Many years ago when I was a seminary student, I had the opportunity to preach in my home congregation.
This congregation was one where my grandmother had been a charter member. Moreover,
this congregation had nurtured me in the faith, and it had encouraged me through increasing leadership opportunities throughout
the years. Therefore, for me to have the opportunity to preach in my home congregation,
it was a great privilege, and at the same time a frightening prospect. I do not
remember much about that service. I am sure that the minister complimented me
before and after the sermon. The congregation further graciously welcomed
me there that morning. I know that
they heard a sermon that morning. I hope that in that sermon I shared with
them a word from God.
Jesus likewise was invited to preach in his home synagogue. This congregation
likewise had nurtured him in the faith for many years. He knew these people by name and he knew most of their family members. Some
there that day might have been aunts, uncles, cousins, and family friends. Some
there that day might have been classmates and friends from school days.
During the service, Jesus came forward and stood on a small platform. He
was handed the scroll for the Prophet Isaiah. He
carefully unrolled it to chapter 61. Then he read, “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.”
Afterwards, he carefully rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down to preach. One could feel the support for him in the room. He began
by saying to them, “Today this scripture
has been fulfilled in your hearing.” The congregation smiled and nodded approval at how he had begun the sermon. Some were amazed how confidently and clearly, he spoke. Some turned to those beside them, and they exclaimed that Joseph’s son had done
well in life.
If Jesus had ended his sermon at that point, his sermon might have been considered a success. However, Jesus knew that underneath their veneer of social politeness—there was a deep-seated ethnic
prejudice within that congregation. He had heard the whispered ethnic jokes
that some had told about the Gentiles in Nazereth. He also knew that the congregation had heard of the healings that he had done at Capernaum—a neighboring town with
a large Gentile population. He knew
that some thought that he had been wasting his time in healing those Gentiles--especially when so many Jews in Nazareth needed healing. Jesus could have ignored it. However, he could not ignore it. His very nature
demanded that he tell them the truth—even if they did not like it.
Jesus then prefaced his remarks by saying,
“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. Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown.” He simply acknowledged that they would have a hard time
hearing him because he had grown up among them. Still they had asked him
to preach that day. Therefore, he was obligated to bring God’s Word
to them.
Jesus probably took a deep breath, and then he launched into his sermon. He conveyed to them the story about the Prophet
Elijah and a widow that lived in Zarephath. A terrible famine had struck the
land. God had commanded that Elijah travel to Zarephath. There a widow, a worshipper of Baal, would give him food to eat. When
Elijah arrived, he saw the widow gathering a few sticks for a fire. He
asked her to bring him some water and some bread. She said that she only
had a little meal in a jar and a little oil in a jug. However, she would share with him out of her poverty. In turn, God provided for her and her house. As long as the famine lasted, the meal
in the jar and the oil in the jug lasted. Through Elijah, God had provided for this non-believer, a Baal-worshipper, in her
time of desperation.
Jesus then reminded the congregation about how the Prophet Elisha had healed General Naaman, the commander of the army
of Aram. Aram had been an enemy of Israel. General
Naaman had been very successful in leading troops into battle; but now he was afflicted with leprosy. For him leprosy was a death sentence. Once again, God chose to heal a non-believer when there were
so many people with leprosy within Israel.
Jesus had confronted the congregation with their deep-seated prejudices against Gentiles. Suddenly his former friends and neighbors in the congregation turned into a violent mob. They dragged Jesus out of the synagogue toward a cliff. They planned to kill him. All
the while, Jesus probably kept shouting to them, “It’s in the Bible! It’s
in the Bible! However, they
would not listen. On the way to the cliff, the mob began arguing among themselves.
At that moment, Jesus walked through the middle of the crowd and went on his
way.
Peter Gomes, the Chaplain at Harvard in his book, The Scandalous Gospel, wrote that, “the people take offense not so much as what Jesus Christ claims about himself, as with the claims he makes
about a God who is more than their tribal deity.” That is, God
stands outside of our worldview and our particular tribal prejudices. And God,
through the scriptures speaks to us the truth about our lives. He speaks to us the truth that calls into account, who we are and what we are about in the world. God calls us into account, because he calls us into confession and repentance.
