May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Last Sunday after Epiphany
PROPER: Year C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: February 22, 1998
TEXT: Luke 9:28-36 - "The Transfiguration of Christ"
"And while he was praying the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking with him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure (exodus), which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. . . . Then from the cloud came a voice that said, 'This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!'"
ISSUE: The transfiguration is a mystical experience, foreign to the American mind set. It reveals Jesus as unique with the great men, Moses and Elijah. The event punctuates the high esteem in which Jesus is held by the early church, as God's chosen Son who now is worthy of being listened to, as was Moses and Elijah. It is the epiphany of Jesus as Lord who will lead a new exodus through his Cross and Resurrection to the Kingdom of God. It is both a mystical epiphany experience and preparation for the passion.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Transfiguration experience of Jesus in today's gospel reading is probably one of the more difficult parts of the Scriptures for us American people to appreciate. It was indeed a mystical experience of the early church. It is a vision, a kind of dream state, or altered consciousness state of being for Jesus and his close disciples: Peter, James, and John. The Transfiguration expericence is reported in the three synoptic accounts of gospel: Matthew, Mark, and Luke. But Americans like what they can control and prove, and are somewhat distrustful of mystical experiences. Yet, the first century Mediterranean culture was nearly so adverse to these mystical experiences. For the early church the dazzling Jesus on the Mountain top had great significance and meaning. It was not something to be disproved or to be skeptical about, it rather conveyed for these people great wonder and meaning.
In the event as told by Luke's gospel account, which is one of the more earthy accounts. Remember that Jesus' Beatitudes that we read last week were not on a mountain, but on a plain. Jesus takes his closest disciples to a mountain top, a high place for prayer. He takes with him Peter, James, and John. While they are on the mountain, sleepy as the disciples are, they share a common mystical vision. Jesus is seen with two angel-like figures of Moses and Elijah. Moses had been called to be Israel's leader out of the burning bush on the mountain side. Moses was also Israel's great law-giver who himself had gone up on a high mountain to receive The Commandments. He came down from the mount with his face aglow revealing the glory of God. Elijah also had a mountain top experience as a great prophet on Mt. Carmel, where he called down fire from heaven which ignited his water drenched sacrifice. Elijah was the prophet revealing the power of Yahweh-God over all the other gods. Moses's grave site was never known, and Elijah was swept away by God on the chariot of fire. The Transfiguration account places Jesus oin the midst of these great spiritual men, and he too is seen to be dazzling, on fire, aglow with the Glory of God. Jesus is the dazzling new burning bush. Jesus is the chariot of fire.
The disciples witnessing this magnificent experience hear Moses, Elijah, and Jesus discussing Jesus' "departure." The accurate or more literal translation is "exodus." They are discussing Jesus' exodus that is his impending departure through crucifixion. He becomes the leader who leads his own through his death on the cross to the Kingdom of God, as Moses had led his people across the Red Sea into the Promised Land. Those who stay awake, those who remain faithful see the dazzling fiery Glory of Christ. They hear the voice of God saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him." This event is another one of those momentous events as was Jesus' mysterious baptism when God claimed Jesus as his own, and proclaimed him as Son.
For Luke, for Matthew and Mark, for the early church this mystical event was a prophetic proclamation: Jesus is Lord. He shares the honor of the great ones, Moses and Elijah. He is the fulfillment of all the Law and Prophets. He is the living outward real manifestation of the dazzling Glory of God, Son of God, listen to him! His disciples are in utter awe and wonder. Peter wants to hold onto the moment building a booth of memorial. They are awe struck and contemplate the experience in silence. They saw in Jesus Christ the Glory of God, the truly great Epiphany. There is an enlightment that takes place as a result of the event: Jesus is Lord and his way of bringing salvation and hope to the world is through his death on the cross and his resurrection. His journey, then, to Jerusalem is set.
