Introduction
This week we have two readings that seem to be on complete opposite ends of the spectrum. One full of hope and love and another that feels more like an episode of our favorite drama or thriller where there is nearly the death of a favorite character.
And yet, there is more connection to them than we might first see.
1st Corinthians
Our first reading today, came from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. And it may be one of the most recognizable texts in our country today. Because it is one of the most frequently used texts for weddings these days.
Now before I get too far into it, I want to say that if anybody used this text for their wedding, what I am about to say is not speaking critically towards that. This is a beautiful text that does speak towards the best intentions of love. And a wedding is a beautiful time to hear these words for all who gather that day.
That being said, this is also one of the hardest texts in the world to live up to as a married couple, because it is not written for individuals – it’s not even written to couples. It is Paul writing to an entire community, the new Christian community, that is forming in Corinth.
4Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8Love never ends.
As I have preached at weddings on this text, these words just aren’t always true for a marriage.
In a marriage that is struggling, it can absolutely be resentful and irritable. Even in marriages that are going well, there are many times when in irritation or crankiness, some of us have turned to our beloved spouse and been rude, maybe even a bit arrogant. And we have certainly desired things to go our own way.
And yet here in this letter to the Corinthians, Paul is saying that love is never those things.
The difficulty about this text is we assume that marriage and love are the same thing. And we hold it to those ideals during the wedding ceremony. All of our actions everything that we do in this marriage must be kind, patient, without any rudeness or irritability or humanness.
But again, this text is not written to us as individuals. For an individual, for a human, this level of perfection is not possible.
This text is written to the community of Corinth. When the community holds each other accountable, when a community acts in love, these are the ideals that we aspire to live into. A community where love is patient, love is kind, love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way.
And here is the trick of the passage that we don’t often hear about as well. Do you think Paul wrote this letter to Corinth because this community was living into these ideals well? No, Paul wrote this letter because there was already conflict that was present, and he was helping to give them instructions to live as a more beloved community.
Jesus in Nazareth
This connects us to our gospel passage today. Today’s gospel is right on the heels of what we heard last week. This is in Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth and he is in the synagogue participating in regular worship. He was just called up to read from the prophet Isaiah and when he read everyone was astonished. And we pick up this week with his final line to them after the reading, “Today the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
This scene of Jesus in his hometown occurs in Mark and Matthew as well. But today what’s interesting about the text, is that his hometown does not outright reject him. After they are astonished and amazed at what he said, someone asks “Is not this Joseph son?”
But they don’t continue with greater questions about the validity of his ministry and his authority. They have already seen his authority, they have already seen and heard of the power inside him. And now they believe they are entitled to reap the rewards of that blessing.
Immediately after someone questions whether or not he is Joseph’s son, Jesus anticipates their next questions. 23He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’”
What they are expecting is the blessings of his power, but not the truth of his prophetic witness and how they must be held accountable. It is not clearly stated why Jesus withholds his blessing from his hometown of Nazareth. We don’t know the specifics as to why he feels that his hometown is rejecting his message. We can only speculate as to why he might be feeling this disconnect.
Their envy, their boastfulness, does not come because he says it was for the Gentiles. It is because they have been refused the blessing first. They feel entitled to the power that they deserve. “Is this not Joseph son?”
This is not a new phenomenon. It is frequently shared that people in their hometowns that have specific skills or have specific resources, will have people come to them expecting to receive access to those skills and or those resources without payment or further expectation. How many of you may have been asked (even in church) to provide your expertise because this is your home church? We can only speculate why Jesus withholds his blessing from this community. But we can assume that Jesus knows how this community has acted toward one another in the years past.
Jesus knows his own hometown. He may know how his mother was looked at when she was pregnant and out of wedlock. He may have heard the rumors of what people were saying about Joseph. He may have seen the community in distress. People that were left out. People that were forgotten. And he may have even called out some of those things. Speaking out of truth and love, trying to make the community better. But maybe those words of truth, that prophetic message, went unheard for all those years.
