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From the Rector“He came to Nazareth, where he hadbeen brought up.” (Luke 4:16)Imagine that you are a stand-upcomedian about to entertain anexpectant crowd. You have beenhoning your craft for years. Every setyou performed was subject to closeself-scrutiny, as you examined whatworked, what did not, and why. Nevermind the difficulty of coming up withhumorous observations in the firstplace – your task now is to make thesejokes that you have said hundreds oftimes seem fresh and new for thepeople in front of you. Now imaginecoming to the end of your set.Silence.As an experienced comedian, youknow that it is not the material that isto blame. The jokes work. You work.Fortunately you have an explanationfor your failure to connect with theaudience. When your fellow stand-upsask you how it went, you will have aready answer. “Tough crowd,” you willsay, shaking your head, “toughcrowd.”When Jesus went to teach in thesynagogue of his home town he got tospeak to the best audience imaginable.These were not surly strangers withtheir arms crossed. They were familyand friends, eager to hear what he hadto say.There is no escaping the fact thatbooks, scrolls and carefulinterpretation of the texts have alwaysbeen at the heart of the way of thepeople of God. Ours is a wordyreligion! The event preserved in Luke4 is a seminal moment for Christianhistory, not because Jesus signalled abreak from the old Hebrew scripturesbut because he did the opposite. Fromthis point onwards, the ability todemonstrate a responsible and sinceredevotion to the holy scriptures was amark, perhaps the mark, of thelegitimacy of the movement of Christfollowers.“Today this scripture has beenfulfilled in your hearing.”Jesus proclaimed he was the one tofree the oppressed and the crowdloved it. Luke says, “All spoke well ofhim and were amazed at the graciouswords that came from his mouth.”Jesus was the home-town boy madegood, putting his stamp on a passagepopular with a crowd who, living inRoman-occupied Palestine, identifiedwith the poor, the incapacitated, theoppressed. Isaiah was talking aboutthem. They were the opposite of atough crowd.Which is why Jesus knew they had notgot it.Contrary to the instinct common topublic speakers everywhere, Jesusthen set about turning the roomagainst him. Drawing from thescriptures, Jesus points out that, forGod, the “oppressed poor” are not3 October 2013