January 31, 2016: May God’s words alone be spoken, may God’s words alone be heard. Amen.
So, do you get the feeling you got dropped into the middle of a story this morning? Don’t you hate when that happens? I mean, you go out to get popcorn…or say, miss church due to a blizzard called Jonas, and just like that – you missed a crucial plot twist.
In the gospel this morning, Jesus says “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Really? What scripture? I didn’t hear him read scripture today – did you? Let’s hit the rewind button on the remote and back up the DVR a moment so that we can understand what he is talking about because, like always seems to happen when I walk out of the room during a movie, we’ve missed the whole point of the story.
Last week, on the Jesus Channel, had we not been wholloped with the third largest snowfall in this area’s history, we would have heard this as part of the gospel:
“When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “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.” And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down.”
And now for the conclusion of Jesus in the temple: Jesus says “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
So THAT’s what he was talking about…it all makes sense now. But that’s really just the start of the story, isn’t it? Hold on to your seats, folks, because there’s more to the story – Jesus’ and ours too.
Now, just to step back a moment, this past weekend, Diocese of Newark, of which we are a part, met in the 142nd Diocesan Convention. We are a church that knows it is part of something bigger – that each parish is a part of something outside itself. That is why we meet in convention – both Diocesan and the Triennial General Convention of the larger Episcopal Church.
At convention – we talked a lot about what it means to be followers of Jesus, who is our neighbor, and going local or being missional. And while I confess that I am not sure about what that all means for the diocese, I do believe that we are called to model Jesus – and that means we need to be mindful of how we live in the world today. This is why at convention we were talking about things that we have also been talking about here at Christ Church – and at the core of it is who are we, who is our neighbor, and what does that mean for us, and for the world? These are questions about identity, and Jesus in this gospel is making his own statement about identity too.
And all of this reminded me of a diocesan convention from a few years ago. The sermon at the opening Eucharist that year was delivered by Dent Davidson from the Diocese of Chicago, who was talking about our identity as Christians. He wondered what it would be like if our baptisms were done with indelible ink. His point was that if it were, then it would be something we could not hide. I wonder about that too. As I have preached about before, I think the world would look much different if it was incredibly obvious to everyone that we were followers of Jesus – if we had a way to make a statement to the world about who we are and what we believe. Because that is what Jesus is doing in the temple.
Jesus stands in the temple and makes a definitive and very public statement of who he is, and what he was called to do. It is as if he has washed himself in indelible ink. It was a bold and audacious claim – and it is one he needed to make as much as others needed to hear it. And maybe, just maybe, he needed to hear it himself. To put it out there.
You know, they say if you want to be successful on a diet, or exercise program, or any type of life transformation, it is helpful to announce it to others, so that there is a sense of public obligation to live into it. In some ways, Jesus is doing that – he is making public proclamation of who he is, and that will have an impact on how he is perceived, and how he acts in the world. And it got me to thinking… As Christ alive in the world today, what would we proclaim about ourselves? If we were to stand up today in this place of worship – what would each of us say about ourselves as Christians? What would be our proclamation about our purpose in our lives? And what would that proclamation mean for us if we were to announce that we are anointed in baptism to bring good news to the poor and the oppressed?
I think it would be transformative – for us, and for all who know us. And the truth is – we are! We are able to make that proclamation, just as Jesus did. Not only are we able – we are called to it as his followers. That is some powerfully good news! But it is also something that can scare the living daylights out of us too. It sure scared those listening to Jesus that day in the temple. Heck, they tried to run him right off a cliff!
But more importantly, what stops us? What holds us back from proclaiming loudly and often the good news of Christ – to claim our place in the frontlines for the poor and the oppressed. I think part of it is that we get stalled waiting until we know all the answers, until we can craft the perfect solution to the problem, perhaps until we think we have exactly the right words that will ensure that nobody wants to throw us off a cliff either. So we have good intentions, but get as stuck as most of our cars were last weekend during the blizzard. But maybe a bit of our own history will help us get unstuck.
