Wowser - right now!
Epiphany 3c, Jan. 24, 2016 (Luke 4;14-21 with I Cors. 12:12-31a and Nehemiah 8:1-3,5-6 and 8-10 in bg
I have been richly blessed in my 11 years of service as your Pastor in Richmond. One of those ways has been my ongoing relationship with the former Rabbi of Beth Tikvah Synagogue, Rabbi Claudio. One year as their celebration of the Festival of Booths ended, Rabbi Claudio invited me to join his congregation for the celebration of Simchat Torah. Simchat Torah means the joy of Torah. For Jews Torah is many things. Sometimes it denotes the first five books of what Christians refer to as the first or Old Testament. On Simchat Torah Jews dance around the synagogue with their holy scrolls. These scrolls are passed from one person to another as they process around the worship space of their synagogue to music. During this procession they hold the scroll high above their heads. While this is happening there is much clapping, loud singing, dancing and genuine joy.
Can you imagine my surprise when on that particular Simchat Torah the people of Beth Tikvah passed me one of their holy scrolls, and invited me, a Christian, to dance with them? I was deeply honored and wildly surprised. After each person had the opportunity to hold and process with a holy scroll the people carried one of the scrolls into their nearby school gymnasium. Then all the younger children gathered in the center of the gymnasium floor being surrounded by the Torah scroll as it was unrolled, being held by the adults of the synagogue. Rabbi Claudio then joined the children inside the Torah scroll. He proceeded to ask them questions regarding the location of the various stories of God's interaction with the people of Israel. Immediately as the question was asked the children would run and point to the location of that incident. Then rabbi would toss the children chocolates. What joy! What symbolism! What power in that word of God.
Those people don't see the Torah as some rule book that gathers dust on their coffee table or as something that 'should be' read on particular occasions. Rather, they see the Torah as God's word for them, to direct them and help them in their daily walk of life with God and with others. Their joy and respect for the Torah is real.
This reality is made plain in today's lesson from Nehemiah. I have often wondered why we Christians so often have lost this sense of joy, wonder and awe for Scripture? Did you notice that there were at least 6 hours of reading Scripture in that first lesson. As the Scripture was being read the people were moved – to spontaneously life up their hands; to shout Amen! The people were lifting hands and crying out Amen.
They had the profound sense of God speaking to them even as the words of the Torah were read. Then they beheld the truth. They were separated from God. But God is continually reaching out to them, seeking to bridge the gap that existed between themselves and God.
Today I have heard people grumble if the sermon is 15 minutes long or if our worship of God lasts more than 75 minutes. This, despite the reality that we are so privileged to receive Christ's own body and blood . It's as if we think we have more important things to do...
I confess. Sometimes I am guilty. It takes discipline for me to set aside 15 minutes a day to pray, and read Scripture– to listen and be still. Yet sometimes I will go to a movie for 2 or more hours, fly for 5 or more hours for a vacation and watch 20 minutes of commercials each hour that I am sitting in front of my TV without so much as a second thought. Why is that? Why aren't we more willing, even longing to hear God addressing us today, each day?
At times God draws very near to us. Do you notice the people in the synagogue in Nazareth? They thought that it was just another Saturday. They were coming to synagogue, yet again. Yes, one of their own, Jesus, Mary and Joseph's boy, was home. He had been doing well. They had been hearing all about him. Now he stands up to read, as at least one man would do every Sabbath.
He is reading from Isaiah. Two texts are combined. It is allowed. But then he says something very unusual, something that at first confounds them and later angers them, "Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing!"
It's confounding because Jesus left part of the text out - about the day of the vengeance of the Lord. He selectively reads only part of the text where the Spirit of the Lord had anointed him to bring good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free. It's even more confounding because he says that TODAY THIS IS FULFILLED IN YOUR HEARING.
The people gathered in the synagogue weren't born yesterday. They know life. They are inhabitants of a seemingly insignificant small country, that is forever under the control of another country. They also know this man Jesus. They knew his parents really well. Some of them have a hope that someday there will be a messiah who will lead them beyond their present state so that their enemies will be placed under their feet. Some of those people cling to that hope. Yet at the same they are absolutely certain that such a Messiah won't look anything like Jesus. They had their understanding of life, of the world, of God. Jesus doesn't fit into any of the parameters of their experience as THE COMING MESSIAH.
Nevertheless that Sabbath Jesus is in their midst. He speaks the truth about themselves, life and death. He lives out the truth of His life, as God's own Son, as the Messiah, regardless of what they or anyone else may think.
He does all of this in ways that initially don't seem to make any lasting, cosmic difference. He eats with people that others wouldn't eat with: tax collectors, women of ill repute, those who are chronically ill. He reaches out to help others regardless of the day or season. He tells powerful stories that really tick a lot of people off because the "heroes" of his story, the ones who dare to know and do God's good and gracious will, are people that religious experts then viewed as being forsaken by God.
Because of this Jesus is resisted, even hated by the powers that be: religious, political and military. His fleshing out of God's love, sharing the hope that comes from God's reign in our lives, calls everything and everyone into question. Such radical questioning will not be tolerated by the powers that be.
So, Jesus is executed. Supposedly that's the end of him, his message. All this "nonsense" – release of the captives, recovery of sight for the blind, freeing those who are oppressed and forgiving debts both literal and figurative, is now over. Right? Wrong!
Although Jesus is executed he cannot be held nor controlled by death. Nor can his followers be controlled by the death's power or its accompanying fear. From Peter and Paul, Mary and Lydia, to all who dare to trust and attempt to follow Jesus, their lives are marked by a power different from any other kind of power. Without a doubt, Jesus' followers can be killed. They often have been. Romero, Martin Luther King Jr., and millions of Christians unknown to the annals of history have been martyred. But the reason for their living, the truth of their unrelenting love for others, especially the most vulnerable and oppressed, will never be silenced. The love of God made manifest in Jesus, irrupting among his followers and sometimes also among and within us will not be silenced! Christ is risen. He lives!
Dear people, do we hear him speaking to us this morning?
Are we open to him showing us the truth of ourselves? How we need him! How we need new ways of thinking, of forgiving, and loving. Sometimes, often, we fall short. Are we able to rejoice as he speaks to us, responding by crying out, AMEN, AMEN – knowing that his words are true? Because of Jesus today can be and is a new day. Because of Him we see that we are loved by God. We can respond by loving others. Do we hear him, now?
Or are we distracted: looking at our watches, trying to cling to the status quo, not realizing – that it is far from all there is, all there can be, all that is intended to be?
Today, expect to hear and receive God. Go from this place equipped with God's very Spirit, to live for Christ's sake and the sake of the world. Experience the breath and direction of the spirit now. See that because of Christ there is freedom for the oppressed, recovery of sight to the blind, good news for the poor. Live that and share all of this today. Amen.