What I believe is help for us today in the understanding of this passage is to remember that Jesus took Peter, James, and John up the mountain to pray after discussing some difficult issues. Jesus had been discussing his own death, and the fact that all who followed him would have to take up their cross and follow him. For the disciples that followed Jesus, they lived in a time of great distress. People died young. Very few children grew lived long enough to grow to adulthood. Disease and pain were rampant. Many were the socially poor and excluded. Furthermore the disciples of Jesus faced alienation from their families. Earliest Christians faced exclusion from their families and friends, not to mention persecution. These times were dark for many people. They climbed a mountain to pray with Jesus to pray.
What brings any of us to knees to pray? Though we all know that we are supposed to pray without ceasing, the fact of the matter is that we are most consciously aware of our need to pray when we are in or facing a crisis. It is times of crisis that we look for miracles and mysterious events or signs to deliver us. We too pray that we will escape our pain whether it is physical or mental anguish. We pray in times of crisis for help, for guidance. We may pray that God will jump right in and change things. We pray somehow that God will miraculously and mysteriously be with us as our deliverance.
When we feel alone with a problem don't we want some companionship from God? It is sometimes hard to be alone when we have lost companionship with someone we have loved. When we are afraid of the future and what it may bring, our own illness or death. All of us face dark moments, moments of distress, guilt, shame, fear, doubt, uncertainty, anxiety.
In moments of shame and guilt, when we bear a burden of being foolish, don't our hearts need a sense of healing and hope that we can be restored and redeemed? There are, of course, great moments of darkness in our human mortal lives.
Jesus invited his closest disciples to be with him at a time of prayer as he himself faced a very dark and difficult time, anticipating the cross and the shame that it implied. Their times of darkness became enlightened and dazzled by the living Christ. They came to experience the Glory of God in Jesus Christ. The experience did not take away the fact that Jesus would be excused from facing the cross, but it led them all to see that whatever the pain and suffering that they would face, God would be with them and see them through the difficulty of their exodus and lead them into his Kingdom. It is Christ who is the burning bush, the flaming chariot, the light and the enlightment of God whose forgiveness and love leads us into His Glory.
We may all want to pay more attention to our need to be prayerful. We may want to pay closer attention to our dreams. We may all want to develop a spiritual life in our reading, our prayer, our love of music and poetry, that we may be enlightened by the brighter Glory of God and hear his voice that leads us through even death to the Promised Land of forgiveness, love, and hope.
This day is one of transition. It reveals the great Epiphany of Jesus as Lord, and the dazzling hope of the world. It is also a day and passage of great spiritual meaning that calls us into a deep spiritual relationship with the Lord as we enter the Lenten Season.
Sunday, February 22, 1998
Sunday, February 15, 1998
Epiphany 6
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Epiphany 6
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: February 15,1998
TEXT: Luke 6:17-26 - "They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. Then he looked up at his disciples and said: 'Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.'"
See also:
Jeremiah 17:5-10 - The faithful shall be like trees planted by the waters, and they shall not fear when heat comes. In the year of drought they are not anxious.
Psalm 1:3 - They are like trees planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither; everything they do shall prosper.
ISSUE: Luke tells us that the poor, the large majority of people, found healing and hope in Jesus. The poor and dispossessed, the hungry, the sorrowful, and the defamed found blessing and honor through him. The self-assured without God, on the other hand, will suffer great emptiness should they encounter hard times. The passage calls humble people to trust in God as opposed to total self-reliance, and to be rooted in Jesus Christ.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I have just returned from a very pleasant trip to the southwest. It is truly a land of enchantment. On of the aspects of the southwest that has always intriguewd me has been how the Native American peoples have survived in the desert areas. There are vast deserts that can be very hot and parched in the summer. Yet there are ruins in some of the canyons that bear witness to human beings being there and surviving in these places over the centuries. But human ingenuity and stamina is sometimes remarkable. An Indian guide took us into a canyon where there were some ancient cliff dwellings in the canyon. While the site, the Canyon de Chelly, is now a national monument, the land is still farmed by Navajo Indians. It is to me startling to think that a desert area can be farmed. These people came to know that even though the summer heat and drought could be brutal, the rains and the snows of the winter which eventually melted and ran down the canyon walls settled underground in the valley below, sometimes forming a stream. Along these streams and in these valleys, corn, squash, pumpkins, fruit trees and other vegetables could be planted and flourish. Cottonwood trees grow to be quite large in these canyons. But outside these unique canyon vineyards, nothing grows but some scrubby small bushes, tumebleweed, and spiney cactus. For abundant life to survive it has to be rooted in the proximity of life giving waters. Even today, Navajo Indians continue to plant in these canyons, and enjoy the fruit of their labors.
