Just Enough for Today

You know, having said it so often, that we don't choose our preaching texts, and that the Narrative Lectionary really throws us some curveballs sometimes. This Sunday, when we're readying to celebrate a baptism, is no exception. The symbolic receiving of renewed life through an outpouring of water on the same day when our scripture is rooted in the arid dryness of water withheld. God's anger has been raised at the king Abah, worshiper of foreign gods - in particular Baal, the god of thunder, rain and fertility - and God has caused the land and sky to dry up.

Baptism or no, we begin our story in drought and famine. An international crisis of epic proportion. Death is every present. Anxiety and fear are the norm. Now this sounds pretty familiar. We don't choose our texts, but there is something about this story that feels very real. In the midst of this drough we meet a woman in Zarephath. She seems to be the head of her household, so once she may have been wealthy or at least self-sufficient but at the point when we meet her she is beyond hope. She is very matter of fact about it: "I am going to make a meal for myself and my child." She says. "We will eat it - and then we will die."

This is a mother who is at the end of her rope. She is trying to weather a drought, she is responsible for a household, she is caring for her child. She is weary and fearful. She is ready to die. And Elijah the prophet comes along with the gall to make another demand of her - two demands! First, give me some water! Now, give me something to eat!

The mom in me wants to ask him, "Now, how to ask for something politely??" I do hear the weariness and exasperation in this mom's voice. The defeatism: I literally have a handful of flour and enough oil for a meager meal for myself and my child before we starve to death. Seriously?

Now I am a person of relatively stable mental health. And I have good resources and pretty reasonable practices of self care. But even I have days during this famine of COVID where I am at the point of collapse. And I know that there are those among us who are truly struggling with diagnosed mental illness and feeling hopeless. For y'all, I pray that you will find the resources that you need.

Though that is not me, there are days when it feels like there is so little left in me to give, that all I'm experiencing is a string of demands (some of you may identify) - meetings, newsletters and sermons to write, of course. But also kindergarten to supervise and homework to help with, meals to provide and care to offer, the constant stream of demands, "Mom, look at this." "Mom, I need…" "Mom, can I have…" "Mom, give me…" If Elijah had come along to me, when I'm down to the last of my emotional and physical resources I might have answered something like the widow did: I'm already starving to death! And if he'd said - as he did to her, "Do not fear, just make me a cake." I might have laughed like loon.


On this All Saints Day, truly, I recognize this woman as a Saint. Because she does not laugh like a wild thing. She believes him. A stranger to her and a foreigner. She believes him when he says, when you help me, God will provide enough for all of us each day. Today, and tomorrow, and then the day after, and the day after and the day after, until this drought is at an end. She believes him. And she offers hospitality from the last of her supplies.

Though I may have a hard time hearing the words, "Do not fear," there actually is something comforting about the idea of just having to make it through today and then tomorrow will have enough for tomorrow. And the next day, enough for that day. Between Elijah and the widow and her son and household, they create a little famine bubble - a bubble in which each day they make it until the next day.

Part of what helps them make it to the end of the day is that tiny community they've formed. And I have absolutely found a way to make it each day when I've been in community with some of y'all - whether that's a corn maze with some jr youth and their families, or talking to children in Sunday school or dropping by with meals for families. Some days it's a choice for baptism and community in the middle of a pandemic. It's the joy of seeing someone choose hope and new life. It doesn't fill me up. None of it will completely satisfy. I know it doesn't fill y'all up either. But it gets me through today.

Friends, I had a really good day or two this week. And I had tears this week. That's the way our days go now. This week especially, when our hopes and our anxieties are especially heightened, I truly pray that you will find each day the meal that you need to live through that day. That you will reach out to people and that people you need will reach out to you. May your flour jar and jug of oil have enough - just enough to make it to the end of this famine that we're all in together. Amen.

World Turned Upside Down

When I first read through this text, the words that I found the most striking (after being like, wait there’s a Jason in the Bible??) were the accusations against Paul and Silas: These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has entertained them as guests. They are all acting contrary to the decrees of the emperor, saying that there is another king named Jesus.

It’s translated in different ways in different texts - this isn’t a Greek phrase - but I really like it. I think I caught into it, honestly, because of Hamilton. The song is the battle of Yorktown - that outlines the battle, the losses, the surrender and then...freedom for America! And the drinking song they’re singing: The world turned upside down. In some nominal ways, at least, the earliest (European immigrant) Americans were like the earliest church: passionate, revolutionary, all-in, and determined to throw off the bonds of an empire.

And of course, there are differences. Paul starts where he’s most comfortable - in the synagogue. He’s Jewish, after all and doesn’t really see a distinction between his alignment with Jesus and his alignment with his Judaism. And as a Jewish believer, who values argument and dialogue with other Jews, he dives into scripture to engage the question of Jesus’ reign as Messiah. He does convince a few. And he convinces more than a few Greek God-worshippers. Enough to create a small community and it’s that community that’s accused by the Jewish establishment of treason - of mis-allegiance.

