February 10, 2013 Outta My Way, I m Passin Through Luke 4: 21-30

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1 1 February 10, 2013 Outta My Way, I m Passin Through Luke 4: Have you ever been in a crowd? Sure you have, but have you ever been in a crowd that seemed to be pressing so intently that if you didn t go along with the flow of the crowd, it could be dangerous? Just think of the tragedies of Brazil on January 27 when more than 200 died. And then back in February of 2003 in Rhode Island that claimed the lives of more than 100. Crowd confusion. Mob mentality. What does it look like? I remember it wasn t long ago when I took Melissa and our oldest daughter, Kara, to the arena at Cleveland for a concert. It was a great concert, once we got there through a nasty winter storm, but then we were leaving. They d booked the afternoon show probably a bit too close to the evening show and there were folks trying to get into the arena as we were trying to leave. The flow of people was crazy. There were snake-like lines of folks

2 2 that could have been doing the hokey-pokey if they had room enough but there certainly wasn t room. And don t even think about getting in their way or breaking through their line. Actually a guide, a page from the arena called out to folks that if you were trying to get to a certain parking deck, follow her.and she paved the way for many of us. Again, it was a great concert. But there were moments that if something would have happened, it could have been a dangerous setting. Crowd mentality. It can be more than an inconvenience. It can be downright dangerous. And we d like to think things may have changed over the years. Nope. Listen as we open God s Word to the 4 th chapter of the Gospel according to Luke, verses PAGE As you do that maybe remember that this is where we left off last week, remember? Jesus has read the scriptures to the gathered folks at the temple and declares how he is the fulfillment of the promise the promised Messiah that in him the scriptures have been fulfilled. Maybe that was the trigger for the crowd mentality to take over..cause as we ll see, they weren t ready to hear that. Let s read.

3 3 You ve maybe heard it said as it tells us in this scripture that no prophet is accepted in his hometown. Maybe you ve heard that before? I know this to be true in my own experience..my own family. My brother, the Rev. Dr. Dana Lewis Stoddard - sound pretty impressive, right? The Reverend Doctor Dana Lewis Stoddard..concluded distinguished theological studies in Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia and earned his doctorate. He began his ministry from there in various areas with what would be termed success and recognition. Yet I remember a time when he had the opportunity to do a preaching series back in our hometown of East Liverpool. His message probably didn t deviate from what he d offered to others, yet frankly his message fell on deaf ears. The same messages that the Holy Spirit could have used to bring about great kingdom work elsewhere, fell on deaf years back in his hometown..and in all honesty, I was among those at the time that didn t offer the support he deserved. My reality is maybe some of the same reality Jesus experienced. isn t that the son of Joseph the carpenter.isn t that Dana, the son of the pottery

4 4 worker, Lewis? And the message wasn t embraced.maybe like the seed scattered you read about a little later in Luke 8. The word, the seed, the message, fell on the path or on the rocks or in the thorns. In all those cases it didn t take root and bear fruit. Why didn t I accept it? Well, come on, he was my brother. I knew all the stuff he d done all through his life, maybe especially back in high school, for goodness sakes. All along the way and believe me, he was no saint..of course neither was I.none of us are, are we? Scripture tells us there was a time that Jesus own siblings had trouble accepting him - - you might think that should surprise us..well, it doesn t surprise me at all. Ok so we see Jesus rejected by the home crowd.and the mob mentality is at work. Now you might say, why is that important? A little sidebar if you will. Well, as I ve looked into this the mentality behind mob or crowd mentality isn t all that alien to the thinking and the results we see in something that we ve heard more and more about in recent times, and that s bullying. As a society we ve been more and more aware of bullying these days, right?

5 5 Well, consider these mentality traits when it comes to mobs and crowds. So, what causes mob or crowd mentality? There are a number of explanations for mob mentality within social psychology I ve come across. These include: Deindividuation There s a word, huh? De- Individuation It means when people are part of a group, they experience a loss of self-awareness. What they might normally not do as an individual, they become more likely to do in the frenzy of a crowd. Sort of like a flash mob..but with evil intent, rather than good, clean fun. They sort of forget who they are. their identity their inhibitions. When people are part of a group, they can lose their sense of individual identity. I just did it because everyone else was doing it. And of course there are emotions involved being part of a group can lead to heightened emotional states, whether that may be excitement, anger, hostility, etc. Then there s Acceptability behaviors that are usually seen as unacceptable suddenly become acceptable when others within a group are seen to be carrying them out.

6 6 And how about Anonymity people feel anonymous within a large group, which reduces their sense of responsibility and accountability. We re just faces in the crowd. And there s Diffusion of Responsibility being part of a group creates the perception that violent or unacceptable behavior is not a personal responsibility but a group responsibility. They did it. The larger the group or crowd, the more likely that there will be de-individuation and diffusion of responsibility. It is generally believed that everyone is capable of this mob mentality. However, research does suggest that some personalities or circumstances make it more likely. For example: Adolescents who lack a stable family can gain a sense of identity when part of a group. People are more likely to take part in things like looting, breaking in somewhere and stealing, during times of hardship. And the crowd mentality particularly is fueled by the emotional events of activities you ve no doubt seen reported like high stakes soccer matches and the like.

