| Luke 4:21-30 "The God Who Angers" |
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| Written by Rev. Don Lee | |
| Saturday, 27 January 2007 | |
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I read this movie quote the other day. “Memories are diminished as the passing of time presents a past. It equally brings to us the future, and without a future there would be no present.” Sounds sort of profound…but as hard as I try, I just can’t make sense of it! And if you one of your movie favorites is, “The Invasion of the Animal People,” we need to talk. What Jesus says in our reading from Luke also sounds cryptic. Even more puzzling is the way his own community responds to his commentary, first with praise, then with rage. So what does Jesus preach that is so incendiary? If you have your Bible, please turn with me to Luke, chapter 4, verses 21-30. And as you are able, please stand for the reading of the Gospel. 21 Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." 22 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?" 23 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.'" 24 And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. 25 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; 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." 28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 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. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way. Prayer: Jesus, the Good News of God’s love; speak to us that we might move from gracious words to gracious action. Soften our hardened hearts, and open our eyes to our own complicity with injustice, that we might be those who follow you, instead of those who drive you away. Amen. Jesus begins by quoting a familiar proverb: Prophets are never accepted in their hometown. In the Bible, the prophet was one who spoke for God. And we know all about Israel and her relationship with God’s prophets! The prophets of God were arrested for condemning sin, sentenced in the court of public opinion, and often executed by those in power for “not telling people what they wanted to hear.” Turn with me in your Bibles to I Kings 19:13-14. The prophet Elijah, fleeing the wrath of queen Jezebel, arrives at Mount Horeb seeking a word from the Lord: 3 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" 14 He answered, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away." Jesus later refers to Jerusalem, Israel’s holiest city as “the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it.” Matt 23:37 By reminding his fellow Nazarenes of their notorious past, Jesus slams their religious identity as the chosen of God. They are those who instead of embracing God’s words “kill the messenger.” Jesus continues his commentary by making reference to two different stories from their faith history where non-Jews are given preferential treatment over Jews; the impoverished widow of Zarephath (I Kings 17), and Naaman, the leprous commander of the Aramean army (II Kings 5). In both stories God acts redemptively through the prophets to the exclusion of those in Israel suffering famine and/or disease. Worse, the Arameans were sworn enemies of Israel! “You are not the people you claim to be,” accuses Jesus. There is anger in his words. His suggestion that his fellow Jews are somehow unworthy of God’s saving action (at the benefit of Israel’s neighbors and enemies) is more then the hometown folks can take. It is said that when your allusions about yourself are challenged, you either die to your allusions or kill the messenger!” If this sermon has two points, it would be these: 1) That the Gospel narrative challenges our allusions about ourselves; that we are not who we think we are. 2) The Gospel declares the inclusiveness of God’s mercy by challenging the status quo. In his book, “Cry, the Beloved Country,” author Alan Paton tells the story about a Prodigal son who leaves home and gets into trouble. The son’s name is Absalom, a young black man from South Africa. He is the son of Stephen Kumalo, who is pastor of the church in the small village of Ndotsheni. Absalom has gone off to Johannesburg, the Big city. His letters have stopped coming, and old Stephen Kumalo goes to the city to look for him. While his father is there searching for him, Absalom enters the house of a white man to steal. Surprised in the act, he shoots the man. The city is outraged and Absalom is quickly tried, convicted, and sentenced to hang. There is a tearful reunion when Stephen visits him in prison. But nothing can be done, and his father, heavy hearted, returns home. Stephen visits the father of the victim to express his sorrow and regret. The man, whose name is Jarvis, is a wealthy landowner. He has been reading the manuscript to a book his son was writing about the way the black race has been exploited in South Africa. Moved by his son’s words, he forgives Stephen’s son for the shooting and resolves, moreover, to help their village by sending giant bulldozers to erect a dam to provide water. The people of Ndotsheni are full of excitement. Soon the fields will be green again, and they can have cattle. There will be milk for the children to drink. Their sons and daughters will no longer have to go off to the city to survive, for there will be life in the village. On the day before his son is to die, Stephen Kumulo takes a bottle of tea and some cakes made of maize and walks up the mountain called Emoyeni, which means “in the winds.” When he reaches the top, he rests. He looks across the valley and remembers the first time he came to this place and then how much he loves the boy who is about to die. Having recovered from his climb, he sets about his prayers. First, he confesses his sins. Then he offers prayers of thanksgiving for all the good people in his life, and for Jarvis, the white man who is reviving the village. At some point, he falls asleep, for he is weary from the climb. Awaking with a start, he thinks of his son. If only he had found him sooner, perhaps he could have saved him. But then the village would have no dam, no water. He wonders if his son is sleeping, and prays that he is. Then he himself falls asleep again. When he wakes, there is a faint light in the east, and he feels a sense of panic. Paton writes, He looked out of his clouded eyes at the faint steady lightening in the east. But he calmed himself, and took out the heavy maize cakes and the tea, and put them upon a stone. And he gave thanks, and broke the cakes and ate them, and drank of the tea. Then he gave himself over to deep and earnest prayer, and after each petition he raised his eyes and looked to the east. And the east lightened and lightened, till he knew that the time was not far off. And when he expected it, he rose to his feet and took off his hat and laid it down on the earth, and clasped his hands before him. and while he stood there the sun rose in the east….Yes, it is the dawn that has come. P.277 Cry, The Beloved Country Alan Paton, 1948 Paton’s story is deeply troubling to me. Unlike the Parable of the Prodigal Son who returns home to be reconciled with family, no such happy ending is offered to us. Instead it is a story of loss and grief with victims on both sides of the conflict. Both the senselessness of murder and the justice mediated in this story leave me feeling empty. And here’s the thing; Stephen Kumolo’s story is being playing out in this community, and in cities around our world, and yes, in South Africa (and I know we are a church committed to local mission but God’s love knows no boundaries). -Grinding poverty the likes of which we cannot imagine; -the privileged elite, unwilling to share fair access to power and wealth; -Unjust systems that almost everyone in this room is a beneficiary of; systems that keep food and clothing cheap for us, while perpetuating poverty for laborers on the other end. “But it’s a good deal!” we justify. -Systems of “justice” that instead of creating reconciliation punish and kill. And God calls us here to accountability by challenging our allusions. -our claims to a morality that supercedes God’s universal law of love; -to a patriotism that exalts itself over God so that instead of asking “What does God require,” we ask, “What is in our best interest?” By the way, it’s not the military’s job to ask the question, “What does God require?” It’s our job as the church of Jesus Christ to raise the question, “What does God require?” -Even our choice of friends reveals an ethnocentrism that borders on racism and the question is, what are you and I going to do about it? Jesus exposes our allusions about ourselves. We are not the people we think we are. We need to hear God’s words to us, even when it is painful for in them is life. It would be tempting to leave this story feeling lost and hopeless and that would be a shame because this same story reveals the very movement of God, Jesus walking in our midst! God’s insatiable love searching for all of God’s prodigal children, acting to bring hope and goodness, love and forgiveness; redemption and healing, so a entire world of daughters and sons are given other choices. Hope is not lost… in fact, hope is just beginning to do its work. Our job is to take Jesus seriously by embodying his teachings and preaching the Good News with our very lives. Is there anyone here who has the courage to speak for God? We may not be the people we think we are, but praise God we are not the people we were! Yes, the dawn has come. Flower Mound had its annual observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The theme was “One Planet, One people.” Printed in the program is a poem my daughter wrote for the occasion and with you indulgence, and hers, I’d like to share it with you in closing. “We hang onto a delicate thread, |
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