All through the Gospels, the disciples are asking - when, Jesus? When is the revolution? They’re expecting a battle - a Yorktown - and Jesus has to explain again and again. Folks, I’m not that kind of Messiah. The Jewish community in Thessalonica has the same misconception about this new crew. This isn’t a violent revolution. Jesus turns revolution itself on its head. Yes, they’re claiming him as king - but a king whose most powerful act was non-violent submission and reclaiming life from death.

One of the ways Paul imitates Jesus is by proclaiming that non-violent love. Thessalonian Jews - like those who were Jesus’ peers a decade or so before - would have felt threatened by that. They were a small community is a Roman/Greek city. They didn’t need people who called themselves Jews going around yapping about a king who wasn’t Caesar. They wanted to protect their community and ultimately Paul was run out of town.

Paul may have been run out of town, but the community he left behind, in turn became the revolutionary community. You can hear it in his letter back to them. He cites their work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in Jesus. He praises them for becoming imitators of himself and Silas and therefore imitators of Jesus himself. And he notes that in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers.

There is no doubt about it - our world has absolutely been turned upside down in the past few months. Likely it will never be fully righted. I think our challenge is, what kind of revolution might it spark? What ways can we follow Jesus out of this upside down world and into his upside down realm? And now, while the world is on its head, how can we use the shake up to notice how Jesus is calling us to love and justice?

Our reflection question for our fellowship time is, “What have you realized you can live without.” Many of us have realized that we can’t live without mail carriers and grocery workers and food production workers. I know many folks boycotted Amazon and other major retailers on May 1 to call for equity for warehouse and food and other essential employees. I pray that we may continue to seek a world that’s set on its head and follows the upside down king. The world turned upside down!
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image by Paul Vasilovski on Unsplash

Bathsheba's #MeToo

We’ve had some hard stories from the Bible this fall. Some of them that have been re-packaged as children’s bible stories with cute animals or heroic escapes. Leaving out the death. There’s kind of no getting around that this story is most certainly not for children. It’s potentially triggering - if that’s the case for you, I’m sorry. The Bible is really hard.

But somehow this story has been cleansed and sanitized. David is forever the scrappy kid who defeated the giant. Or the heroic King, prominent in the family line from the patriarchs to Jesus. But I have never been able to read this story without feeling enraged. Frankly, it’s very difficult for me to write this sermon - this paragraph - without using foul language and calling David some very un-family-friendly names.

When I was 15, I sat in a crowded service taxi in Amman Jordan - like a taxi but with a route like a bus. Up to four people squished into the back seat. My mom was on my left and a probably thirty-something man was on my right. And while we drove, the man’s hand began to sneak up my leg under the coat I carried. From my knee slowly inching further up. I clenched my legs. I froze. When our stop came I bolted out after my mom. I didn’t ever tell her. Or anyone. For a really long time.

#MeToo.

Every woman has a story something like this. Or worse. Bathsheba’s story is much, much worse.

Stories of consent and the violation of consent have been front and center in these weeks, in this past year or more. Listening the Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony a couple weeks ago and seeing the man who took his privilege and power for granted from the time he was a teen, be essentially given a pass.

Consent can be broken down to three words: Ask, Listen, Respect. Dr Ford’s encounter and others would have gone quite differently had Brett followed through on those. But our interactions, consent is not only about bodies and touching and hugging and kissing, although autonomy over our own bodies is very basic - including hugs and kisses even from beloved family members. Children are beginning to learn this on flip charts in school. Ask for consent, listen to the answer and respect the answer you receive. When you want to borrow your friend’s ruler. When you want to sit by someone in the cafeteria When want to move your neighbor’s backpack because it’s in the way.

I am still learning this. I could put my finger on a couple of things I did this week where if I had followed these rules I would not have harmed a relationship or had to apologize for something later.

Maybe you’ve heard or seen the tea analogy. There’s a very cute YouTube video that elaborates on how consent works in an ‘amorous’ encounter:

Do you want some tea?

Yes, I love having tea with you.

Okay! I’ll make you some tea.

Hmm - I don’t think I want tea any more. Maybe just water.


What I don’t say: NO YOU HAVE TO DRINK TEA! YOU LOOK REALLY THIRSTY FOR TEA!

What I don’t do: Put the tea cup up against your mouth and pour the tea through your clenched lips. Even though I really wanted to have tea with you.

What I do say: Let me get you that water. I’ll put this tea away - or maybe I’ll drink it myself. I do not get annoyed or upset because you decided you’re just not into tea right now.

Just because you had tea last week, doesn’t mean you want tea now. And an unconscious person definitely cannot drink tea and you should make sure that person is safe, not pour tea in their mouth.

So, okay. It may be inappropriate for me to layer today’s cultural context and understandings onto the world of ancient Israel. The culture of David and Bathsheba is not the same as the culture we live in now, difficult as it is for me to remember this as I put myself in Bathsheba’s place. With Saul and then David becoming king, power has been centralized in Israel. Kingdoms and political power are established and maintained through marriage - through brokering with powerful fathers for marriageable daughters. David has at least 3 wives to this point in his king-ship.

