Good Guys and Bad Guys
Text: Luke
4:21-30
Aldersgate
I.
In
2004, to celebrate their first one hundred years, the American Film Institute hosted television
special announcing
a.
Top 50 movie villains
i.
Recognizing
dastardly characters like Norman Bates, Darth Vader, and the Wicked Witch of
the West, they celebrated their 100th anniversary.
ii.
Who
do you think was the worst of all?
1.
2.
the chianti-slurping
cannibal from Silence of the Lambs
b.
Top 50 movie heroes of all time, at least
time according to moving pictures
i.
Who
do you think was the top all time movie hero?
1.
a swashbuckler like Indiana Jones, or
James Bond
2.
or someone like Robin Hood
3.
or one of the strong women portrayed in
more recent movies
a.
like Norma Rae,
b.
Marge Gunderson from
c.
or Erin Brockovich.
ii.
Perhaps
the most interesting choice was top movie hero of last 100 years
1.
Atticus Finch
a.
southern attorney in To Kill a
Mockingbird
b.
played by Gregory Peck in this 1962 movie
c.
based on Harper Lee’s novel about racial
tensions in South during Great Depression
iii.
Finch
is a different kind of hero from what we’ve come to expect in our world.
1.
he defends Tom Robinson, a black man
falsely accused of raping a white woman
a.
Saved him from a lynch mob
b.
Then from a biased jury
2.
risked his reputation and lives of his
children to do what was right
3.
much of the film Finch is an outsider, a “bad
guy” to many of the people in his community.
4.
and he’s willing to assume that role in
spite of the danger.
5.
Controversies like racism raise the
question of who represents is a good guy, who God and his ways.
iv.
Atticus Finch is the top hero all time according to the American Film
Institute
c.
Very few surprises of good guys, bad guys
in this list
i.
Pretty
hard to confuse
ii.
usually
the distinction is clear.
iii.
So
why do the people of
II.
Today’s reading
from Luke is a continuation of last week’s
a.
Encourage you to open up your Bibles and keep them
open so you can look at them occasionally
b.
This passage and last week’s go hand in hand.
c.
Start with points from last weeks verses
i.
First, Jesus is
anointed with God’s Spirit
ii.
Second, he is
the prophet of fulfillment who declares good news to the poor
1.
release to the captive
2.
recovery of sight to the blind
3.
freedom for the oppressed
4.
and the year of the Lord’s favor
a.
a sharing of land
b.
and food that will fulfill need of all people
d.
With his statement “Today this scripture is
fulfilled…” we learn that Jesus is the one who actually brings the release as
well as proclaiming it
i.
he is the
messiah
ii.
yes, he
proclaims future rule
1.
but he also brings a present release from sin
2.
and a reversal from Satan’s presence in the world (
iii.
he successfully
wrestles the forces of evil in the world and wins
III.
Have you ever
waited and waited for something and then found out it’s not what you thought?
a.
Some life experiences end in ways we had not planned
i.
Birth of one’s
first baby is planned for, looked forward to, dreamed about, and then when the
baby arrives, reality sets in
ii.
Retirement may
be similar
iii.
People from
wealthy families who wait for and plan on an inheritance, and then don’t get it
also have a rude awakening
b.
The people of
i.
Jesus is saying
that it is here!
1.
of course they spoke highly of him
2.
we hear the admiration of their words
3.
4.
2,000 years of promise stretching all the way back to
Abraham will finally be realized, but its not what they think
ii.
Then
it happens; things take an unexpected
turn
c.
Luke makes a big deal of saying that Jesus abruptly
stopped reading, rolled up the scroll, handed it to the attendant and sat down.
i.
And as if to add
an exclamation point, Jesus says, “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in
your hearing.”
ii.
Eyes popped
open, and faraway looks turned to puzzled stares.
iii.
He had stopped
reading. Where was the rest?
iv.
After all, that
prophecy to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor was supposed to end with “and
the day of vengeance of our God.” (Isaiah 61:2b)
1.
That’s what a true hero, a true messiah, is supposed
to be about — about justice, power, the destruction of infidels and enemies.
