Sermon 1/28/07
Gracious Words - Jeremiah 1:4-10, Luke 4:21-30
(view lectionary notes for this text)
Two weeks ago, we read the beginning of this passage from Luke, and followed Jesus as he entered the synagogue, took up the scroll, and read from the prophet Isaiah. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,” Jesus read, “because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, recovery of sight to the blind, to bring release to the captive, and to bring freedom to the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of God’s favor.” Jesus told the congregation in the synagogue that these words from Isaiah were being fulfilled by him in their hearing. And they were transfixed by what he was saying. That’s where we pick up today.
In the immediate moments after Jesus preaches, the people are speaking well of him, amazed at the “gracious words” that came from his mouth. “Isn’t that Joseph’s boy?” they ask each other. And then, Jesus seems already a bit upset – he anticipates that in their amazement, they will begin to ask him to do miracles or show his healing powers. But, Jesus insists, a prophet can’t truly be accepted in his hometown. He then continues on with two examples of times in Israel’s history when God chose to use someone to accomplish God’s plans that was not an Israelite. He mentions that Elijah was sent not to an Israelite widow, but a widow from Sidon, and Elisha cleansed not an Israelite leper, but a Syrian leper. And then, I don’t know about you, but I feel like somebody must have accidentally left a few lines out of this passage. How do we go from the beginning of this passage, where everyone is thrilled with Jesus, to the end of this passage, where they are hoping to literally hurl him off a cliff? We read that hearing Jesus bring up these examples fills the people with rage. The passage ends with the people of Nazareth literally running Jesus out of town in an angry, rage-filled mob-chase scene, with Jesus just escaping from their midst. This person, this man who they watched grow up, this man whose parents they knew, this man who was one of them – they ran him out of town. This man Jesus whose gracious words had just amazed them seconds ago, this man who they were just speaking so highly of, this is the same man that now has them filled with rage. Something he said made them so upset that they actually wanted to kill him, or at the very least, never see or hear from him again.
In our passage from Jeremiah, we find another example of someone not wanting to hear what God is saying. We find Jeremiah remembering God’s call on his life. God speaks to Jeremiah and says, “before I [even] formed you in the womb, I knew you; I appointed you [as] a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah’s response to this? “Ah, Lord God! Truly, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy!” God responds, “Do not say, “I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you.” And God touches Jeremiah on the lips and says, “Now I have put my words in your mouth.” Jeremiah hears what God has in mind for him and instantly says he’s not capable of doing it. Instantly. He instantly says why it is not possible to do what God is asking of him.
In these two passages, so different in the details, we find this common theme. In each, a vision is presented – in the gospel, Jesus shares the vision from Isaiah that we read before, and in Jeremiah, God shares a plan for Jeremiah. And both the crowds in Jesus’ day and Jeremiah centuries earlier react as if the task, the vision laid before them is simply impossible to actually achieve. It isn’t that they disagree with what is said, or the sentiments of the plan, or the direction of the vision. They just don’t see how it can really happen, and they certainly don’t see how they can, or would want to be part of an effort to make the plan concrete.
I can relate. I’ve mentioned to some of you that I’m currently part of a ‘book group’ – a think-tank group with the district superintendent and some other area pastors. We’ve been reading a book called The Shaping of Things to Come, and we’ve been talking about the future of the church – the Christian church as a whole and the United Methodist Church, in this area in particular specifically. We’re reading this book together and agreeing with what we’re reading and nodding our heads as we read about these fundamental changes in approach we need to make to really be about the work of bringing the kingdom of God to the here and now. But are we doing it? Are we being disciples? Are we responding to God’s call? Are we agents of change, agents of God’s kingdom? As we were talking about how and why it is difficult for us to put into practice all these things that we are reading about that we say we agree with, my pastor-uncle, who is also in the group, shared this ‘poem’ by preacher Wilbur Reese called, 3 dollars worth of God. It goes like this: I would like to buy 3 dollars worth of God, please. Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don't want enough of [God] to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation. I want the warmth of the womb not a new birth. I want about a pound of the eternal in a paper sack. I'd like to buy 3 dollars worth of God, please. How much God do you want? You get as much or as little as you desire.
