Scripture; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, Luke 4:13-32
Message; “Good and Mad”
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
(1) If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. (2) If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. (3) If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
(4) Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. (5) It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. (6) Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. (7) It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
(8) Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. (9) For we know in part and we prophesy in part, (10) but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. (11) When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. (12) Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
(13) And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Luke 4:13-32
(13) When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
(14) Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. (15) He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
(16) He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. (17) The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: (18) “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, (19) to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
(20) Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, (21) and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
(22) All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
(23) Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’ “
(24) “I tell you the truth,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. (25) I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. (26) Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. (27) And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed–only Naaman the Syrian.”
(28) All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. (29) They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. (30) But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
(31) Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people. (32) They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority.
This is the word of God, for the people of God. Thanks be to God.
How many of you are familiar with the term, “Good and Mad”?
The first thing I noticed in our reading today from the gospel of Luke, Luke tells that when the devil had finished all his tempting he left him until an opportune time. I bet the devil was “Good and Mad”.
Then Luke tells us that Jesus got on the road and returned to Galilee, in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in the synagogues, and everyone praised him. This had to make the devil even madder.
In verse 16 Luke tells us Jesus returned home, to the town Nazareth where he had been brought up. This didn’t go so well for Jesus. I think the devil tried to tempt him again, thinking that this would be an opportune time. But once again failed.
Today we find out a little bit about a time in Jesus’ life and ministry when the crowds got “Good and Mad” at Him.
The people of Nazareth, the people Jesus grew up with, the ones He had probably built furniture for or repaired a roof for. The people who He had attended Synagogue with, got “Hopping mad” when He confronted them about how unaccepting they were. They got “Madder than a hornet” and attempted to throw Jesus off the cliff upon which the town was built. They weren’t just irritated, they weren’t just mad, they were “Good and Mad.”
Let’s take a closer look, Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth and participates in a synagogue service. Usually such a service included hymns, prayers, a reading from the Torah, a reading from the Prophets, and a sermon. The readings from the Torah may have been prescribed by a lectionary, but the prophetic readings were not set at this time, and so Jesus himself probably chose the passage from Isaiah.
Jesus draws attention to several things by using this passage from Isaiah. In verse 20 and 21 Luke tells us Jesus sat down and let them in on a little secret by saying;”Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
The reference to Isaiah 61 and the use of the word “anointed” suggest that Jesus is referring to himself as the Messiah. And also that Jesus’ ministry is directed to do good for those in need—the poor, the prisoners, the blind, and the oppressed. Significantly, Jesus does not continue reading Isaiah, for it also speaks of the day of God’s vengeance.
The point is that Jesus’s ministry is one of good news and grace . Initially Jesus’ words impress the crowd, but they take offense when they reflect on Jesus’s heritage; he is merely Joseph’s son. Jesus responds with the principle that “no prophet is accepted in his hometown”. He then gives two examples from the Old Testament to illustrate his point (1 Kings 17:8–16; 2 Kings 5:1–14). Both Elijah and Elisha, who were also prophets, did not aid people from Israel—they aided Gentiles. Jesus implies, of course, that the Gentiles were more open to their prophetic ministry than the Jews.
Because of the peoples pride of their heritage, their hatred of the Gentiles and their familiarity of his upbringing they became “Good and Mad” and drive him out of town to try to kill him, but Jesus walks “right through the crowd and went on his way”. He went to Capernaum a town in Galilee were they were amazed at his teachings, because his message had authority.” A lesson he later taught to his disciples when,”he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick”(Luke 9:2). In 9:5 he said to them;” If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave their town, as a testimony against them.” Just walk away.
Suppose today when you came to church the only way you could stay was if you were to sit where you were told. You weren’t given a choice as to where you could sit or who you could sit with. You are expected to tithe and that tithe would be used to the benefit of others, outside your community. How would that make you feel? Would you be mad? It probably would. It would probably make you “Good and Mad” We don’t like change. We don’t like being told what to do. We don’t like being inconvenienced. Do we? And we get angry. We get “Good and Mad”.
Have you ever been “Good and Mad”? Sure you have. We all have. But sometimes that anger can get us in trouble, can’t it?
I’ll never forget a time when I was in the Navy. I was a Engineman a diesel mechanic,stationed on the USS Spartanburg county. As an Engineman my job included repair of all related equipment for the operation of the main engines. The ship had fuel transfer pumps mounted on the main deck and were necessary for the transfer of fuel from storage tanks to the engines.
