Luke 4:16-30

As the story goes, instead of going to Galilee, Luke takes us to Nazareth. He makes us witness a synagogue scene. And then he throws us a curveball.

Instead of making us hear a sermon from an old rabbi, we see Jesus standing in the middle of the congregation, working his way to the platform and reading from the prophet Isaiah. Luke has him announcing that he is the new favor of the Lord. He is the rightful Jubilee.

But something happens here. A twist occurs. Conflict arises. Nazareth isn’t pleased with Jesus. They don’t like what he is saying. This is not how the story is supposed to go. Jesus is supposed to be loved by his hometown.

But instead they become outraged. They grab him. Attempt to take him to a cliff. They want to throw him down, silence him, kill him and keep him from becoming who he is supposed to become.

Why? What did he say?

This past week, three friends and I packed our tents, bags, pillows, and headed to Warner Robbins, Georgia for the new Chick-fil-a opening. Chick-fil-a has an advertising promotional called the “First 100.” Twenty-four hours before a new store opens, Chick-fil-a allows anybody and everybody to line up at six in the morning. The first 100 people are awarded a year’s supply of Chick-fil-a coupons. The catch is, you have to camp out in their parking lot for 24 hours.

There’s another catch. If there are over 100 people who show up then you get placed in a raffle. Sure enough, over 100 showed. One by one, over the loud speaker we waited until they called our names. We stood in thirty degree weather at 6am in the dark of a Chick-fil-a parking lot waiting to be called. They get to ten – not called yet. Twenty – none of us four. Thirty – still nothing. By this time you can hear the grumbling in the crowd. All I can think about is how heaven better not be anything like this. The anxiety. The wait.

I can’t help but remember the waiting, the anticipation of the crowd. The anger. The entitlement. The person in front of me was on his 9th “First 100” and he had always been called. But this time he wasn’t. He was so mad. He screamed obscenities and was escorted off the premises.

Where does this sense of entitlement come from?

Unfortunately, our narrative answers this question. Entitlement comes from hate, and hate is the opposite of Jesus’ message.

Luke wants us to know that to be about the business of Jesus is not to be entitled, but rather offering other’s release. Jesus says he’s going to open up his ministry to outsiders, the oppressed, and people with their backs against a wall. Jesus says he’s here to bring love, time, attention, and release to them.

Regrettably though, we see for the first time in Luke the unfortunate reality about human nature: When God opens the door to other types of people – hate surfaces. Entitlement surfaces. And you see the core of people’s faith.

Why do we as Christians become so entitled with God? Why do we think God should love us first and then be selective about who is next?

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