scandal of particularity.” It runs something like this: “You mean to tell me that God entered human history, in the form of one particular human being, Jesus? That’s scandalous. You mean to tell me that this particular man is the rescuer of all men and women, if they but confess their sin and put their trust in him? That’s very scandalous. You mean to tell me that this rescue operation is put into effect through his particular death on a cross? That’s incredibly scandalous! You mean to tell me that this particular mercy of God extends, because of what Jesus did, to Muslims and gays and republicans and democrats and blacks and whites and folks from New York and even New Jersey? That’s outrageously scandalous!”

 

B. On the cross, we meet this scandal face to face. The claim that God is to be encountered, and salvation found, in a crucified man – one who has been stripped of all status and honor, one who has been dehumanized to the lowest of the low – this is the scandal to which Jesus was ultimately pointing on that fateful day in the synagogue in Nazareth. If we insist on seeing God as the one who serves just our own needs and just our own kinds of people, we will never really see him. But if we can see him as the one who humbled himself, who counted himself nothing, who took on the very nature of a servant, and who became obedient unto death, then we will begin to see that through this particular individual, Jesus, God offers his scandalous love to all.    

 

In what theologian Richard Bauckham calls the “redemptive contradiction of our values,” God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, the weak to shame the strong, and the lowly and despised to bring down what the world considers important (cf. 1 Cor. 1:26-29). Most scandals are disgraceful and offensive. The scandal of Jesus is beautiful and merciful. May God give us eyes to see, as we approach his table.