C, The Fourth Sunday after Epiphany - Luke 4:28-30 Psalm 71:1-4 "The Cliff's Edge"
Standing on the precipice, the cliff’s edge, many feelings
can flow through the body. A glorious
sunrise or sunset can invigorate.
Looking down at the waves against the rocks can give one giddiness from
vertigo, making one cautiously pull back from the edge. The thought of going over the edge and
falling into the rocks and waves of suffering and certain death gives one that
funny feeling within that really isn’t that funny at all.
As you look over the edge you might see things washed up on
the rocks, jetsam and flotsam, piles of dead seaweed, rubbish or maybe you’ve
come to see for yourself a ship that’s run aground in huge seas.
It also depends on the weather too. Standing at the cliff’s edge might be quite
pleasant on a balmy summer’s day. But
when the wind is howling in from the frigid zone and the sleet is stinging your
face, on the edge is no place to be. One
wonders, “Why on earth am I trying to stand here at this place, at this time”. As the wind pushes one leans into the wind to
have a look over the edge. If there’s a wind sheer for a moment, a pause in
being held back, it’s over the edge and down to death. It makes one queasy in the gut just thinking
about it.
Now picture being at the bottom of the cliff in big
seas. You’ve been tossed about in a boat
without a rudder and run aground. Huge
waves have pounded your punt to pieces.
Disaster has dashed your dinghy.
Climbing the cliff will save you from the waves bashing you to
bits. But it’s wet and you're too weak with
cold to see or climb a way up the impenetrable slippery cliff.
Two loves emerge from these pictures. From our perceived position in life, one
desires to be at the top of the precipice, or one loves they’re at the
top. Or, on the other hand, one doesn’t
love that they’re at the bottom but rather desires to be at the top.
All, in Jesus’ hometown synagogue, spoke well of him while
they saw themselves as privileged and favoured.
That was until Jesus made it plain to them that they were akin to the
Israelites in the days of Elijah and Elisha, who didn’t receive the freedom
from hunger as did the Sidonian widow from Zarephath, and didn’t receive the
recovery from leprosy as did the leprous Syrian, Naaman.
Saying the men of Nazareth who heard these things, were
unimpressed, is an understatement. They
were furious. The scriptures were
fulfilled in their hearing. The Spirit
of the Lord was upon Jesus, baptised in the Jordan by John, then led in the
wilderness being tempted by Satan. He
proclaimed good news to the poor. He was there to proclaim freedom to these
captives of Israel, to recover their sight, to set them free from oppression,
and to proclaim the Lord’s favour or approval.
But they did not approve of Jesus’ proclamation, nor his
approval of himself. Nor did they accept
they needed being looked upon as captives, blind, oppressed and diseased.
So, their ease turned into dis-ease. They became blind with rage. They were captivated by anger and took Jesus
to the edge of town, to the edge of the precipice, to toss him over the edge.
However, they didn’t cast Jesus off the cliff. Unlike a piece of waste, Jesus didn’t allow
them to deliver him into the depths below.
Not long before this, Jesus wasn’t tempted by the devil to throw himself
from the top of the temple, so there was no way his hometown folk were being allowed
to cast him down either. It was not his
time! That was to come at the cross when
his own nation and humanity would lift him up and cast him down in death.
Humanity has a habit of dumping things we don’t want, down
into the sea or over a cliff into a ravine.
If it’s out of sight it’s out of mind, ridding from sight the unsightly,
so one doesn’t have to deal with it!
Today at least we flush our toilets rather than toss it out the window,
down into the street, as they did in the Middle Ages. Yet humanity still yearns to delete what it
doesn’t desire.
The Nazoreans wanted to delete Jesus. He has become as worthless to them as what
they usually cast off the cliff. Like a
child chucking stones off a cliff or rolling rocks over the edge, they wanted
to do the same to Jesus, the Rock of Salvation.
When Jesus confronts the idols in our lives, when the Holy
Spirit opens the Word of God in our understanding, we are no different to the
folk from Nazareth, we too want to cast Jesus aside and roll the Rock out of
sight. How often we seek to put parts of
God’s Word out of sight that offends our perceived position at the top of the
hill!
However, the reality is, as humans being human, no one gets
to stand on the hill because of what
they’ve done or who they desire to be.
Just as a beautiful sunset descends into darkness, any human perception
that one stands perfect in life, quickly disappears into the reality of a
future without a resurrection from oneself, into the refuge of God’s protection.
If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard someone casting
down their thoughts on those, they’ve perceived to be below them at the bottom
of the cliff, I’d be a wealthy man. But
even more so, if I had a dollar for every time I’ve done or thought the same,
I’d be doubly wealthy.
But thank the Lord, you and I don’t get a dollar for conceitedly
thinking this way. By the grace of God,
the Holy Spirit works faith within us with Jesus, the “Word made Flesh”. You and I, like those in the Nazareth
synagogue are invited to have our sight recovered, and the scripture fulfilled
in our hearing.
as Jesus
says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to
proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set
at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
(Luke 4:18–19 ESV)
This means, the Holy Spirit is upon Jesus, because God the
Father has anointed Jesus, to proclaim good news to the poor. That’s you, me, and all of humanity! God sent Jesus to proclaim freedom to us in
captivity, to recover our sight, and to free us from oppression. We’re in an
all of life event being raised from the bottom of the cliff to the top.
In fact, every time you cast someone over the edge into your
perceived sea of uselessness, realise as you cast them over the edge, you’ve bound
yourself to them with the same rope of judgement. So, when you cast them off the precipice into
the depths, feel yourself falling off the cliff into a sea of sin and
destruction too.
But the Spirit of the Lord is upon Jesus to also proclaim
the year of the Lord’s favour! And the
favour was fulfilled at the cross, which at the lifting up of Jesus Christ in
death, also lifts us up from our fatal falls from favour. But it doesn’t end there at the cross! Favour is fully fulfilled at Jesus’
resurrection! When our Heavenly Father’s
favour saw Jesus elevated in glory, since he bore no sin of his own but bore
the sin of all, those who repentantly trust him are in a life event of rescue,
resuscitation, and refuge.
While Jesus was one of us, he did not perceive himself at
the top but allowed himself to be plunged into the depths of turbulent humanity,
looking to God our Father who stands at the precipice of all holiness in heaven
and on earth. The words of Psalm
seventy-one show the trust Jesus placed in our Father in heaven.
“In you, O Lord, do I
take refuge; let me never be put to shame! In your righteousness deliver me and
rescue me; incline your ear to me, and save me! Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may
continually come; you have given the command to save me, for you are my rock
and my fortress. Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the
grasp of the unjust and cruel man.”
(Psalm 71:1–4 ESV)
You are being rescued by Jesus, the only rock of refuge! You are being elevated by the cross from the
depths of sin and death. These words given
to you, through Jesus’ death and resurrection, are words for your lips, because
they’re words of God’s promised rescue, resuscitation, and refuge, as you wait
for the fulfilment of God’s favour to be finally completed at your resurrection
on the last day. Amen.
