1/28/07 - Epiphany 4 - Luke 4:20-32

WHAT TO EXPECT?
- Not always what we want
- But always what God promises

Do you remember Jonah? He was the prophet that was swallowed by the large fish and lived in its belly for three days. But I don’t want to talk about that particular event in his life. Nor do I want to talk about his futile attempt to run away from God or his preaching to the city of Nineveh. I want you to remember what happened after he preached God’s Word to those people. He was sitting outside of the city, waiting to see what would happen to them, and the Lord allowed a vine to grow up and protect him from the sun. But the next morning the Lord sent a worm to eat the root of the vine and it shriveled up, leaving Jonah without any shade at all. And what was Jonah’s reaction? Jonah was angry! He was furious at the Lord for taking that vine away! But the Lord said to Jonah, “Do you have any right to be angry about the vine?” And, of course, Jonah didn’t. He had no right to become angry about the vine because God had every right to do with it what he wanted. God allowed it to grow, he could take it away. Jonah wrongly expected that the Lord would do what Jonah himself wanted. He expected the Lord to do something he had never promised.
As we look at Luke chapter 4 today, we see that the people from the town of Nazareth thought the way. They fully expected Jesus to do something he never promised. It never even crossed their mind that he might not do what they wanted. But you can see why they might have thought that way: Jesus was coming home! He was coming back to the town in which he grew up, to the people he played with as a child and worked with as a young man! Jesus was their claim to fame and they were excited to see him again. And so they naturally thought that Jesus would put on a show, that he would perform miracles for them just like he had done other places - especially since this was his home town and these were his people.
Just think of it. If a famous politician comes back to his home town, the town he grew up in, and gives a speech, he makes the extra effort to do it well. He wants to make an impression on the people who know him the best. If a singer performs a concert in his or her home city, it’s natural for that singer to want to nail the performance so that friends and relatives and neighbors can see what they can do and how far they’ve come.
And so the people of Nazareth expected a show. They probably even expected Jesus to perform miracles there that he hadn’t performed anywhere else. He was coming home, after all! And so what did Jesus do? Nothing. He did nothing they expected him to do. He did not perform one miracle. He did not put on any kind of show. He did not do anything they wanted him to do. Instead he said, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your home town what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’ I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his home town.” Jesus did not do what they wanted, but what he wanted. After all, they weren’t excited to see Jesus because they believed in him, they simply wanted to be entertained by superhuman wonders and miracles. And because Jesus did not do what they expected, the people of Nazareth were furious at Jesus and even tried to kill him.
What do you expect from Jesus? Honestly, what do you expect Jesus to do for you? Do you expect him to retain your job for you as long as you need it? Do you expect him to always provide a roof for you to sleep under? Do you expect him to always maintain a congregation here at which you can worship? What are those things in your life that you expect him - do you simply assume - he will always provide? I’m guessing, just by knowing my own expectations and assumptions, that they are things you want, but not necessarily things he has promised. What if you lose your job? What if you lose your means of income? What if you lose your house? What if you lose your congregation? What if you lose your spouse? What if you lose your children. Would you be surprised? Would you be angry like Jonah and the people of Nazareth? Would you say “Why me? Why this? Why now?” I might be tempted to say those very things in those kinds of situations as, I suspect, you would too.
But what makes us think we deserve those things we expect Jesus to do? What makes us assume that God will do what we want all the time? Because he hasn’t promised any of those things! He hasn’t promised to preserve our job, maintain our home, uphold this congregation, or immortalize our family members! There are very few earthly blessings he has specifically promised to give us. So how arrogant is it of us, how presumptuous, to complain when we don’t get what we want. To question the Lord and his motives! Who are we to question the Lord? Who are we to expect things from him that he has never promised? “Who are you,” Paul says, “to talk back to God?” (Rom. 9:20) The answer is: we are nothing. We are a lump of clay, the Lord is the potter. He is the Creator. We are the creatures. And so we have nothing to say to him. We, as sinful undeserving human beings, have nothing to complain about when we don’t get what we want and aren’t allowed to keep what we expect.
But I don’t want you to feel hopeless. I don’t want you to think that this life is one big uncertainty. We might not be able to expect everything we want, but we can expect everything God promises. And those things that God promises are really the only things that matter. It started with Adam and Eve. After the fall into sin, they couldn’t expect work to be easy anymore. The couldn’t expect childbirth to be a breeze - they couldn’t expect anything to be perfect. But God promised that he would send a Savior to crush Satan’s head. Did Adam and Eve expect that to happen? Of course they did! It was an unchangeable promise from God! And God repeated that promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Malachi, Micah, and many more. Those patriarchs and prophets had to deal with many uncertainties in their lives. But did they expect the Lord to keep his promise? Did the believers in Old Testament times expect the Messiah to come? Sure they did. And rightly so. They knew they could expect a Savior to come into this world because it was based on the promise of a perfect and loving God.
Jesus himself, when he came into this world, wasn’t just a fulfillment of a promise, he made promises too. He promised that he would be handed over to his enemies. He promised he would suffer. He promised he would die. He promised he would rise to life. Did these things happen? You know full well they did. And so will every other promise Jesus made. He promised forgiveness of sins through baptism and the Lord’s Supper. He promised full and free salvation without any strings attached through faith in his name. He promised to work faith in our hearts through his Word. He promised to come back and take you to be with him in heaven. Have some of these things happened already? Will these things continue to happen? Can you expect them to happen no matter what? Yes you can. You can count on these things to happen because they are exactly what God promises.
This also goes for your every day life. You may not be able to expect that a roof will always be over your head in this life, but you can expect that the Lord will never leave. After all, he promises, “Surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt 28:20) You may not be able to expect that you will always have a means of income to pay your bills, but you can expect the Lord to help you in any situation. After all, he promises, “I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant;’ I have chosen you and have not rejected you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:9-10) You may not be able to expect that this congregation will exist as long as you live here. But you can expect the Word of God to remain. After all, God promises, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” (1 Peter 1:24-25) You may not be able to expect that your Christian loved ones will never die. In fact, you may not be able to expect they’ll live as long as you want them to. But you can expect that they will live forever. After all, God promises about those who believe in him, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10:27-28)
These are the kinds of things that you can expect. These are the things that God has promised. It’s unfortunate that Jonah forgot that. It’s unfortunate that the people from the town of Nazareth forgot that, and it’s unfortunate that we forget that sometimes too. But the good thing is: our neglect of God’s promises, and every time we complain about his motives, and every time we questions his decisions - doesn’t change God’s promises at all. They still stand. They will always stand. For us and for every Christian until the end of time. That’s why we see Jesus leave Nazareth in our text for today. After his home town rejected him he didn’t just throw up his hands and give up on the human race because he cannot go back on his promises. And so he moved on to Capernaum. And there Scripture says that he “began to teach the people.” What do you suppose he taught them? Probably the same thing he taught everyone else: not what they wanted, but what they could expect: the unchanging promises of their good and gracious Lord.
And so it will always be: there are many things in this life you cannot expect. No matter how bad you want them. No matter how bad you want to keep them. But it should not worry you. It should not leave you without hope. Because despite all the things that are not certain in this life, God promises you this certainty: “Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he. I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” (Isaiah 46:4) “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine.” (Isaiah 43:1) This, my friends, is what you can expect. This is what you can count on to happen. Because this is what the Lord Almighty promises. You are redeemed. You are forgiven. You will go to heaven. There is no greater blessing than this. And there is nothing else I’d rather expect.
Amen.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine… to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” - Eph. 3:20-21