8-13-17
Luke 4:16-30 & Pride (In
the name of love) U2
I hear so
often from folks how well the communion meditation or offering meditation and
my sermons sort of flow together each week, as if we plan to speak on the same
things. I really believe that when that happens it is evidence that the Holy
Spirit is at work in all of us.
I find that
to be also true when I pick out texts and plan sermons weeks in advance, and
when it comes time to share these with you events happen that go right along
with what the sermon is already about.
Today is
such a day.
We’ve been
working on this series all summer—music and faith—and the intersections of both
and how we find God everywhere, not just places designated as ‘Christian or spiritual.’
Today’s song
U2’s Pride (In the Name of Love) is a response to hate and bigotry. It is a tribute to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and his dedication to justice and
equality.
If you had
asked me a few years ago about where I thought our country was in regards to
racial justice I would have spoken about how I thought we had come a long way,
that most people supported equality, and that hate and prejudice no longer has
a foothold in mainstream society.
And I would
have believed every single word. And would have meant it the best way I could.
This weekend
we have seen the largest open rally of white supremacy that we have seen in
decades.
Its ugliness is on display for all to see.
Now what on
earth does any of this got to do with coming to worship on a Sunday morning.
We should
keep politics out of the pulpit because that’s not what we’re here for.
Except we
are. It’s exactly what we’re here for. Politics is a reflection of our culture.
Jesus was
radically political when it came to injustice and disregard for other people. He
called hate for what it was, and proclaimed that he was there to fight for the
oppressed, the broken, those caste out onto the margins.
His sermons,
his stories, his miracles, and even his meals were all about righting wrongs
and shoving up against what was wrong in the world.
In his
world, just as in ours, there was hatred based on religion, culture, ethnicity,
and race.
It was wrong
then and it is wrong now.
And both he
and his message were rejected.
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. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.
Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your
hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came
from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” He said to them,
“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.’” And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the
prophet’s hometown. 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. There
were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of
them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard this, all in the
synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led
him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might
hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his
way.
When Jesus
stood to read from the scroll of Isaiah no one listening objected. When he sat
to preach, they waited to hear what he had to say.
When he
stated outright that he was the one that Isaiah spoke of, they did not object. They
got ready to listen. They were amazed, proud even that one of their own was
going to speak the word of the lord.
And when
they heard what he had to say about the text they got angry and that’s when
they wanted to throw him off the cliff.
The issue is
not about Jesus coming to fight for justice.
The issue is
that Jesus came to fight for justice for those that were not perceived to be
worthy of his justice. Those that were what one scholar suggested were on the
‘outside of Israel rather than on the inside.’
Lepers—not
on the inside—they were excluded from the community because obviously God’s
wrath was upon them as punishment for their sins.
Widows were
pushed to the side—they have no value because they have no husband, and without
a husband or adult son they have no safety, no means, and are deemed a burden.
Not only
does Jesus mention the lepers and widows, but he speaks of a widow in
particular that was on the outside-the widow at Zarephath in Sidon. This was
about Elijah coming to town, looking for bread. Who asks for bread from a
hungry person? And, who asks for shelter from a widow of the same tribe as the
woman who was trying to kill him—Jezebel, wife of Ahab.
Jesus was
illustrating that those on the margins, those on the outside, those who are
unexpected always have a place and by proclaiming that he will demand justice
for them—well—those are fighting words and offensive to those in his hometown because
they felt that God’s justice was for them alone.
Essentially
what these folks are saying to Jesus is ‘God is for my needs, God does not care
for anyone I don’t want God to care about. Anyone I don’t like, anyone I am
afraid of, anyone that does not look or act like me. Anyone outside of my
culture and experiences—God does not care for them. God only cares for me and
my kind.’
That doesn’t
sound like the Jesus I know.
The Jesus I
know is always on the side of the other.
We have not been
the other often enough to know what it feels like to be rejected based on the
color of our skin, where in the world we were born, the language we speak, the
gender we’re attracted too, the religion we hold dear.
If they are
on the outside, and we know Jesus is with them, we have to ask ourselves where
we’re standing.
We don’t have
to completely understand the experiences of others to affirm their dignity as human
beings created in the image of God and be able to stand with them.
We don’t have
to completely understand their experiences in order to show compassion and that
we know that God is with them.
Justice
seeking is not a tame quiet process of compromise.
Justice
seeking is radicalism, courage, and speaking out.
And justice
seeking is supporting those who do with prayer and love.
Justice does
not comprise.
We say that
Jesus came for peace. Indeed, Jesus did come for peace.
But peace is
not simply an absence of conflict, an acceptance of wrongdoing, just so we can
go along to get along.
The peace
that we talk of in the church, the peace of Christ is about God’s peace—which
is affirming and upholding the worth and dignity of all God’s people. Until
such a time as that—justice is radical, loud, stubborn, persistent work that
sacrifices itself for others.
Peace does
not mean looking the other way when there is injustice. It means confronting
the injustice in a Christ like manner. We remember Christ as a peacemaker, and
sometimes that leads us to believe he was mellow, live and let live kind of
fellow. But he wasn’t. He was a revolutionary who carried a whip into a temple
and called out those in charge and said they were vipers. He came for the
express purpose of changing the way things were done so that God’s vision could
be let out into the world.
Working for
justice is hard. We risk alienation by our community, often those who speak out
are labeled as troublemakers, rabble-rousers, as those who just want to stir
things up. We can be rejected by those we care deeply about for the sake of
those of whom we know little.
We look at
the example in our song today of Martin Luther King Jr. At this point an iconic
figure in our cultural memory. And while he was committed to non-violent
protest, he was nonetheless committed to protest the wrongs of his time.
Wrongs that
continue today.
This rally
by the KKK this weekend proves that there is still much to be done, and that
the message that Jesus preached and died for—that there is no inside or outside
of God’s acceptance---is still desperately needed today.
But there
are more of us than them…more of us who believe in the value of all. More of us
who believe it when we hear the words that God is love.
More of us
who lay claim to God’s vision of the world as a place of acceptance, peace, and
dignity for all.
Let us continue
together the work Christ began.
Amen.