I am reminded of the passage from Jeremiah that we read this morning, "Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is in the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of the drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit." (Jer.17:5-10) Psalm 1 also addresses those who stay close to the Lord: "They are like trees planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither." From ancient times people have come to learn that they are dependent upon that which is life giving. They must stay close to what gives life. For the Jewish people, it was not just staying close to life giving water in the desert that mattered. This being rooted in life giving water was a metaphor for staying close to God who was the real life giving source and hope for their lives. From the earliest of times much of humanity has recognized its dependence upon higher life giving powers. Without a source of life giving power life is diminished and cannot bear fruit.
Luke's Gospel account today gives the more primitive account of Jesus' Beatitudes. The Beatitudes are quite elaborate in Matthew's Gospel account and they are told to his disciples on a mountain, called The Sermon on the Mount. Luke's account is somewhat different though similar. Like the waters that come from the mesas into the canyons, Luke tells us that Jesus comes to the people on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all over; Jew and Gentile alike, from Judea and Jerusalem, Tyre and Sidon. They came to him for healing, and to have their unclean spirits cast out. Like people living in a parched and dry land they came looking to him for hope. Jesus was for them God's own life giving water of healing and hope. They were the poor, not people without money necessarily, but people without any power or status. They were the hungry searching people looking for lives with meaning. They were the people of sorrow and grief oppressed by their lives. These were the people who were the persecuted and the excluded. Jesus called them the blessed, the beloved of God. They were the ones whom God honored. Luke was relating that those who came to see Jesus as the life giving water of God would know a blessedness, and honor that the world could not and did not give. In him and through him their lives bear fruit and there is a sense of spiritual abundance and belonging.
Think of what these images mean for us today. Obiously we do not live in deserts, and most of us experience considerable material wealth. We think of ourselves as self-made men and women in total charge of our lives. Yet there are those moments and times that strike all of us that shakes and sometimes shatters our foundations. Losing someone we love creates a great loneliness. It is as if we were in a dry desert all alone. When we lose a job, go through a divorce, or face serious health problems, we become vividly reminded of our mortality. We are not always on top of things. We cannot always be self-assured. We need a resource beyond ourselves to keep us alive in the difficult dryer times of our lives. We need the close assurance of the healing love of God. Human beings need God so much at various difficult times of our lives. The gospel and the scriptures are that constant reminder that God is with us. For the faithful, for those who trust and recognize their need of God, they are like the trees planted by the streams of water whose leaves will stay green and will survive the droughts of life.
In all of my years in the ministry I'v never known a perfect family or perfect people. I know there are times and people we think have the better more perfect lives, but let me assure you that that image is only a fantasy. All people are human and have those moments of great stress and disaster. All know illness, and loss, and disappointment. All are sinners at times. All are human and all need God. All need planting in the valleys, but even when we are in the valley in the shadow of death, we fear no evil for God is with us.
It is out of our God given blessedness that comes through faith that we can bear fruit. That fruit is the compassion we ourselves have come to know that we can share with others. It is the fruit of being able to be giving, forgiving, and loving because in our faith it is forgiveness and love that has nourished, saved, and redeemed us. In our our closeness and love of God in Christ Jesus that conveys our own human need for God, we manifest in our lives of blessedness: the abundance of his healing, love, forgiveness, and hope. We stand like trees planted by streams of living waters, whose leaves are green, even in the valley of the shadow of death.
