Back in Jesus’ day, it was a normal part of Jewish synagogue
worship that a person in the congregation, not a preacher, nor a rabbi nor some
other formal religious authority, but a person known as a darshanim,
a "speaker" or a "teller" would read from the scroll and then
comments on the passage.
In Jesus' day it was normal for the speaker to take biblical
verses literally out of their textual context-- because historical criticism or
understanding the historical and cultural context of the passage is a modern
development-- and the speaker would apply them to the religious, political, and
ethical questions of the day, as if it were written for that very day. And it
was not like modern fundamentalism either. Preaching involved making the
ancient story, the wisdom of the prophets, the interpretations of the rabbis,
alive for the day.
So, when Jesus was handed the scroll, he looks for a
particular reading from the prophet Isaiah:
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.
Jesus rolled up the scroll and handed it back to the
attendant. Everyone looks at him, waiting for his comment--his interpretation
of these ancient words for them. Would he address the occupation and oppression
of the Roman empire, or perhaps his own ministry that is gaining attention
throughout the region? What would Jesus, their neighbor, say?
Jesus might have preached on the wisdom of the old
prophet: "In the past, our fathers and mothers envisioned a world of
justice, freedom, and healing. The fullness of abundant life in a land of milk
and honey as God covenanted with Moses."
Or he might have elaborated on the world to come:
"We, along with Isaiah, await the fulfillment of this glorious promise!
One day, the poor will be lifted up, captives set free, and the blind will see!
Oh, how we long for that! How we pray for that! But it seems so slow in
coming."
Jesus could have appealed to his friends' sense of
theological nostalgia--How great Isaiah was!--or their fragile
theological hope for a better future. The kingdom of God will come!
But he surprised them when he said, "Today this
scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
They were shocked! Astounded! And not in the Inspector
Renault kind of way (as in the classic scene in the film Casablanca.)
No, they were truly and genuinely shocked.
What do you mean that the Spirit of the Lord is HERE? Now?
Today? Do the poor hear good news, are prisoners are being released, do the
blind and where are the oppressed receiving justice? This is
the year of Lord's favor, you say?
Have you been watching the news, Jesus? Do you see how crazy things are? And you’re
telling us that the kingdom of God is here today? Are you crazy? So Jesus'
furious neighbors decide to throw him off a cliff. But he just shrugs them off,
walking through the angry, confused crowd.
In a congregation like ours, is easy to focus on memories of
the past and our hopes for the future. Speaking of the past may means stories
of the past, people we’ve known or from long ago, the story of our buildings
and structures. Speaking of the future is often wrapped up in future programs,
or maybe our hopes for God, our desires for answered prayers, for our children
to hold onto faith or "come back to church." Both past and future are
important to vibrant communities; the whole biblical witness is the ongoing
story of healthy and life-giving practices of honoring our ancestors and
embracing a hopeful future.
But both "past" and "future" of faith have
their shadow sides. Overemphasizing the past results in excessive nostalgia--the
belief that the past is better than either the present or the future, where the
past stop teaching us but becomes the ideal. Overemphasizing the future--the
belief that all that matters is that which is to come--can result in doubt, and
anxiety, and a sense of perpetual dissatisfaction.
A recent survey from Public Religion Research discovered
that the majority of churchgoers in the United States express high levels of
both nostalgia and anxiety. By strong majorities, religious
Americans--particularly white Protestants, across every stripe and style, both
theological conservatives and liberals--believe that "our best days are
behind us" and that the future of society is bleak. In particular, the
survey says that mainline congregations are caught between idealizing the good
old days and fear that some promised future will never arrive. As a result,
today is lost. When only look at the past or the future, today becomes a kind
of spiritual no-man’s land.
But "Today" is where the spiritual action is--because
today insists that we lay aside both our memories and our dreams so that may live
in the present. In God’s time, everything has a role. The past teaches us the
work of our ancestors—both the accomplishments and the failures, the
disappointments and the joys. The future looks for hope, faith that looks
forward. God is always present, so living faithfully "today"
places us in the middle of God’s sacred drama as actors and
agents in God's desire for the world. "Today" is the most radical
thing Jesus ever said.
Jesus is saying, "Look around. The Spirit of God is at
work, right here, right now. God is with us. Just as I AM
promised our father Moses at the burning bush, 'I will be with you.' This is
the sign of God's covenant. The God of all history is here with us. Right now."
Jesus invites us to open their eyes, to see the burning
bush, to be attentive to God's promise to abide with Israel in the land, and see
that God is keeping God's promise. Jesus is inviting us to see even more
deeply, past human sin, injustice, trials, and the evils of human life into the
love and compassion of God. If we can see, experience, and grasp that
God’s love is at work in the world now, our fear recedes, our hatreds melt away,
and we can recognize that in all of life, God is with us. The clarity of grace,
mercy, and justice transforms fear into compassion, giving us the power to walk
in the way of love God intended.
In a very real way, the Spirit was upon Jesus. And it is
also upon us, his friends and apprentices. Jesus said "today" and Isaiah's
words, Isaiah's prophecy, is a powerful invitation to all of us who follow
Jesus to act on behalf of God's justice right here, right now.
The text might have been read:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon us,
because he has anointed
us
to bring
good news to the poor.
He has sent us 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.
Living in God's promise is not about yesterday. Neither is
it about awaiting some romanticized, fantasy future. It is about now! Jesus'
friends were astonished to hear this. But the reality is that God has given us
everything we need to live out God’s promises right now, in the place God has
placed us. Even today, in this place and this city, Jesus' sermon remains as
clear and poignant and important and urgent as ever: Today God’s
promise is being fulfilled in your hearing—in this community, in this time, in
this city, God’s redeeming, saving, love and mercy are at work. Today.
+ + + + + + + + +
Here is a link to the bulletin for the 3rd Sunday after the Epiphany.
Here is a link to a video of the liturgy at St. John's Episcopal Church, Clearwater
Here is a link to a video of the sermon.
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