Last Sunday we read that Jesus is in Nazareth.  Jesus, preaching the good news of God’s redemptive love throughout the territory of Galilee, . . . comes to the town in which He was raised.  And while in Nazareth, Jesus goes to Synagogue on the Sabbath and is invited to read from the Holy Scriptures.  So, Jesus reads from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, . . . Jesus reads,

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.

. . . Jesus reads these words at the Synagogue in Nazareth, . . . and then He tells everyone that in hearing Him read God’s promises to Isaiah . . . the things which God promises have been fulfilled:  . . . that in Jesus God’s good has come upon Nazareth; in Jesus everyone within earshot has been freed from the sins which shackle them to death; in Jesus they receive a glimpse of Heaven and Heaven’s Light; in Jesus they are freed from the tyranny of their disordered affections; . . . they are freed from the oppression of the world, their own flesh, and the devil’s illusions.  . . . And upon hearing those gracious and authoritative words the citizens of Nazareth suddenly clearly understand, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”  . . . The words of Jesus are like an anointing -- like soothing oil upon chafed skin -- . . . and the men of Nazareth have no doubt that there is a prophet seated among them.  And in hearing the Word of God spoken by the Incarnate Word, the men of Nazareth imagine wonderful things!

    Why?  Well, how well do you know Holy Scripture?  Do you remember Nathanael’s words to Philip when that worthy disciple told Nathanael they had found him of whom Moses, the Law, and the Prophets wrote, and that it is Jesus of Nazareth?  . . . Do you remember what Nathanael said?  He said, “Hmph, can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  Do you remember that story?  . . . Well, the point of it is to let us know that Nazareth was, indeed, quite a grubby, drab little town stuck off on the edge of desolation.  It was a town on the way to nowhere; you had to go out of your way in order to pass through it!  . . . And so, of course, Nazareth was a town you had to go out of your way to spend your money in.  . . . But, now, you see, if Nazareth had an honest-to-God prophet who did cures and cast out demons, . . . Well!  Imagine what it would be like!  Nazareth would become a name people respected!  . . . It would be a town people went out of their way to visit!  Indeed, it would be a town people flocked to in order for Jesus to heal them and cleans them.  . . . Nazareth would become a town in which visitors would also need to buy goods and services.  . . . All this is behind the remark the men of Nazareth make when they hear Jesus read from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah and instruct them as to its meaning.  They look at one another and say, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”

    Last Sunday the Old Testament reading was from the Book of Nehemiah where we are told about the utter grief of the Jewish People, returned from exile, when they heard a precise reading and explanation of the Law they had not been keeping.  In response to that grief, however, we hear Ezra exhort the people to rejoice; . . . we hear Ezra call the people away from looking at the cause God has to punish them . . . and we hear Ezra tell the people to, instead, rejoice in the God Who demonstrates His love for them by drawing near to them and showing them the way they must go.  . . . In the Book of Nehemiah we discover that God speaks to us in order to call us to come out of ourselves; . . . God calls us out of ourselves in order that we might participate in His sacred Life.

    And today the Holy Scriptures further teach us that this invitation into God’s sacred life is not an opportunity to make a personal profit.  . . . The invitation into God’s sacred life is not for plotting that our service to God should be for our advantage.  Because when Jesus hears the remark, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” . . . He says,

Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself; what we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here also in your own country.’

“Doubtless you will want me to set up shop here and work wonders.”  Jesus says to His hopeful townsfolk, . . . “But look, fellas,” Jesus says, “I know times are tough, but God doesn’t raise up prophets to fix tough times.  Look at what Holy Scripture teaches us:  there were plenty of starving widows in Israel when God sent Elijah to a foreign country to sustain a foreign widow; and there were plenty of lepers in Israel when God bid Elisha to cure a foreign leper . . . and not a local one.  . . . Think about it, everyone”, Jesus says, . . . “Elijah was sent to the woman of Zarephath in order that the people of Sidon might see God’s power and believe in the One True God . . . and come to life.  Elisha healed Naaman in order that God might be worshipped and adored in Syria; in order that the heathen, sitting in darkness and bound to lies, might come into the Light and the Truth.”

    The reason why Jesus makes that speech in the Synagogue at Nazareth . . . is so that the everyone might understand that the Lord God Almighty has called us out of ourselves and into His sacred Life . . . in order that everyone around us might be edified, as Saint Paul puts it; . . . the Lord God Almighty has called us out of ourselves and into His sacred Life so that everyone around us might encounter, in our actions and in our words; . . . so that everyone around us might encounter the God Who has, as He did with Jeremiah, . . . placed His sacred Word upon our lips and in our lives.  . . . The Lord God Almighty has called us out of ourselves and into His sacred Life in order that all the people of the earth might become sacred; . . . in order that all the people of the earth might be convinced to come out themselves!  And so, Jesus declares that He is not for men’s profit, but that He is for faith . . . so that His people might bring to the faithless . . . repentance, redemption, and joy.

    And so, today (as it does every day);  . . . today, in Jesus, God’s good has come to Morris; in Jesus you are freed from any sins which might be trying to shackle you to death; in Jesus you receive a glimpse of Heaven and Heaven’s Light; in Jesus you are freed from the tyranny of your disordered affections; . . . you are freed from the oppression of the world, your own flesh, and the devil’s illusions.  Now, . . . what are you going to do with this wonderful wholeness and release?  It is the will of God that your freedom bring you to Him.  It is the will of God that, receiving Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, you might go from here to speak with the mind of Jesus; . . . that you might go from here to love with the heart of Jesus; . . . that you might live with the humility of Jesus.  It is the will of the Father that your freedom bring you to Him . . . in order that His mercy and forgiveness and love and grace in the Son be shared among yourselves; . . . in order that they be revealed to people who do not believe or live by faith, . . . or who have forgotten God’s love.  It is the will of the Father that your life here in this place and in this community shine with the effulgence of the sacred life given to us in Christ Jesus.

    When our Lord Jesus said these things to the men of Nazareth . . . He was met with obstinacy and rage; . . . they wanted to throw Him out of town.  How will you respond to what Jesus says to you today?