The Lutheran Hour
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"Writing Him Off"
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Text: Luke 4:21-32
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! You can write off the angels’ resurrection words, but they are still real. You can ignore those words, but your ignorance will not make a difference. You can try to forget them, disregard them, discount them, and disbelieve them, but they are no less real. Christ has risen and for those who believe, these words are life and light and hope.
In the 1800s, there was a European violinist who garnered considerable praise. With his priceless Stradivarius violin, he gave one impressive performance after another. During his concerts, the patrons would whisper. The next day the critics would review: “This is something wonderful. We have heard the music from the Stradivarius.” It didn’t make any difference where he played—church, concert halls, or command performance before royalty—the comment was consistent: “This is something wonderful. We have heard the music from the Stradivarius.” It didn’t take all that long before the violinist got tired of hearing all the accolades go to his violin.
Frustrated, one afternoon he set out from his hotel with a purpose. Going to a musical pawn shop, he picked out and paid for an old, weathered, worn-out violin. It sold for something like $5. He took the instrument to his room, gave it a few coats of polish, replaced the strings, and gave it a good tuning. That night he took the $5 fiddle, not his Stradivarius, to the sold-out concert. Standing in front of the rich and famous, he placed the $5 fiddle, not his Stradivarius, under his chin. For two hours, his fingers flew across the strings of the $5 fiddle, not his Stradivarius. Finally, he finished. The last note of the concert echoed through the hall, and as one the crowd jumped to its feet. The violinist basked in the applause that came from 10,000 clapping hands. In his dressing room he waited impatiently for the glowing reports that he knew his manager would bring. The manager arrived. The violinist asked, “Well, what is it they said?” The manager replied, “The concert is a success. Everyone said, ‘This is something wonderful. We have heard the music from the Stradivarius.'”
I feel sorry for that violinist. After all, nobody likes to be ignored. Nobody likes to be written off.
I remember a pastor telling me about a church picnic his congregation put on. One of the senior members of his church had been out of town when the plans were being made, and she hadn’t been informed about the festivities. Only the night before did the pastor realized the oversight, and he quickly gave the lady an apologetic call. Brushing aside his regrets with a cold reception, the lady replied, “Don’t say you’re sorry to me, Reverend. It won’t do any good. I’ve already prayed for rain.”
I feel sorry for that minister. I feel sorrier for that lady. The truth is, though, nobody likes to be ignored; nobody likes to be written off. If you doubt me, ask your minister. When he’s saying thank you to people for a job well done, he doesn’t like to list names. Why? Most ministers live in fear of leaving somebody off the list. They know nobody likes to be written off.
Were you ever, when your school classmates were choosing up sides for a game, picked last? Were you ever consistently picked last? It’s a terrible feeling, isn’t it, to be considered the worst player possible? Nobody likes to be written off. Gentlemen, did you ever ask a girl out for a date, and have her look at you like you were some slimy thing that had just crawled out from under a rock? Nobody likes to be written off. Ladies, did you ever sit by the phone and wait for someone to call and ask you out to an important occasion? The silence of the phone was deafening. Nobody likes to be written off.
Things don’t change all that much as we grow older. The wife of 20 years doesn’t want the date of her birthday or their anniversary to be forgotten. The husband of two decades still has an ego which demands being told he is still giving Brad Pitt a run for his money. Nobody likes to be written off. We don’t like it when somebody is promoted over us. Seniors don’t like it when the kids forget to call them or visit them. Nobody likes to be written off. Nobody likes to be ignored or forgotten. It’s bad for those who do the forgetting and for those who are forgotten. Nobody likes to be written off.
Especially God. Maybe that’s why He keeps reminding humanity they should remember Him and what He has done for them. In the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, no less than 15 times, the Lord tells His people they should remember. “Remember the day you stood before the Lord” (Deuteronomy 4:10). “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there …” (Deuteronomy 5:15). “Remember well what the Lord your God did to pharaoh” (Deuteronomy 7:18). “Remember how the Lord your God led you through the desert these 40 years” (Deuteronomy 8:2). “Remember the days of old. Consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you” (Deuteronomy 32:7).
Remember, remember, remember. It sounds like a broken record. It sounds like a broken record because humanity’s history is a broken record. We sin. We are punished. We confess our error. God delivers us. We are restored. We forget, and the process begins all over. It’s so sad. No, God doesn’t like to be written off. God doesn’t like to be forgotten.
