“I assure you no prophet is welcome in his home
town!” A drop the mike moment. He could have easily walked away.
A.J. Thomas a Methodist preacher relays this story of
going home
“A Hometown Preacher
A few months after I finished seminary and entered full-time
pastoral ministry, I was invited to preach at my home church - St. James United
Methodist Church in Niagara Falls, NY.
The day arrived, and the crowds came.
I looked around and took it all in.
There was my 1st-grade teacher, a pillar member of the congregation, in
her usual place on the left side, sitting on the center aisle, four rows from
the front. There were my neighbors,
classmates, people whose grass I had cut, whose newspapers I had faithfully delivered. My hometown had come out to greet one of
their own.
At the risk of sounding boastful, I gave a good
sermon, too. If not a home run, at least
a solid double or triple. I remember
that feeling of a job well-done as I gave the benediction, and joined the
recessional down the main aisle to greet folks at the door as they departed,
just waiting for the accolades to roll in.
However, I soon realized that no one had paid any
attention to the content of the sermon itself.
They were more complementary about how I looked in my robe and how proud
they were just to see one of their own up there, rather than any expressed
sense of God having spoken through me to them.”[1] “Truly I tell you, no
prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown” (Luke 4:24).
In today’s Gospel we have Jesus, The illegitimate son
of a carpenter, who has been gone for a little while. There have been stories. Yea really good stories. After he was baptized and gone on a retreat
in the desert, he has been teaching in the synagogues and he was praised by
everyone (Luke 4.14-15). So you can
imagine the excitement.
Jesus is coming home.
Jesus is going to teach in our synagogue. Imagine the headlines, “Home town boy makes
good come see the man in action!” People
were geared up for something special.
You know sometimes anticipation of the event is the greatest part of it.
“There was once an evangelist named Billy Sunday. He
was the Billy Graham of his generation. He was conducting a crusade in a
particular city, and in one sermon he said something critical of labor
conditions for workers in that city. After the service, several businessmen
sent him a message which read as follows: “Billy, leave labor matters alone.
Concentrate on getting people saved. Stay away from political issues. You’re
rubbing the fur the wrong way”. Billy Sunday sent this message back to them:
“If I’m rubbing the fur the wrong way, tell the cats to turn around”[2]
Basically Jesus was about to stroke the fur the wrong
way. Now don’t get me wrong at first all
was Good. He stood up and read from the
scroll as he was supposed to. He read
from Isaiah just as it was written... “The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me.
He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to
the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed,
and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19)
He hands the scroll back to its care taker and sits
down. Now to you and I this may sound a
bit arrogant however this is actually the norm.
A teacher would sit to teach.
Remember the story of Jesus in the temple…”They found Jesus seated among
the teachers” (Luke: 2:46) you see it was the norm for a teacher to sit and for
the students to be at his feet as others gathered round to listen.
So Jesus took a seat nothing new there and everyone is
paying real close attention. They have
all heard the stories already circulating about his skills as a teacher. He says; “this scripture has now been
fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4.21)
Now let me stop right there.
There is something about the word of the prophet being
fulfilled but not because it is written.
It is only fulfilled in its hearing. There is something physical and
contextual about the word when it is read out loud. Would this service be the
same if we said here is today’s text and read it to yourselves? I will give you 5 minutes. Good now let me preach/teach/ convey to you
how the spirit is moving me in the word.
There is a physical need for the scriptures to be
heard and read. I may read it one way
another person another but in the hearing of it we contextualize it. Someone may be moved extremely by the way one
has read the text another not so much but….But each of us start to hear the
text as it is meant for each one of us to hear it which opens souls to the
movement of God in our lives as I or whoever is up here tries to do their best
to give that spirit more momentum so to speak.
So the crowd was already geared up and then Jesus
reads the scripture and announces it is fulfilled through the peoples hearing
of the word and what happens. The crowd
is happy. They like what they are hearing
the bible says they were amazed. Anyone here amazed yet?? I am afraid I do not have the power to amaze
anyone. Of course they were all the more
amazed because isn’t this Joseph’s boy?
