Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
Luke 4:21-30; I Corinthians 13:1-13; Jeremiah 1:4-10
What do I have to do to get your attention? This is the question of the hour driving the expenditure of more than 2.5 million dollars per minute in the coming week as various advertisers prepare for the biggest attention getting event of the year. The Super Bowl. While the local interest is automatic with the Bears playing in the Super Bowl for the first time in 21 years, the rest of the nation is beginning to anticipate the only television event known for its commercials. The internet now provides on-demand replays of the ads and compiles votes on which ad was best. The key challenge for every advertiser, of course, is first to get our attention and then to provide some image, song or moment that connects to our memory the item being sold. It can be almost guaranteed that there will be some commercials that attempt to appeal to our warm and fuzzy side getting us to declare that that was really nice or cute. There will be others that strive to be funny or just plain entertaining. Still other commercials will be artistic or unusual, sometimes to the point of making us wonder, "What was that about?" Finally, there is usually one commercial that presents a situation or moment that we see as being "just too true."
Finding something true in a commercial sometimes strikes us as a bit surprising. We have come to expect almost everything we see and hear to have some "spin" to it. Even the most popular news sources, especially the ones on television, have reached the point of having to promote themselves as providing the truth in the face of repeatedly demonstrating themselves to be purveyors of prejudicial rumors and falsehoods. How a fact is presented and which facts are presented in which order creates different understandings of reality and truth. And which questions are asked about the truth and which are answered create the spin that may or may not be true. Telling the truth is not always easy and is often more unsettling than comfortable.
That is the lesson we are reminded of this morning in our Gospel text. We are in the portion of the church calendar known as the Sundays after Epiphany. Just as the Christmas star pointed the way for the Wise Men to discover Jesus at the first Epiphany, so our lessons at this time of the year are intended to help us see how Jesus was revealed to those around him and all humanity. Our lesson last week presented Jesus returning to his home town after having survived his temptation in the wilderness. He entered the synagogue and was invited, perhaps in recognition of his growing reputation as a Rabbi or teacher of the faith, to present the morning reading of the lesson. He read from the prophet Isaiah that "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." And then when he had concluded his reading he did not give an extended commentary or sermon but simply said, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." The initial reaction, we are told is that "all spoke well of him." Maybe it was because his sermon was so short or maybe it was because he was a son of the congregation, "Joseph's son". The carpenter's boy, but then Jesus continued. And what he said next was to name the truth.
Sociologists identify a number of curious things about our human nature when it comes to really seeing, hearing or embracing a thought or idea. There is, for example, the expert syndrome. This is the tendency we have to accept the words of a consultant or expert more readily than the same words spoken by a familiar voice. This begins at a very early age when young children will come home and announce that their teacher has told them they have to wash their hands before every meal which of course the parents have been insisting on for years but the child has never quite heard until these same words were spoken by a favorite teacher. Corporations often bring in the outside consulting firm that assesses a certain situation and makes recommendations that may even be identical to internal assessments but have never been acted on until they were offered by this new voice. Pastor Chris and I appreciate the various bulletins and newsletters that church members bring to us from other churches they visit or have contact with. It is not unusual for someone to highlight something from another church as a new idea for us to consider at Holy Spirit. It is equally not unusual for Chris or me to observe that that very highlighted idea from another church was something we had proposed some time ago but no one was interested.
It is the different voice or the changed context that causes us to see or hear or experience as true that which has become familiar to us. Every advertiser knows that different things attract the attention of different people. There are factors of age, ethnicity, culture, economic and social class as well as various issues relating to our sex, educational background, vocabulary and general interests, not to mention life experiences, birth place and travels.
The familiar is usually easy to embrace but seldom noticed for having any significant value or meaning. That is not to say that the familiar is unwelcomed. Most of us like order and predictability. The churches we choose to worship in are usually selected in part because we have become comfortable with certain portions of the service. We often enjoy that which is familiar for the very reason that it makes us feel so comfortable and "at home". Certainly one reason for selecting the radio station we listen to is because it is familiar to us. The music played is often well known and repeated over and over yet we enjoy the melodies and maybe the perceived "truth" of the song's words or feeling. Just because something is familiar does not mean it is without value or has been exhausted of its meaning. I have read and seen performed almost every play William Shakespeare ever wrote. Many of them I have seen more than a half dozen times yet I do not grow weary of the words or the presentations. I am always amazed to find new things in a familiar story. Such is also the case with the Bible. Familiar words read again and again each Sunday at times strike me in new ways, and sometimes not always the most comfortable ways. There are times when the words cause me to look at myself and my world and see things I would prefer not to see or know. That is what happened in our lesson for today. Jesus referred to familiar stories but suddenly the home town folk heard words that were challenging and they didn't like it. All the niceness suddenly disappeared as Jesus suddenly got their attention.
