Today, on this last Sunday before lent, we celebrate the mystery of Jesus, the way he creates space for us to catch glimpses of, and experience, the power of God. Is that what Jesus is doing in this story?

Jesus has just returned from a 40 day visionquest in the wilderness; he comes home to Nazareth. On the sabbath, he goes to the synagogue where he is asked to read the scripture. Standing in front of his community, he reads the familiar words from Isaiah  61. Then he rolls up the scroll and sits down. To our twenty first century ears, it sounds like Jesus is done. But he is actually just beginning; in the Jewish tradition sitting down is the position for teaching. Jesus begins his teaching with, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

People settle in to hear the teaching and they whisper to each other, “Isn’t it nice that Joseph’s son has come home?” and “He really makes the text come alive” and “How gracious he is to teach us this way.” And it is such good news – Isaiah 61: freedom is coming, God cares for the poor, the year of Jubilee approaches,(and Luke adds in- recovery of sight to the blind.) This is going to be a good sermon.

We think of this as the beginning of Jesus’ ministry but he says that the good people of Nazareth are going to want him to do miracles just like he has done in Capernaum. Wait a minute. Has he already started his teaching and healing in Capernaum? Luke doesn’t tell us if he did. Luke does say that Jesus goes right from Nazareth to Capernaum and on the next Sabbath heals someone in the synagogue. It is a curious literary or perhaps time travel twist, not one to pursue today.

Back to Nazareth, in the synagogue. Jesus preaches. He really preaches. We are often hardest on the people we love; we place high expectations on them. Maybe that is what is going on with Jesus. He seems to go from graciously reading the holy scripture to accusing his family and neighbors of not being faithful enough. He knows that all he will ever be to them is the hometown boy. He is limited in Nazareth because they know him too well and they do not believe.

Jesus doesn’t confront them quite so bluntly as to say they have little faith. Or maybe it is even more of a threat that he goes straight to scripture, equating himself with the great prophets Elijah and Elisha, and his listeners with the Israelites of old who did not have enough faith.

Now the people wonder, “Who is this son of a poor carpenter? who is he to talk to us this way? what were we thinking, calling him gracious? who is he to question our faith?”

And then, as if to illustrate Jesus’ point, the people get angry, so angry they drive him out of the synagogue, out of town and attempt to throw him off a cliff. But unlike the herd of pigs that do go over the cliff several chapters later, Jesus will not be thrown over. Perhaps he escapes by blending in with the mob or maybe there is divine intervention. Somehow, he walks right through the crowd and is on his way to Capernaum – where he will be listened to, respected and able to do healing miracles.

When we read this story, we are probably the hometown crowd. Do we recognize the amazing people of God in our midst? especially when they call us to hard truths? We think that God is in our midst and yet the real, mysterious, misunderstood, impossible work of God happens where we least expect it. Think of the most unlikely place for God to be found — and that is precisely where God can be found. That is the scandal that Jesus is teaching here, that gets people all riled up.

We might also look at the story another way, in a way that is still personal but in a different direction. What if the hearers of Jesus would have really listened to him when he said “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” What if instead of looking at Jesus and thinking that it was all about him, that Jesus was fulfilling Isaiah’s words, they looked around at the gathering right there in the synagogue? What if it was not so much about him as about all of them?

You may have heard about the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and his imprisonment by the Chinese government or his kerfuffle with the Lego Company or the recent controversial photos of him lying on the shore of a lake, like the drowned Syrian child.

In an NPR interview (which I can no longer find) he was asked about the way he takes up so much of the artistic room in China, the way that he is such a big name and leaves little room for others to make art. Ai Weiwei responded that he is not taking up all the space; he is trying to create space for more artists. It is not about him, it is about the space he is creating for others so they can also find their artistic voices and talents. He wants to create space for many voices and talents to be offered in China and the world.

What if this is also part of what Jesus is up to. When Jesus says, “This scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” the people understand that Jesus is referring to himself. And when they go there, to believing that it is Jesus with all the power, it leads them to doubt what he can do and, in turn, doubt God.

What if instead of immediately gossiping about Jesus and his family, those gathered for worship looked to each other and said, “How is this being fulfilled? How is the Spirit of the Lord upon him and me and you? Are we part of making this happen? How can we be part of setting the captive free, bringing sight to the blind, celebrating the year of the Lord, the year of Jubilee?”

Would healing have become possible, right there in Nazareth? Would the story have ended differently? Instead of chasing Jesus out of town, the community could have worked together to see the places right there in Nazareth where God’s mercy and justice were needed and how they could be part of helping to bring it.

It might not just be in Nazareth that this passage gets read this way. We also tend to read it as if it is Jesus’ calling to fulfill Isaiah’s words. But what if it is not only the work of Jesus? What if Jesus is the great performance artist, creating space – so that we can all be part of living into Isaiah’s vision? What if we are being asked to look around at all the spaces we had not imagined love could be found, and there in the midst of tragedy or chaos or deep mourning, we can see even there God is at work, even there a spark of light is alive, even there mystery can be found, if we see with God’s vision.

As a congregation, we are in a year of listening for the places, the paths, the people that we are to become next as a congregation. It is a year of listening for where God is at work and how we can get on board with that. Let us not make the same mistake as the good folks in Nazareth, looking only to Jesus and thinking it is all up to him. Let us not look for God only in the predictable church-y places. Let’s look around at each other yes, and let’s look at the mysterious, unlikely places where God may be at work and wonder together: Are supposed to be there too? What is our role in helping to shed light on the places where God’s peace, justice and mercy are waiting?

The Spirit of God is upon us,
because we are anointed
to proclaim good news to the poor.
We are sent to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.