One day we were out in the middle of the Atlantic ocean returning from a Mediterranean cruise and our main engines started to shut down because of lack of fuel. The fuel transfer pumps quit. The pumps weren’t hard to repair, but getting to the nuts and bolts that held them together and to the deck was sometimes a real pain. Plus you had to use an extra deep, deep well socket to reach two of the bolts that had to be removed in order to make that repair. And we only had one of those sockets.
I said the pumps were a pain to work on, especially with the ratchet I happened to pick up. This particular ratchet slipped. There was something wrong with the mechanism which made it unreliable. And invariably, it always slipped and just the wrong moment and you’d bust your knuckles. I’d already done that about half a dozen times and each time I’d gotten madder and madder and madder. Until finally, the ratchet slipped again. I banged my already bloody knuckles again. And I got “Good and Mad.” I grabbed that ratchet and in a fit of anger I chucked it as far as I could throw it into the waters of the Atlantic. And just about the time that ratchet left my fingers, I realized that the only socket we had, that would work, was on the end of that ratchet. And I watched helplessly as it tumbled through the air in slow motion and made a loud “splash” as it hit the water and sunk to the bottom along with Blackbeard’s treasure. Needless to say, I was “Good and Mad” but the result of my Mad wasn’t Good.
We all know, or should know, that it’s healthy to get angry and be angry. Suppressed anger generally leads to depression. But there is a big difference between being “Good and Mad” and being “Mad and Good.”
Let me just list a few things that some of the wise have said about anger over the years.
Will Rogers: “People who fly into a rage always make a bad landing.”
An old Jewish Proverb: A man who can’t control his temper is like a city without defenses.
Dr. James Dobson: “Satan’s most successful maneuver in churches and Christian organizations is to get people angry at one another; to attack and insult our brothers and sisters, thus splitting the body of Christ.”
Aristotle: “Anybody can become angry – that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way – that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.”
A man is about as big as the things that make him angry.
Unspoken anger is never regretted.
Those who look for opportunities to hate, miss many opportunities to love.
We all know what it’s like to be “Good and Mad.” We’ve all been “Good and Mad.” But that’s not really the issue. The issue is have we been “Mad and Good.”
Today, I don’t have ten easy steps for dealing with anger. I’m not going to give you a textbook definition of anger. There’s probably at least ten books you could buy at a local Book Store that would give you all the right techniques and all the information you need to know about anger. What I want to do is for us to learn from Jesus. What he did. And the implications for our lives.
I’ve got to tell you, I’m not the best at controlling my own temper. It’s not the big things that get to me. It’s the small stuff. Give me a big crisis any day over ten nitpicky little things that go wrong. It’s the little things that drive me nuts.
One or two of those little things are ok but when they’re piled on top of each other, it makes me lose my religion. They make me “Good and Mad” but most of the time when I’m “Good and Mad”, I’m not Mad and Good.
I think the main difference in being “Good and Mad” and being “Mad and Good” is the things we get mad about. What did Jesus get angry about?
As you read the Gospels you find out real quick that the attitudes that caused Him to get angry were attitudes like injustice, hypocrisy, poverty, indifference, legalism rather than grace, pomp and self-centeredness rather than humility, playing at religion without having any depth of faith. Those things really irritated Jesus.
Yet, look at what we get mad about: The bread on our sandwich we ordered was rye instead of the wheat that we ordered. The waiter took to long in getting our meal to us. Or maybe there’s noisy kids in worship.
But if you put it in perspective, we should be thankful that we have food. There are those who have none. They wouldn’t care what kind of bread, they just want bread. They wouldn’t care if it took an extra ten minutes to get their meal, they’d be thankful they were getting a meal. And noisy kids in worship, I know some older congregations who would give their eye teeth for one child in worship. They’d put up with all the noise that child wanted to make. Because the presence of that child, and the noise that child made would be a sign of hope and growth, and a symbol of the future.
This is what I know about anger, most of mine isn’t righteous anger. Most of my anger is at the trivial inconveniences of life.
