In our gospel reading today, Jesus is preaching in his home town of Nazareth, and he claims for himself, right there in the synagogue, the title of Messiah. The Nazarenes are amazed, and are excited at the prospect of a dramatic display of the glory of God, like the healings and exorcisms that happened around Capernaum. But when Jesus returned to Nazareth, all he gave to his home town was motivation to hurl him off the cliff. Jesus rebuked Nazareth – because of their attempts to place a claim on the Messiah's glory. And no one can have an exclusive claim on Messiah's glory – not even God's chosen people Israel – because the Messiah came for everyone, and the Messiah came for humiliation....
So in a little over a week, the NHL will suspend the regular season, and start its experimental tournament, the Four Nations Face-Off. And if players are from one of the four privileged nations selected, Canada, USA, Finland, or Sweden, they will get the chance to compete for their country. Hopefully, for the sake of the league, the tournament will be entertaining, and not embroiled in controversy or resulting in major injuries that impact the season. And hopefully, the Canadian media will keep this tournament in perspective, and keep the rants about player selection and team performance to a minimum. But could you imagine the shock and the outrage across the country if Sidney Crosby and Conner McDavid made the announcement they were going to play instead....for team TRUMP...I mean USA!
Jesus in our gospel reading today, gave precisely this kind of gut punch to the people of Nazareth. Sure, the Nazarenes all spoke well of Jesus in the synagogue, and everything seemed to be going smoothly. But then their attitude began to show through. “Is not this Joseph's son?” they said. In other words, “isn't it great that Jesus the Messiah is on OUR team?” The folks in Nazareth were eager to claim Jesus as their own because of his fame and power. Imagine the prestige – they probably had a road sign for the highway already picked out: “Welcome to Nazareth, home of Messiah.” And they probably imagined a wonderful life available in Nazareth, basking in Messiah's glory, where Jesus cures everyone of every disease, Jesus makes the crops wonderful every year, and Jesus protects his hometown from the Romans and anyone else dumb enough to pick a fight with them.
Jesus saw into the hearts of the townsfolk, and so he spoke first. “You will ask me, 'Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.” Bring the glory home. And Jesus refused, with two stories that had the Nazarenes mad enough to kill him. Elijah and Elisha, both prophets of God Most High, passed over the needs of the chosen people Israel, to save foreigners. The ones who thought they had an exclusive claim on God's services, who thought God's glory was just for them - they were rejected.
So what claims do we make on God's glory? Do we consider ourselves the most faithful church in Provost, and therefore MOST DESERVING of God's visible blessings of growth and vitality? Do we claim for ourselves the MONOPOLY on truth, when it comes to interpreting what God has said? Do we think that as disciples of Jesus we should NEVER suffer? And when we hear of God working in our community through other people and other congregations, do we get MAD and defensive, or do we get involved?
Or to put it the other way, when life does NOT feel like we are basking in God's glory, do we get ANGRY at God? That is the goal of Satan in encouraging us to make these exclusive claims on God. Satan is hoping that when tragedy strikes us, that we will be so angry, we'll walk away from God, thinking that God abandoned us first. Satan is hoping that when God DOESN'T heal Aunt Matilda, despite our anxious prayers, that we will be angry enough to kill – to kill that part of ourselves that the Holy Spirit has created in baptism. Satan is hoping that suffering the lack of God's glory, or worse, God's glory displayed through others, will bring us to the point of rage – of wanting to hurl Jesus off of our own personal cliff.