Then [Jesus] began to say to all in the synagogue in Nazareth, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
A few weeks ago, as the year 2000 came to an end, the church office received a number of telephone calls from people who wanted to know how much they would need to contribute to the church to fulfill their pledge commitment for the year. As a new President was sworn into office the news magazines were filled with articles focusing on what it will take for the new administration to fulfill the campaign promises made during the election run.We always taught our boys that they were free to join any team or organization they wanted to join but they would be expected to fulfill their responsibility to that team or organization--they could not drop out or quit if they found their team did not win many games or the organization suddenly became unpopular with their other friends. A commitment fulfilled--A promise fulfilled-an expectation fulfilled--a prophecy fulfilled. Today this scripture has been fulfilled--what exactly does that mean. Fulfilled--completed?--finished?
Pastor Barbra Lundblad suggests that our text for today feels like walking in late for a movie--the reel has been running awhile and we must try to find our place--make sense of the scene. Jesus is speaking, "Today," he says, "this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." If you were here last Sunday you have already seen the opening scene of this movie so you know what scripture Jesus is talking about. If you missed it--or your memory isn't what it used to be--you need to know that Jesus had just read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. "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." Then Jesus rolled up the scroll and sat down. If this were a movie, the camera would be panning around the room--focusing on faces-eyes wide--bodies bending forward. Or perhaps the camera would focus on Jesus--first from the right--then the left and finally straight on. This is where we came in--at the moment Jesus began to speak: "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." And all spoke well of him and were amazed at his gracious words. The voices in the room grow louder. People are talking in groups ... The camera moves in, allowing us to overhear. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" someone asks. The scene moves quickly. It goes too fast. We have no time to take it in. Jesus speaks again. Already the mood of the gathering is changing. Jesus sees their uneasiness and suspicion--He continues to speak, "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.'" They hadn't mentioned Capernaum--Jesus seems to be reading their minds. "No prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown," he says. Jesus sees it now in their eyes? Hears in their murmuring and questions?
He tries to deflect their criticism--to refocus the listener's attention. Jesus was saying: "Don't worry about me and don't worry about what I can or have done. You need to pay attention to what God tells us in our scriptures. No prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown." Jesus knew what Mark Twain would write 1900 years later--"Familiarity breeds contempt--and children." It is hard to be prophetic with one's own family and friends. Ask any parent.
Jesus had announced that the year of the Lord's favor was at hand--a time of deliverance and freedom--out from under the Roman rule--the triumph of God's people--the problem was that Jesus announced this deliverance not just to the gathered congregation but declared it for all people. This was not quite the politically correct expression of the good news. Worshipers began to fidget uncomfortably. They had been faithful. They had waited. They had been in church Sunday after Sunday and now Jesus preaches a God whose favor falls upon the just and the unjust the righteous and the unrighteous the faithful and the unfaithful? That hardly seems fair.
Those who listen frequently to sermons appreciate illustrations--but Jesus used an illustration that grated against their expectations. He told them--There were many widows in Israel in the time of the prophet Elijah--Yet Elijah was sent by God to none of them. Instead he came to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. Jesus reminded them--there were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha and none of them were healed by Elisha except for Naaman the Syrian. Sidon is modern day Lebanon--and Syria is still Syria. We're not even talking places in the West Bank--these were people definitely outside the community and the faith. It doesn't take much imagination to guess how that Galilean congregation felt. Being remembered of these stories out of their Bible, all of a sudden good news started sounding like bad news.
There are hundreds of good news-bad news stories--some
are jokes. I always liked the one where the Cardinal rushes breathlessly
in to see the Pope and announces, "Holy Father, I have good
news for you and I have bad news."
"Well, tell me the good news first," says the Pope.
"Holy Father, the good news is that Jesus Christ is coming
again this very day!"
"That's wonderful," says the Pope,
"but if that's the good news, whatever can the bad news be?"
"The bad news, Holy Father, is that he is coming at Salt
Lake City!"
Whether or not we hear today's lessons as studies in good news-bad news depends a great deal on what we expect the fulfillment of scripture to mean--bad news depends on how threatening the news is to our world view--our power base and personal security. Today we are celebrating a worship service and Sunday school event that focuses on the global mission of our church--the diversity of the gospel--for those of us who grew up with a hymnal like the green one in front of us that contains no Hispanic music--no Asian music--and one African song--today may be a bit threatening. That doesn't mean that I can't appreciate the global calling of the Gospel but I have been raised to think in a distinctively western European white male kind of way. I have made noble efforts to step outside my northern European Midwestern America upbringing but it is not easy to admit that Minnesota is not the center of the universe. On this day in particular I am reminded that the typical Lutheran in the world today is a young African probably from Tanzania or Ethiopia who looks nothing like my Lutheran Germanic Scandinavian ancestors. On this day I am reminded that the largest gathering of worshipers at a Lutheran congregation inside the city limits of Chicago will not worship in English today but in Spanish Jesus proclaimed the fulfillment of scripture--but many had forgotten--or maybe they never knew--what the Word of God really proclaims.