Wasn’t eh supposed to be a carpenter?
Wow! I can see them all nodding
in agreement and murmuring how amazing this guy is just like everyone said.
A.J Thomas, the Methodist minister who no one paid
attention to what he said in his hometown says this would be a good time to
quit!
“Quit While You’re Ahead
There’s a saying that “You should always leave them
wanting more.” If Jesus wanted to quit
while he was ahead, now is a great time for the benediction, at least if he’s
trying to win friends and influence people.
Yet, Jesus’ sermon isn’t finished just yet.”[3]
Noooo, as one may say, He couldn’t just stop there and
leave well enough alone but he had to keep going.
Jesus basically says you are not going to like what I
have to say. You are going to ask me to do tricks and miracles for you but I am
not going to do that here. Instead let
me remind you of two other scripture readings.
He then goes on to speak of the time of Elijah when there was a great
famine and the people of Israel were hurting.
God did not send the prophet to Israel but to a widow in Sidon. A gentile to care for the prophet. Then he recounts the story of Naaman a
commander of Syria’s army and believed to be an enemy and yet Elisha cured him
of his leprosy as opposed to curing one of many people of Israel suffering from
the same.
So why did Jesus’ reminder to the people of this story
upset them so much? Jesus wasn’t
relaying a new story. Jesus wasn’t
saying anything more than just relating their own story back to them. But something in hearing these stories come
from Jesus, something shifted. Yes they knew
the stories! Yes this is our own
history. But God is blessing and
fraternizing with Gentiles in these stories.
You are supposed to be one of us.
You came here for us! How dare
you?
You see what is getting to the people here is Jesus is
saying my ministry is not just for you.
God has been here for you and always will be but now is the time of the
outsider. Now is the time of the other,
the exiled, and the despised. From the
Gospels this means now is the time of the tax collector, the Samaritan, and the
woman at the well. This is the time of
the leper, the blind and the deaf.
The people of Israel have had Gods Prophets, teachers
and words for all these years. They tell
stories of the great miracles and redemption of their people. God gave them the law, the land and
salvation. Now it is time to go further. This is what made them angry. This is what made Jesus’ own home town run
him to the edge of a hill ready to throw him off. But instead of arguing and confronting them
he just walked away. Leaving them to
replay this event and his message again and again over in their minds. You know they did.
You ever get so mad about something you heard you just
have to talk to somebody about it? I am not naming names but there isn’t a day
goes by today that I do not hear from someone something that some politician
said that they didn’t like. I confess I
have engaged in the very same reactions. As a person of a liberal bent I am
usually disparaging someone who has the other point of view.
On this point I am going to get on my soap box for a
minute to remind myself, we have to pray for those who we disagree with. For
some people the world is changing so fast around them they are clinging onto
the very last bit of a world that they use to know that will not exist in ten
to twenty years. America is changing in how we look at the other and who we
believe should be treated with human kindness and love as opposed to having
lines drawn and being declared unworthy.
This is what Jesus was doing here. The lines that Israel had drawn around their
religious beliefs and laws and restrictions.
Who they decided was in and out and how they practiced those beliefs
…Jesus was saying it’s done. We will
have no more of this…Now is a time of a loving and welcoming and accepting God
and that will be Jesus’ challenge to the established Hierarchy and the norms of
the time.
And Guess what that is still the challenge today! Jesus challenges the United Church of Christ
and we challenge ourselves to be a loving and open community but we still have
a long way to go.
I wonder how
many of our congregations have engaged in the Just peace movement. The Just
Peace movement “ focuses attention on alleviating systemic injustice of all
types using non-violence and calls us to offer the message, grounded in the
hope of reconciliation in Jesus, that “Peace is possible.”[4]
I know this community is open and affirming yet did
you know that we have 14 UCC related seminaries and yet only 8 are ONA. Of our
5000 churches only 26% roughly 1300 (as of November) are ONA. We still have a long way to go. Even those
that proclaim they are ONA often do not want to discuss further what that may
mean or what they may be called to do.