And I know, my anger doesn’t come to a boil or boiling potential when I’ve worshiped, when I’ve spent time in prayer in the presence of God, when I’m focused on serving God and I’m centered in my relationship with God. It’s only when I haven’t spent that time with God and my spirit hasn’t been filled with God’s Spirit that my anger boils over in unhealthy ways.
Take from that what you will. All I know is that it’s easier to be “Mad and Good” when I spend time in prayer and worship and try to live as Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 13.
I usually read this passage at weddings but it’s not really about marriage it’s about relationships with one another and how we should treat the world. Let me read it to you once again.
(1) If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. (2) If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. (3) If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
(4) Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. (5) It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. (6) Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. (7) It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
(8) Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. (9) For we know in part and we prophesy in part, (10) but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. (11) When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. (12) Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
(13) And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Now I know it’s not like the old Beatles’ song, “All You Need Is Love.” It takes more than just love. I’m no expert but I think love is the first step to anger management. And that love has to be experienced through a relationship with God. A relationship that is based on the unconditional love and forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ.
We can only give, what we have and what we’ve experienced. What we hope to give is the love described in 1 Corinthians 13.
When we’re filled with the love of God through Christ, then we can own our anger. We can be “Mad and Good” instead of just “Good and Mad.” We can do like Paul says in Ephesians 4:26 “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.”
To many times were like the guy who was on his death bed, and all of a sudden his heart was filled fear because he had harbored anger and hatred against another man. He sent for that individual. The dying man made overtures of peace. It was really quite moving. At the end, the two men shook hands in friendship. But just as the visitor was leaving the room, the sick man roused himself and said, “Now remember, if I get over this, the old quarrel still stands.”
God doesn’t expect us to be perfect. If that were the case we wouldn’t need mercy and grace. I give thanks that we have a God who, while not expecting us to be perfect, challenges and calls us on to perfection and then offers mercy, grace and forgiveness for those times when we fail. We have a God who understands being “Good and Mad” and aids us in being “Mad and Good.”
There’s a whole lot of difference between being “Good and Mad.” And being “Mad and Good.” Anybody can be “Good and Mad.” Being “Mad and Good” is the work of a Christian whose life is filled with the unconditional love of God through Christ. We’re called, commissioned and challenged to be like Christ in all that we do. The only one who can control your anger is the one who controls your heart. Sometimes the best response is to do what Jesus did. Just walk away.
If you’re going to be mad, don’t be “Good and Mad.” Be “Mad and Good” and express the love of God, even in your anger. That’s the challenge of our faith.
In His Service,
Pastor Joe
Listen To Audio: Sermon 20220130
Listen To Audio: Service 01302022
Prayer of Confession: God, we do not understand Jesus, the prophet. We do not want to get our hands dirty with the poor, the oppressed, the prisoners. Forgive us for being insulated and isolated. Open our hearts to the poor and help us to love them as you love them, working to bring in the good news of the reign of God. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Pastor Joe will be available at the church on Thursday afternoon from 2 to 4. If you need to speak to him, contact Pastor Joe at570-267-4570 (cell) or Email: joe.s.travis@gmail.com
Loose change goes to Trehab Local Food Bank
Sunday School starts at 8:30am
Choir practice will be on Thursday at 1:00! Please come a join us in singing praises to Jesus!
Our new mission is Souper Bowl of Caring, now through Super Bowl Sunday February 13th. Monetary gifts only in Souper Bowl envelopes or in your envelopes with gift marked. The session will buy gift cards to the local grocery stores for local needs.
Social Hour after church February 6th 2022.
PW will meet on February 10th at 11:00 A.M.
On Saturday, February 12, we will have a soup and game afternoon from 12-4. Homemade soup, bread and desserts will be provided. Some games will be on hand or bring your favorite game to play. Invite your friends and neighbors. It’s time to slow down and enjoy an afternoon together.
Men’s Breakfast Wednesday February 17th at 8:00 A.M.
Session Meeting Saturday, February 19th at 9:00 A.M.
Newsletter Deadline – Tuesday, March 1st, 2022.
Please sign up to host one of the social hours on the Sunday after Communion Service on the first Sunday of the month.
Listen to WPEL 96.5 for church cancellation if your internet is down during a storm this winter.
Meadow View would like to do Valentines again this year, so they are asking for boxes of Valentine cards that the residents can share among each other or send to a friend. So, if You can bring a box or two of cards to the church in the next couple weeks, that would be great. Dollar store is a good place to find them.
