I know that by now Christmas is in the rearview mirror, but bear with me for one last reference. Watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation has become a Christmas tradition for many, as the movie has so many memorable scenes and plenty of quotable material. Perhaps because as a dad, I can sadly relate it all too well to it, one scene that never gets old is watching Clark Griswold put up the Christmas lights. That scene all-too perfectly captures the role of the dim-witted doofus of a dad entertainingly enduring slips and falls as he attempts to cover the whole house in lights. Of course, all of this build-up is merely setting the scene for the moment of truth when Clark is ready to plug everything in and dazzle his family with the most amazing array of lights ever. But after all that hard work and all the effort he put into it, when he goes to plug in the lights, spoiler alert: nothing happens. It’s obvious that something is wrong because the lights don’t light up.
There are signs when something doesn’t appear to be working. Those signs may not always be as obvious as thousands upon thousands of Christmas lights failing to light up, but there are different ways of telling when something is not working. The bathroom scale reiterates that the diet isn’t working. Increased squinting and blurry signs in the distance indicate that the eyes aren’t working like they used to. Limited functionality on a phone or device reveals that something isn’t working.
If you recall last Sunday’s account of Jesus’ preaching in the synagogue, one might make interpret the signs and conclude that his preaching wasn’t working. That certainly appeared to be the case in light of the response to his preaching! The crowd marched him to the edge of a nearby cliff with the intent of tossing him over. To a bystander assessing how effective Jesus’ preaching was, that might be all the evidence needed to conclude that his preaching wasn’t working. Otherwise, we’d expect increased crowds and more ears arriving to give a listen; not an attempt on the preacher’s life!
Sometimes it doesn’t appear like the Word is working in the local congregation, either. Are there any signs that might indicate as much? Certain mission and ministry efforts are discontinued. Familiar faces and families have either moved on to other places. Church attendance isn’t what it used to be. Bible study participation has dipped. We may not be facing the extreme of looking down the edge of a cliff, but might a combination of these realities lead us to conclude that the Word is no longer working like it used to?
What do you do when something stops working? Do you quit? Do you try to fix it? Do you ask for help? Do you try something else? Clark Griswold checked all the lights and connections. He made sure everything was plugged in. He thought through every possible problem to get those lights to work. He was determined to do whatever it took to figure it out.
If we aren’t as persistent as Clark Griswold, we might find it tempting to quit or to try something else. Some simply stop gathering for worship, ghosting God’s house without any explanation. Others are eager to chase after what seems to be the latest fad working somewhere else. We pass along success stories from other churches and presume that someone else has figured it out, that they’ve found the secret sauce to spiritual success.
Or maybe we consider going the route Paul mentioned in our Second Reading: “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). We entertain the possibility of altering our message to see if it draws more of a crowd. But, if we are tempted to alter our message to cater to what people want to hear rather than hearing what God says, then we miss the whole point Paul was making to Timothy. This was not an invitation or a how-to from Paul to Timothy to help him grow his church; rather, this was a warning of how God’s Word would be received. And regrettably, that time has clearly arrived our day.
Actually, that time had already arrived even before Paul warned Timothy. It was exactly that attitude that Jesus encountered in our verses from last Sunday. So how did he respond when it appeared the Word wasn’t working? Jesus didn’t quit, even after an attempt on his life! Instead, he continued preaching. He went to Capernaum (see the verses prior to ours). Then we see him in our verses today again right where we were introduced to him last week – in a synagogue, preaching no less! Finally, at the close of our verses today, after a whole night of healing the sick and suddenly finding a crowd begging him to stay at daybreak, Jesus had this to say: “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent” (Lk. 4:43). Jesus could have catered to the crowd and stayed to keep on fixing their physical health, but he was more concerned about their spiritual health, so he had to keep on preaching the good news. And Luke closes by telling us, “And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea” (v.44). He preached the Word.
Jesus was carrying out perfectly the sound advice Paul would later write to Timothy: “Preach the Word” (2 Tim. 4:2). Give the Second Reading for this morning another look over the course of this week and notice that the entire section is essentially summarized by that encouragement to stick to the Word. When things are going great, stick to the Word. When things aren’t going so great, stick to the Word. When things are uncertain, stick to the Word. When correction is needed, stick to the Word. When growth is needed, stick to the Word. Stick to the Word. Stick to the Word. Stick to the Word.
It isn’t the expectation. When something doesn’t work, we don’t expect to keep doing the same thing and getting different results. When it appears that the Word isn’t working, it seems sensible to fall back to plan B. But that is what Jesus reveals, what he uncovers for us today – his agenda didn’t change during his ministry, and his agenda doesn’t change today as he continues his ministry through us: stick to the Word. The Word works, as the prophet Isaiah beautifully pictured: “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (55:10-11).
As our truly perfect preacher, Jesus stuck to the Word. That’s very comforting news to any man called to preach to God’s people today! Daily we pastors are reminded of our failings as God’s undershepherds. Regularly our preaching misses the mark. Too often we fail God’s people. So what a comfort to see the perfect preacher in our Gospel today, a Savior who was resolute in his determination to stick to the Word, realizing that was what he “must” (v.43) do if he was to perfectly carry out his Father’s will. The perfect preacher measures up where imperfect preachers fall woefully short.
Jesus, though, wasn’t done there. He not only came to be our perfect preacher, obediently proclaiming the Word of God, but he came to be the Word in the flesh, to fulfill what he preached. To seal the deal on the salvation he taught about. To suffer, die, and rise again to provide the Word with its power and punch. Had the words Jesus preached not also been fulfilled by Jesus, they would have been worthless and empty – meaningless chatter! But Jesus carried out at the cross what the Word promised: forgiveness and salvation were not just a nice idea, but a reality.
And how we need that to be a reality! For our sinful second-guessing of the Word, for every time we have passed it up in favor of some inferior alternative, the Word turns us away with is well-deserved judgment and condemnation. Yet that same Word of God draws us back with its assurances of grace and forgiveness, promising restoration with God once again because of Jesus. Forgiveness is found in unlimited capacity within the very Word we are tempted to trade in, so we are drawn back to it again and again, no matter how often we stray from it. Stick to the Word. It is life.
Clark Griswold was committed to finding out why the lights weren’t working. In the end, it was his wife who figured it out, but his determination was rewarded nonetheless. Finally, the right switch was flipped, the lights plugged in, and the Griswold home lit up like a bright star. The house became a ridiculously bright beacon of light from blocks and blocks away!
So it is with the gospel in our midst. When we stick with the Word, it lights each of us up, like those thousands upon thousands of lights on the Griswold home. As Jesus shines through us, may others be attracted to him through us. May they then have the opportunity to receive not only the temporal blessings, but the eternal blessings that come when we go with the agenda Jesus has given to his church, when we stick to the Word.