Emily Schaming
A
friend of mine was visiting a church in a region that had been plagued by
conflict and violence. As she entered the church, she was immediately taken
aback by a large banner at the front of the sanctuary that displayed the King
James Version of a passage from today's Gospel lesson. It read, "They led
him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast
him down headlong." (KJV)
This
was obviously a church community that acutely felt a connection with Jesus'
persecution in this story. They understood how it could be that people would
dislike your message so much that they would be willing to throw you off a cliff
because of it. The message that Jesus brings us in Luke is sometimes unwelcome
good news. It is an announcement that his very existence is exciting news for
the poor, healing for the blind, release for captives, freedom for the oppressed
and rest for the weary. This sounds like a veritable utopia. So what's the
problem? What has made the people of the Nazareth synagogue so angry?
WHAT'S
THE POINT OF THE MESSAGE?
It
might help if we start by figuring out what was going on in the temple. It was
common for itinerant rabbis to be asked to read and teach in the local
synagogues. This is the first time we hear of Jesus doing this as an adult. And
he uses the opportunity to make quite an impact.
In
Canada, the Governor General delivers a speech known as the "Speech from the
Throne", a kind of mission statement that outlines the plans of the current
government. In the U.S. the president delivers a similar address -around this
time of year- known as the "State of the Union".
These tend to be highly optimistic, general statements about the
government's work and plans in a number of areas, education, health, security,
and the economy.
In
today's Gospel lesson, Jesus issues his own declaration, his speech from the
throne. Quoting Isaiah, He gives what is probably one of the shortest and most
incendiary policy speeches in history. He reads, "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 favour." He
then sits, a sign in the synagogue that one is about to teach, and declares,
"Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." I'm sure until
this point, everyone was very impressed and proud to have a hometown boy who was
doing so well. The passage even says, "all spoke well of him". But
Jesus isn't finished, he goes on to tell the people that what they have just
heard is not merely a scripture reading but a genuine prophecy that he has
fulfilled by his presence. He has told them that he is the Messiah. But there
was no way his neighbours believed him.
WHAT IS THE MESSAGE?
To
this day when telling a Jewish person your belief that Jesus is the Messiah,
this person may well ask you, "Well, if Jesus was the Messiah, where is his
kingdom?" And indeed, despite Jesus' having repeatedly proclaimed that the
kingdom of God was at hand, that in some sense the kingdom had indeed arrived
through his own death and resurrection, the entire world did not change in one
enormous, cataclysm. But the world was changed and continues to be changed by
Jesus' "throne speech" that day in Nazareth and by those who believe
his words.
Good News to the Poor
Jesus
was good news for the poor. Jesus was poor himself. He was not saying that he
was going to make the poor rich, but that he was bringing them happiness. So
what was he saying? Thousands of Christians have carried out his message of
happiness despite, or perhaps because of, poverty. One of these was Mother
Teresa, who gave her life to poverty. She said, "the more you have, the
more you are occupied, the less you give. But the less you have the more free
you are. Poverty for us is a freedom. It is not mortification, a penance. It is
joyful freedom. There is no television here, no this, no that. But we are
perfectly happy." This is the good news. That poverty is not the same as
wretchedness. That those who follow Jesus can choose to have fewer possessions
in order to enrich their lives.
Release to the Captives
Jesus
proclaimed release to the captives. In November 1960, two Portuguese students
were sentenced to seven years imprisonment for a remark made which was critical
of the Portuguese government. English lawyer and recent Catholic convert Peter
Benenson read of the plight of these two students in the news while traveling to
work one morning. In consultation with other writers, academics and lawyers, in
particular the Quaker peace activist Eric Baker, Benenson wrote to the editor of
The Observer newspaper, who, on May
28, 1961, published Benenson's article, The
Forgotten Prisoners. The article brought the reader's attention to those
"imprisoned, tortured or executed because his opinions or religion are
unacceptable to his government." This was the start of Amnesty
International, an organization that now has close to 2 million members around
the world campaigning for the release of the wrongfully imprisoned.
Jesus
gave his mission statement in a small Middle Eastern town to a small group of
people two thousand years ago. And yet that mission was inspiration enough for
Benenson, who in turn inspired millions more.
Sight to the Blind
Jesus
proclaimed sight for the blind. This could mean physical healings, which he
performed often in his life, or new insight for those who had trouble believing.
