View the part of the service with the sermon HERE.
The first part of the service, including a children's sermon where Grace might as well be the pastor HERE.
Epiphany 3C
January 23, 2022
Nehemiah 8:103, 5-6, 8-10
Luke 4:14-21
INTRODUCTION
If Epiphany is a season in which we recognize the ways God is revealed, today we will hear especially about God’s revelation through the Word, especially in our first reading, from Nehemiah, and our Gospel reading. Let me contextualize each of those for you.
The book of Nehemiah is actually part of a pair, Ezra-Nehemiah. Ezra was a priest, and Nehemiah a governor, and together they helped to rebuild Israel after they returned from exile – Nehemiah physically, in the form of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and the Temple, and Ezra spiritually. Ezra, you see, has been working with other priests to put together what would become the Torah, the law, the first five books of the Bible. During the exile, when Israel was dispersed and away from the center of their faith, many had begun writing down what had previously been strictly an oral tradition. Now Ezra and others were working on compiling that work, and in today’s reading we will witness the very first time the people are hearing Torah read to them, the first time they are encountering Holy Scriptures. And, as we’ll see, they are greatly impacted by it.
A few centuries later, we find Jesus in the Temple, and this also a first: where John’s Gospel records the sign of turning water into wine as Jesus’ first public appearance, Luke tells us it was this sermon that Jesus gives in his hometown, in which he reads the words of Isaiah and says they are fulfilled in this hearing. Luke tells us that the people were amazed.
Hearing scripture read and interpreted is still an essential part of our worship life – it’s happening right now! – and still a moment in which we believe God to be revealed to us. So as you listen, watch for God! Notice how the Spirit is moving in you today. What word or phrase hits you in a particular way? What comforts you, or what feels uncomfortable, either in the scripture or in the sermon that follows, and why do you feel that way? All of that is the work of the Spirit, and a way God is speaking and being revealed this day. So… let’s listen!
[READ]
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you O God, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
There is one bit in our reading today from Nehemiah that really drew my attention this week, and that is that upon hearing scripture read to them for the first time, the people wept and mourned… but we don’t know why. What were they mourning? Some say they were mourning because they were being faced for the first time with the magnitude of their sin. Others say they were simply overwhelmed with being together once again after exile (a situation we might understand something about these days!). Still others say they were mourning that although they were back together after 70 years of being in exile, nothing was quite as they hoped and imagined it would be, and they were just now really facing that grief. In truth, it could have been all of this – and more! – all at the same time!
But the reason I was so drawn in by this fact this week is that I realized: an encounter with scripture is always like that. That is, God’s holy Word always hits each of us differently, and causes us to respond differently – because we all bring different circumstances and different life experience to the text. In fact, we may all respond very differently to the very same text or sermon, and all those responses can exist at the same time, and they can all be right. I have preached sermons where, after the fact, one person tells me how much they loved it, and someone else tells me they had some concern with it that they’d like to discuss with me. They listened to the very same sermon on the same day, but heard two very different things. The Spirit is funny that way – always working in us to hear just what we need to hear on any given day! And if something rubs you the wrong way, that’s probably the Spirit working something out in you, too! That’s how it works for me, anyway!
Jesus’ proclamation today is no exception to this. He is in his hometown (where folks will certainly have some assumptions or expectations of him and what he will say!), and he first reads from the prophet Isaiah, and then interprets it. The Spirit of the Lord is upon him, anointing him to bring good news to the poor. He then goes on, quoting Isaiah, to say all the ways that this good news will become a reality, before finally proclaiming that these words have been fulfilled that very moment.
But his words were and are heard differently by different listeners. That fulfillment might even take different forms for different people. Those present in the synagogue that day would have heard them differently than we do, certainly, because their context was so completely different. But even among us gathered here today, different parts will speak differently to different people.
In fact, we might not even all agree on what is good news here. For instance, “recovery of sight to the blind” might not even register for someone with 20/20 vision, but I bet that sounds like pretty good new to someone whose eyesight has been failing as they age! Or maybe someone else glosses over the bit about release of the captives, but you are stuck in a relationship that is not giving you life, and hearing that Jesus brings “release to the captives” sounds like just the relief you have been praying for. Good news sounds different to different listeners.
But here’s the kicker: whatever it is that you hear as good news in this passage can only be heard as such when we first recognize and admit what is hard in our life, what lacks, what is difficult. We must first recognize what, precisely, is causing us to weep and mourn, before we can truly hear the Word that will comfort our ache.
Makes sense, right? But it is not always easy to admit those areas in our lives where we need some good news. If we are looking for something positive, it is because we are experiencing something negative, something that needs help, something we are unable to accomplish on our own. It is admitting a weakness, admitting that we are somehow vulnerable. This sort of admission can be scary and difficult, and we humans have developed all kinds of ways to live in denial about our weaknesses or shameful experiences, rather than admit them.
Most people are familiar at least in passing with 12-step programs such as AA. These programs are designed primarily to help people overcome addictions, things in their life that they no longer have control over. Whether or not you are familiar with all 12 steps, most everyone knows at least the first step, which is what? Admitting you have a problem. But it is more than that, actually. The way the manual states it, the first step is, “We admit that we are powerless against…” whatever it is that you’re there for.
Powerless is a pretty strong word! And yet, admitting to powerlessness has been the first step for so many seeking healing. It can be devastating; indeed it can be bad news. “I have a problem.” And Jesus’ words to us today can also be bad news. We hear about “the poor,” “the captives,” “the blind,” “the oppressed.” Does that describe any of us? If not literally, then maybe figuratively? Are we poor in spirit? Do we hunger for companionship, for knowledge, for understanding? Are we captive to addictions? To sin? (Certainly!) To a need for attention? To a need for seclusion? Are we blind to the needs of the world, to the needs of our neighbor, to the needs of a family member? Are we oppressed by a bully, by a job, by a relationship? Or, are we oppressing someone else?
Any of these things are terribly hard to admit. They are bad news. But we have to hear them that way, as bad news, before Jesus’ words can become good news to us. Because once we can admit to our weaknesses and short-comings, then we can also be open to hearing how Jesus will give us the strength to overcome them.
Or, we can see how Jesus will work through those very same short-comings, using them as tools that will then allow us to proclaim that same good news that we experienced to others. Going back to the AA example, the 12th step is a commitment to share the good news that came from admitting powerlessness with others who are struggling through the same problem. This is but one way that Jesus might bring about our own release, giving us sight, freedom, healing, and more – by giving us an opportunity to share it with others in the Body of Christ, or by inviting others to come here to be fed, freed, and comforted. And suddenly, what was our bad news, maybe even so bad that we couldn’t admit it to ourselves or anyone, becomes a way for Jesus’ mission, stated in his inaugural address, to be carried out in the world.
I still don’t know why those people wept and mourned while they heard the Torah read to them, and we never will. But whatever it was, and whatever it is in the Word that stirs emotion in us, may it compel us to open ourselves to knowing what is true, and letting the Spirit work in and through that to bring about life.
Let us pray. Compassionate God, we are hungry: feed us. We are captive: release us. We are blind: open our eyes. We are oppressed: set us free. Fulfill your word and your mission in and through us, Lord, so that this earthly kingdom might look more like your kingdom. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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