SEASON: Epiphany 6
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: February 15,1998
TEXT: Luke 6:17-26 - "They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. Then he looked up at his disciples and said: 'Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.'"
See also:
Jeremiah 17:5-10 - The faithful shall be like trees planted by the waters, and they shall not fear when heat comes. In the year of drought they are not anxious.
Psalm 1:3 - They are like trees planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither; everything they do shall prosper.
ISSUE: Luke tells us that the poor, the large majority of people, found healing and hope in Jesus. The poor and dispossessed, the hungry, the sorrowful, and the defamed found blessing and honor through him. The self-assured without God, on the other hand, will suffer great emptiness should they encounter hard times. The passage calls humble people to trust in God as opposed to total self-reliance, and to be rooted in Jesus Christ.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I have just returned from a very pleasant trip to the southwest. It is truly a land of enchantment. On of the aspects of the southwest that has always intriguewd me has been how the Native American peoples have survived in the desert areas. There are vast deserts that can be very hot and parched in the summer. Yet there are ruins in some of the canyons that bear witness to human beings being there and surviving in these places over the centuries. But human ingenuity and stamina is sometimes remarkable. An Indian guide took us into a canyon where there were some ancient cliff dwellings in the canyon. While the site, the Canyon de Chelly, is now a national monument, the land is still farmed by Navajo Indians. It is to me startling to think that a desert area can be farmed. These people came to know that even though the summer heat and drought could be brutal, the rains and the snows of the winter which eventually melted and ran down the canyon walls settled underground in the valley below, sometimes forming a stream. Along these streams and in these valleys, corn, squash, pumpkins, fruit trees and other vegetables could be planted and flourish. Cottonwood trees grow to be quite large in these canyons. But outside these unique canyon vineyards, nothing grows but some scrubby small bushes, tumebleweed, and spiney cactus. For abundant life to survive it has to be rooted in the proximity of life giving waters. Even today, Navajo Indians continue to plant in these canyons, and enjoy the fruit of their labors.
I am reminded of the passage from Jeremiah that we read this morning, "Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is in the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of the drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit." (Jer.17:5-10) Psalm 1 also addresses those who stay close to the Lord: "They are like trees planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither." From ancient times people have come to learn that they are dependent upon that which is life giving. They must stay close to what gives life. For the Jewish people, it was not just staying close to life giving water in the desert that mattered. This being rooted in life giving water was a metaphor for staying close to God who was the real life giving source and hope for their lives. From the earliest of times much of humanity has recognized its dependence upon higher life giving powers. Without a source of life giving power life is diminished and cannot bear fruit.
Luke's Gospel account today gives the more primitive account of Jesus' Beatitudes. The Beatitudes are quite elaborate in Matthew's Gospel account and they are told to his disciples on a mountain, called The Sermon on the Mount. Luke's account is somewhat different though similar. Like the waters that come from the mesas into the canyons, Luke tells us that Jesus comes to the people on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all over; Jew and Gentile alike, from Judea and Jerusalem, Tyre and Sidon. They came to him for healing, and to have their unclean spirits cast out. Like people living in a parched and dry land they came looking to him for hope. Jesus was for them God's own life giving water of healing and hope. They were the poor, not people without money necessarily, but people without any power or status. They were the hungry searching people looking for lives with meaning. They were the people of sorrow and grief oppressed by their lives. These were the people who were the persecuted and the excluded. Jesus called them the blessed, the beloved of God. They were the ones whom God honored. Luke was relating that those who came to see Jesus as the life giving water of God would know a blessedness, and honor that the world could not and did not give. In him and through him their lives bear fruit and there is a sense of spiritual abundance and belonging.
