Third Sunday after the Epiphany
January 24, 2010
Text: Luke 4:14-21
If I got up to preach the sermon and a stranger in the congregation would suddenly stand up and shout, “I have a word from the Lord!” what would our response be? At first, we would be startled. Next we probably would wonder who the person is more than what the word of the Lord would be. Finally, we would be annoyed hoping that the person doesn’t say anything else until ushered out.
Strange, isn’t it? Sunday after Sunday countless preachers in innumerable pulpits spread out their sermon notes, clear their voices and start to preach, saying – or at least implying – that they have a word from the Lord. But nobody tenses. No heads swivel in alarm. No ushers suddenly leap into action. Instead, people lay down their bulletins, silently check their watches and settle in for the sermon. What are we expecting? A sermon? Yes. A word from the Lord? Not really.
Surely it was this way that Sabbath in Nazareth. A local product, Joseph’s son Jesus, was home for the weekend and was allowed to read the lesson from the prophets and preach the sermon. The congregation knew him well, remembered him as a little boy, and was no doubt proud of the reports that had filtered down from Capernaum and other towns about his success as a preacher, teacher and wonder worker. So they settled in to hear what this articulate young man would say. What were they expecting? A sermon. Yes. A word from the Lord? Not really.
Part of the reason we expect a sermon and not a word from the Lord is, much as we may want to deny this, is we really do not want it. A sermon can be nice religious words, but a word from the Lord can be disruptive. A sermon can be tucked away or even ignored; a word from the Lord must be heeded. A word from the Lord is sharper than a two-edged sword and slices away our complacency like a butcher’s knife. A word from the Lord is news; it changes things and forces us to adjust to the change.
It is said that most people, when they watch the evening news on television are not so much interested in the news as they are in confirming that the world is pretty much the same as it was before. Politician A criticizes Politician B. A gunman sticks up a convenience store. More strife in the Middle East. “Yep, that’s the way the world is, always has been, always will be.”
Real news, however, is unexpected, surprising, disturbing. Real news means that the world is not the way it was yesterday and, therefore, I cannot live my life the way I lived it yesterday. A word from the Lord is real news – it brings with it the demand for change and renewal.
Do we really want to hear the word of the Lord? In other words, we desire God’s presence, but we fear it. We want a word from the Lord, but we don’t. We want the news of God’s activity in our world, but we also prefer the no-news that nothing is changed and all is as it has been for a thousand yesterdays. We want a sermon, but as for a word from the Lord, well …
The consultation report that you have been studying shocked a number of you. It wasn’t a comforting sermon; it was a word of the Lord calling for change and renewal.
When Jesus preached for the hometown folks in Nazareth, at first they received what he said as just a sermon. Nobody got tense. No ushers tried to muscle him out into the street. People smiled and said how proud they were and how Mary and Joseph must be popping their buttons to have a son so fine.
But then his words came unexpected, surprising and disturbing. “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing,” he proclaimed. Today meant this was the word from the Lord. Today, not yesterday, not in times gone by, but today the word of the Lord has come. Fulfilled, not read nicely, heard sweetly, or barely remembered, but fulfilled meant that this was the word of the Lord. In your hearing, not in somebody else, but in you, the word of the Lord came.
Jesus’ sermon was not just a Sabbath sermon. This was the word come from the Lord. Real news. God come close, God made present. Now, in our life. The world was now changed, the word was present in all its demanding fullness. We can fight it or follow it, but we can not ignore it.
The immediate presence of God is what our worship is all about. It is not mainly about our goodness, or family values, or keeping the beneficial institution of the church going, or maintaining an ornate edifice. It is about the sheer fact, the amazing news, the good news that God is alive and present as Jesus was to the little flock in Nazareth. God comes close. God speaks words that are fulfilled in our hearing. Words that give us life, hope and joy. Words, that if we listen and respond, send us out into the world with the love of God and our neighbor in our hearts.
In the synagogue in Nazareth that day – and in countless sanctuaries all around the world today – someone is reading Scripture. Someone is reading about a God who called the world into being out of nothing; a God who spangled the heavens with stars; a God who loves human beings with a wild passionate love and will not let us go; a God who brings life out of death; a God who claims us as God’s very own people. The God of Jesus is the God who brings His word to us in our “holy conversation.” He is the one who can renew, energize and transform a congregation like ours into new and vital ministries in the future.
“Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Just a good sermon? No, a word from the Lord. Today the word of the Lord comes alive in each one of us. Today our God who raised Jesus from the dead is with us – to change, renew and transform us. That’s very good news as we go further in our “holy conversation” here at First.