I wonder how
many of our churches are accessible to all or even know about United Church of
Christ disabilities Ministries? People believe being accessible means putting
in a ramp or two but we are called to go much further than that. We are called by Christ to go further than
that.
The United Church of Christ Disabilities ministries
asks our churches to;
To be a Church where everyone is welcome.
To encourage local churches to be open,
inclusive, affirming and accessible in all aspects of their lives, including
buildings, worship, education, fellowship and service, and thereby enabled to
proclaim God’s word with and to all persons, including people with
disabilities.
To advocate with and for persons with
disabilities, especially people who have been marginalized and alienated.
To advocate for and collaborate with care
giving ministries with and for
Persons with disabilities.
To develop and support the leadership of
laity and clergy with disabilities at all levels within the entire United
Church of Christ.
To encourage all settings of the United
Church of Christ to consciously use language inclusive of and sensitive to
accessibility and disabilities issues.
To offer a forum of communication and
networking.[5]
We
have local projects, food pantries, hospitals, habitat for humanity that call
our attention every day. We have the
homeless on our own streets and the mentally ill who are not receiving services
because they do not have permanent addresses.
We still have workplace inequality, wage theft and forms of enslavement
happening right here in the Los Angeles area.
Now
what happens in your heads and hearts when you hear such a litany of so many
things? What happens when you here all
about them and this isn’t about us? Do
you hear what I just said? This is all
about them…. Jesus said this is all about them. That’s what upset the people of
Nazareth they thought that Gods saving grace was going to be all about them.
Here
is a little secret…Sunday is all about us.
Yep today here and now is all about us.
It about us resting in God’s spirit.
It is about us being grateful for all of God’s gifts. It is about us getting energized, inspired
and refueled…but for what?
Refueled
with God’s loving spirit so we can go out and serve them! So we can become the kindom of God here on
earth and welcome all into our midst with love and compassion and
understanding.
In
conclusion here is a poem by Simone Poortman
Them and Us
Them---------------------------------------------------------------Us
Where do I fit in?
If I am one of “them”, they are “us”
If I am one of “us”, who are “they?”
Being one of “us” is only half.
I miss “them.”
Only when I am one of “them,”
Can I be part of the complete “us.”
I know both “them” and “us.”
How do I dare to become one of “them”
In order to become of “us?’
By Simone Poortman
Delegate from the Netherlands and part of EDAN[6]
Let
us pray;
Loving
God in our brokenness, in our search to find wholeness for ourselves let us
also seek to find wholeness for our community and the world. Help us to see you in the other and welcome
them with love, compassion and understanding that only through your grace we
may provide. Help us and bless us as we
strive to bring your kindom here and now. Amen!
[1] A.J. Thomas, Home
Town Hero, July 22, 2012, accessed January 18, 2016,
http://theproclaimedword.blogspot.com/2012/07/hometown-hero-luke-421-30.html.
[2] Craig Condon,
Luke 4:21-30 Rubbing People the Wrong Way, June 23, 2012, accessed January 18,
2016, http://sermonsfrommyheart.blogspot.com/2012/06/luke-421-30-rubbing-people-wrong-way.html.
[3] Thomas, Home
Town Hero.
[4] United Church of
Christ, Just Peace, Medium, accessed January 18, 2016,
http://www.ucc.org/justice_just-peace.
[5] UCC Disabilities
Ministries, About, Medium, accessed January 18, 2016, http://uccdm.org/about/.
[6] Simone Poortman,
Them vs Us, Medium, accessed January 18, 2016,
http://www.dsfnetwork.org/assets/Uploads/2007-04-22-Brazil-Report-April-07.pdf.
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