The greater the hierarchy, the more likely it is to be centralized in men - here in one man - and the less power that women have, the further toward the bottom they fall. Unlike in the era of the judges in Israel's history (over which we’ve taken a giant leap in this year of the narrative lectionary), which was more chaotic, but in which charismatic leaders rose to the fore, allowing rulers like Deborah, or Jael to have status.

You can see this even in the evolution of the church - in the early church women led and were apostles but then the church began to be established. In the early days of Anabaptism, there were women who prophesied and preached but that fell away, even in a relatively flat hierarchy. We’ve only just kinda/sorta begun to change this in the church.

But let’s think about this story just in term of the ten commandments and the covenant relationship that we’ve been hearing from the beginning of September. Even by standards of his time, David is a [insert bad word here - I really couldn't think of something bad enough that was church-appropriate to say.] He completely misuses his power in summoning and assaulting Bathsheba. Then, without a second thought, continues to use his position to give his actions legitimacy including ensuring the death of a prominent leader in his ranks.

Even if, as was true in that context, that Bathsheba is described in her relationship to her father Eliam, and wife of Uriah. Essentially property. Even then, in his context of a covenant relationship dictated by the gift of a law to give guidance to God’s people - we heard it reiterated by Joshua last week - David believes himself above it. It is his belief that blessing equals him being able to do what he wants: shirk his duty, covet, take, adulterate, murder. How many commandments is that?

The way much of history has told and retold this story is twofold - both problematic and both evident Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah.’ You know the one...maybe most famously by Jeff Buckley. David is a hapless romantic; a baffled king composing hallelujah, overthrown by moonlight and beauty. In my opinion, those don’t equal consent or negate assault. In fact, I think the intense, “well-meaning,” bumblers are most often given a pass because dogged pursuit - even if rebuffed - is read as romantic when from a woman’s perspective it’s just short of stalking.

And second Bathsheba is a sultry, seductress. Bathing in the open as a lure and - the Cohen’s ballad - tying the overcome David to the kitchen chair. In fact the text is basically neutral about Bathsheba in both emotion and intent. It was David strolling on the roof after his nap - presumably giving him a view into somewhere private where Bathsheba was bathing. And with a power such as he has, she has no course to refuse him when she is summoned. Dave sees something he wants and takes it.

A colleague in ministry, Amy Yoder McLaughlin, a pastor in Pennsylvania shared a sermon she wrote about this story. She says:

The lack of humanity with which David treated Bathsheba, and the lack of humanity with which we have been told this story it is a symptom of a spiritual illness. It’s a narcissism that that insists on telling the story from the perspective of the powerful. It’s a narcissism that desires to be in David’s place, that wants to satisfy our own needs, rather that being present to the pain of others. This is the same narcissism that limits even the vision of the writers of the Hebrew scripture, who cannot manage–despite their gifted writing skills–to give this woman a voice.

There is so much of Bathsheba left out of story in verse 4 and 5 alone: So David sent messengers to fetch her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned to her house. The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, ‘I am pregnant.’ Even her name is left out of these verses - and much of the story: the women, Uriah’s wife or ‘she’.

Is there any good news? I see it Nathan. Prophets for the win. Nathan’s whole job is telling David, “You are trash and you are acting like a garbage human.” I mean, he doesn’t say it quite like that. But he does pass along God’s message: “The thing that David had done displeased the Lord.” (A pretty tame way of saying that God is not about cheating and killing and lying and abuse.) In fact everything David has done flies in the face of the covenant relationship God has established with Israel.

I don’t love the parable that Nathan comes up with: a poor man’s darling pet lamb taken by the rich man, who ‘was loathe to take one of his own flock or herd’ to be a meal for guest. This parable is still about the property of men. But it is a parable that David could understand. He was a shepherd after all.

And contextually, it is very convicting. “You are the man!” proclaims Nathan. And David finally understands - at least to a degree - what he has done. He understands that he has violated, if not Bathsheba’s consent, (i’m not convinced he ever would have believed that she has anything to say about it) certainly his relationship with Uriah. Because has he asked, listened, and respected with Uriah - an indecent proposal type of situation? - he knows he would have heard - What? Dude! No!

There is zero about this story that says ideal situation and the consequences for David’s misdeeds fall most harshly on Bathsheba who is in the bind of having to marry the person who took advantage of her. It is her only recourse, her husband is dead and she is pregnant with another man’s child. There is no option, as there might be today to strike out on her own.

The child she bears as a result dies shortly after his birth, and David’s idea of comforting her is to sleep with her again. Maybe being given the opportunity to bear another child is in fact comfort to Bathsheba. But this man is no saint - I’ve said how much I was to call him bad names - his house falling into shambles, his relationships crumbling around him.

So what? What’s the takeaway? What are we to do with the heaviness of yet another grim story of power gone wrong?

