Trinity 5
Celebrating July 4th today, gives us the opportunity to stop and pause and to reflect on what government is and does and what our responsibilities are to the government. The simple teaching of Scripture is that the power and authority of all government--both good and bad--comes from God. Jesus very clearly told the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate [Jn19.11]: You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. And, of course, St. Paul writes [Rm 13.1]: Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. By establishing civil government, God wants to make it possible for all people to live together in outward peace and security. The main purpose of government is to protect the life, property, and honor of its citizens; to safeguard them in the pursuit of their occupations and in enjoying their liberties; and to preserve order and discipline. In other words, government has this task, as St. Paul also writes [1 Ti 2.2], so that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and reverence. Because of this awesome and vital task that the government has, St. Paul here urges that we pray for our government. Today’s holiday is a reminder to us to pray for our government and our nation--and may we do so often and fervently!
Today’s holiday also gives us the opportunity to stop and reflect and give our Lord praise and thanks for all the blessings He has given us through our nation. First among those blessings is the freedom of religion that is constitutionally guaranteed to us. Sadly, this is wrongly interpreted by many today as meaning that “you can believe and practice whatever you want within the walls of the church, or you can believe what you want quietly in your heart, but once you step outside into public there you must follow all the norms and expectations of the religion of political correctness or secularism”; you cannot live out the dictates of your faith in the “public square”. Dear Christian, it is more vital than ever that we live and vote our Christian faith. There are forces that want to silence our Christian voices, the voices that say Jesus is the Savior from sin--and that there is such a thing as sin and we are sinners earning only God’s wrath and damnation; even just our voices that proclaim there is truth; that there is right and wrong.
Today’s holiday is also an occasion for us Christians to examine our own hearts and lives in light of the freedom of religion that we are enjoying in our nation. Are we making the most of that freedom? Not only are there the forces from outside of us that don’t want us to use fully this freedom and so live and grow in our faith, that want to squelch it, but we have in us our old sinful nature that works in league with the devil and the world to try to weaken and destroy our faith in Jesus. One way that the devil, world and our own self work together to do this is precisely by us having and enjoying our freedom of religion. It works like this: because we enjoy the freedom of religion in our nation, we can easily develop the sense that our holy Christian religion is no big deal; since Christianity is everywhere, it’s always there for us to get back to later--now it’s time for other things. This leads to despising the faith. Instead, let us use our freedom of religion to grow and deepen and live out our faith. Our freedom of religion allows us to treasure and exercise and practice our faith. What great cause we have for thanksgiving to God; and what great cause we have to be vigilant for our faith!
The sad fact is Jesus and His word can be looked upon as common and thus despised. That’s what we see in today’s Gospel. Jesus goes to His hometown of Nazareth and as was the custom when a well-known/ respected rabbi was there, Jesus began to teach in the synagogue. Many who heard Him were amazed. They asked, “Where did this man learn these things? What is this wisdom that has been given to this man? How is it that miracles such as these are performed by his hands? Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Him. The people of Nazareth rejected Jesus. Instead of being happy that “hometown boy does good”, they reject Him because they despise Him since He is too familiar. Had Jesus been some “out of towner” they would have probably happily believed! But He’s one of them; they know His family--He can’t be anybody. He’s no different from them, much less the Savior. And so they reject Him: A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own house.
The same thing can happen to us dear Christian--and is happening to so many as we live in and enjoy our religious liberties in our nation: Jesus has become too familiar to people. People think they know the Christian faith; they think they know all they need to know because “Jesus loves me this I know”. There is no desire to get to know Jesus better; there is no desire to grow in the knowledge of His word--the very word that not only tells about Jesus and His work but which actually gives the fruit and blessing of His work--the forgiveness of sins and eternal life! And this in a land in which we enjoy religious freedom?! How can this be? --In a negative sense, Jesus has become too familiar to us. And what happens? People take Jesus and His word for granted. Jesus, His word, His Church, will always be there--so I won’t worry about it now; now I have to do/ concern myself with “more important” things.
Obviously, it’s not Jesus’ fault. It’s the fault of our old sinful self! And what is at the root of all this but arrogance! “I know all I need to know.” Is this how we use our religious freedom? Shouldn’t we instead want to grow and delve more deeply into the word and into our holy faith so that we come to know Jesus and His word even more/ better? But just like the people of Jesus’ hometown took offense/ kept tripping over Jesus because He was familiar/ one of them, so too we must be on guard lest we trip over our perceived familiarity with Jesus and what we think is familiarity with His word and Church and so shut ourselves off from its teachings and glorious tidings and ultimately shut heaven to us by our unbelief.
