Thoughts going in, Sunday Feb 3rd

Luke 4:21 He began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked. 23 Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself !' And you will tell me, 'Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.' " 24 "Truly I tell you," he continued, "prophets are not accepted in their hometowns. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed--only Naaman the Syrian." 28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

            This Sunday's Gospel text picks up right where last Sunday's left off. In fact, it even repeats a verse from last Sunday--vs 21 He began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." What happens after this statement, however, is the INTERESTING part of the passage.... and it all boils down to vs 22 where the hearers that day in the synagogue: All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked. It's a little bit perplexing. On the surface there doesn't seem to be too much going on in vs 22 that would cause the situation to unravel.

            Let's review what we already know along with what we can deduce. (1) Luke hasn't given us much in the way of detail yet, but judging from vss 14-15 Jesus is already a 'famous' personality. It's a foible of the way Luke unfolds his gospel, but even though he hasn't reported yet what all went on in other areas like Capernaum, evidently Jesus did some amazing things there (vs 23). (2) Based on the fact of this growing fame (as a prophet... wonder-worker... holy man) Jesus is given a platform at his hometown synagogue. Given how the situation deteriorates, one can assume that there was an ulterior motive in so 'honoring' him. Judging from vs 23 Jesus deduces that they didn't want to hear him speak, they wanted to see him perform. (3) Given the [small] size of Nazareth and the way things were... it's very likely that the people [mostly men] in attendance that day not only knew Jesus from way back, but were also relatives.

            It boils down to this... what is meant by the question Isn't this Joseph's son? Luke's readers already know the answer to that question. NO! He's the son of God (as per Gabriel's announcement 1:35). But the question has two possible meanings: Isn't this Joseph's son could mean: who does this young whipper snapper think he is? He's putting on airs... commin' in here telling us he's the fulfillment of prophecy... why, I remember when he was just a runt working in the shop with his daddy...  In that sense Isn't this Joseph's son is a denunciation. They're saying it while shaking their heads & leaving. They're underwhelmed; less than wowed.

            But there's also another way to view Isn't this Joseph's son. It begins by taking seriously the statement immediately preceding: All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. It seems a bit herky-jerky to go from speaking well of him & his gracious words to denunciation. What if, rather... they mean...isn't this Joseph's son? Hey... he's our hometown boy. Maybe he **is the fulfillment of prophecy, but he's first & foremost one of us. Our ship has just come in. Life is gonna get good now. He's Joseph's son, & we're Joseph's 3rd cousins, so that means nothing but extra good stuff for us!

            In the end, I suppose either way of reading the narrative would work. And either way, Jesus interprets their words as being a REJECTION (v 24).... either an outright rejection (who does this guy think he is?) or a rejection of mission/authority (he's our hometown boy, we'll keep him all to ourselves). Further, he is rejected for (1) not performing a sign/wonder right there in front of them on command and (2) reprimanding them for so-desiring such a performance.

            Luke seems to be doing several things with this account. First, the rejection of Jesus in his own home town synagogue is a prelude to the rejection that will occur in Jerusalem at the end of the story. Second, from a "Luke's Community" standpoint (wherever that may be, circa 80AD) it also represents the continued rejection of Jesus by the synagogue. Third, we can even include the general rejection of Jesus by the world at large. How easy it would be to accept him if he would just dance to our tune... if he would only 'Do here what we have heard that he did in Capernaum'... all those years ago. If he would only be the messiah on our terms, how easy it would be to accept him.

cheers,

TM

Thoughts going in, Sunday Jan 27th

14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. 16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." 20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

            Although we are now past the opening innings of Epiphany with its main themes (the star/Magi, baptism of Jesus, and first miracle)... epiphanies... or aha moments continue to happen concerning Jesus. The news of him spread...(v14)...literally in the Greek his "phāmā" (fame) spread. One of the things that stands out to me about what Luke is telling us, though, is that while Jesus returns to Galilee in the "power" of the Spirit--power...taken from the Greek "dunamis"...which is where we get our word dynamite from--he also makes sure that the reader understands that "the power of the Spirit" isn't all pyrotechnics and special effects; the power of the Spirit in v14 is directly linked to his programmatic practice of teaching in vs 15. The imperfect tense denotes that teaching was a continual/ongoing thing that Jesus was all about. Taking this a step further, the teaching/didasko of the faith is always catechetical.  In other words, Jesus wasn't teaching ESL classes; he wasn't running good-parenting classes, he was teaching The Faith; he was teaching about the Kingdom of God.