I’m going to start with you, men: Be Nathan. Actually be better than Nathan, because I’m pretty sure he still saw women as the property of men not as full humans. Be the one who calls out, who notices, who cuts off the manslainers and redirects conversation, who notices and amplifies the voices of women. Be the one who interrupts ‘locker room talk’ with “Stop degrading women. I don’t like it. No one likes it. Just stop it.” And do not do this expecting pats on the back. Do it because “The thing he did displeased the Lord.” Do it because is your job, because you are human and so are women.

Women and non-binary folk, if you are Bathsheba, I am sorry. If you have had an experience like Bathsheba’s I hope that you are able to speak it into an ear that will listen and believe. For those of us who identify female or non-binary, it’s complicated. Because we too have power and privilege that we can misuse because we haven’t realized. I said it before: I’m still figuring out the ways I misuse my power - as a pastor, as a parent, as a white person in a neighborhood where there are many people of color

Ijeoma Oluo, who is a woman of color who speaks and writes on race and privilege talks in her book So You Want to Talk about Race about the complications of her own privilege - as a black women she says, she still has the privileges of being able-bodied, light-skinned, educated and informed and now, having a public platform.

The good news is in hearing Bathsheba’s #MeToo, in hearing all the awful stories of the Bible, is in also hearing - and being - the prophet’s voice. It is understanding that God’s desire is not for destruction but for care. A Nathan to my 15-year-old self might have noticed and said, “Get your hands off of her. Don’t ever touch a woman in that way again.” These narratives from the Hebrew Bible are hard. May we both be and hear the prophet in the stories we experience. Amen.

Mother to the Lost: a Monologue

Seattle Mennonite Church

Luke 15:11-32

Let me tell you about my family.  I am married and I have two sons.  I love my sons.  I love my husband.  Yet my loving them does not make them love each other well, and loving them only deepens the grief when they are estranged or conflicted.

When he came of age, my younger son came to my husband and made a demand, “Give me my half of my inheritance.”  To hear it, I was aghast.  I was aggrieved.  I could barely believe it.  I did not think that we had raised a son to offer such disrespect and I questioned: Had we been too permissive?  Had he always felt such entitlement?  Where had I gone wrong? 

Maybe you already understand this: he essentially was saying to his father, to me, to his community, ‘I wish you were dead.  You’re nothing to me.’ What kind of a son treats his parents like that?  I was angry!  At my son and at my husband.  Because what does my husband do?  He gives in.  He talks to the neighbors to negotiate selling off land.  He liquidates some of our holdings.  He auctions livestock.  He hands over fully half (half!!) of our family’s livelihood to the boy!  He was a boy!  Foolish and vain and ungrateful.  And ignorant and naïve.

I heard the neighbors.  I knew the gossip.  The whole village thought we were irresponsible, undisciplined parents.  I was implicated in my crazy husband’s actions too.  They thought our whole family was crazy, and who wouldn’t?  Any sane father would refuse!  Would say, ‘Young man, your responsibility is here.  Your responsibility is to get married, have a family, to care for your mother and for me in our old age.  We didn’t raise you so you could leave us.  Shape up! Go back to work.’  As the head of the household he certainly would have had the right.

But he let him go.  So I had to let him go too.  We all did.  My boy had declared us dead, but when he left, it was as if he was the one who had died.  To not hear from him, to not know where he was or how he was faring.  There was nothing I could do. He could have been dead for all we knew.

Just like when someone dies, there was a hole.  I grieved.  And somehow life kept going, find a new normal.

Ever the responsible, my elder son just kept his head down, diligent as always.  It was a burden on him.  Now all the responsibility would be his but he was resolute.  A hard worker.  He’s a perfectionist - with himself and with everyone else.   Classic older child, really.  He never gives himself a break, never takes a day off.  My husband would never have thought to suggest it.  Life had found a new normal but it was a sort of half-life.  

I think the village saw this too.  We may have been irresponsible and crazy, but my son was the one who had abandoned us.  They saw the way our he cut us off and I knew they had the qetsatsah[i] all planned.  If he would ever show his face in the village again, the jar would be broken, the burned corn would be spilled, his name would be proclaimed and he would be ritually broken off from the community.  No better than a Gentile.  I have to admit, I was angry with him for leaving us but I was also grieved.  And I would be heartbroken were such a thing to happen.

It was hunger that put him back on the road to us. I knew there had been famine not so very far from us. And sure enough that’s where the young man went.  Lost it all.  Every last penny.  I don’t know who saw him first, but my husband got wind of it and I have never seen anything like it.  He was out like a shot – arms pumping, legs flying, kicking up dust.  No way for a grown man to act, the patriarch, the master of the house.  He was making a fool of himself.  I was glad to see the boy too.  I could barely breathe, in fact.  But the man was making himself ridiculous.  Again.