As chair of the Metro Chicago Synodical Missions Committee I regularly hear good news-bad news stories--this past week I was told of a congregation in one of our outer suburbs where the Anglo congregation is dying but a new Hispanic congregation has been organized also using their building. This new Hispanic ministry is already worshiping three times that of the Anglo congregation. Since the Anglo congregation was our Bishop's first congregation, he suggested that maybe the two ministries using the same building might consolidate--come together--but when the vote was held by the Anglo congregation the motion failed. That was the bad news--or maybe not. The next day 20 members of the Anglo church disappointed in the vote--many key leaders and Sunday school teachers--left their Anglo congregation and joined the Hispanic congregation--good news for the Hispanic congregation. But the bad news was that the Hispanic church offered no English worship service so they had to add one--the good news is that one month later the new English worship service had doubled in size to more than 50 attracting new members from the surrounding community--and the Hispanic congregation has continued to grow also. One of the Bishop's staff observed, "Too often people forget that the church is not intended to be a place just for baptisms and confirmations, weddings and funerals--the church is the place for preaching the gospel"--for announcing the fulfillment of God's Word. The church is a place for good news--and bad news--depending on who hears the word. Fulfillment--not an end unto itself--but the promise of things to come.
We would like to believe that we are different from those in Jesus' home town--or the Bishop's first church--that we have a spirit open to the fulfillment of God's word. We tell ourselves that we appreciate visits to other cultures--certainly we appreciate the richness of foods from other lands--and this morning we catch a small sample of the musical diversity of the world of worship. That is the good news we hear this morning--there is also the bad news. If we are honest we will also hear Christ's call in the fulfillment of the Isaiah text for us to discover the full meaning of justice for and love of neighbor. There is still much work for us to do in putting our faith into action--we need to be building a place where faith is nurtured and strengthened--a community that knows the power of God's table of grace--a place where children are encouraged to learn about Jesus and explore their faith--to grow the faith of people of all ages as Christ's disciples. The prophet's words still challenge us to worry not so much about ourselves--our homes and businesses-our cultural traditions or even our tax relief--as about our neighbor's needs. Our neighbors around the world--an Africa with hunger and disease--a city with homeless--a world with refugees of wars and natural disasters--a nation with thousands of children who not only can't read but children who can't sleep for hunger and lack of proper shelter.
The good news to the world is that today this scripture could be fulfilled by people of faith. In Jesus' two stories the prophets rescued not the hometown folk, but those regarded as outsiders--even what some might have considered enemies. Jesus' point became painfully clear to those present. This God of which Jesus spoke was not only the God of the chosen people this was a God of those we do not like-distance ourselves from-even oppose. Jesus told the people in Nazareth long ago that their God is the God of the Jews and the Gentiles--our neighbors and our enemies. We have too many doubts about our enemies and too much insecurity. Even our best attempts to bring peace to the world fail--so we get defensive. We stockpile our weapons--build better defense shields--give bullet proof vests to our police--and some of our inner city teachers. That's the bad news--the good news is that ours is a God who creates peace.
Back in the 1860's the Civil War was winding down--it was obvious that the Union would win. Someone asked President Lincoln how he would treat the southerners after the war was over. He answered, "Like they had never been away." "But Mr. President," the questioner protested, "Aren't we supposed to destroy our enemies?" Abraham Lincoln's response was a piece of divine wisdom as he said, "Don't we destroy our enemies when we make them our friends?"
There is another passage of Isaiah that Jesus did not read but that we know well from the baptism service--words of the prophet calling upon God. "Pour out your Holy Spirit, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in your presence." These words are not the same words Jesus read from the scroll but it is the same Spirit that leads us to discover. "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." This word fulfilled changes things. In Nazareth and Capernaum, in Jerusalem and Chicago, Lincolnshire, Deerfield or Vernon Hills. The story could have been different in Jesus' hometown. The people could have believed God's word was being fulfilled that very day in their hearing. They could have believed this word was meant for them.
The story in Nazareth didn't have to end with rage. It could have ended with blessing. "Today this word is fulfilled in your hearing." It's the same for us.
Amen.