01292022 – Luke 4. 21-30 “Verbal terms of Engagement!”

Different day. Different society. Different time. Sometimes, hard to fathom.

Oh, how some things have changed, kind of.

If you got TOO BIG for your britches or your robe…the community fought back.

People would not let you get away with anything…nothing at all…

Like it was their sworn duty or something…

Everybody seemingly had to throw in their two cents worth …well, at least the men, the women had to remain SILENT.

There was always SOMEONE to “call you out.” In that way, they kept each other in check. Society was in balance…and all was well with their world.

Like “everything else in antiquity,” honor was a limited resource.

There was only SO MUCH HONOR to go around. IF, I honored you, I took honor away from someone else.

That’s the way it worked! Strange, but true.

If someone GAINED in honor, that translated into someone else LOST in honor.

Get this: Claims to MORE THAN ONE’S “appointed share of honor,” GIVEN AT BIRTH, threatened OTHERS, and would eventually TRIGGER attempts to cut “the claimant” down to size.

Now, I don’t have to tell you, but this is EXACTLY what is going on in our Gospel text for today.

ORIGINALLY, in the beginning, at the very onset, they are willing to concede and bestow “some honor on Jesus.”

Good job, kid! Kind of impressive.  Way-to-go, Jesus! Where did this kid, get all this?

The scripture actually says that ALL spoke well of him and were AMAZED at his “gracious words.”

Kudo’s Jesus! Attaboy! Our kid! He’s the man! Woo-Hoo, GO JESUS!

But then, from somewhere in the midst of the crowd, a question arises.

Now you have to remember the setting.

It is FRIDAY NIGHT, the SABBATH, and they are all AT WORSHIP in the synagogue. So, all of this is taking place right smack dab in the Synagogue proper.

Now, we were “NOT there” …obviously.

We don’t know “WHO” asked the question? Nor do we know “HOW” the question came about? OR what was “the INTENT” behind the question.

Apparently, someone thought, Jesus was getting a little TOO BIG for that robe of his! So, the question was asked…

“IS NOT THIS “JOSEPH’S SON?”

I wonder if there were snickers? I wonder if there was laughter. I wonder what was going through people’s minds?

JESUS is standing right there, listening to the question about “his parentage.”

He was also “keenly aware” of “the gossip” that had “ALWAYS circulated” about him NOT BEING Joseph’s son…

NOW IT IS “all about honor.”  Jesus’ honor. Mary’s honor. Family honor.

They have set a TRAP. A SNARE. Jesus can BITE. Or he can IGNORE them completely. To IGNORE them is to let them WIN. To ignore them is to LOSE HONOR and some RESPECT…the respect and honor he has JUST BEEN GRANTED and given.

At this point, it is “tit for tat.” It is all about “retaliation, reprisal, counterattack, payback, blow-for-blow” …all very Biblical stuff. Routine, normal.

“Another societal feature” – it was DISHONORABLE to boast, to seek fame and celebrity status, to DELIBERATELY do anything for the purpose of drawing attention to yourself.

SO, when anyone who has only heard the secondhand gossip about the things that Jesus had done – THEN – DEMANDS that he DO THEM IN THEIR SIGHT – Jesus has to refuse, because it would be DISHONORABLE to do so.

It is crazy I tell you.  No wonder there is so much conflict in the Middle East.

When someone is “verbally accosted” or “challenged with hostile questions” or demands, the ONLY HONORABLE WAY OUT – is to “vigorously respond and defend” in the only socially accepted manner – with more verbal HOSTILE QUESTIONS of your own. “Tit for tat.”

Insulted and dishonored – he leaves them speechless. Oh, he is good.  Too big for his britches, but he is good.

And the ONLY WAY “they can REGAIN ANY HONOR” is to defend their honor and TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION.

All this is ALL quite normal behavior. Acceptable. Completely acceptable. And it all is being played out before our very eyes.

So they decide it is “in their best interests” to hurl Jesus off a cliff. Cliff Diving without any water below.

And so what does he do? Somehow, someway, he “passes through the midst of them” unscathed, the winner, honor in tact, and goes on his merry way.

Jesus 1 – Nazareth – 0

Better luck next time, and he is outta there! And Jesus drops the mic and leaves…