Dear Friends in Christ, Grace and Peace be with you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Christ.
It is great to be back with you at Gloria Dei. Many of you may be wondering what we are doing back in Alaska after moving away back in 2003. Three years ago, we started building a place just south of Kasilof since Peace Lutheran agreed to my working three-quarter time. So our summers have been back here. A quick update on our family. Both boys are teaching on the West coast and will come for brief visits this summer. Tobin and Alicia will bring their two girls. Stefan and Sarah are expecting their second daughter any day. And Erin and Jerod are busy in the Twin Cities with their four, ages 1 to 7.
When I look at you and look around this sanctuary, I am flooded with memories—memories of countless worship services, along with confirmations, weddings, funerals, piano recitals, children's musicals, Celebrations of Life, choir rehearsals, Christmas programs . . . the list goes on. For 27 years we were privileged to call this our church home. As I look out, I see many familiar faces. And you old timers . . . well, I see that you are still sitting in the same general areas where you always sat. However, one thing is different today; Lee Friese is not in his usual seat. And I know that all of us are with you, Barb, and your family as you cheer Lee on following his surgery this past Wednesday.
Because I grew up in a parsonage and we moved often, I never really had a church home. It was through being here for many, many years that I really learned what it meant to be part of a church family. It means being able to sift through life's experiences through the words of scripture, countless sermons, and the prayers and interactions with other friends in Christ. Being here this morning also touches many different feelings that I experienced in this sanctuary, ranging from joy to sadness, from confidence to fear, from affirmation to rejection.
Today our gospel lesson invites us to take a look at the subject of rejection. How do you feel when you reach out to shake another person's hand, and they walk away without acknowledging you? How does it feel to have invested countless hours in a relationship or a job only to find it come to an abrupt end? Sometimes we can feel rejection even though it is nothing personal—just being part of a group that is the object of prejudice or misunderstanding.
Regardless of the situation, rejection hurts. And often we respond to rejection with anger, which can be extremely self-defeating. Yes, most of us in this sanctuary have experienced rejection, and I would guess that some of us still bear scars from the emotional fallout from rejections of one kind or another.
Today's gospel lesson gives us a very interesting insight into how Jesus handled rejection.
In verse 51, Luke writes that it was time for Jesus to go to Jerusalem to fulfill his destiny. He and his disciples were in Northern Palestine—where he was raised and where he spent the majority of his ministry—in the region near the Sea of Galilee. Jerusalem was in the region of Judea, in the south. And between these two areas was the region called Samaria. Most Jews would avoid going through Samaria and would go out of their way when heading south to Jerusalem because of the age-old rivalry and hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans.
The Samaritans were a mixed race of people who had settled in Palestine while many of the Jews were in exile and had intermarried with the native Canaanites. They had their own religion which was a mixture of Judaism and ancient cultic religions. Still lingering in the minds of Samaritans was the hurt caused about 100 years earlier when their temple had been burned down by some Jewish zealots. So the feelings of antagonism ran deep. Basically, Jews and Samaritans had nothing to do with each other.
Instead of taking the long way around to avoid the Samaritans, Jesus decided to take the direct route, straight through Samaria. Jesus sent his disciples ahead of him into a Samaritan village in order to secure lodging and food, probably for an overnight rest stop. However, verse 53 tells us that the Samaritans rejected the overtures of the advanced party. Most likely, they did not receive him because Jesus and his disciples were Jewish, and the Samaritans resented the Jews who passed through their territory on their way to Jerusalem. So the plans to stay there were rejected.
James and John reacted in anger. These two, called the “Sons of Thunder,” perhaps because of their temper, wanted to strike out against the Samaritans for their rejection of Jesus. They turned to Jesus in a rage and said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and burn up the village and all the people in it like Elijah did?” In the first chapter of II Kings, we read that the prophet Elijah had called down fire from heaven to consume those who questioned the authority of God. They based their request on this story which had been passed down through generations.
James and John knew of the power of Jesus. They had observed his ability to do miracles. But Jesus would have nothing to do with using his power in this way. Jesus turned around and rebuked his own disciples. And some versions of scripture have this addition to verse 56: “and (Jesus) said, ‘You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.’ ”
And this story ends with this phrase: “And they went on to another village.”
So the question is this: What can we learn from Jesus about dealing with rejection? What did he do? What did Jesus do? He did nothing—absolutely nothing. One biblical scholar and preacher put it this way: “In the nothing of Jesus, there’s a whole lot of something. Because when we’re being rejected in life, it takes more strength to hold our peace than it takes to strike back in anger and in vengeance.”
William Barclay, the English theologian, said that this story about the Samaritan village was Jesus’ strongest lesson on tolerance. One of my seminary friends said that the best commentary on this passage is a story about Abraham Lincoln who, many people think, was the finest and most spiritual of all our presidents. During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln was being criticized for not being harsh enough on the soldiers of the South. As the story goes, a general from the North came up to him after a battle where Northern troops were ordered to spare Confederate soldiers and asked, “Why didn’t you destroy your enemy?” President Lincoln answered with these now famous words: “Do I not destroy my enemy by making him my friend?”
James and John were livid with their rejection by the folks in that Samaritan village. And there are times when you and I may have feelings of anger and resentment that run deep within us. And sometimes we have secret thoughts in which we would welcome bad luck or punishment for those whose behaviors have caused us pain. But Jesus would say to us, as he said to James and John, "That is not my spirit."
I can think of other instances where Jesus challenged the prejudice and intolerance of his own people in regards to the Samaritans. Remember the story in the 4th chapter of John where Jesus came to the town of Samaria to get water from Jacob's well? A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus asked her to give him water—which was taboo, because Jewish men were not to talk to Samaritan women. But the upshot of this story is that Jesus promised to give her "living water," and she returned to her village and gave a positive witness to her friends about Jesus. And, of course, there is the well-known parable Jesus told of the man who was robbed and left by the side of the road. It was the Samaritan who showed kindness and generosity. And remember the story of the healing of the ten lepers? The only one who returned to thank Jesus was the Samaritan man.
In today's story we find that Jesus was powered not by the spirit of vengeance or anger but by another kind of spirit—the spirit of love. And he wanted James and John as well as all of his disciples to learn another way of dealing with conflict, especially in regards to rejection and prejudice. Jesus was so secure and so confident in himself and the spirit of God's love that he could tolerate and still love those who rejected him.
So, how do we deal with rejection? How do we deal with those natural responses of revenge and getting even? We are invited to remember that the spirit of love and forgiveness that empowered Jesus is also his gift to you and to me. May God give us grace in those moments of feeling rejection that we can find creative ways to serve even those whose anger and rejection cause us pain.
Sometimes we might well remember that the loving response to rejection and hurt may be to do nothing—nothing at all.
May the Peace of God which passes all human understanding, keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Pastor Obed Nelson