I’m sure that kid had his speech rehearsed.  He was always a big of a schemer: “I have sinned before heaven and before you…”  A hungry belly will do that.  But before he could get it all out, it was all robes and ring and sandals and fatted calf.  Musicians and dancing and feast.  Before he could speak the word to his speech but before anyone could organize the qetsatsah.  That boy may have spent everything and learned nothing, he may have been brought low and gone hungry, but he was not cut off.  I’ll give my husband this: he thought fast.  He looked like an idiot giving up all that property to a son that as good as proclaimed us dead.  And he looked like an idiot to prevent that son from being made as dead himself.  He brought the boy back.

I’m not sure my elder boy was so happy about that, though.  In fact, I know he wasn’t.  I mean, how does it make him look, after all.  He doesn’t like looking foolish.  But it all happened so fast no one had even gone to the field to get him so he arrived in the thick of it.  And like it or not, it was his responsibility to go in, to honor his father’s decision, to join his father as host.  He didn’t like it when his brother disrespected his dad but now what did he think he was doing?  Pouting and raging outside when his father and brother were inside. 

And again, my husband, paying no mind to his duty and position, leaves the party to beg and plead.  And he got an earful: “This son of yours spent all your money on whores!”  He almost spat it.  And I mean…where did he get that idea?? None of us know where the money actually went.  He hadn’t even talked to his brother yet – not that he acknowledged that they were even related.  His father is trying to bring him around. 

And here we all are.  Three lost boys – well, men – one lost and then found but maybe still lost to any understanding of what he really did to us and what this welcome back really means.  One lost in his anger and resentment, refusing to come in, to accept restoration for himself as well as his brother. One lost to any semblance of dignity and decorum and authority of position but wanting more than anything for both his boys to be restored.  Willing to let all that go.

But I love them.  God help me, I will always love them.  They are my sons.  He is my husband. And I pray: God, in your mercy, restore what is lost.  Restore them to you and to each other.  May not my love but yours reconcile.  In your mercy may a way be made where it seems as if there is no way.  In your mercy, God, may my sons and my husband find a place at the table and feast together.

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[i] Thanks to Barbara Brown Taylor’s essay,  “The Parable of the Dysfunctional Family” for introducing me to this notion of qetsatsah

Two Sermons

Neulsarang English Worship Service
Sunday, November 28
Luke 4:16-21

“The Year of the Lord’s Favor”

Hello friends. You do not know me well yet, so first let me say something about who I am. I hope you will learn more about my faith in God and my beliefs about our Lord Jesus Christ as I preach this morning. You already know that I am married to Joe. You may not know that we met at seminary, seven years ago when I was studying to be a pastor and Joe was studying Hebrew scripture. For the past five years I have been working at Seattle Mennonite Church as Associate Pastor – primarily I have been preaching and leading worship and teaching the church’s youth.

I chose to preach on the text from Luke 4, because like Jesus, this is my first time speaking with you. Joe will read the passage, Luke 4:16-21 (2)

I chose this passage because to me it summarizes who Jesus is and what his life, his work and his teaching were all about. He quotes from Isaiah chapter 61: (3)

"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."

I will return to each of these points in a moment. First, I’d like to talk about the setting, or the context. (4) Jesus is reading in his home town and in the synagogue. When he stands to read, the scroll of Isaiah is handed to him – he is taking part in a common form gathering. Jesus is doing something that happens each Sabbath in his hometown. He is participating in Worship. Just as many of us come to worship every Sunday to learn more about living as Godly people and to learn more about God’s word, Jesus was attending synagogue.

Verse 16 especially emphasizes this fact. “He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath, as was his custom.” But in many ways, it was life as usual. He immersed in – totally a part of – his Jewish faith and tradition. Scripture was important to him and he knew it well. We see this also in Luke 2:46 where we can read the story of Jesus when he is 12 years old. Already at this young age, he want to search his scriptures and learn from the teachers in the temple.

I cannot compare myself to Jesus, but I can identify with being a part of a family and tradition that shaped me and formed me to be a person who follows God. My parents, Christian teachers and mentors, other relatives, all encouraged me and taught me more about the Bible and about living as a person of faith. Being a part of a strong community of Christians led me to become a leader in the church. Jesus was formed and shaped in his tradition to love scripture, to know God and to become the leader and prophet that he became.

Although in many ways this was an ordinary Sabbath day, it was also totally extraordinary. (5) In his quotation from Isaiah, Jesus begins by reading ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me”. Jesus is reading words that were written many years before his time. But Luke, who recorded this event, makes clear that Jesus does indeed speak with the power of the Holy Spirit. He does this with the two stories that come before this.

First, Jesus goes to his cousin John the Baptist. He asks John to baptize him. A symbolic start to begin his life’s work. And this baptism ends with the Holy Spirit descending – coming down from the sky – like a dove. A voice speaks from Heaven: "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." This is Jesus’ Father in heaven blessing the beginning of his journey. In my Christian tradition (and in yours?) baptism marks the choice of a believer to commit to a journey of faith. Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit to empower him – to give him the power that he needed – to do God’s work on earth.