Think of what these images mean for us today. Obiously we do not live in deserts, and most of us experience considerable material wealth. We think of ourselves as self-made men and women in total charge of our lives. Yet there are those moments and times that strike all of us that shakes and sometimes shatters our foundations. Losing someone we love creates a great loneliness. It is as if we were in a dry desert all alone. When we lose a job, go through a divorce, or face serious health problems, we become vividly reminded of our mortality. We are not always on top of things. We cannot always be self-assured. We need a resource beyond ourselves to keep us alive in the difficult dryer times of our lives. We need the close assurance of the healing love of God. Human beings need God so much at various difficult times of our lives. The gospel and the scriptures are that constant reminder that God is with us. For the faithful, for those who trust and recognize their need of God, they are like the trees planted by the streams of water whose leaves will stay green and will survive the droughts of life.
In all of my years in the ministry I'v never known a perfect family or perfect people. I know there are times and people we think have the better more perfect lives, but let me assure you that that image is only a fantasy. All people are human and have those moments of great stress and disaster. All know illness, and loss, and disappointment. All are sinners at times. All are human and all need God. All need planting in the valleys, but even when we are in the valley in the shadow of death, we fear no evil for God is with us.
It is out of our God given blessedness that comes through faith that we can bear fruit. That fruit is the compassion we ourselves have come to know that we can share with others. It is the fruit of being able to be giving, forgiving, and loving because in our faith it is forgiveness and love that has nourished, saved, and redeemed us. In our our closeness and love of God in Christ Jesus that conveys our own human need for God, we manifest in our lives of blessedness: the abundance of his healing, love, forgiveness, and hope. We stand like trees planted by streams of living waters, whose leaves are green, even in the valley of the shadow of death.
Sunday, February 1, 1998
Epiphany 4
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Epiphany 4
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish Kingsville
DATE: February 1, 1998
TEXT: Luke 4:21-32 - Continuation of Jesus' Addressing His Home Village of Nazareth
"When they hard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way."
ISSUE: The people in Jesus' town are at first astonished at his teaching and wisdom. However, that astonishment changes to rage when they become aware of how he intends to proclaim the message of God's healing and love to all people beyond the comfortable borders of the townsfolk. The point is that people in our time are satisfied and at ease with a comfortable Gospel, but the Gospel calls people to change, repentance, and an energetic mission in order that God in Christ might be proclaimed to all the world.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The passage from Luke's Gospel account today really stresses the profound tension of the early church, and of the great stress that Jesus' ministry caused. This passage today reveals the absolute rage and tension that Jesus creates in his home community. The passage is a continuation of last week's account of Jesus' returning to his hometown of Nazareth. In the synagogue on the sabbath, he chose to read the passage from Isaiah that revealed his messiahship and ministry: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He 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." (Isa. 61) This pr4ophetic reading was his Inaugural Address. It was a great message of hope and healing in terms of enlightment. People were amazed at his teaching. But in his own hometown, the message and the preaching created tension, anxiety, and ultimately rage strong enough to want to send him hurling off of a cliff.
To understand the culture of the time is helpful to a better understanding of the passage. At the time a son was expected to follow in his father's footsteps and occupation. Sons were not expected to surpass their fathers. Unlike today, when we want our children to get ahead, in the first century Mediterranean culture it was dishonorable to surpass your father. Furthermore, it was expected that you would remain with your family. The fact that Jesus left his family to go preaching all over Palestine was considered dishonorable. Next thing you knew other sons would be wanting to do the same. It created tension in the community. This Jesus is Joseph's son, the son of the Nazarean carpenter. As interesting and wise as he may seem, who does he think he is, as others in other towns seem him changing his social standing? "Doctor heal yourself." they might well be saying to him. If you have healing powers do them here at home. Keep what you are doing in the family among your kin. "Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum." The community wants Jesus brought under control of the local community and local standards of what is considered honorable. They want his ministry confined to local turf. His teaching is appropriate for them only in the confines of the local community.
