Park Avenue Presbyterian Church; Des Moines, Iowa
Texts: Jeremiah 1: 4-10
Psalm 71: 1-6
1 Corinthians 13: 1-13
Luke 4: 14-30
“Jesus: Enfleshment of the Gauntlet Thrown Down”
--} Last Sunday, our gospel began with this infamous interchange for Jesus, believers and followers—with Jesus reading from the Prophet Isaiah:
“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 at first blush, it’s often easy to think Jesus’ prophetic announcement being fairly straight forward. That Jesus might have been saying something like: “there’s help for those who have no hope—even where there are economic discrepancies; where people are held captive or imprisoned, there’s freedom; when people are “blind” to the possibilities of safe-keeping and loving-kindness, the Kingdom of God takes up for them.
But I said that we should believe that wasn’t what Jesus was saying at all; instead, Jesus was saying that as he had been anointed, believers—TOO—were anointed by the same good news, and that further, the Church was called to offer: good news to the poor; release to the captives; recovery of sight for the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Not that the Church might receive these things for its own benefit, but that the Church is called to take in and then share—to “hand-out” if you will God’s promises. And thereby, it seemed what Jesus was intending to do was to challenge the values of our own success—the same challenges, it would seem Jesus intended for the Nazareans.
But, according to Luke, the Nazareans didn’t hear Jesus’ challenge. Luke’s story proclaims Jesus quoting several would-be difficult passages from the prophet Isaiah, yet the response of Jesus’ “hearers” is simply that “all spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.” They said—as if proudly and expectantly—“Is not this Joseph’s son?” And the expectation seemed to be that Jesus should have good things to share with the people of Nazareth, too. So Jesus must try and “redirect” their expectations.
Not ever one to walk into a room to try to make people angry, it surprises us when in exchange for kind words, Jesus offers incendiary and hurtful remarks, all but spitting venom in the faces of his listeners. So what if Jesus were trying to “redirect” people’s expectations.
- “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’ Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown.” [Meaning: they don’t get the same healings and teachings.]
- “But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. [Meaning: Non-Israelites are in fact, closer to God’s blessed providing.]
- There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” [Meaning: Bitter enemies get better treatment than you will.]
But before we label Jesus for some kind of mean-spiritedness, what if Jesus is envisioning that a different “response” to the prophetic words is necessary? In the face of the people speaking well of him, Jesus offers a pointed interpretation that turns the story away from the “good news” to the necessity of believer’s responses. What Jesus seems to be looking for is a response from hearers and believers like, “Oh shucks! We’ve got a lot of work to do!”
If we had been Israelites in Nazareth in the first century, one of the expectations of being “faithful” to God’s covenantal promises was that God would respond with blessings—“be faithful, and God will bless you.” Remember, God’s promise to Abraham was that Abraham’s descendants were to be blessed, and “by them all the nations of the world.” The Jewish tradition held that God’s blessing is bestowed on the Israelites because they are a faithful and holy people; and in as much as other nations ascribe to Israel’s preeminence, they would be blessed as well.
But by citing examples where non-Israelites were “blessed” rather than the Israelites Jesus was suggesting that this “tradition” of Israel’s preeminence wasn’t really how God works. And telling the Nazareans they weren’t on the top of the list of those to be blessed, Jesus not only appears to be turning God’s promises sideways, it’s a good reason why they would have responded by taking him to the brow of the hill to throw him down from it! Instead of Israel’s primacy or superiority Jesus’ examples point to a different understanding of God’s “blessing”—one that requires “serving.”
What is striking is that the pathway Jesus is suggesting is not one of exaltation, but one of service and suffering. It’s not the road of privilege; rather, it’s the pathway of “calling” and “anointing.” Again, it’s not a promise that Israel is to “receive” all the blessings, but is in fact the one that must also bestow blessings. The people of Nazareth don’t just get what the Capernaum-ites got; instead, their “blessing” is in their serving—not just the poor, the lame, the oppressed, the outcast; but the enemy, the outsider, the stranger. It means Jesus is pointing not just toward being “blessed,” but the responsiveness of “serving” as a “blessing” for others. To demonstrate for the world what it means to live out the precepts of the Kingdom of God.
Elias Chacour writes about God’s expectations of the descendants of Abraham being “caretakers” dwelling in His land. He turns to the Old Testament prophets for the answer that:
“God had a special calling for his “caretaker people”—that God demanded that they demonstrate God’s own character to the whole world, that they show forth the face of God in every action from the way they conducted their government down to the use of fair weights and measures in the marketplace. Often they failed miserably and, under God’s judgment, they were broken apart by foreign powers such as the Babylonians.”
And yet, God would still rescue the people every time—acting in faithfulness to God’s own promises to the Jews. This was a reflection of God’s own eternally faithful nature, not a reward for human goodness.
So that living “faithfully” in covenant relationship with God is about demonstrating God’s faithfulness—not our own. It means for us to have to “demonstrate” for the world what it means to live Kingdom lives—“serving” one another and those around us. Salvation results not because of “good works” or our “faithfulness,” but because of God’s “choosing us” as God’s own. Salvation happens because God is faithful even when we are not. And we’ve been “chosen” not so that we can be the receivers of the good things in life because we live “faithfully,” but we have been chosen for a special form of “serving” by which God can demonstrate to the world God’s own holiness, generosity, and faithfulness.
Jesus reminds us that one mistake believers can make is thinking that God’s “anointing” means we are suddenly deserving or exalted. Being “anointed” doesn’t mean an immediate elevation to a life of privilege; the Lord’s anointed might be one specially “chosen,” one whom God loves, but it does not mean some privileged status. Instead, the task of the chosen and anointed is “service;” and the model Jesus particularly proclaims is one that includes “suffering service.” No life of riches, fame, and glory; but instead, serving others!
No wonder the Nazareans are offended! Jesus says, “You don’t get healed; you don’t get fed;” instead, you are called to be healers and feeders of the very people you would rather not! What Jesus seems to be saying to believers is that the community of the faithful—the Church—is “called” and “anointed” as God’s people who are, in fact, the very examples of God redemptive generosity. That God would use US as the means by which other people are brought into the fold of faith! We are “called” and “anointed” as examples of the redeemed people of God who are invited to share that redemption with the world.
So why would we not dare to see our lives differently as a result?
What if, instead of ordaining folks to balance the Church budget, we sought to ordain people to be leaders in ministry? What if, instead of just inviting people to give a few dollars toward a special cause, we sent people to make a difference—handing out food, building new homes. What if, instead of just expecting members to come to worship, we expected them to share worship experiences with others. What if, rather than expecting gifts to be shared with us—what if we saw ourselves as anointed, too?
What if we saw ourselves as “anointed,” too? And rather than being the “receivers” of the blessings of richness, what if we could be the providers of God’s kingdom promises? Because Jesus says, “today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Jesus throws the gauntlet down—inviting us to consider what it means to be people “anointed” and “called to serve.” Not people who gain “blessings” for our faithfulness, but people who gain the mantle of the prophet’s voice. That we too, as individual believers and as the Church of Jesus Christ might proclaim:
“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.”
Because Jesus says, “today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
--+ AMEN.
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