I can’t imagine a sadder example of God being written off than when Jesus returned to His boyhood home of Nazareth. Maybe when Jesus hit town, He walked through the old neighborhoods and reminisced about the good old days, recalled events from His growing up. Homecomings should give a person a chance to remember the people and places that have shaped him. Homecoming should give folks a chance to catch up with the local guy or gal who has made good, to see “how they came out,” and “what they’ve been doing.” When a hometown hero comes home, there should be a celebration—possibly a parade, and the opportunity for somebody boring to say a few words.
That’s the cue for folks to give each other a nudge, smile knowingly, and confess, “I always knew he was going to be somebody special.” Some of them proudly proclaim, “I changed his diaper when he was a baby.” Somebody is sure to say, “I taught him everything he knows.” Everybody is supposed to glow and beam and boast. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. But that’s not the way it was when Jesus came home. Oh yes, they were excited. They had heard that He had been doing some pretty miraculous things—a miracle here, a healing there, water turned into wine. That might be okay. Who wouldn’t like a miracle like that? Yes, they were pleased when Jesus came home. In the synagogue, they let Him read the Scriptures. They even noticed that He taught as someone with authority, like somebody special. But then Jesus made a claim. He said He was the fulfiller of the prophetic promises concerning a divinely sent Deliverer.
That was too much for His old friends. At that moment, they wrote Jesus off. “Who does He think He is? I know who He is. He grew up here. He played with my son. He wasn’t so big back then. He was Joseph the carpenter’s son. He started out apprenticing here. I have a plow that they made together. They may have been good carpenters, but being a carpenter is a far cry from being the Christ. It will be a cold day you-know-where before I’m going to believe that bunk.” And they didn’t believe Jesus. They wrote Him off. They wanted their local boy to perform miracles, not [to] proclaim Himself Messiah. They wrote Him off so strongly that they did their best to shut Him up permanently. They wrote Him off by trying to throw Him off the town cliff. And that’s when Jesus gave them the miracle they had wanted. No, He didn’t bring somebody back from the dead or restore vision to a blind person. He didn’t cure a leper, nor did He restore hearing to a deaf person. He walked through their midst, walked down the road, and as far as we know, out of the lives of His childhood companions forever.
I wish I could tell you that when Jesus escaped from the Nazareth mob it was the last time He was written off. I wish I could, but I can’t. Truth is, Jesus spent most of His ministry being written off. When He refused to provide miraculous food for the masses, they wrote Him off. So many of the masses wrote Jesus off that finally He turned to His disciples and asked them, “You don’t want to leave too, do you?” (John 6:67). The Pharisees wrote Him off as a man empowered by the devil (Matthew 12:27). The priests wrote Him off as a destroyer of the nation (John 11:48-51). Pilate wrote Him off at His trial and washed his hands of Jesus’ innocent blood (John 19:12ff).
Even today, people are still trying to do their best to erase Jesus, to write Him off, to ignore Him. History books are, even as we speak, being re-written so the Name of the Savior no longer appears. Yes, they will still point out those times when the church has been mistaken or ignorant. Those stories are told in living color and with crystal clarity. But you will have to look hard to find any mention of the fact that it was the power of Christian pulpits that struck the first blows for freedom. In the 1850s and 60s, it was the preaching of Christian pastors that rallied farm boy and city slicker to fight against slavery. In the Name of Jesus, hospitals have been built, medicines discovered, and colleges constructed. Those things are forgotten. America, Canada, and countless other countries have been shaped by the Savior, dedicated to the Triune God. Still, educators try to eradicate the Savior from curriculum and classroom.
Many courts, in subtle and silent ways, are trying to write off the Savior. Freedom of speech can be provided for the pornographer but may be denied the student who wishes to lead a study of Scripture. Comics try to write off the Savior. Their blasphemous blather in which the Name of the Savior is used as a comma or an exclamation mark makes a mockery of the Messiah who came to bring true joy and happiness. The news media gladly gives greater coverage to the pastor or priest who sins than they will anyone from any other vocation or position. Look where you will. Millions today, like the people of Nazareth, are doing the best they can to cast away the Christ.
Individuals armed with misinformation and a minimum of doctrine make sweeping statements that dismiss the Savior and His act of salvation. Parents who would never miss their child’s soccer game, who never flinch at chauffeuring their kids from one activity to another, never think of taking their children to church, nor do they ever consider of value the eternal destiny of their babies’ souls. The common person will spend hours searching for the right restaurant, the perfect automobile, a good butcher, a gentle dentist or understanding doctor, and a high-powered lawyer. But that same person will never spend a moment considering the Savior, salvation, or their soul. Look where you will. People are still trying to write off the Savior, and God doesn’t like it. He doesn’t like it—not one bit.