Jesus answers their demands with the proverb: "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown." (This statement by the Jesus seminar is considered to be a legitimate statement of Jesus.) He then provides them with examples of the two of Israel's greatest prophets, Elijah and Elisha. In the one case, Elijah went to foreign territory at a time of great famine and brought salvation to the Gentile widow at Zarephath in Sidon. Likewise, Elijah's successor, the prophet Elisha healed Naaman a Gentile Syrian army commander of the dreaded disease of Leprosy. Both the widow and the Namaan turn in faith to accept the powerful God of Israel. Jesus confronts the people of his own time to the understanding that his ministry is dedicated to the revelation of the Glory of God to both Jew and Gentile alike. That exclusive attitude of Jesus' people must be changed. Challenging the customs and calling for a more inclusive faith and way of seeing things enrages Jesus' community, as it ultimately did for all of his people of the time causes them to run him out of town. Luke is making it very clear in the telling of this story, that Jesus met with tension and hostility very early on in his ministry from his own people, as he would later by the Romans. Just as he is hailed on his Palm Sunday procession, "Hosanna, blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord," and then crucified, he is hailed as one of Nazareth's own and received with amazement and then run out of town.
Luke goes on to say that in the fracas, Jesus slips away from them and moves on to the next town. It is not likely that there is any magical event going on here. It is merely Luke's way of making the point that hostility against Jesus was indeed significant. But God was with him and he is that non-anxious presence that carries on the message with faithfulness in the midst of tremendous anxiety and tension. His own confident faithfulness enable him to carry on.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the ministry, the teaching, the prevailing presence of Christ was disturbing to the world from the beginning. Yet his truth, his message that God's grace is to be extended to all people carries on with authority. He goes forth to baptize, to dip, to immerse all people in the Divine Love and healing of God. His epiphany, his manifestation continues to confront and challenge the world. It was hard for people in Jesus' time to accept his challenges and become invested into his mission. The people were comfortable with his great message of hope. They loved to hear him read passages of hope in the synagogue, but it was very different when he challenged them to a much wider and broader appreciation of God's grace to be extended to the wider community and not to have an exclusive grace.
Even in the church today there is an inclination to keep ourselves safe and secure as opposed to the risk of entering into significant mission and inclusivesness. Our parish budgets are often a significant reflection of all the things we do to take care of ourselves as opposed to significant line-item of intentional mission. We believe we have to take care of our own, before we can take care of others. For instance we will say that we have to have enough resources to raise up our own children and provide a good Sunday School for them, before we can provide for others. Yet, the other side of that is that if there is not an intentional commitment to mission and the sharing of Christ for others that our children can see happening, their Sunday School experience however grand is little more than an academic exercise in the status-quo. It is the telling of the story and the carrying on of the lore of the church that may be interesting but that is not being acted upon. "Faith without works is dead," someone said. While it is indeed honorable for us to take care of our own, ought we not keep in mind that Jesus himself transgressed the honor of his time to proclaim hope and good news of God to those beyond?
Think of the things in recent history that has cause tension and anxiety in the church. When I first came to St. John's in the very earliest of days, I received phone calls imploring me and thanking me for not daring to become involved in the change of the Prayer Book liturgy. The 1928 rituals had a sanctity that were heartwarming to so many of the old folks (and a lot of the younger ones too in those days.) It was a sign of human need to keep things the way they were inspite of the growing awareness that the church needed to be seen as a change agent in the world to proclaim the Gospel in terms other than victorian, or Elizabethan for that matter.
Another great upheaval came in the church when it became involved in the Civil Rights Movement. When the church began to give support to various black organizations, many people withdrew from the church. In my first parish, I had one person who would sight verses of Holy Scripture to prove that blacks were inferior. There are in fact those today who can quote Holy Scripture to prove that women have no place in either the government or the ministry of the church.
Another of the issues before us today is that of the place of gay and lesbian people in the church. Shall they be seen as immoral and perverse, or people of a different sexual orientation that is inborn? Obviously this is another one of the tensions and the anxieties of the church. Again, there are passages from Holy Scripture that can be used to condemn. We are inclined by our very human nature to keep things the way they are, to hold Jesus as our own, with our own notions of how he and his ministry should be.