The attention span of the average adult is 20 minutes. It is not an accident that much of our daily life is divided into 15-20 minute segments. Television commercials actually provide the breaks that enable us to stay focused on the hour long television program. Our worship service this morning is broken into roughly 20 minute segments. Contrary to what you may sometimes think, almost all of our sermons are 13-18 minutes long (and you all know which pastor favors the 13 minute sermon and which the 18). To get and hold attention is no easy task. Even God had to struggle at times. Certainly the need to use a burning bush would suggest rather extreme measures, but then the story of Moses reveals a person not easily persuaded even after encountering such a dramatic moment. Moses had a multitude of excuses for why God should leave him alone. Such was the case for many Biblical figures including Jeremiah in our first lesson for today. Most of the prophets and leaders God chose were quick to point out that they were too young, too inexperienced, too slow of speech, too old, too busy, too married or not married enough, to insignificant, too untalented and even too boring.
But in the end, the most significant characteristic of a prophet was that they were usually offensive and unsettling. Jesus finds this to be true even in the retelling of stories about the prophets. Our text makes it clear that Jesus offended. We know he preached in ways that offended the religious authorities of his day. Most of us have recognized that Jesus was not the most popular person proven ultimately by the fact that he was executed by the government authorities and there were few protests or complaints. From our readings of the Bible we know that there were a number of prophets who had problems similar to Jesus. Prophets who clearly said and did things that upset the established religious and political authorities.
We tend to look at Biblical characters as interesting historical figures. We sometimes even see things in them that we admire or might even want to consider imitating. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Jesus and Paul all have historical significance. And yet, faith is not the admiration of a historical figure. If faith is going to mean anything it is because it has meaning and value here and now. The words spoken centuries ago do not stay in the past. They live on with meanings that transcend time. That's what was so offensive about what Jesus said to his home town. He gave the words meaning in the moment.
The word coming to people who are comfortable and familiar with the speaker and the speaker's words. That was what happened in our Gospel lesson for today. That is what is happening this morning. Familiar words from a familiar voice.
Last Sunday we heard how Jesus opened the scroll of Isaiah and "proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Last Sunday our annual report was presented to the congregation and we celebrated that another year of ministry has been completed with all the various programs of education, music, youth, study, fellowship and service. We proclaimed that almost 13% of all receipts had been passed on to other ministries beyond the doors of this congregation and community. Tens of thousands of dollars that fed, sheltered and cared for others. It was a good and comfortable moment. We are beginning another year. Certainly we are happy that God has so blessed us, and yet. The lesson for this morning will not let us get too comfortable. The lesson for this morning says, pay attention, listen up and listen closely. God is calling again this morning. What does God have to do to get your attention? Can't you see the truth? There are people all around who have not yet heard the gospel. There are people in this community who have not tasted of God's grace or felt the wholeness of God's presence in their lives. It is an old and familiar saying so listen closely. We are not called by God to be comfortable but to be faithful. It is time to see and hear this truth.
St. Paul knew it all too well, "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways." Maturity is measured by having a longer attention span. An attention span long enough to really listen, to truly hear, and to faithfully respond to God's calling, special and unique to each of us. Next Sunday we will hear sports commentators declare that it is time for each team to get real. That this will be the most important moment in the lives of these players. The commentators will attempt to convince us that this is a defining moment. For certain athletes that may be true, for each of us there is a different defining moment. That is what our faith is calling us to know. That there is no more important moment in our lives than the next one because that is the next instance for discovering God's grace. Jesus was not just an historic character. Jesus rose from the dead and is alive here and now. His words are real, here and now. His body and blood are present here and now. We live in his grace here and now. But you have heard all of that before. So what does God have to do to get our attention?
Amen