Sermon
I'm sure that I have mentioned to many of you that I am playing this game on my phone (not Wordle) where you are given two pictures, and you have to pick five things that are different from one picture to the next. You've probably seen these before, you know, with dots on dalmatians and things like that. I'm up to picture number something-thousand by now, and they get pretty tricky. The funny thing that his happening in my real life, is that I find myself noticing e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g when I see an outdoor scene, or look out the window, or really every time I have my eyes open! So if you ever see me looking like I'm kind of checked out and scanning the room, maybe I'm falling into the trap that the game has dragged me into.
Noticing the difference between two things that you can see at the same time means that you can check back and forth between the images right then, and re-look at the image and eventually find the differences. But what about when you have two images, but you don't see them at the same time. You're given one, then it's taken away and then you're given the second one. Then you're asked to point out what is new. What is in the second picture that wasn't in the first one?
The congregation in the scripture from Luke that Craig read today was expecting one picture at the start of Jesus' reading, but by the end of Jesus' conversation it was clear that the congregation was not going to get what they expected.
After the congregation heard Jesus say that the scripture he read from Isaiah was being fulfilled in their hearing right there and then, they were excited at his gracious words. They recognized him as one of their own, Joseph's son, a neighbor. They were sure that the scripture being fulfilled in their hearing would be a good thing for them. They created a picture of Jesus, the messiah finally come, doing all of his work and wonders that they had heard of from Capernaum right there in Nazareth with and for them. Picture number 1.
But then Jesus goes on to say more. He quotes a proverb to them, “Doctor, cure yourself.” Knowing that they will use that proverb to remind him that he should do his work in his hometown. But he reminds them of two prophets, Elijah and Elisha, who were both prophets sent by God. Elijah could have been sent to many widows in Israel to make God's point, but he was sent to Zaraphath, an outsider, a gentile. And the same with Elisha, who could have cleansed many lepers in Israel, but instead only cleansed Naaman, a Syrian, a gentile, an outsider. And so Jesus, a Nazarene, was indeed sent by God, just not necessarily to the Nazarenes. He was sent to outsiders, others, the ones around Nazareth. The new picture the congregation created was of Jesus not only saying he was sent by God as The One, but not sent to them. Picture number 2.
Jesus Not only had Jesus said,
“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.”,
but he seemed to add a parenthetical statement – but not for you.
Initially the congregation was amazed, all eyes were upon him, they had expectations. But Jesus turned those expectations on their head with his additional words.
They didn't stop to ask him to explain further. They didn't wait to see what would come of Jesus' new statement. They just didn't like the other picture. They didn't like the kind of new Jesus was talking about. So they ran him out of town, not successfully off of a cliff. And he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
Sherre Hirsch wrote a book called “We Plan, God Laughs” taking her title from an old Yiddish proverb. And Woody Allen said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him about your plans.” Of course the original, Proverbs 19:21 doesn't say anything about God laughing. Proverbs 19:21 says, “The human mind may devise many plans, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will be established.”
We can't really criticize the congregation in Nazareth that day. We certainly have expectations of God. The congregation that day had just heard Jesus for the first time – we have had 2,000+ years since that congregation and we have some idea of what it means that God came as a human to live and die just as we do, and yet completely divine at the same time. We have been asking ourselves each week during Epiphany, “What does the revelation of God in Christ have to say to me this year, this time, in this place?” The scripture from Luke today asks us to take that question a little further and ask ourselves what our response is to that revelation.
Will we reject the new that Jesus is doing in our lives, our families, our church, because it is not what we expect? Will we miss the new that Christ has in store for us because we already have a picture of what we want? Will we miss the new that Christ has in store for us because we are looking for what good will come our way, instead of what good we will bring to those outside these doors?
One commentator I read, called the people Jesus came for as “edge-people.” Those people who are all around us, but maybe on the edge of whatever circle we see ourselves as a part of. As a society, who is on the edges – economically disadvantaged, poor and hungry, those without homes, those without love, those without justice, those without hope, without a voice, those who are unsafe. In Jesus' time these were widows, orphans, strangers. Who are they in our time?
In our families, who is on the edge? One who's sexual orientation is not seen, one who's political views are not shared, one who is not as clever as another, one partner or another, children, one who is not as beautiful as another.
In our workplaces, who is on the edge? The one who cozies up to the boss, the one who doesn't work 70 hours each week, the one who is quiet.
Schools? The smallest, the differently abled, the non-athletic, the one who doesn't wear the coolest clothes or shoes.
What about at church? The older folks, the non-musical, the one who doesn't understand technology, the one who has been attending the shortest amount of time, the people not in-the-know, the one who can't give financially, the one with the least attendance?
Edge-people are everywhere. The scripture from today tells us that God is in the new things we see around us. God is with the edge people. You and I may not look like edge-people on the outside, or maybe we do. But we all know the feeling of being unsure, not cool, being other, not keeping up, feeling judged.
I don't think Jesus was telling the congregation that day that God would never do good work in Nazareth – but that there was other good work to do. That the people in the congregation could be a part of the good work in those other places. That God's blessings are bigger than either picture number 1 or picture number 2.
Their work, our work, is to be faithful to what is around us. What is being revealed to us today, and what is our response?
Let us pray,
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*Edge-people is a term from commentary by David L. Ostendorf, Feasting on the Word Series, Year C, Vol. 2, p.312