Walk the Talk

Third Sunday after Epiphany – Year C

January 27, 2013

Luke 4:14-21

Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
   "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."

And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

I’m not sure if I can handle any more quotes.  In the new internet media world we live in, it’s not uncommon to see quotes from people being used on Facebook pages, or on twitter, or as the basis for posters or other such things on Pinterest.  Last week, on Monday, it was Martin Luther King Jr. day, and I saw and read numerous quotes from him on Facebook throughout the day.   I myself went to one of the many sites on the internet, searching through the many quotes by Dr. King to find the one that I felt I wanted to put on my Facebook page.  So, if I can’t handle any more quotes I guess I’m partly to blame.

All of us know people who like to quote verses from the Bible.  They sometimes seem to have the whole of scripture memorized.  You say something about how beautiful the day is, and they come back with a quote from Psalms about the beauty of the day palling in comparison to the glory of God.  You say something about how you feel a little under the weather, and they return with a scripture about healing coming from God to those who ask.  As people of faith we turn to our scriptures for help and guidance.  We turn to pastors and theologians for guidance in how we look and understand the Bible, how we can understand what it is that God desires of us, what it is that God has done for us.

One of the pastors that our country tends to look to for wisdom and guidance is Rick Warren, who is the pastor of Saddleback Church in Orange County, California; one of the most influential churches in America.  He has spoken and prayed with presidents and many leaders throughout our country.  In his extremely popular book A Purpose Driven Life, there are literally hundreds of scripture citations.  Multiple times on each page Pastor Warren cites scripture as the basis for how he advises his reader to live their lives according to the precepts and desires of God.  Yet, nowhere in the book does the passage we heard from Luke this morning ever get quoted.  This powerful, self-revelatory statement by Jesus about what his life and ministry were to be about is apparently not relevant (at least to Pastor Warren) in guiding his readers to have a “purpose driven life.”

Yet, it is this passage that Jesus chooses to read and interpret when he visits the synagogue on his hometown.  Jesus could have read from any place in the Hebrew Bible, he chose to read from this one.  He could have read any number of passages about salvation or sin, or the greatness of God, or the acts of God in the past.  He chose to read this one.  Jesus here states what it is he came to do.

This last week as a nation we watched as President Obama was sworn in for his second term as president.  We may have spent some time on Monday watching or listening to the day-long festivities and happenings on inauguration day.  We may have listened to his inauguration speech.  As citizens of the United States, we look to the President, and the Presidents words to guide us (whether we voted for him or not).  His words and actions are to be a vision for the country, the ideals of the country, the defense of our liberty and union.  As Christians we look to Jesus’ words to guide us.    

This was Jesus’ inaugural address in Luke, the first time Jesus spoke and shared his vision and intent for his coming ministry.  Yet, how often do we as a church think about Jesus’ ministry in his own words?  How often do we think about how we respond and mirror Jesus’ life and calling in our own lives and churches?  Jesus spoke of salvation in real world terms.  In the modern world, and church, we tend to focus very often on salvation in “other-world” terms.  Why?  Is it because we feel that there is so much to do that we feel we can’t ever succeed?  Is it because we feel somehow not up to the task?  Is it because to act to solve the real world problems would mean we actually had to get dirty?  Jesus focused his ministry on saving the people here and now, so that they may have life – life now.  The church seems to focus on saving the people here and now, so that they may have life later in eternity.

One of the truths that we must recognize is Jesus’ words only ring true when we admit and recognize that there are those that hear his words from places of poverty, captivity, blindness, and oppression.  That was his audience.  Do we count ourselves amongst these groups?  If we’re honest, there may be some of us, but for most of us we are blessed to live lives that are free from much that Jesus listed.  So we seek to find other ways to make Jesus words applicable to “us.”  If we can’t find a way in this world, then the next will do just fine.  Besides, we’re already Christian, so Jesus has already delivered us, “we’re doing just fine, thank you Jesus!”

But, the words of Jesus, the ministry of Jesus was all about freeing people from the things that bound, oppressed, controlled and hindered them in this world.  And, our calling to speak words of good news and relief is also in this world.  Yes, without a question there is an eternal aspect to the good news that we have heard and are called to share, but there is a real world aspect as well.

What would happen if the words of Jesus’ inaugural address were to be as engraven on our hearts in the same depth of meaning as John 3:16?  What if our guiding words were to bring release, sight, freedom?  What if we took seriously the call to set people free from the things of this world that limit and control them; from the powers of this world that treat them as less than human?  Hard words, and as we’ll hear next week, the response of the crowd in the synagogue was not that kind to Jesus’ words. 

What scandalized the people in Nazareth that day was the way in which Jesus offered God’s grace to everyone.  Sure, he spoke of the poor, the sick, the oppressed, the imprisoned.  But what made Jesus’ proclamation so shocking was the fact that he offered the blessings of God’s Kingdom not just to the “righteous,” but also to “sinners.”  The religious people of Jesus’ day expected God’s blessings for themselves. They believed they had earned them by their good lives.  And besides, they were God’s people after all, children of the covenant.  They were convinced that they deserved God’s grace, while the “sinners” (or at least people that were not like them, or as blessed as them, or as religious as them, or who didn’t go to their synagogue, or listen to the right teachers) deserved punishment. But Jesus came along offering God’s blessings indiscriminately to everyone. It’s hard to imagine anything more scandalous in Jesus’ day.

And if we are honest about it, it’s pretty scandalous and hard to hear in our day as well.  After all, we are the church.  We are the forgiven people of God.  We are the ones who have been in washed in the blood of the Lamb, sealed by the Holy Spirit.  We gather together knowing our place as the children of God.  It’s shocking how I have heard people throughout my life, good God-fearing people, people who grew up in the church, who go to church every Sunday become shocked, almost angry when they discover that the hope and goal of the Bible is that all people be saved.  The response that sometimes comes with this realization is, “If everyone is going to be saved, then why go to church?”

First, this is not about universal salvation.  But, it is about salvation.  It is about the way we understand salvation.  You see, the response they had was because they viewed salvation as something they took part in (you see, they went to church.)  But, salvation isn't primarily about us making the right choices or believing the right things. Salvation really isn't about us at all! It’s about God. It’s about God’s love for all creation. It’s about God’s plan to draw everything and everyone he has made into his love and into his life through his grace.

What this means for us is that we cannot view, the church, we cannot view ourselves as God’s “favorites” who receive “special” blessing over and above others.  It means that we all receive the gift of God’s grace that extends to everyone equally.  It means that no one can be viewed as outside God’s grace—no one is excluded; all are welcome.  And, as Jesus quote made clear, this is about here-and-now, not just in the age to come, in the Kingdom to come.  Quotes can be powerful things.  May God’s Spirit free us to be guided and empowered by the inaugural words of Jesus in our own lives.  You can quote me on that.  Amen.