            More than one commentator also draws our attention to vs16b on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. The picture being painted is that even though Jesus is the son of God and enjoys perfect relationship with the heavenly Father on that basis alone... and even though the 1st century Jewish religious expression and its institutions are often critiqued by Jesus, he nonetheless has the regular custom of attending weekly worship at the synagogue. How often we Christians grab any excuse we can to avoid going to church. The time is inconvenient; Sundays are the only "family day" we have; I don't like the pastor; I don't agree with everything the church is doing, etc. etc. These and all of our other excuses should crumble when we are confronted with the fact that the Son of God regularly attended the weekly worship of his day. The desire to follow the example of the Savior, if nothing else, should motivate us to be in God's house.

            Luke apparently does not give us all of the details of what follows. He stood up to read... could mean that he volunteered to take a turn reading the scroll, or it could mean that as a rabbi developing some fame and now returned home, the leadership of the synagogue had invited him to read (Acts 13:15-16 gives a hint of how this may have played out). We're also equally unclear as to whether the passage from Isaiah was chosen due to a 'lectionary system' in place, was chosen at random, or if Jesus purposely chose that particular passage.

            As to the passage from Isaiah itself, it's something of a conflation of verses. Perhaps Luke whittled it down on purpose to get only the nuggets he wanted. Perhaps Jesus omitted certain parts of the text on purpose. These are just guesses. Regardless, the story behind the story is that the prophet is trying to encourage the exiles who have come back to Jerusalem. However, they haven't returned to a flourishing city/religious center; they've returned to burned-out ruins. Images of bombed out Berlin from WWII should come to our minds. Originally the prophet Isaiah was delivering God's word of encouragement that the ruins around them would be rebuilt; that God was not done with them as a people; that future salvation was assured. Of course all of Isaiah’s promises are given in temporal/physical/economic terminology. He was encouraging the physical restoration of a physical people. But all such promises from God also have an ultimate meaning... a meaning that goes beyond the temporal/physical to include the spiritual, and ultimately, the eternal (everlasting spiritual-physical). And this ultimate meaning is ALWAYS wrapped up in the person of Jesus.

            In Jesus, God is saying to ALL people that he is not done with them. In Jesus, God is saying to all people that a future salvation has been secured. In Jesus God is saying to all people that the ultimate resurrection future has broken in *now.

cheers,

TM

Thoughts going in, Sunday Jan 20th

1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine." 4 "Woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My hour has not yet come." 5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." 6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now." 11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples put their faith in him.

            As "miracle stories" go, this account in John 2 really doesn't seem that special. Compared to curing someone of an illness, or raising someone from the dead etc., this seems like a mundane sort of miracle. People don't leave the scene "praising God" as they do after some of the other miracles. Nobody is heard saying "truly there is a prophet in our midst" as they sometimes do after other miracles. In fact, some of the key players in this story have NO IDEA that a miracle has even happened--the master of the banquet and the bridegroom, for instance, seem clueless or naive. The assumption seems to be that the other guests are totally oblivious to what has happened. The only ones in on it seem to be the servants who filled the stone jars with water, the disciples, and Mary (plus of course the readers). And what was the 'purpose' of the miracle? Was it to show that God's healing presence has broken in to our sin-sick world? Was it to fulfill ancient prophecies about the blind seeing and the lame walking? Evidently not; evidently the only purpose was simply to prevent a party from prematurely ending... and I suppose... a little home-town embarrassment for the family responsible.

            And yet, if we take as a basic rule of thumb that EVERYTHING Jesus did was done for a purpose; everything he did was for the redemption of all humanity, then even this little 'minor miracle' has to have some major stuff behind it (not to mention some major stuff going on in the thinking of John for including it in his Gospel).

            Perhaps an interesting place to begin is with the concept of NOT ENOUGH vs MORE THAN ENOUGH. There's a beautiful passage in Isaiah 25 that describes eternity as a never ending banquet. Isaiah says:

6 On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine-- the best of meats and the finest of wines. 7 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; 8 he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people's disgrace from all the earth. The LORD has spoken. 9 In that day they will say, "Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation."