2.
He’s supposed to be the white-hatted
rider on the pale horse —
3.
the swashbuckling, sword-wielding sea captain —
4.
the decorated soldier standing knee-deep in hand
grenades, holding off the charging enemy horde.
v.
But Jesus moves
off the script.
1.
he reminds them of their history
2.
Elijah and Elisha were
prophets who “… rescued, not the hometown folk, but those regarded as outsiders,
those who could not call themselves God’s people.” (Texts, p. 13)
IV.
The
placing of this story of Jesus’ visit to
a.
In verse 23, Jesus refers to the things
he has done in
b.
With this placement, Luke emphasizes this
incident and wants the reader to know
i.
who
Jesus is
ii.
of
what his ministry consist
iii.
and
what his church will be and do
iv.
right
here at the very beginning of his ministry
v.
We
might view this passage as a prelude to crucifixion
1.
Palm Sunday welcomed him just as friends
from
2.
Good Friday crucified him because he was
not what they expected
c.
It’s fair to say that “hero” isn’t a word
that quickly comes to mind when we think of Jesus
i.
But
here’s the thing: A hero is so-called because of one, specific defining moment
when he or she rises above and goes beyond “the call of duty.”
1.
For Jesus, the “moment” was about three
years, culminating in the cross and the resurrection.
2.
But it started here, right here in
today’s text.
ii.
This
is where Jesus’ heroism, if you will, begins,
1.
The people of his hometown cast him in
the role of a zero,
2.
even though for Christians, he’s a hero.
3.
Similar to Atticus
Finch, who faced an all-white jury that had earlier tried to lynch his black
client.
a.
Jesus was in a no-win situation
b.
as he tells his very Jewish audience that
he came not for the righteous, but for the sinner.
d.
The citizens of
i.
In their
statement “Is not this Joseph’s son!”
1.
the crowd assumes that it knows who Jesus is
2.
their possessiveness leads to resentment when Jesus
takes his favor to others beyond
a.
especially to
b.
a town very likely having a non-Jewish population.”
(Craddock, p. 63)
ii.
he is rejected
because he is unpredictable and goes elsewhere with his ministry
1.
The people of
2.
“People must be willing to hear the Word
of God and receive it before they will see anything as God’s work.” (Bock, p.
91)
3.
“…Jesus does not go elsewhere because he
is rejected; he is rejected because he goes elsewhere.” (Craddock, p. 64)
e.
We cannot possess Jesus.
i.
When
we try, he surprises
ii.
On
the contrary, Jesus possesses us!
iii.
He
leads those willing to follow in a new direction
iv.
We
might call this willingness to follow evangelism,
1.
an attitude or perspective that keeps one
always moving forward
2.
following Jesus wherever he leads
3.
evangelism keeps us open and honest to
the one who is our greatest hero
V.
As I thought
about Jesus as a hero this past week and following him wherever he takes us, I
was reminded of the elderly sisters in movie “Sister Act” singing “My God” to
tune of “My Guy”
Nothing you could say could tear me away
from my God, (my God)
Nothing you could do, 'cause I'm stuck like glue to my God, (my God, my God)
I'm sticking to my God like a stamp to a letter,
Like birds of a feather we stick together. I'm tellin' you from the start, I can't be torn apart from my
God.
Nothing you could do could make me untrue to my God, (my God)
Nothing you could buy could make me tell a lie to my God, (my God, my God)
I gave my God my word of honor to be faithful, and I'm gonna.
You best be believing I won't be deceiving my God.
As a matter of opinion I think he's tops
My opinion is he's the cream of the crop.
As a matter of taste, to be exact,
He's my ideal, as a matter of fact.
No muscle bound man could take my hand from my God, (my God)
No handsome face could ever take the place of my God,(my God, my God)
He may not be a movie star, but when it comes to bein'
happy, we are.
There's not a man today who could take me away from my God
(Cool it down now, ladies)
There's not a man today who could take me away from my God
(Give them some of that deep shoulder action)
There's not a man today who could take me away from my God