7 7 So back to our Scripture as we pray for those who get caught up in mob or crowd mentality, praying we ll not fall into the trap or that those we love won t be drawn in either, ok? The Messiah, remember, was prophesied to be the one who would save the people. And lots of folks stopped there. They didn t hear that the Messiah was to save the people --- from their sins. Even Jesus closest followers missed that way too much. No, folks wanted someone to save them, all right, but they wanted someone to save them not from their sins, but save them from the oppressive life they had under the thumb of the Romans and the like. Save us.hosanna.hosanna save us..not from our sins.save us from them. Get your army together Jesus and wipe em out. Now did they have a right to pray for that kind of salvation..yea They had had it pretty tough over hundreds of years. But that wasn t the kind of King Jesus they were getting, and mix in the fact that he s the hometown boy comes in to claim his rightful role as the Messiah with their unrealized expectations that the king who was coming was going to rescue them from their

8 8 sins, not from Rome..well..that just added fuel to the fire of mob mentality. Their hopes that the Messiah s coming would bring about an end to oppression, injustice, and exploitation and the inauguration of a new age were fading. They became so riled up by his response to why he has come...which is what?..last week remember he said he was anointed to bring good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, let the oppressed go free and proclaim the year of the Lord s favor. There wasn t anything in there about marshalling troops to go to war against the oppressors. So riled up is his audience in this response that they attempt to kill Jesus. Now folks, you know so many of us have problems with change sometimes, right? We re creatures of habit. Change is a dynamic that is most unsettling and is usually resisted in preference for the old, the familiar and the routine. The crowd in this instance got quite unsettled, didn t they? Not only do the religiously committed resist change, but they also see their resistance to change actually as a protection of the divine interest. We re the keepers of

9 9 the keys! We re here to make sure change especially change that doesn t suit my personal preferences make sure change THAT doesn t happen. We dig in our feet to defend our long held interests.. Well here we read that they were ready to not only dig in their feet, but also pick up stones. And then what happened? There s the mob snarling at this man who claims scripture has been fulfilled in his coming.he s the Messiah of God.this carpenter s son..joseph and Mary s boy..now thirty of course.but..here s this hometown kid they saw awkwardly design his first table, maybe drive his first nail, ride his first donkey. What happened when they press him closer and closer preparing to push him over the cliff? Get rid of him? Jesus escapes. Yea, he just escapes. He walks right through the crowd Outta my way, I m just passin through.he could have said. He escapes without so much as a hair out of place. It s amazing. Talk about the power of Jesus name. It s awesome. The crowd is ready to kill. The Christ the

10 10 Messiah of God - Jesus calmly parts the seas of their snarling faces and stone clenching hands. Jesus, who brings the message of freedom for the oppressed, hope for the poor and release to the captives.passes through the encounter Talk about a change in the scene. Yea, we saw that the fulfillment of Scripture can be challenging and frightful especially to those who want to hold on to the status quo. But, praise God, God isn t about the status quo. God is about change. Change in your life and change in mine. And the scene changes here from an angry mob ready for blood.to stunned silence, I ll bet. And Jesus ministry continues from there. He leaves the area. Dusts his feet off and takes his message of change to hearts more ready to hear it. I mentioned before about my brother. He and I talk almost weekly about how things are in our lives, in our ministries. He s having some health issues that I may have mentioned before and I invite your continued prayers for him.

11 11 When he is able, He and a couple of other guys he s gotten together with have developed what I pray will continue to be a life-changing ministry. It s a ministry especially geared to men.it s called Route1520. Route 1520 is a Christ-centered recovery movement dedicated to providing a way home for those men especially who are struggling with the messiness of life. Based on Luke 15:20, it seeks to help the struggling far from home like the prodigal son was struggling in the far country..and praying folks will as it says there, Get right up and go home to the father the heavenly father who loves us even when we ve lost ourselves in the crowd when we ve rejected responsibility for our actions, when we ve become subject to that thing called deindividuation..rather than claiming who we are and whose we are.claiming responsibility for our thoughts and actions. It s about guy talk, like we ve been having these few weeks together.guy talk that says we desire to build authentic Christ-centered relationships in order to equip one another to impact our hearts, our families, our workplace and the world, all for God s glory.

12 12 Our mission is to preach the gospel to one another because the gospel of grace. It s the only hope we have for change. We believe that face-to-face and heart-toheart gospel-driven relationships will sanctify us and ultimately multiply throughout His Kingdom. Because we are Christ s.we aren t controlled by the crowd mentality.because those of us who have claimed Jesus as Lord of our lives are given the power to buck the tide.to walk away from the crowds that would lead us away from God.we are in Jesus..he s placed his claim on us as his own.and longs for us to follow him.through the crowds of complacency the crowds of confusion the crowds that call us to follow anything and anyone other than Jesus. Yes, we re just passing through this life.into, I pray, the eternal life Jesus promises to all who believe. He invites us to get up and go to the father. And we ll be praising God that even while we are still a long way off, our heavenly father sees us and is filled with compassion for us.and will claim us as his own.

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