Last week, if you recall, I asked you two questions. The first question I asked was how you understand the word “proclamation.” There were some interesting answers. Thank you for your responses. It’s a challenging word.
I also asked you if you ever stood before the mirror on Sunday mornings as you prepared for church and said to yourself “God has a word for you to give God’s people today.” Apparently, none of us have done that. It’s a curious exercise, but I wanted us to start thinking about what we have to offer one another in “thought, word, and deed” as the scriptures say. Do you have a word to proclaim this morning?
You see, last week we heard the first half of this story from the Gospel of Luke. Jesus has a word for the church. Jesus is in his home church and…well, everything is great at first but suddenly Jesus seems to turn on the people…his own people. It would seem he did the first century equivalent of looking in the mirror and asking if there was a Word for the People of God.
The gentle son becomes the challenging prophet. In a moment of Divine Snarkiness he even maps out their argument for them. “I’ll say this and you’ll say that. So, I’ll say this and you’ll say this other thing…” It’s not something that a respectful and lauded child of a community usually does. Yet here is the Prophet Jesus challenging his own people. Here Luke is setting up the whole story. Jesus will proclaim and Jesus will be rejected.
Jesus is the Messiah. But he’s not here to rescue the Jewish people per se. He’s here to be the Messiah for everyone. He’s not Joseph’s son. He’s God’s son and God’s love is for all. God’s salvation is for all. And though you are loved and special and Chosen by God as you are God’s People, he says, the revelation of God’s love is not for you alone. It never has been.
So, they do what any self-respecting home church would do and they try to kill one of their own children.
I have a lot of images in my head to try to understand what this is about. Maybe it’s a purity issue. Would God save the Gentiles? They aren’t clean! But then scripture reminds us that God will love whom God chooses to love. God will heal whom God chooses to heal and that opens up a whole other can of worms about why them and not us and then why does Jesus have to remind us of this and didn’t I teach that kid in Sunday School and why won’t Mary step in and stop him. This is just embarrassing! And HOW DARE HE SCOLD US AND MOCK US AND CORRET US AND I THOUGHT WE WERE SAFE HERE IN WORSHIP!
We don’t like to be told we’re doing it wrong. We especially don’t like to be told this by one of our own children. Not in worship. Not like this.
What kind of person would do this?
Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."And though you won’t like it because it shakes up everything you know, this is the Love of God set loose in the world. This is the result of the work of the People of God who have come together and are prepared to Love the world. This is the sign of a Messiah who knows that he’s asking the impossible, but with God all things are possible.Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy."
But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a boy'; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD."
Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, "Now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."
God’s Love will reorder things. God’s love will reorder communities, peoples, nations, and kingdoms…but first…first we have to hear this truth. We have to struggle with this truth and recognize that we are not safe from this Love simply because we are here on Sunday mornings. We have to come to terms with it and with its messenger. We have to come to terms with Jesus.
There is no place safe from God’s Love. There is no place where we can go and hide out from Jesus. Though, if there’s anything true in this story, we may just try to anyway. But that’s not the end of the story, is it?
Jesus walks through them. He’ll be back. But first he’ll take the Word to the world. He’s the Prophet of The God of Love and there are people who need healing and release. There are the oppressed to free. There are the sick to heal. And though rejection will come, there are those who are ready for this Word. And they will join together. They will walk with Jesus. And if we too walk with Jesus…
What if we march with the people of Englewood and help them collect the guns?
What if we return to the Gulf Coast that still reels from hurricane Katrina?
What if we welcome refugees from Haiti into our homes?
What if we join with other congregations, other faith communities and stand in solidarity with the Muslim that is derided because of her faith in the name of “national security”?
What if we do all this in the name of Christ?
We need to go where God is.
We have not been given a word to be horded. We have been given a word to be shared. And I think we’re ready to share it. I think we’re ready to hear the truth and proclaim the truth and to walk with the Truth who is Jesus walking in the world to Share God’s Love. I do.
We’re ready to be healed. We’re ready to heal.
We have all we need. We have the Word of God and the Prophetic call of Jesus. We have the Gospel of Christ. All we need to do is proclaim it…
The kind of healing God offers is not for the select or the elect. It is for everyone. It’s not a selfish reconciliation. Christ loves the whole world. No exceptions. God desires the healing of all of creation. No exceptions. And though times may change, we are ready. We are prepared. We are still called to Share.
Amen.
Posted by tripp at January 30, 2010 10:32 AMRock On!!!
Posted by: E.S.C. at January 30, 2010 12:02 PM