As long as we are human there will be tension and anxieties. There will be uncertainties and feelings of rage. Yet the Gospel, as viewed today, sees Christ challenging his own to movement and change, to an inclusiveness that extends the healing grace and love beyond familiar borders to embrace others and all those who were thought to be unworthy of God's redeeming grace. We must always be cautious when we are comfortable and certain and assured that we have the world by the tail. God intervenes and calls us to new challenges and to new ways of thinking. Sometimes they are enraging. But, God is God, and if we cannot participate in the Epiphany, then He slips away from us to the next town where God's Will is done. In Jesus' time it was honorable to keep things as they were, yet Jesus challenged that very premise and faced the furor with the confident hope that God would redeem and be with all people.
SEASON: Epiphany 4
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish Kingsville
DATE: February 1, 1998
TEXT: Luke 4:21-32 - Continuation of Jesus' Addressing His Home Village of Nazareth
"When they hard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way."
ISSUE: The people in Jesus' town are at first astonished at his teaching and wisdom. However, that astonishment changes to rage when they become aware of how he intends to proclaim the message of God's healing and love to all people beyond the comfortable borders of the townsfolk. The point is that people in our time are satisfied and at ease with a comfortable Gospel, but the Gospel calls people to change, repentance, and an energetic mission in order that God in Christ might be proclaimed to all the world.
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The passage from Luke's Gospel account today really stresses the profound tension of the early church, and of the great stress that Jesus' ministry caused. This passage today reveals the absolute rage and tension that Jesus creates in his home community. The passage is a continuation of last week's account of Jesus' returning to his hometown of Nazareth. In the synagogue on the sabbath, he chose to read the passage from Isaiah that revealed his messiahship and ministry: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He 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." (Isa. 61) This pr4ophetic reading was his Inaugural Address. It was a great message of hope and healing in terms of enlightment. People were amazed at his teaching. But in his own hometown, the message and the preaching created tension, anxiety, and ultimately rage strong enough to want to send him hurling off of a cliff.
To understand the culture of the time is helpful to a better understanding of the passage. At the time a son was expected to follow in his father's footsteps and occupation. Sons were not expected to surpass their fathers. Unlike today, when we want our children to get ahead, in the first century Mediterranean culture it was dishonorable to surpass your father. Furthermore, it was expected that you would remain with your family. The fact that Jesus left his family to go preaching all over Palestine was considered dishonorable. Next thing you knew other sons would be wanting to do the same. It created tension in the community. This Jesus is Joseph's son, the son of the Nazarean carpenter. As interesting and wise as he may seem, who does he think he is, as others in other towns seem him changing his social standing? "Doctor heal yourself." they might well be saying to him. If you have healing powers do them here at home. Keep what you are doing in the family among your kin. "Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum." The community wants Jesus brought under control of the local community and local standards of what is considered honorable. They want his ministry confined to local turf. His teaching is appropriate for them only in the confines of the local community.
Jesus answers their demands with the proverb: "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown." (This statement by the Jesus seminar is considered to be a legitimate statement of Jesus.) He then provides them with examples of the two of Israel's greatest prophets, Elijah and Elisha. In the one case, Elijah went to foreign territory at a time of great famine and brought salvation to the Gentile widow at Zarephath in Sidon. Likewise, Elijah's successor, the prophet Elisha healed Naaman a Gentile Syrian army commander of the dreaded disease of Leprosy. Both the widow and the Namaan turn in faith to accept the powerful God of Israel. Jesus confronts the people of his own time to the understanding that his ministry is dedicated to the revelation of the Glory of God to both Jew and Gentile alike. That exclusive attitude of Jesus' people must be changed. Challenging the customs and calling for a more inclusive faith and way of seeing things enrages Jesus' community, as it ultimately did for all of his people of the time causes them to run him out of town. Luke is making it very clear in the telling of this story, that Jesus met with tension and hostility very early on in his ministry from his own people, as he would later by the Romans. Just as he is hailed on his Palm Sunday procession, "Hosanna, blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord," and then crucified, he is hailed as one of Nazareth's own and received with amazement and then run out of town.