Next Jesus goes to the desert. He prepares for his years with crowds of people by being alone to pray, to fast – he does not eat for all these 40 days. He is tempted during these days – to turn away from a life of service to God and God’s people and toward a life of power and wealth. Again, at the end of the forty days we hear that Jesus was “filled with the Power of the holy Spirit”.

When Luke talks about Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit, that is his was of saying that what Jesus is about to say is also full of God’s Spirit. God affirms – God says ‘yes’ – to Jesus. To his speech from Isaiah and to all that he will do among God’s people on earth.

So we know two things. First, Jesus is formed by his Jewish faith and tradition. Second, Jesus is filled with the Spirit in a special way that makes him different. With this as context, Jesus searches for his chosen passage. He reads the words from Isaiah, and steps into public view. The scroll of Isaiah is handed to Jesus but this is the text that he looks for…The spirit of the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. (6)

“Blessed are you who are poor,” Jesus says in Luke 6, “For yours is the Kingdom of God.” This is a theme, something that we can hear and read over and over again in Luke’s gospel. The good news for those who are poor, is that they too can be God’s children, can live in God’s Kingdom. It will not only be the rich, who can afford to put money in the offering plate who get to be with God. In fact, it is those who are poor who receive a special blessing. Jesus identifies in his whole life and in everything he teaches, with people who are poor. In Luke and in all the Gospels, Jesus blesses the poor and invites those who want to follow him to care for the poor.

(7) For example, Jesus will tell parables that teach those who have money and wealth, to give up what they have, or to make friends with the ones who have nothing. In Luke 14, he tells his host, “When you give a dinner, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.” And he goes on to tell the parable of the rich man who threw a banquet and none of his friends came – they all made up excuses. They had stories about getting married, or buying cattle. So the rich man goes into the streets and does as Jesus says – he invites the poor and hurting and homeless.

On another occasion Jesus uses the poor widow as an example of faithfulness. (8) In Luke 21, the widow puts in the little money she has and Jesus says “Truly, this poor widow has put in more than all of them.” Jesus came to preach good news to these people – the poor.

The ‘good news’ is both Spiritual good news of life in God, but also the ‘real life’ good news of receiving care by other members of God’s Kingdom. This is good news for us to. We are called to live a life of disciples of Jesus. We too can have a relationship with God and we too can offer our lives as service to those in need.

At my church in Seattle we have had to struggle with this a lot. There are many people who have no homes, who sleep outside on the street, often outside our church. Five years ago my congregation began a small ministry to people who are homeless. It started with offering a meal each Sunday evening and inviting everyone – homeless and not homeless, Christian congregations and non-Christian neighbors – to eat together. There was even a Korean church that participated.

Then we started a day-time drop-in center – a place where people without homes could come in the morning to do laundry, to eat something, to use a computer. This has also become a place that offers spiritual care: Bible study, care by pastors, ministry at the time of death of illness. And our ministry to those who are homeless or poor has become a rich blessing to us.

Next Jesus says, God “has send me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind.” This happens literally: Jesus heals people who are blind. He makes people see who couldn’t see before and he heals many other kinds of illnesses and diseases. And Jesus also causes people to ‘see’ the truth of who God is and what God wants for them.

(9) Luke 18 is a classic example of Jesus healing a man of his blindness.

As he approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard a crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." Then he shouted, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Those who were in front sternly ordered him to be quiet; but he shouted even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Jesus stood still and ordered the man to be brought to him; and when he came near, he asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" He said, "Lord, let me see again." Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has saved you." Immediately he regained his sight and followed him, glorifying God; and all the people, when they saw it, praised God.

There are several things that make this exchange very radical and amazing. One, Jesus talks to this man. He asks him what he can do for him – he does not make an assumption about what the man wants. He treats him as a human, talks to him at the same level. In the end the man can see – he is longer blind. And everyone who watches Jesus heal the man can see in a new way also. Now they have a new kind of vision as well.

(10) Oppressed go free – Jesus is reading from Isaiah, who was writing to people who were oppressed. They were being held captive in a foreign country. In Jesus’ context, the Jewish people are being held captive by an occupying force. The Roman Empire and Roman government are governing by force. Luke’s readers would have heard this from the time of Jesus’ birth: he was born in Bethlehem because the Roman Emperor had called a census.

Recently completed the Korean population census. I just had to go online and answer a few questions about my family and where I live. Jesus’ parents were forced by the Romans to leave Nazareth and travel to Bethlehem – quite a long journey. The Jewish population was kept under for by violence. Freedom from this kind of oppression would have been welcome.

What kinds of oppression do we experience now? Who are the oppressed? As Jesus disciples, how to we respond as Jesus would have us respond to those who are poor, blind or in need of healing? I don’t know this city or this country well yet. It is difficult for me to see where there is need. I do see the pain and grief of a country divided and destruction and fear that on going violent exchanges cause between North and South.

As Jesus’ disciples, my belief is that we try always to be more and more like Jesus and what he set out in this short quotation from the prophet Isaiah.