Dear Christian, we have the word; we have Jesus; we have His sacraments. He has blessed us to live in a country where we are free to worship Him. Let us thank Him by taking advantage of His grace to us. But where Jesus and His word are despised because they are familiar, because we have them in abundance, we dare not think that they will always be like that. As punishment, He will withdraw His word so that there is a famine of the word, like He said through the OT prophet [Am 8.11,12]: I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it. What good, then, does all the religious freedom do, if the Lord sends a famine of the word? Don’t we already see perhaps the beginning of that as churches are closing, as churches, trying to become what they think is “relevant” are adopting the ways and agenda of the world instead of preaching Christ crucified? Already now the pure word of God is becoming harder to find in our land of religious freedom.
Notice what happens here in our text: Jesus could not do any miracles there except to lay His hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their unbelief. This is what unbelief does--it doesn’t have to be crass atheistic unbelief, simply just not caring about our Lord and His word, thinking them common and despising them-- it rejects what Jesus wants to give us so freely and willingly. Jesus couldn’t do any mighty works there, not because He lacked the power but because there was no faith there in the people--except for a few--to receive it. Faith receives the benefits! Jesus is here among us with His word and gifts and graces and blessings but we can only receive them by faith. With Jesus being “too familiar” to His hometown people, they closed their hearts to Him; with Jesus being, what they think, “too familiar” to many among us, many are looking elsewhere and pushing Jesus aside. Jesus kept marveling at their unbelief.
It is no secret--our nation, with its great religious freedom that we enjoy--is becoming more secular. For us, secularism means pushing Jesus/ the faith out of the mainstream and out of the way that we act and think; it means that our faith, if we have any, does not affect anything. Secularism is trying to live life without God, as if there isn’t a God. People’s lives become centered/ focused on the here and now. The vital questions of life and death/ heaven and hell are ignored. Increasing secularism is seen in little ways--even in the lives of professed Christians. Sundays become like any other day; church gives way to other activities; I only go to church if I have nothing else to do. Our Lord and His word, the faith, get pushed further and further out of the way--ever so slowly, but they do--until they aren’t there any more. And it all begins with the Christian thinking Jesus is “too familiar”. He’s “too familiar” because I don’t take my sin seriously.
Here is a vital call for each of us to examine our heart and conscience: Do I think I know it all about Jesus and the faith? Do I think lightly of Jesus and His work? What role does my faith play in my life? What is most important to me? Do I spend time around the word trying to grow in my knowledge of and faith in Jesus? What distinguishes me from the unbelieving world around me?
In our land of religious freedom, has Jesus become “too familiar” to us? If so, it is because of our sin! The thing is, there is no such thing of being “too familiar” with Jesus. We can never know Jesus too well. If we come to the Lord in all humility and in the recognition that we are sinners and He is our Savior, we can never know Him too well! And what do we see in our text? --Jesus wants to be known/ He wants to be close to us! Jesus left there and went to His hometown. His disciples followed Him. When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue. He wanted the people of His own hometown to be the beneficiaries of His Gospel message. He wants us to be the beneficiaries of His saving work. That’s why He comes to us in His word and Sacrament--literally physically giving us His body and blood uniting with us. Jesus wants us to know Him and to receive His gifts of forgiveness of sin, life, salvation, peace, joy, etc. that He now fully and freely gives us in His holy word and sacrament. He’s not skimpy when it comes to giving us the gifts and graces He won for us on the cross.
Not only is there no such thing as Jesus becoming “too familiar” to us sinners: how could we ever fully understand Him, His person--both true God and true man, His work on the cross and His love of us sinners?; but the simple fact is that familiarity with Jesus is a good thing for us! How can we sinners ever get too familiar with our Savior from sin, death, devil and hell? The best thing to do is to spend time reflecting on Jesus; spend time with Jesus in prayer and around His word; spend time here in church around His word and Sacrament, where we know that He is with us with His gifts and graces. The more we know our dear Lord, the more of Him we want to know. That’s what faith does, it loves Jesus and wants to know Him even more. It is drawn to Him like a magnet to iron. So dear Christian, let us use the religious freedom the Lord has blessed us with not to go away from our Lord but to grow in our faith and love of Jesus and to live out that faith. INJ