Let me tell you a secret, which should be no secret: you can’t write off God or His Son, your Savior. Oh, maybe for a little while you can. Maybe for a few years you can pretend He’s not important. But the time will come—it comes for everyone—when you will no longer be able to ignore the Lord. Even if right this moment you don’t know that truth, He does. God is fully aware that the soul which sins will die. God knows that there is not a just person on this earth that does good all the time and never transgresses. And because God knows these things, because the Lord knows that Judgment Day is coming, He sent—beyond human understanding—He sent His only Son into this sad, sorry, sinful world. Born in Bethlehem, Jesus the living Light came into an enslaved world. Jesus was born so all who believe on Him as Savior might be free.
Let me tell you a secret, which should be no secret: you can’t write off God or His Son your Savior. You will either acknowledge Jesus as Savior now, or Jesus as your Judge later on. Jesus cannot, will not be ignored. Turn off this broadcast—you can do it. But you can’t turn off the inevitable end, which is coming for you, as it has for all humanity. I’m not threatening here. I’m holding out to you. The Holy Spirit is calling you to the greatest piece of news you will ever hear: Jesus wants to save you, has died on the cross to save you, has taken your place to save you, has risen to save you, is reaching out to save you.
Look at the many believers all around you who have been called by God’s Gospel. They have been changed. For them, in Jesus, they will never be alone again. In Jesus, they can never be lost again. With Jesus, they will never be without someone to talk to again. Even death, inevitable death, because of Jesus, has lost its sting. Look at the Scriptures. No, I mean really look in the Bible. You will see most clearly that when a person meets Jesus, knows Him, and believes in Him, a miraculous transformation takes place. Matthew, a one-time social outcast who had been changed by Jesus, recorded what he saw in others: “The blind receives sight. The lame walk. Those who have leprosy are cured. The deaf hear. The dead are raised, and the Good News is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away …” (Matthew 11:5-6a).
And that is what this message is all about. God wants you to be saved. God sent His Son so you might have life. It cost you nothing; it is absolutely free to you. Believe in the Son of God who takes away the sins of the world. If you need to know more about the Savior, call us, we can help. Believe in Jesus. Jesus came to forgive you of your sins, and by His blood, give you a new life, here and in eternity. Nobody likes to be ignored. Nobody likes to be written off. Not me. Not you. Not God.
Let me tell you a story. It comes from India in the 1850s. At the home of the British Governor General, a three-year old child wandered into a group of adults. There was nothing extraordinary in that, other than the child was clutching a small poisonous snake, a Russell’s Viper. The child’s father, with as calm a voice as he could muster, said, “John, put that down right this minute.” John could have thought his father’s words were designed to ruin his fun. John could have written off his father’s words and kept on doing what he was doing. John could have done that—and John would have died. Thankfully, John listened to the words of a loving father and lived. I pray you do not write off your Father’s words of life. Listen to Him. He is calling you from death to life, in Jesus. Amen.
Reflections for August 10, 2025
Title: Writing Him OffMark Eischer: You’re listening to The Lutheran Hour. It’s Archives August, and that was Pastor Ken Klaus, with a message that originally aired in February 2004. You’ll find more archived broadcasts at our website, lutheranhour.org. Joining us now, here’s Lutheran Hour Speaker, Dr. Michael Zeigler.
Michael Zeigler: Thanks, Mark. I’m joined in the studio again by Rev. Dr. Ryan Tinetti. He’s a professor at Concordia Seminary. Welcome back, Ryan.
Ryan Tinetti: Glad to be with you.
Michael Zeigler: Ryan, we heard from Pastor Klaus about this dangerous human tendency to write off God, and it was powerful the way he linked this to writing off God and His Word is like holding a deadly viper. It’s going to kill you, eventually. As a pastor, how do you help people understand the Old Testament so that we might have this encounter with God’s Word and not write Him off anymore?