(11) “Jesus calls us who claim to follow him to continue his mission. We are to bring good news to the poor. We are to proclaim liberty to all captives, release to the imprisoned, God's blessing on the oppressed. We are to release, restore, and transform. To be a disciple means to confront injustice and minister to the oppressed. As Jesus probed the root causes of problems, so will believers. Through transforming society we show compassion.”

By naming all of these ways that he would practice his ministry, Jesus is announcing the year of the Lord’s favor. In the prophets the ‘year of the Lord’s favor’ was a time in which there would be an end to violence, a time in which enemies – even natural enemies – would lie together, as in the passage from Isaiah 65:17, 23-25: (12)

For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating;

They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD-- and their descendants as well. 24 Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent-- its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.

For many years the Jewish people had read prophesies such as these – words which promised that someone would deliver. They expected a political ‘Messiah’ – someone who would save the nation through violence, war or rebellion. They expected a king or prince. But Jesus read the scripture and said, “I am the one.” He said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Staring now is the year of the Lord, the time that you have been waiting for. Starting now. Jesus is not what they are expecting. He is not a king or prince like the political leaders they know. Jesus’ kingdom is sometimes called the ‘upside-down’ kingdom because it is the opposite of what is expected. Jesus is a servant-king and everyone who follows Jesus serves as he does.

This is still the ‘year of the Lord’s favor.’ We are still being called to be Jesus disciples: offering good news to the poor, offering healing to the blind and the ill, and proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor. May we all seek to do so.

Next week: the second part of this story, in which Jesus’ words make trouble.

(13) “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.”

December 4, 2010
Luke 4:16-30

Good morning. It is good to be with you again this morning. I’m going to begin where we ended last week in the book of Luke. Once again Joe will read the text, this week beginning at Luke 14 and completing the story of Jesus’ time in his hometown.

[scripture]*

*Last week I talked about Jesus reading from the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue. I said that by doing this he rooted in Jewish faith and tradition – he identified as being totally a part of the culture and religion of his birth. He also implied that it was he, Jesus, who would become the Messiah. Jesus, not a political leader, not a king, would be the deliverer and savior that the prophets had spoken of.

I did not speak much about how Jesus’ message was received, about how people reacted to what Jesus read and said. * At the beginning “all spoke well of him and were amazed.” By the end of Jesus’ comments, “all in the synagogue were filled with rage.” That is a big change in how they think about Jesus. And I think it has to do both with what Jesus read and then what he said about it.

Last week we thought about the passage which Jesus read from Isaiah. I discussed how I believe it sums up everything that Jesus will do in his ministry: bringing good news to the poor, healing the blind, freeing people from many kinds of captivity. These words may have been good news to the people listening to Jesus in the synagogue too. After all, they were not wealthy and they were living in an oppressive Roman occupation.

* They would surely have been reminded of the Jewish religious law called Jubilee. Jubilee built a time of Sabbath rest into the life of the community and the earth in several ways:

- land laid fallow – no planting (need to share with each other)

- servants freed – no more dependence on obligated persons

- debts forgiven – same as above – freedom from debt

- ancestral sold out of need returned – return to home

All of these things have the effect of making people into equals, ensuring sharing of resources, and allowing people to depend on each other rather than take advantage of each other. The land and the resources, which belongs to God, is being put into the hands of all of God’s people.

In the middle ages in Europe, people also understood that the land belonged to God. But at that time the king acted as God’s voice on earth, deciding who could have what land, who would play what role. * I mentioned before about the Kingdom of God sometimes being called the upside-down kingdom. Jesus is reminding his friends and fellow Jews that God’s wish is not for the land to be distributed according to one powerful man’s desires, but for the poor to use the land according their need. And Jesus is telling his friends ‘today this scripture has been fulfilled.’

After hearing this and being reminded of the familiar law, the people in Jesus’ hometown synagogue are filled with awe. I learned that it was custom in the synagogue, after the scripture was read, the reader would sit and then was time for comments. It was his comments and the words that Jesus said – not what he read – that made the crowd turn on him. As I read through these verses I wondered why Jesus would say the things that he did, if he thought it might anger these people who were his friends, neighbors and relatives.

My experience of living in Seattle, is that many, many of the people who live there are from another place. Everyone has a ‘hometown’ from which they moved to the city. Joe and I are no exceptions. Joe was born and raised in Indiana and I spent my childhood in a small town in Canada. I might be wrong, but it seems to be similar here. Everyone has a hometown where they have parents and relatives. Last weekend our family went for kimjong with the family of a friend in her hometown. She told me that in her town, where she grew up, everyone is related and everyone knows everything about the other people. The place where I grew up is similar. My family name is Epp. In the town where my parents now live, there are probably 15 families with the name Epp and there are less than 2000 people in the town.

I think Jesus’ town was like that. He knew everyone. Everyone knew him. I talked about being raised in a faith tradition by parents and relatives. Jesus was like that. He was closely guided and shaped by these people. He knew them well. I think because he knew them well, he knew how they would react both to his reading and to the work he was about to do. Maybe you can think of a time when you had something that you were called to. Something that you needed to do. Something that was right but you knew before you told them that your parents (or friends or family) would not agree with you. Jesus was in that spot.