Henry
Dunant, witnessed a great deal of bloodshed and suffering on an Italian
battlefield in 1859. With a conviction that came from his strong Calvinist
heritage, he worked to form a society to help the wounded. Following Henry
Dunant's vision, the Red Cross was formed to alleviate suffering caused by
fighting. It has expanded its vision to help people in times of peace to
strengthen their capacities to live healthier lives and avoid conflicts and
disasters.
The story in Acts of Paul's
conversion tells of a different kind of sight for the blind. Annanias is send to
heal him of a physical blindness that overcame him as a result of his spiritual
misdeeds. Annanias laid his hands on him and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord
Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so
that you may regain your sight, and be filled with the
Today's
gospel reading says that Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit to proclaim his
message. Paul, too, was filled with the Spirit at his moment of sight. And I
believe that the Spirit was also with Dunant as he stood on the battlefield,
moved to help those who were suffering.
Set the Oppressed Free
Jesus proclaimed freedom for the oppressed. Martin
Luther King Jr said, "Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it
must be demanded by the oppressed." Rosa Parks, a lifelong member of the
African Methodist Episcopal Church, felt strongly the oppression of forced
segregation in the American South. On
December 1, 1955 she refused to obey a bus driver's demand that she relinquish
her seat to a white passenger. Her subsequent arrest and trial for this act of
civil disobedience triggered the 382 day Montgomery Bus Boycott, one of the
largest and most successful mass movements against racial segregation in
history. Her act inspired many civil rights leaders including Martin Luther King
Jr. and Nelson Mandela.
Rosa
Parks knew she was a valued child of God. Her Christian convictions helped to
sustain her through a life of activism and were a source of hope for many. In
Rosa Parks too, God was proclaiming the kingdom on earth.
Proclaim the Year of the
Lord's Favour
Jesus
says he is here to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour. In Christ the kingdom
came. We live in its light and reality yet today. But picking up today's
newspaper will confirm that poverty, sickness, oppression, and death have not
been eradicated. But if we examine the lives of millions of Christians who have
been Christ's body here on earth, we can see that the Lord's favour continues to
shine through those who follow Jesus.
WHY DON'T WE LISTEN TO OUR
OWN?
Yet
Christ's message was not well received by the people of his town. We do not want
to be told how to live our lives by someone we know. Instead, we are more
content to take advice from television talk show hosts or celebrity finance
experts. A minister from Ohio recalls this story, "I remember a time I was
planning a weekend at our retreat facility…it was a weekend for our own
members and I was the advertised leader. The week before the retreat I got a
call from a person with some questions about the weekend one of which went like
this: "That seems like a lot of money for a weekend retreat…it might be
different if there was going to be a really dynamic, outside speaker, but it's
just you leading it, right?" I informed this person that in case she was
wondering, no offense had been taken!"
But
if we are to learn the lesson that Jesus was trying to teach, we must look to
the familiar. We can learn from our families and teach our children the message,
so that it can continue to be carried out from generation to generation.
WHAT CAN WE
DO?
Like many such speeches,
Jesus' "speech from the throne" was very broad, leaving his life and
ours to fill in the details. Christ worked hard during his lifetime to do what
the scripture required. But he also said that, "today
this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." Through his very
existence, he was able to proclaim his message. Sometimes we forget the
immediacy of working for the kingdom and incarnating the Lord's love
"today," right now and right here where we too have been anointed by the
Spirit of the Lord to proclaim and embody the gospel. Can we in the Church still
say that today to the people all around us in need? And can we then back up
those words with deeds of love and mercy that will incarnate a portion of that
truth for those people? Jesus has left us here as his body on earth and remains
within us to ensure that the message he brought to humankind is fulfilled each
day by us, his eyes, ears, hands and heart on the earth. One has to wonder what
Jesus would say to us if he were to be asked to preach in our community.
As
Menno Simons, one of our church fathers, put it, "True evangelical faith
cannot lie sleeping, it clothes the naked, it comforts the sorrowful, it feeds
the hungry, it shelters the destitute, it cares for the sick, it becomes all
things to all people." We are here on earth to continue to fulfill the
words of Isaiah. We look to the scriptures as the people did in Nehemiah. Ezra
told the people not to weep because of the law, but to follow God's law with
joy. Mother Teresa, one of those who truly lived Jesus' message, echoed Ezra's
words, "like Jesus we belong to the world living not for ourselves but for
others. The joy of the Lord is our strength."