"The Spirit of
the Lord
is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the
poor. He
has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to
the blind,
to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the
Lord."
These are the words that Jesus speaks just
prior to
the beginning of today's scripture lesson. This is that scripture
passage
which was, in that day, fulfilled in their hearing, and is in this day,
fulfilled in ours. These words, in their original context, were
spoken
within the Synagogue of Nazareth, and we are told that all eyes were
fixed
intently upon the unlikely young man that spoke them. Nazareth
is, of course, the town that Jesus
grew up in, and on this day he has returned to much attention from the
congregation due to the news of his anointing at the hand of John the
Baptist. And here he stands, back in his home "church;" at once
the boy they all remember, and, so they have heard, a prophet -- and
more --
the messianic king that will restore the legendary golden age of
David's
Israel. We can well imagine that they have turned out in great
number:
the curious; the skeptical and the hopeful. And we can well
imagine that
more than one has at least thought of that popular saying of the time,
"Can anything good come from Nazareth?"
Jesus finishes reading these profound words from
the
prophet Isaiah, and the silence in the sanctuary of the synagogue is
electric
with anticipation. These are words that speak of the restoration
of Zion to the people of
God. The "year acceptable to the Lord" that has just been
proclaimed in their hearing is the long awaited day of their
vindication.
This is none other than the time of God's salvation generations have
longed for
and prayed for and wept for, and these words of Isaiah, spoken by Jesus
in the
power of the Holy Spirit, have reached into the deepest recesses of
every
Jewish heart present. And so, when Jesus hands the sacred words
of the
ancient scripture back to the scribe in attendance, and proceeds to
announce
that, "Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing," we
are fully prepared for Luke to tell us that Jesus received the same
response of
universal acclamation that had all of Capernaum
praising him. Capernaum; where even the demons
recognized him as the Messiah -- a point sorely missed by the good folk
in Nazareth. Instead,
we are told that all did speak highly of him (and we can be sure that
they were
very polite). And we are told that all were amazed that such
gracious
words had come from his mouth (but then, he always was such a polite
boy). Ah, but he didn't fool them because they knew who he
was:
Say, "Isn't this the son of Joseph?"
They didn't fool Jesus, either. And so
he tells
them, "Surely, you will quote me this proverb, 'Physician, cure
yourself,'
and say, 'Do here in your native place the things that we heard were
done in Capernaum.'"
He lets them know that he is fully aware that, "no prophet is accepted
in
his own native place," and he illustrates this truth with examples he
knows they'll understand: Elijah, who was sent to the widow of
Zaraphath in
the land of Sidon, who, along with her son, was
saved from famine because she trusted in the Lord. And Elisha,
who
cleansed Naaman the Syrian of his leprosy because he had faith in the
God of
Israel the lepers in Israel
did not have. And so it is here in his
hometown that Jesus strikes the first chord of the most consistent
theme of his
teaching: It is not those self proclaimed "good" people that
think that because they live in the right nation, or were born into to
the
right family, or belong to the right political or religious party that
are the
ones to be saved: It is they that believe, and they alone.
This did not sit well with the good
townspeople of Nazareth. It did
not sit well with them at all. The very idea that this "Jesus"
would speak to them in such a way as this was found most
offensive.
Perhaps there was talk about that scandal concerning his birth:
Murmurs
that there was no way they should stand for impertinence like this from
the
bastard carpenter's son of that little tramp Mary. And so they rose up
in their
self-righteous rage, and they drove him out of their precious town to
the brow
of the hill it sat upon. And they meant to kill him that day for
speaking
the truth to them. Luke tells us that Jesus just passed through
their
midst, and we don't know whether this was by some supernatural means or
because
of the shame of the crowd. We do know that he went away.
And
because of this, they were lost.
Tonight, in this place, his home church with us his
brethren, Jesus has come to bring us these same glad tidings through
the
Liturgy of the Word. And so we rejoice with him, and as time
melts away
into the timelessness of the Gospel message, we join all of Capernaum
and our brothers and sisters in
Christ, throughout history and the world, and in heaven above, in
celebrating
our salvation. And so we rejoice that we are those captives set
free from
sin; that it is we that have received the spiritual sight that
overcomes the
blindness witnessed in that mob in Nazareth that day; that it is we
that have
escaped the oppression of arrogance that binds the hearts of those that
think
they know him, yet do not believe: Those that would drive him off
of
that
precipice rather than have him proclaim the truth of God's love and
salvation
to those they deem not worthy.
Tonight, it is not the good townsfolk of the
city of Nazareth that have
answered the call to his table, and, sadly, neither are they the only
ones that
have refused his invitation. And so he has called us to dine with
him in
his kingdom: We that have been broken by our own human error and have
cried out
to him from the waste dumps of the world, "Lord, be merciful to me, a
sinner." And so we join together as one; the halt and the lame, the
lepers
and the blind, the scarred and the lonely; called out of a world that
was
indifferent to our pain and our suffering by the mighty hand of God
Himself
that we, the most unworthy of all, might be saved. Because we are here
tonight,
we have accepted this invitation to dine with him, and truly are we
blessed
that have been called to his supper. And so we have come seeking
only the
lowliest place at his table, hoping only that we might fall in
gratitude before
him and wash his feet with our tears. Yet he will not hear of this, and
so
lifts each of us and takes us to the head of the table where we are
introduced
to his Father and the host of heaven as cherished friends. And we are
dressed
in the finest raiment and taken into the family of God, chosen to reign
with
him forever and ever.
It is in the Liturgy of the Eucharist that we
celebrate the
unfathomable miracle of our faith that God Himself has sent his son to
us that
through him, we might be saved. And so Jesus is here with us,
truly
present, and all he asks is that we believe -- truly believe, that he
might
manifest himself to us and take us to be with him at this eternal
banquet; this
supper that we have been called to celebrate tonight as the family of
God.
As we look around, we see the faces of
friends
old and new. The widow of Zaraphath is here with her son, and
over there
is Naaman the Syrian; cleansed and whole and happy. With us also are
those new
to the faith who only recently assumed their proper place with us at
this table
of the family of God. Let us always remember to make them feel as
welcome
as they are. And let us not forget to pray for those that have
hardened
their hearts to this message of God's salvation; those that in Nazareth
would have joined
in condemning Jesus on that day. And let us not condemn but pray for
those that
would put obstacles in our way as we come together to celebrate, in
unity, our
love for God and one another as Christ's family. Let us instead extend
to all
the same compassion that the Lord has shown to us; for there truly, but
for the
grace of God, go you and I.
|