“Promises Kept”
By
Reverend Thomas F. Bracewell, OSL
We have all made promises that we fully intended to keep that for some reason either beyond our power or within our power we did not. Sometimes there is a feeling of embarrassment in this situation and sometimes there is just an internal ho-hum, but there is always some sort of reaction.
When we promise to mow the lawn and forget, there is a simple ho-hum as there might be when we promise to pick up cat food at the grocery store and forget. But when we forget that promise made to remember flowers for a wedding anniversary or birthday of someone close to us that is a different situation entirely.
How many of us here today have meant to fill up the car with gas and find out that all of a sudden the low fuel light is blinking. Many of us can remember when there was no low fuel light on the car, only a gauge that was often more wrong than right. As a young preacher on rural circuits I only had to run out of fuel one time before learning to keep a full gasoline can in the trunk. It may not have been all that safe but it sure beat walking up to a strange house in the dark of night wondering if you were about to get bitten by a dog or shot by the homeowner while trying to get some help. I promised myself not to ever let THAT happen!
I don’t know about you, but I turn the television to another channel when the current crops of Presidential candidates come on with the promises they are making. They are all calling to make changes when they are elected that any rational person knows any one politician can never make without Congress and the Senate. All the poor will be clothed and fed, all will have a roof over their heads, and all children will be educated and so on and so on. It is what people want to hear in promises because it is “good news.”
I have friends that do not like to watch local news programs or the national news because they only want to hear news that is not shocking. On the back of your bulletin today there is the example for this Third Sunday after the Epiphany that is titled “Christ’s Shocking Gospel.” That writing goes on to say that this Gospel is no less radical today. Our two Scriptures from the lectionary today give us some understanding: one from First Corinthians 12:12-27 and the other from the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 4: 14-21.
Scripture Readings
1 Corinthians 12:12-27
Luke 4:14-21
The Sermon
You remember that in last week’s lesson Jesus told his audience, in a one sentence sermon, that he had come to fulfill the scripture from Isaiah which prophesied that the messiah would proclaim good news to the poor, release to those who were captive, sight to those who were blind and freedom to those who were oppressed. That all sounded like really good news to those gathered for worship that day. It sounded like Jesus was talking directly to them. They had been slaves in Egypt. They were now suffering under the hard hand of a foreign Roman government. They were being discriminated against for their Christian faith. Now Jesus had surely come to set them free. And they were ready.
But just as they were beginning to feel really good about this hometown boy, and his message, Jesus began to interpret a little further the message he wanted them to hear. And by the time he finished, his own people wanted to throw him over a cliff. What went wrong in such a short few moments? What turned the adoring crowd into an angry mob? The answer is simple. Jesus had worked miracles in Capernaum, a town not far from Nazareth that was looked down on by the people of his hometown. Lots of Gentiles lived there, and as a result, it was considered to be pagan territory, full of worthless foreigners. The people of Nazareth had great expectations. Surely if Jesus worked miracles among the heathen Gentiles in Capernaum, he would work even greater miracles at home among the faithful.
But it was not to be. Rather than declaring his intention of working great miracles in their midst, Jesus declared that prophets are never accepted in their home towns. Then he told them two familiar stories from scripture.
The first story was about Elijah. There had been a famine in the land as the result of a three-year drought. God sent Elijah to a widow in Zarephath. He found her in a pitiful state. She had a young son, and the famine had ruined them. She had only a handful of meal and a tiny bit of oil left to prepare one final meal for herself and her son. Then the cupboard would be bare. When Elijah found her, he asked for something to eat. She explained her situation to him and offered her sympathy while refusing his request. Elijah told her not to be afraid. He assured her that if she would do as he said, and have faith in God who would provide for her and her child until such time as the drought was ended. The widow did as Elijah had asked, and God’s promise came to pass.
A lovely story, it was one that surely tugged at the heartstrings of any good Jewish parent who had ever despaired of providing for their children. There was just one problem; it was about a Gentile. And to make matters worse, Jesus assured his audience that there were plenty of hungry Jewish women with young children at the time. But God had saved a Gentile and her child.
Then Jesus told the story of Naaman, a Syrian army general who suffered from leprosy. At the insistence of one of his servants who had heard of one who had the power to heal, Naaman had gone to Elisha seeking a cure. Elisha told him to simply go bath in the Jordan River. At first, Naaman resisted the cure he was offered. He started to go home in a huff, arguing that there were plenty of rivers in Syria, if bathing in a river was the cure. But he knew it couldn’t be so, it was not that simple. One of Naaman’s servants stopped him from leaving. He asked if he would have done something difficult if that had been what Elisha required. He assured the servant that he would have. “Then why not at least give something simple a shot”? Naaman opened himself to the servant, and to Elisha, and to the movement of God in his life, and he bathed in the river. Six times he went. And nothing happened. But the seventh time, he came out of the water, and all his sores were gone. He had been healed.
Another wonderful story, but with the same flaw; Naaman was a Gentile, and at the time there were scores of Jews suffering from leprosy. But God had healed a Gentile.
The people of Nazareth understood why Jesus told those two stories. They recognized that he had begun his ministry among the Gentiles, and knew that now he was reminding them that God’s special grace had been with the Gentile people for a long time. He was telling the people in his home church that as Jews, they had no exclusive franchise on God’s love or mercy. He was telling them that they had no special claims to his healing powers simply because they were from his hometown. He was telling them that he was bringing good news to people of faith no matter who they were, what their ethnic background was, or where they lived.
It was a message the Jews were not really interested in hearing. They were human, a lot like us I suspect. They had already made up their minds that God was on their side and was against all their enemies. They wanted to hear that Jesus was coming to rescue them from all their trials, and to crush all their enemies. But Jesus said “No! God loves the Gentiles too. And so should you.”
Jesus brought good news to the poor but as the back of your bulletin states this morning, not just the Jews but everyone. It points out that Jesus offered salvation to the prostitutes, criminals and the Gentiles. I think that is what Jesus was saying to the people in the synagogue that Sabbath. He reminded them of those they would call enemies who were in reality, brothers and sisters in the faith. He pointed to miracles wrought among those the Jews despised. And he did so, not to say that the Jews were less worthy, but to remind them that they were no more worthy than those they would condemn. Jesus reminded his audience that day, and he reminds us this morning, that the gospel message is good news, not just for us and for those like us. The gospel is always good news for all people, of all races, in all places, if they will but accept it.
I’m reminded of a story I was told that a senior black minister once shared with me. It seems that a young man in his congregation had asked him to describe for him the road to heaven. The seasoned minister paused for a moment and then said to the young man: “Think for a moment about your enemies, those against whom you hold the deepest grudges. Those people in your life whom you most resent.” There was a poignant silence, and you could see anger and bitterness creep across the young man’s face. Finally the minister spoke again. “Now think about the worst of all those enemies you have been naming in your heart. Close your eyes and picture in your mind where they live, and what their house looks like. See them sitting on the front porch, relaxing with their family and friends.” After another moment of silence the young man shook his head, eyes still closed, indicating that he had the mental picture.
“My dear young friend”, said the minister, “The road to heaven goes right past that house.”
Whose house would you picture in your mind? Who is it that you would like to push away? Or step on? Or hurl off a cliff? Jesus says to us: “These are promises kept, God loves that person, and God calls us to do the same.” It is a hard message to hear, and a harder one to obey. But when God calls, God also enables. With his help we can do it. For your sake, and for the sake of the Kingdom, let it be so.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.