This poem struck me as speaking to exactly where I am right now. I will confess that to you. It is so much easier to be comfortable in ministry and mission than challenged, and I am comfortable. God is so gracious and loving that it is easy to let myself get away with being comfortable, and enjoying just enough of God and God’s plan for me to feel pretty good. And I suspect I am not alone. One of my clergy colleagues recently was reading a book called The Irresistible Revolution, all about real discipleship and the kingdom of God. She started the book at the beginning of a long road trip, and she was flying through the book during her travels, but eventually her reading pace slowed considerably and she was dragging through to the finish. Why? She says she's afraid to read more because reading something like this book makes her think she really needs to change some things in order to be working for the kingdom of God, and she's not sure she's ready to do that.
Perhaps we don’t’ understand exactly why the people got so upset with Jesus. But I wonder what God would demand of me that would cause me to react as the people reacted to Jesus in this passage today. Jesus was telling them the time had come to actually do what people had been dreaming about for years and years. No more waiting, no more putting things off. Now or never, this is it! Apparently, when push literally came to shove, they preferred never to now. Do we? When I was little, I apparently had a frequent and favorite strategy when I was asked to do something I didn’t like. I would simply put my fingers in my ears and say, “I can’t hear you!” I guess I figured if I pretended not to know what was being asked of me, I wouldn’t be responsible for responding.
But we are responsible. God asks us for answers. We can put our fingers in our ears, but God really has created us to be deeper, more thoughtful, more mature in our discipleship than that. God has a hope for us, a vision for us, that isn’t just pretty words. God actually plans for this vision to become a reality. When the prophet Isaiah spoke about this radical world were the poor heard good news and where the oppressed were freed and where God’s favor would be proclaimed, he wasn’t writing about something he never believed would happen, and when Jesus said that these words were being fulfilled by him in the hearing of those in the synagogue, he wasn’t just being an idealist – he meant it. He wasn’t just preaching about an unreachable, undoable, unrealistic world that we can think about but never have. Jesus preached and taught about a kingdom of God here and now that we can realize, can see, can live in, as much as we are willing to give of ourselves to make it happen.
I think, really, what made the listeners so upset when Jesus preached in the synagogue is that they finally realized that he meant what he said – he wasn’t just telling them pretty words to comfort them. He was giving them an action plan to follow. And Jesus let them know that God was serious about the plan – God would use whoever from wherever to get the plan accomplished as long as they were willing to be open to God’s plan. If this meant God ended up using the most unexpected people to make it happen – fine. God is serious about the plan.
When I was at the Congress on Evangelism earlier this month, one of the speakers said that he always makes sure to give his congregations something concrete to do in his sermons. He said that if you preach a whole sermon and don’t give people something specific they should learn and take away from it, something that you as preacher will also do, then the whole message doesn’t actually have much point. Kind of like our passage today, I don’t want these to be just words where we’re not expected to do anything because of them. So for a start, an easy start, I want us – you and me – to think about – to make an actual list, of things you’ve been thinking about doing, things you think God might be asking you to do, things you feel like you should be doing but haven’t been doing. Make a list of those things. Small things, big things, a couple, or many, but make an actual list. And then I want you – want us – to make a list of the reasons you tell yourself and tell God for not doing them. Not enough time. Not enough money. Unrealistic, too hard. Write them down. Write down the reasons and the excuses and the explanations. And then I want us to pick one thing from the list, one thing we’ve been meaning to do for oh-so-long, and work towards doing it, work towards taking away the excuses and explanations – one thing. It can be the easiest thing on your list, or the one you’ve been putting off longest, or you can start right off with the hardest one of all. But start. Make a change. Answer God, and let your answer be yes. Believe that these gracious words from Jesus are not just entertainment or fairy tales, but are God’s best laid plans that we are meant to be part of.
“Do not say, ‘I am only a boy, only a child, only a man or woman, only this, only that,’” says God who created you, “for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid . . . for I am with you to deliver you. Now, I have put my words in your mouth.”
Amen.