Ryan Tinetti: Right. No, this is really significant because so much of the Scripture is the Old Testament, and it can feel very distant to read the Old Testament, to read the stories that are contained in there. There are things that can feel distant historically, culturally, even theologically, the picture that you get of God can sometimes feel like this is not the God that I’ve known in Christ. But what I think Pastor Klaus is helping us to see is that in fact there’s a continuity of God’s character. So, just to stick with that anecdote that he closed with, of the man who’s warning his son, “Put down the thing that’s going to kill you.” And when we read the Old Testament, of course a lot of it what comes out is law. It’s God’s Word of law saying, “Thou shalt” and “Thou shalt not.” I think that it’s been numbered at 613 different particular laws that are there in the Old Testament. I think that there can be a tendency then to read the Old Testament just as God being the killjoy. But if instead we see a continuity of God’s character, God is pleading with His people, “Oh, that you would walk in My ways!” Why? “That you might flourish, that it might go well with you!” That’s God’s heart and that has not changed from Old Testament to New, from time immemorial to our time today, that character of God, His heart remains the same toward you and me.
Michael Zeigler: So it’s not just that we have a tendency to write off God, but that we have picked up something else. We’re all looking for something to give us meaning, to give us purpose. And, as Pastor Klaus said, the things that we have picked up, they seem like they’re good. They seem like they’re going to give us something, but they turn to ashes in our hand, or they’re like that viper that’s going to kill us. God always is a loving Father. He’s trying to bring us back to Him, but part of it is helping us put down the things that are going to hurt us and embrace Him and a relationship with Him. That’s the story of the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Ryan Tinetti: That’s right. And that’s another reason why it is so valuable to be reading all of Scripture, Old Testament and New, and to get to know this loving Father more.
Michael Zeigler: There’s been a temptation in the church since the beginning of the Christian Church to write off the Old Testament, thinking that the Old Testament is like the husk of the corn. You peel it away and you throw it away and you’re done with it. What might be some better images instead of the Old Testament being the husk and the New Testament being the kernel? What would be some better images we could use to show the continuity between the two?
Ryan Tinetti: Yeah, I think of the image that St. Paul uses in his letter to the Romans. I think this is Romans 11 when he describes instead as a tree and that God’s Old Testament relationship with His people, that that’s the root and the trunk. But that now in this New Testament era, especially for those of us who strictly speaking would be Gentile Christians, we are like those branches that have been grafted in. And I think that image of the tree, its root, a trunk, and branches, helps us to see that organic continuity and connection. A branch can’t exist without the trunk any more than we can exist without that lineage that we have of God’s people. And then seeing that we have a Lord who is Lord over all history. We need it all if we’re going to understand, appreciate, value, and cherish aright God who’s revealed himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Michael Zeigler: Part of learning to love someone—so, we’re followers of Jesus, we’re learning how to love Him—is to be interested in the things that that person is interested in. Jesus cares a lot about the Old Testament. He is constantly quoting the Old Testament. He’s constantly drawing on these old narratives.
Ryan Tinetti: That’s a good analogy that you’ve introduced, and I think it applies for me personally in another way because my wife and I were talking about this recently, how we met for the first time 20 years ago this summer. And so, I’ve known her for almost half my life, but there’s a whole previous half, a first half, if you will, an “Old Testament” to my wife Anne’s life that I want to continue to know. It fills out our relationship and my understanding, appreciation for her, who she is, how she became the person that she is now. And there’s stories that I love to hear those stories about when she was a kid and her upbringing and the friends that she had and the experiences and everything because I love her because I want to know her more deeply, then I want to know those stories. And similarly, when it comes to knowing our Lord and knowing the story of Scripture, I don’t just want to enter into the first half or the latter half of the story, rather I want to know that first half too, and all of the things that filtered into and factored into the God that we have come to know in Jesus.
Michael Zeigler: To turn Pastor Klaus’ phrase, you read the Old Testament, it’s a dysfunctional family. The beauty I think of the whole story is that it begins to dawn in many ways that God has not written off this stubborn, hardhearted people. He has not written off the human race for as much as we try to ignore Him and set Him aside, He is devoted, committed to this project, this creation project, this family that He started.
Ryan Tinetti: This is what we see in the story again and again. It’s not a story of people doing great and heroic deeds, but it’s a great and heroic and faithful God who, in spite of stumbling people, stubborn, stiff-necked people, He’s still faithful, loving, compassionate, and wants to see His promises through to the end.
Michael Zeigler: Amen.
Music Selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arr. Peter Prochnow. Used by permission.
“Crucifer” by Sydney H. Nicholson, arr. Peter Prochnow. Used by permission.
“Give Me Jesus” traditional, arr. David von Kampen. From Hymns for All Saints: Psalms, Hymns, Spiritual Songs (© 2011 Concordia Publishing House)
“O Little Flock, Fear Not the Foe” From The Concordia Organist (© 2009 Concordia Publishing House) Used by permission.