Luke goes on to say that in the fracas, Jesus slips away from them and moves on to the next town. It is not likely that there is any magical event going on here. It is merely Luke's way of making the point that hostility against Jesus was indeed significant. But God was with him and he is that non-anxious presence that carries on the message with faithfulness in the midst of tremendous anxiety and tension. His own confident faithfulness enable him to carry on.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the ministry, the teaching, the prevailing presence of Christ was disturbing to the world from the beginning. Yet his truth, his message that God's grace is to be extended to all people carries on with authority. He goes forth to baptize, to dip, to immerse all people in the Divine Love and healing of God. His epiphany, his manifestation continues to confront and challenge the world. It was hard for people in Jesus' time to accept his challenges and become invested into his mission. The people were comfortable with his great message of hope. They loved to hear him read passages of hope in the synagogue, but it was very different when he challenged them to a much wider and broader appreciation of God's grace to be extended to the wider community and not to have an exclusive grace.
Even in the church today there is an inclination to keep ourselves safe and secure as opposed to the risk of entering into significant mission and inclusivesness. Our parish budgets are often a significant reflection of all the things we do to take care of ourselves as opposed to significant line-item of intentional mission. We believe we have to take care of our own, before we can take care of others. For instance we will say that we have to have enough resources to raise up our own children and provide a good Sunday School for them, before we can provide for others. Yet, the other side of that is that if there is not an intentional commitment to mission and the sharing of Christ for others that our children can see happening, their Sunday School experience however grand is little more than an academic exercise in the status-quo. It is the telling of the story and the carrying on of the lore of the church that may be interesting but that is not being acted upon. "Faith without works is dead," someone said. While it is indeed honorable for us to take care of our own, ought we not keep in mind that Jesus himself transgressed the honor of his time to proclaim hope and good news of God to those beyond?
Think of the things in recent history that has cause tension and anxiety in the church. When I first came to St. John's in the very earliest of days, I received phone calls imploring me and thanking me for not daring to become involved in the change of the Prayer Book liturgy. The 1928 rituals had a sanctity that were heartwarming to so many of the old folks (and a lot of the younger ones too in those days.) It was a sign of human need to keep things the way they were inspite of the growing awareness that the church needed to be seen as a change agent in the world to proclaim the Gospel in terms other than victorian, or Elizabethan for that matter.
Another great upheaval came in the church when it became involved in the Civil Rights Movement. When the church began to give support to various black organizations, many people withdrew from the church. In my first parish, I had one person who would sight verses of Holy Scripture to prove that blacks were inferior. There are in fact those today who can quote Holy Scripture to prove that women have no place in either the government or the ministry of the church.
Another of the issues before us today is that of the place of gay and lesbian people in the church. Shall they be seen as immoral and perverse, or people of a different sexual orientation that is inborn? Obviously this is another one of the tensions and the anxieties of the church. Again, there are passages from Holy Scripture that can be used to condemn. We are inclined by our very human nature to keep things the way they are, to hold Jesus as our own, with our own notions of how he and his ministry should be.
As long as we are human there will be tension and anxieties. There will be uncertainties and feelings of rage. Yet the Gospel, as viewed today, sees Christ challenging his own to movement and change, to an inclusiveness that extends the healing grace and love beyond familiar borders to embrace others and all those who were thought to be unworthy of God's redeeming grace. We must always be cautious when we are comfortable and certain and assured that we have the world by the tail. God intervenes and calls us to new challenges and to new ways of thinking. Sometimes they are enraging. But, God is God, and if we cannot participate in the Epiphany, then He slips away from us to the next town where God's Will is done. In Jesus' time it was honorable to keep things as they were, yet Jesus challenged that very premise and faced the furor with the confident hope that God would redeem and be with all people.
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