*Jesus anticipated his home-town neighbors’ questions about what he has said. Jesus knows his neighbors; he has lived there for almost 30 years. He has worked among them. They know him as Joseph’s son, the carpenter. They are probably trying to find him a good wife and wondering, why didn’t we know that he was such a good speaker. Perhaps they are wondering if there isn’t something to the stories they have been hearing about him speaking in towns around Nazareth.

So, when at first they are pleased and admiring. Perhaps they are a little surprised. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” They say to each other. This is a little irony for the readers, who already know that Jesus is not really Joseph’s son. In fact, the two people who might have known what was coming are Mary and Joseph. Because they know him as Joseph’s son, they will be expecting him to first and foremost be theirs. If he will heal, he should heal at home. If he will teach, he should teach at home. Israel’s history and it’s laws have been very focused on maintaining purity and keeping people from straying. But we know that Jesus is not Joseph’s son. He is God’s son. He is not for his hometown but for the world. And for the nations.

Jesus knows this and he says “a prophet is never accepted in the prophet’s hometown.” He goes on to use two stories familiar to his friends.

*First Elijah, who offered aid to a poor woman and her son. And then Elisha, who heals Namaan the Syrian. The widow and Namaan could not have been more different – the woman is poor, a widow and has nothing. Namaan is a powerful commander in the army. He has everything he could ever want. Both of these individuals are miraculously helped by the prophets of God: the woman received food and her son, at the point of death, is healed. Namaan, who has leprosy, is made well. Both of these individuals come to proclaim the name of God after their encounter.

With these stories, Jesus confirms that he will not be staying in his home town. And not only that, when he begins his ministry it will be with people outside the Jewish faith and Israelite nation. We live in a world in which it is not uncommon to leave one’s hometown, to travel across the country, across the ocean, to live and work – sometimes for a lifetime. For Jesus this would have been radical indeed. The hometown ties were very strong both within the town and within the nation of Israel. For Jesus to suggest that his gifts would be offered outside his town and even outside the Jewish people was unexpected and condemnable.

Once again, as in the reading of Isaiah, he is giving his listeners an idea of what his ministry will be like. He anticipates that this kind of ministry will result in rejection by the people who raised him. And they are very, very angry. They ‘do a 180’; they move from loving to hating, from pleasure to anger in the space of a few stories. They are so angry that they are prepared to throw him from a cliff.

*This is the first of many times that Jesus will upset his listeners with message about Jubilee, healing the sick foreigner, bringing good news to the poor and healing the unclean and unwelcomed. I still don’t fully understand complete rage of the listeners. Even understanding a little of the hometown possessiveness and the defensiveness about interpretation of scripture, I don’t quite get why they would be angry enough to want to kill him.

*I do understand and find important Jesus’ reaction to the reaction, although it is somewhat mysterious. Jesus’ final action in another way to reflect what his coming ministry would be like. If Jesus was a political savior or revolutionary, we would expect his response to such rage to be rage in return. Perhaps violent rage. Indeed perhaps the people who were pushing him toward the cliff’s edge expected a fight. We hear nothing of that. But we just hear that Jesus ‘went on his way’.

*Jesus’ teachings and ministry are reflective of this. His teachings are of justice for the oppressed, good news for the poor and a call to his followers to respond to evil with good, to hatred with non-violent love. His ideas about the upside-down kingdom and welcoming the outsiders are ultimately so threatening to those in power that, like the people in his hometown, they want to kill him. And of course, we know that he is killed on the cross – he responds to evil with love.

We also know that the cross was not the end. Just as the moment on the cliff was not the end, but only the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Those moments on the cliff, like the reading from Isaiah, like the stories of prophets who gave aid to non-Israelite foreigners, Jesus ‘going through the midst’ of his captors and ‘going on his way’ looks forward to Jesus leaving death and the tomb behind.

From Jesus' preaching and teaching, to his ministry of healing and liberation of captives of every sort, to his death at the hands of his adversaries, to the victory of the resurrection, Luke's Gospel is sketched here in miniature, as Jesus leaves Nazareth (never to return, according to Luke's narrative) on the road that eventually will lead him to Jerusalem. (Ringe)

I haven’t mentioned or acknowledged at all that we are in the season of advent. In my home congregation in Seattle, we would be lighting candles in the advent wreath each Sunday, in anticipation of the birth of Jesus. Naomi and I are counting the days on two different advent calendars – each day we open a door in the calendar that marks the days as we get closer to the coming of Christ. What is exciting to me about this time of year is that we are intentional together about waiting for Jesus – the Jesus who changed everything. The Jesus who preached good news, who healed and loved and taught and gave himself freely to show the truth of God’s love for the world.

I try all year round, and in my whole life, to live up what Jesus taught and showed. My prayer is that I may do so. And I pray also that you all may hear how Jesus is calling you to follow.

Amen.