And so, in Jesus’ final moment in his hometown, before he sets off on his journey to the cross, he burns his final bridge. He names it in the synagogue with the whole community gathered around him. He names the truth about their brokenness, about their lack of love, and compassion for one another, and mic drops his way out of town. Beginning his mission to the rest of Israel and the rest of the world.
Preaching Possibilities
There are many things that we could take away from these two passages when they are connected like this on a Sunday.
Prophet in their Hometown
The first one, that I have often preached, is that there are prophets in our hometown, right around us, speaking truth about the ways that we are not living as a beloved community. The question is will we will listen to them? Receiving the blessings of their message? Or like Nazareth will we run them out of town?
Are We Living in the Wrong Hometown?
Another takeaway is, are we living in the wrong hometown? I say this lightly, but I say it in truth and love. If we are not being heard, if we are not feeling loved, if we are not able to speak our truth and be who we are, living into our calling from God…are we living in the right hometown? Or is there somewhere else where we could go to find that affirmation, that love, that chosen family, that beloved community that we long for?
What will Corinth and Nazareth Do Next?
The final takeaway is where I have been sitting this past week. And that is, hearing this message, what will these communities do next? What will this town of Nazareth do now that they have been confronted with this truth from Jesus? What will Corinth do with this message of love when they are clearly fractured and fighting?
That is the question that we are receiving from both Jesus and Paul today. When we have been confronted with truth, a prophetic message, that we have not cared for one another the way that we are supposed to care for one another. That we have not loved as well as we could. That we have not been as patient or kind. That we have been boastful about ourselves or about what we think we do well. But we have also been envious of others. What happens when we are told these things? How do we respond?
Do we reject them? Move on with our day-to-day lives and assume that we are the only ones who know ourselves and cannot be told anything that we don’t already know?
Do we enter into conversation with one another as a community? Engaging in the hard conversations that we have heard.
Do we make a change? Cultivating and curating a community that will love one another with truth, honesty, compassion, and attentiveness.
I want to pause for a second and talk honestly. How many of us when we are confronted with any kind of truth, hear it and receive it immediately? When you receive feedback or critique in your work, your life, your marriage?
How many of us immediately take the next right step and see the error of our ways or listen well and carefully? Based on my vantage point, very, very, few of us.
Truthfully, I think we pastors are the worst. How many of us receive any kind of feedback on our sermons without first thinking that we are righteously correct? How many of us receive feedback on not visiting well enough and immediately justify ourselves and give excuses? How many of us frustrated with our spouse or loved ones for not understanding how hard it is being a pastor when they are asking us for more attention or presence at home? How many of us receive criticism and immediately take to social media or text chains to rant about how unfairly we are treated?
If you didn’t guess yet, I’m trying to rile us up.
Very few of us take the immediate “next right step.” Most of us take a least a half wrong step or spin in circles for a while. But what do Nazareth and Corinth do after they react poorly? What do we do after we react poorly?
Can we take the next right step after we lose our cool? Can we take the next right step after we swing to the polar opposite sides of argument and dig our heels in? Can we take the next right step realizing that the only way forward is through community?
Love is patient. It is kind. It is not envious or boastful.
This is the call of our faith. Both Jesus and Paul give us the invitation to see ourselves honestly, both in our imperfections and in our potential. It’s not an easy invitation—it’s one that calls for courage, humility, faith, hope, and love. But it’s also one that leads to transformation.
Not just for those others that we want to transform. It leads to OUR transformation.
When we choose to listen to the truth, even when it’s hard, we open ourselves to the possibility of healing and growth. When we let go of entitlement and envy, and instead choose to care for others with patience and kindness, we become more like the beloved community God desires for us.
How will we respond to the truths we’ve heard? How will we be the Corinth that embraces love, the Nazareth that chooses transformation, the people of God who dare to live differently?
May we take the hard truth, the hopeful love, and the call to action, and let it shape us into the community God has called us to be.
Micah Krey 
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