Cutting through the noise

 

Luke 4:21-30

Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’ ” And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard 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.

In the name of the creator, the redeemer and the sustainer. Amen

This week I’ve been particularly drawn to the last sentence in our gospel: 

he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

How that has resonated with me this week - and perhaps you too - he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

How often have you wanted to just keep walking - through the crowd and the noise, through the debates and the discussion, through the anxiety and the confusion, through the posturing and the pontificating? he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

In a week when we’ve heard more crazy about our government and the institutions that underpin the fabric of our society.

In a week when more migrants have taken to little boats in dangerous waters.

In a week when it seems world leaders have learned nothing about war.

In a week when we’ve remembered the Holocaust, pledging never again, yet knowing that hate crimes are on the rise - and seeing our culture edging closer and closer to the kind of indifference and weariness that allows such intolerance to arise in our midst, I want to retreat

I want to retreat, not to escape the noise and confusion but to get my head straight.

I want to retreat, not to ignore all that is going on but to take it all in.

I want to retreat, not to shirk what God is asking of me - but to discern it anew.

I want to retreat, not to conserve my energy but to gather my courage to jump back in.

I don’t believe Jesus passed through the midst of them and went on his way to escape what they might do to him.

I believe he kept on walking because he had work to do:

In presenting his manifesto, that came from God…

In recognising that the Spirit of God was on him, that he was appointed to bring good news for the poor, release for the captive, sight for the blind - the whole kit and caboodle…

In recognising that and in seeing how his own kith and kin reacted, Jesus needed to take time to reset, to get his head straight, to gather his courage, so that he could get back to it.

Get back to confounding years of tradition.

Get back to questioning years of entitlement.

Get back to demonstrating the costly nature of living out God’s radical message of love and inclusion.

Jesus’ call wasn’t simply to shore up the religious institutions of his day.

Or to be silent about the latest political pronouncements that condemned many to harsh lives of poverty and injustice.

His call was to question those in authority - in church and in state - and to model a new way - a way that transcends all our notions of right and wrong, that oversteps every line we could possibly imagine.

Our communities are full of tired and restless people right now.

Surviving 2 years of a global pandemic has opened our eyes to possibility - to the good that communities can do and be when they work together.

And it has opened our eyes to the appalling lack of leadership or compassion or moral compass that exists elsewhere.

We, as Christ’s body can no longer be silently compliant in the many injustices of the world.

It’s not enough to slip back into our familiar routines and practices.

As we are assaulted by a cacophony of noise in the world, 

as we witness anger and protest and discontent in our communities, 

our call is to recalibrate what God demands of us today.

To walk on through the noise of the crowds, the haters and the doubters, and to find newness of purpose in the one who called us before we were born.

As we read in Jeremiah:

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

and before you were born I consecrated you;

I appointed you a prophet to the nations…

today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,

to pluck up and to pull down,

to destroy and to overthrow,

to build and to plant.” (Jeremiah 1:5,10)

Do not underestimate the power of taking time out to recalibrate

Do not underestimate the difference you can make

Do not underestimate the power of love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.(1Corinthians 13)

For the love of God

Amen

Being the change

 

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.

The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth

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 favour.”

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.”

In the name of the Creator, the Redeemer and the Sustainer Amen

What would it take, today, to say: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

What would it take to be able, having read from the scroll (or the gospel book today) to place it back where it lives during the week - and to set about fulfilling scripture?

How might we hear the good news for the poor?

How might our eyes be opened?

How might we be set free for things that hold us back.

How might we rise up from things that keep us down?

We might want to argue that what Jesus was asserting was that he was the fulfilment of Scripture - that what those in the synagogue were witnessing was the one on whom the Spirit of God rests.

And, of course it was. But what about now.

How is that Scripture going to be fulfilled today?

Good news for the poor

Release for the captives

Sight for the blind

Freedom for the oppressed.

How will we hear that scripture setting us free today?

And how will we fulfil that scripture for others? 

What does it look like today, to bring good news to the poor?

What does good news even look like in our communities today?

What does good news look like when you are constantly worried about where your next meal will come from?

Or whether you can afford to turn the heating on?

What does good news look like when you are worried about inflation - particularly when you’re not even that sure what inflation is - but you do know that, even though you’re working two jobs you can’t afford your weekly grocery bills and, if you’re lucky enough to be just about managing, there’s absolutely no cushion for any surprises, any unforeseen expenses.

What does good news look like to the many in this community who are living hand to mouth, not because they’ve been careless - and who are we to judge - but because constant and relentless austerity measures hit hardest those who are just about managing.

What does good news look like to those who are just getting on their feet, or to those who are barely keeping their heads above water, for whom there is no safety net.

And what about release for the captives.

Those trapped in isolation, or addiction, or fear, those stuck in food or fuel poverty, those struggling with mental health issues - how will they find release?

And how will the blind be enabled to see - both the beauty and pain, the good will and the sickness that affects our community?

How will our eyes be opened to all our blind spots - the things we overlook or fail to see?

How can we proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour?

That is some calling to fulfil.

We are confronted today with that same stark reality with which Jesus presented those who heard him read scripture in the synagogue.

Promises are empty - until they are fulfilled.

It’s no good knowing scripture by heart if we don’t live into it.

Believing in the promises for ourselves - and for the communities in which we live and work.

Promises that remain empty words unless we are prepared to be the means of seeing Scripture fulfilled.

We know that’s a huge task - much bigger than us.

So - how can we avoid being overwhelmed by the sheer size of the task before us?

How can we avoid being disabled by its enormity?

What if we took seriously the notion of God’s spirit resting on us.

What if we took seriously that Gods spirit enables us.

Enables us to be good news,

Enables us to see beyond our blindness.

Enables us to throw off the chains that keep us bound to our smallness and our lack of vision.

Enables us to break free from the limiting stories that we’ve heard so often that we believe them - stories of not having enough, of not being enough.

God spirit rests on us.

Who are we to limit the Spirit of God?

What if, in the power of that spirit, we asked God to reveal one thing - one thing that we can do , one thing that we might be - that will enable us to live into our calling as God’s people today.

A people called and equipped to fulfil scripture.

I don’t know what the one thing might be for you.

What I do know is that if we all find that one thing, then together, Scripture will be fulfilled.

Today.

In this place.

Let’s hear today’s gospel again - read this time from The message version - just to give us another take on it:

Luke 4:16-21

He came to Nazareth where he had been reared. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,

God's Spirit is on me;

he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor,

Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and

recovery of sight to the blind,

To set the burdened and battered free,

to announce, "This is God's year to act!"

He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in, "You've just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place."

May it be so that this prophecy came true today, in this place - and in all the days to come as we seek out that one thing that we can do as we live into being the body of Christ in this place.

Being good news for the poor

Release for captives

Sight for the blind

And freedom for the oppressed.

Being the fulfilment of Scripture in this community today.

Amen  

Thanks be to God.