He never lets us down, he never lets us off, and he never lets us go.
Thomas Jefferson did not believe certain portions of the Bible. Therefore, he took scissors and cut out those portions of the Bible that offended
him. Perhaps in some way, we too
are like Thomas Jefferson. All of us have our favorite scriptures that
we love to read and perhaps can even quote from memory. Yet, there is the
danger that our favorite scriptures might simply confirm our current worldview.
As disciples, we therefore need to hear God’s voice speaking to us through all of the scriptures. This requires on our part a disciplined study of the scriptures—a disciplined study that goes
beyond the time spent in Sunday school and worship. Such a disciplined study requires that we be a part of a Bible study group during the week. If we are “the people of the Book,” as we claim to be as Presbyterians—then we must first
know what the “Book” says. Only as we know the “Book,”
only then can the scriptures speak to our lives and the issues before our church. Yes, the scriptures both comfort us when we are afflicted, and the scriptures afflict
us when we are too comfortable with our assumptions about life.”
The other reading for the day is from the Book of Nehemiah. When
the people came back from exile in Babylon, they found their nation in ruin. The
temple had been burned and the walls of the city had been torn down. Marauding
bands were raiding and looting the city. Therefore, the Priest Ezra’s
first task was to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls. After the walls
had been built, Ezra assembled all the people. He began reading for them from
the Torah. He read from the early morning until mid-day. He read to them about the ebb and flow of their history from creation onward. He read to them stories, poems, songs, blessings, and the laws of Moses.
He read to them how God had chosen them to be a light to the world, and how God had shaped them into a community.
As he read to them in Hebrew, the Levite Priests translated it section by section in Aramaic, and explained its meaning
to them. Then, “all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.” They
wept because they had heard of God’s promises and faithfulness to them. They
wept because they realized how far they had strayed from God’s vision for them.
They wept because they realized that they could have a new beginning of
faithfulness to God.
Yet, there is a note of danger hinted at in this story. As the Levites
interpreted the scriptures to the people, the Levites interpreted the scriptures according to their own agendas. These Levites were seeking to create a people that would be faithful to their particular understanding of
God’s will for the world. Therefore,
in their interpretation of the scriptures, they told the people that they had to divorce their non-Jewish wives, and they
had to disown their children that had been conceived by those wives. In their rigidity, they refused to consider whether God might be a blessing through such non-believers.
Not everyone agreed with that party line. Out of dissent, someone wrote
a book in protest to policies of Ezra and Nehemiah. The book is about how a widowed
non-believer, chose to remain with her widowed mother-in-law. She even
accepted her mother-in-law’s God to be her God. That protest book
is The Book of Ruth. It proclaimed that God could work even through
non-believers.
This weekend Mickey and I went to see the movie, “The Book of Eli.” In
the movie, because of a nuclear war the world has been turned into a vast wasteland. A
man named Eli has been traveling for 30 years across the country in an effort to get to the “West.” It seems that 30 years before, God had spoken to him and told him to carry “The Book” west,
to a safe place which God in time will show him.
Along the way, there are gangs that rob and murder people. In Eli’s travels, he comes to a town that is ruled by a power hungry man named Carnegie. Carnegie
is obsessed with finding “The Book,” because he feels that it will give him increased power over people. He learns that Eli has “The Book”
and he seeks to take it away from him. When Eli finally reaches his destination,”
The Book” brings excitement and renewal to those who read it.
You and I are here this morning because we need to hear “The Book”—God’s Word—read, preached,
and sung. We need to hear God’s Word—that our faith might be
encouraged, strengthened, and sustained. We need to hear God’s Word
that we might be reminded that God refuses to let us domesticate him—that God refuses to let us confine him within the
walls of our sanctuaries--that God refuses to let us govern him according to our hidden prejudices and our assumptions about
life. Instead, God is free and active in the world through diverse peoples of
God’s own choosing. Therefore,
as disciples we are to have a “teachable spirit.” We are to seek out where God is at work in the world. We are
to seek to understand how we can get involved in God’s work in the world. Moreover, we have the promise that as we have
a “teachable spirit,” that God will speak to us and transform us all. Thanks
be to God!
Dr. William dePrater