            Of course Isaiah could just be using metaphor/symbol to describe the joy of forgiveness in the eternal presence of God--as opposed to literal feasting. But why not keep it literal? After all we are physical beings and will be again after the resurrection. At least one point seems to be that in the eternal presence of God, ALL that we could ever hope or long for is MORE than fulfilled. That after a life of have-not, or not-enough; after a life of scrimping; after a life of trying to make ends meet, etc. etc., there is never-ending joy to be had in God's super-abundance.

            I can't help but think that this might be part of what impressed John about that day in Cana. That when the glory of God broke in that day at Cana and solved an embarrassing issue at a small-town banquet, this was an in-breaking or a foretaste of that eternal banquet that Isaiah was talking about. For those with eyes of faith, it was like peaking under the wrapping paper & getting a glimpse of something WONDERFUL... something ETERNAL. What makes this an "Epiphany Moment" isn't that a holy man did a miracle. Holy men had done miracles in the Bible before this.... with the result being that those who witness the miracle usually put their faith in God. What makes this an "Epiphany Moment" is that they put their faith in JESUS (v11). In other words, the "Sovereign Lord Almighty" from Isaiah 25 who (on this mountain) will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine-- the best of meats and the finest of wines... was standing right there in front of them in human flesh!

cheers,

TM

Thoughts going in, Sunday Jan 13th

Luke 3:15 The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. 16 John answered them all, "I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." 21 When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

            This week the traditional Epiphany themes continue. Last week we had the first of 3 of the standard themes--the Magi following the star. This week we have the second standard theme--the baptism of Jesus. Next week we'll have the third standard theme--the first public miracle, the changing of water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana.

            What this means is that as important as the passage from Luke 3 is.... we will ideally understand its importance within the context of what EPIPHANY is all about. Epiphany is about understanding God's Spotlight; it's about understanding that an extraordinary person has broken in to our ordinary world; it's about understanding that because of this, extraordinary things will happen in our ordinary world.

            When I first began looking at this brief passage, Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the common man" came to mind. Something similar appears to be on Luke's mind when he tells us in vs 21 When all of the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. In other words, Jesus is baptized as a common man. Jesus stands as one of us and one with us. Often times we encounter a situation in life where the boss's son (or daughter) comes to work at the company, but they're not really there to work; they get assigned cushy tasks; they get to take an extra long lunch break; they come and go as they please; the regular rules don't seem to apply to them. And then after a minimal time out where the real work is done, they end up getting their own office on the executive floor. We should take note that this is not the story of Jesus. He stands, in vs 21a, in full solidarity with the people... as the common man.

            And before moving on, let's not discount what this means too quickly. The book of Hebrews (chapter 4) tells us that we have a savior who fully understands all that it means to struggle through this human life--first and foremost with temptation and spiritual weakness, but also with doubts, fears, grief, etc. etc. We have a God who KNOWS not only what we're going through but who also KNOWS what it feels like to be us. All of this comes into focus at the Lord's baptism. He came to be the common man.

            But the story doesn't end there.... because something unique happens to him. 21b And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." Luke's point seems to be that while Jesus came as one of us and one with us... as the common man... he also came with a decidedly uncommon task. A lot of people were baptized that day... no doubt... some of them were very good. John the Baptist himself was a very good man; a great prophet. So good, and so great... that Luke tells us that the people were waiting/watching expectantly ... thinking that ANY MINUTE NOW John was going to claim to be the Messiah. But as good of a person as John was, and as good as  the people being baptized may have been, none of them were the recipients of this SPOTLIGHT MOMENT of hearing God's voice and being anointed with the Spirit. Only Jesus was.

            I think the point is pretty simple. As nice as it may be that God came to be with us and experience all that it means to be fully human, .... as nice as it is that God knows what it's like to be the common man....it would all wear off pretty quickly if we still found ourselves lost in our sins, unredeemed, and out of relationship with our Creator. Luke's point seems to be that Jesus starts out in full solidarity WITH us, but then steps forward to do something singularly unique... something only he can do. Earlier in Luke's Gospel the angel announces that the child will have a special mission; at his baptism, the child has grown up... and fully embraces this mission.

cheers,

TM