Fulfilling scripture

 

A Sermon preached on Epiphany IV, Jan 30, 2022, at St. Augustine’s

Jeremiah 1:4-10, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, Luke 4:21-30

I don’t know if you have ever attended a synagogue service, but it is worth doing if an invitation is possible. Sadly, security concerns make this difficult. They haven’t changed too much over the centuries. According to scholars, the order of an ancient synagogue service was that first the Shema was recited: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might,” (Deut. 6:4-9) followed by prayers, including some set prayers. After this the Scripture was read, beginning with a portion from the Torah (the first 5 books: Gen—Deut) and moving next to a section from the Prophets, which for our Jewish siblings includes the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. Instruction then followed and often the speaker linked the texts together through appeal to other passages. The service then closed with a benediction. It sounds a lot like a Service of the Word such as MP or EP – because that’s where we Christians got that structure from.

At the synagogue service we heard about both last week and this week, Jesus gets to read the second lesson and is the preacher. His text is Isaiah 61:1-2, a passage that promises the coming of God's salvation. But his sermon is very short indeed, at least what is recorded, he simply says, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:21) I think you would be very surprised if I said that. For one thing I usually say a little more, and for another it is a massive claim. So, it is no wonder that the congregation in Nazareth were surprised both for what he said and who he was, Joseph’s son. Maybe he should have left it like that, with them just amazed, as his additional instruction leads to a potentially violent reaction. I have seen the brow of the hill in Nazareth and while it is not really a cliff face, Jesus would at least have been badly hurt. But Jesus has to say more, he must speak the truth, otherwise it would just be an easily forgotten “nice sermon vicar” sort of homily, without any chance of effecting change.

To understand what he means by “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing,” we need to go back to the Isaiah text again, one of the passages in that book about the Messiah who is to come. It begins with the words; the Spirit of the Lord is on me. This is Jesus claiming to be directed and anointed by God, which we, the readers know happened at his baptism: “when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’” (Luke 3:22) The goal of the anointing, his mission, is to preach good news to the poor and to bring release to prisoners, the blind, and the oppressed. To say, “today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing,” is to say I not only declare good news, I also fulfil it, I not only proclaim release, but I bring it. That is the role of the Messiah – I am that person, is Jesus’ claim. The synagogue congregation is surprised and amazed and also sceptical, they don’t believe him, but they are not yet upset. That comes next, when Jesus expands on and extends the definition of what Messiah means and what he has come for.

First, he cites a proverb that implies they want him to prove it. "Show me" is their basic response to his claim. Yet we know from all the gospels that even when Jesus gives a sign, there is still doubt ; miracles alone never convince one who does not want to come to God. Later in Luke’s Gospel Jesus will refuse to perform a miracle for that reason, pointing only forward to the greatest sign of his resurrection: “This generation is an evil generation; it asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” (Luke 11:29) And after showing Thomas his wounds as proof of his resurrection, Jesus says “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” If we are not willing to hear the Word of God and receive it, we just won’t see God working in the world.

Second, Jesus quotes another proverb that prophets are not honoured in their hometown. Sadly, this is what has happened in the past. God's messengers were repeatedly rejected. This theme will also surface continually in Luke’s Gospel. God's message is often met with rejection, especially when it is uncomfortable and upsets the status quo.

And that of course is the theme of the third statement, when Jesus recalls the history of Israel in the period of Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings 17—18; 2 Kings 5:1-14). At that time, when rejection of God was at an all-time high, God had moved God’s works of compassion outside the nation into Gentile regions, as only a widow in Sidon and Naaman the Syrian experienced God's grace. God chose Israel, but never restricted God’s mercy and grace and healing to one nation, to one people, or to one church or group. God’s power is not ours and God is not ours. Rather, we are all God’s. I don’t know if Jesus’ listeners that day noticed that he left out a section of Isaiah’s prophecy. In the book of Isaiah, the phrase (he sent me) “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour,” is followed by “and the day of vengeance of our God.” (Isaiah 61:2b) This is a deliberate omission. As Messiah, Jesus has not come to take revenge on other peoples; the God who anointed him and whose Spirit rests on him is the God of all peoples. He is the Prince of Peace.

This was not what the good people of Nazareth wanted to hear, they wanted a partisan God and a military Messiah. And so they move from what was still polite scepticism to outright rejection.

I said earlier that you would be very surprised if in a sermon I said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” But really it should be. That is why we read scripture and why you allow me and Douglas and Robert and Dorothee and others to expound it: To make something happen, to bring about a change. The purpose of reading and explaining scripture is to understand what it means for us today so that we not only hear it, but also embody it, act on it, and make it part of our lives. None of us are the Messiah, but we are all anointed, many literally anointed with oil at our baptism or confirmation. We are all set apart by God to take on and carry on the work Jesus gave us to do. At the heart of the work of the Gospel is, as Paul tells in the extract from Corinthians, love. This is our prime motivator. In the words of the heavy metal band Metallica: “Nothing else matters.” One line of the lyrics of that 1991 hit single is “All these words, I don't just say.” I couldn’t put it better. We don’t just say the words, we act on them.

Love was a bit short in supply on that day in Nazareth when Jesus’ own neighbours drove him, the true personification of love, out of town. And love is still in short supply today! But it is love that we need to fulfil scripture, love to see God at work in the world and in all people, love to show us the needs, and love to help us meet them, whatever the obstacles. Amen.