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Jesus at the start of his ministry found the place in Isaiah that proclaimed, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because God has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4) Then he sat down and said “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Our curriculum (Seasons of the Spirit) suggests that we hear God’s call to us in the same way. What are we doing TODAY to bring good news, to proclaim release and recovery, to live in the jubilee way (a way of forgiveness and renewal)? It is a question for each of us, and a question for all of us as the church, Jesus’ body in the world. (By the way, I’ve put my thoughts about this question in the annual report—it’s really the sermon I would have preached last week.)
This morning, we have the “rest of the story.” I know that in your bulletin the sermon title is “On the Edge” but if I were to title it today, it would be “Jesus’ truth.” I was interested in why the hometown crowd went from being proud of Jesus (“Is not this Joseph’s son?”) to being so angry at him that they were ready to throw him off a cliff! That is a pretty remarkable change in sentiment. How and why did that happen?
Luke seems to have skipped a little of the story. It seems that along with talking about how well Joseph’s son had done in the pulpit, were there murmurs about why he had chosen to do ministry in Capernaum rather than Nazareth. (I guess they were competeting municipalities—Nazareth was a small farming village, Capernaum was a more prosperous fishing center). Luke hasn’t told us anything about this ministry in Capernaum, other than saying after Jesus’ experience in the wilderness he returned to the region of Galilee and was teaching in the synagogues and was “praised by everyone.” (Luke 4:15). There must have been some grumbling of some kind since Jesus says “no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown.”
And then comes this phrase—“But the truth is…” and he tells two stories. #1 In a time of famine all around, the great prophet Elijah helped a widow in Zarephath in Sidon (NOT a place in Israel, and hence not a Hebrew widow). (1 Kings 17:7-16) And #2 The prophet Elisha (Elijah’s replacement) healed Naaman the Syrian (rather than healing Hebrew lepers). (2 Kings 5)
So what is this truth? These two stories are from the Hebrew Scriptures, about the most prominent prophets (Elijah and Elisha) taking God’s healing, God’s rescue, and God’s working in the world, not to the people of Israel, but to others—REAL others, not just outside the hometown, but outside the region, even outside the country, even outside their religious tradition! That is a hard thing to hear from Jesus, if we really hear it. Elijah and Elisha’s stories might not be at the forefront of our minds—but certainly I can imagine us talking about the fact that we have poverty right on our doorstep, so why would we need to worry about people across the world. I can also imagine us having some difficulty recognizing that we are called to help not just fellow Christians, but people of all faiths—and helping others might need to come before helping our own.
Listen to some comments made by well-known people about “truth.” These come from Will Humes’ blog “A Far Country” (Jan. 23, 2014)
In a paraphrase of a biblical verse, the former pastor of Riverside Church in NYC, William Sloan Coffin once said, ”You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you-uncomfortable.”
Aldous Huxley, the author of the novel “Brave New World” went even further when he said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad.”
Barbara Brown Taylor once attended a retreat and wrote, “The retreat leader asked participants to think of one person who best represented Christ in their lives. While many had the usual complements for those special persons who had “been there” during the “hard times,” one woman hesitated before answering. When she finally spoke she said, “I had to think hard about that question. I kept thinking, ‘Who is it who told me the truth about myself so clearly that I wanted to kill them for it?'” (Christian Century, March 18-25, 1998)
The story of Jesus’ appearance at his home synagogue gives me pause. What did Jesus see in the words of Isaiah that brought him to those stories of Elijah and Elisha? Did he think it’s too easy to say, “Oh, we bring good news to the poor. We proclaim release to captives and recovery of the sight to the blind. We set the oppressed free and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor?” Did he realize that we often have checked off these things as done—when if we really looked at what we have to do to accomplish ANY of it, we would be mad as hornets at Jesus for asking it of us.
Maybe his hometown congregation were mad because Jesus was suggesting that the work that they were already doing wasn’t enough!
Maybe they were mad because Jesus was expecting them to see everyone as part of the tribe, the hometown, the family (with all the attendant things you DO for those groups)!
Maybe they were mad because it sounded like Jesus wasn’t going to give them preferential treatment!
I keep hearing those words “But the truth is …”
I’m certain Jesus means God’s truth.
The truth of a God that doesn’t seem to pick the people
we expect,
a God who continuously asks us to widen our horizons,
a God who isn’t satisfied with what is now until it is ok
for everybody.
Isn’t that what it means for “God’s kingdom come, God’s will be done, on earth as it is in heaven?”
We are going to have our annual meeting after service. We should celebrate the wonderful things (SO MANY wonderful things) that this little church does, both for ourselves and for others. We are answering the call of the Spirit of the Lord being upon us TODAY.
And after we congratulate ourselves, and pat ourselves on the back, we should hear Jesus whisper in our ears
“But the truth is …”
There is more work to do.
May God give us the ears to hear the cries of those in need,
the hands to do God’s work,
and the hearts to show God’s love
today and every day.
Alleluia, Amen.
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