January 1st of each year is more than New Year’s Day, it marks the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. John Stendahl, in an article in The Christian Century, once wrote about this important moment in history, “When the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in the midst of the Civil War, the slaves who lived within the realm of the Confederacy remained in bondage. Many did not know about the proclamation when it went into effect. Its authority was denied and nullified by local and regional power. Yet Lincoln, in both his words and his claim to authority over the whole of the split and rebellious Union, contended that the proclamation was nonetheless true and real. And so this flawed and partial emancipation became the herald of a fuller freedom, a fulfillment yet unreached.”[1] Thankfully, Abraham Lincoln did not wait until he had the perfect solution to this horrific injustice – but boldly proclaimed what was indeed good news.
Jesus’ proclamation is powerful, but by it – all the poor were not lifted up, nor were the oppressed freed. Still, these bold words heralded in a new life for all who heard it and all who followed Christ. A new life that is good news to us today. Thankfully, Jesus didn’t wait to have all the disciples lined up and ready to go, or all the poor and oppressed to be lifted up to claim the good news of God’s grace. This statement was made early in his ministry.
This was Christ’s mission statement drawn from his Jewish heritage – the scriptures of his faith. And we have one too…in the vows of our baptism. Just as Jesus read in Isaiah “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.” The same is true of each of us – we were anointed in baptism, and marked, as Christ’s own forever! And we committed (or recommitted in confirmation) to continuing the apostles teaching and fellowship, to proclaiming the good news of God in Christ, and to seeking and serving Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves, and striving for justice and peace among all people, respecting the dignity of every human being.
We have a mission – to make disciples of Jesus through teaching, to care for all of God’s children, to be the body of Christ alive in the world today, and to be nourished at the table by the body and blood of our savior.
I mentioned at the start of this sermon that we understood our parish to be part of something larger – the diocese, and the diocese as part of the Episcopal Church, and so on. And, we are also part of a larger body – the body of Christ in the world.
Each of us, individually and as communities of believers, will live into our call differently depending upon the gifts that the Holy Spirit gives to each of us, and the need of our neighbors. And sometimes we will be a bit rough around the edges when living out our call, and sometimes we won’t have all the answers, or know how it will all happen. But, as St. Paul points out in his first epistle to the Corinthians this morning, as long as love is at the core of all we do,– as long as our foundation is God’s love – we will, and we must, boldly step forward together into our life in Christ. Now – today.
As our bishop, the Rt. Rev. Mark Beckwith, preached in his State of the Diocese yesterday morning, “God is calling us out. To be transformed by the biblical Dream. It is the Dream of faith – borne by community, carried forward by faith and imagination… Our joining God in reshaping our future, our intentional journeys into our neighborhoods bear witness to God’s Dream. These forays open our souls even more to the wideness of God’s mercy, and can perhaps provide an opening for the millions of people to discover a hope that is beyond what their hearts and minds can currently grasp. A hope that is offered to “all God’s children,” not just some. A hope that believes in spite of the evidence, and then watches the evidence change.”
A hungry and needy world awaits the good news that we are called to share. There are far too many who would tell us we are wrong to do what we do, that some people are not deserving of God’s love in full and equal measure to others – some of these voices even claim a Christian identity, some of them are even part of our own Anglican Communion. But we must not allow them to divert us from our mission. We must follow Christ and pass by them to continue our call to love and serve.
We must stand and proclaim loudly for all the world to hear – that scripture is fulfilled – that the call of God is fulfilled in each of us – that “The Spirit of the Lord came upon us in baptism, and we were anointed to bring good news to the poor.”
Because THAT folks is the gospel truth.
We are anointed to proclaim the good news of God’s all inclusive and unconditional love to a hungry world.
And may our proclamation be so loud, so joyful, and so evident, it is as if we were baptized in indelible ink.
Amen.
For the audio of the sermon from the 10:30am service, click here:
[1] John Stendahl in an article in Christian Century (January 7-14, 1998, p. 13)
The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
January 31, 2016
Fourth Sunday After The Epiphany – Year C
1st Reading – Jeremiah 1:4-10
Psalm 71:1-6
2nd Reading – 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Gospel – Luke 4:21-30
