Lk. 4:14-21, Neh. 8 Sermon January 21, 2010

Public speaking is difficult for many of us. I suppose that even Jesus had some butterflies when he taught the hometown folks about the Scripture in the synagogue. Sometimes, the hometown folks meet success with envy or put-downs; sometimes they meet it with real pride, a vicarious thrill of affirmation of their community. The people were less interested n his words but hoping that they would be the recipient of a miracle or two themselves. After all, they watched Jesus grow up. Their expectations were not met. The reaction of the hometown to a sermon and its disappointment would be replayed later in Jerusalem at the top of another hill. It gives all pastors hope when they hear of the first sermon of Jesus meeting with this kind of reaction.

 

When we hear speeches, we complain about politicians making promises that are not kept. Here Jesus uses Scripture as a vision statement. Of all the Biblical passages, at this time, this is the selected reading, or Jesus chooses it. Look at what it doesn't say: no moralistic prohibitions, no pious sentiments, but a flat out declaration of helping people in trouble. Jesus will live out his work in following these injunctions. In other words, acts of compassion are gospel works. He seems to be his mother's son. Mary speaks of a reversal of fortune for the underdog and Jesus announces the same thing. I would like to emphasize the word,

release or forgiveness. That word may well be linked to the year of the Lord's favor as jubilee. For all of our talk about being strong individuals,we are under the thumb of different forces. Social forces are real forces. So, release from captivity can still speak to us Americans, whether it is captivity to an obsession, an image, an idea. Part of forgiveness is the release of grudges, and the release of removing the power of a hurt over us. The year of jubilee would be a special year of favor for the poor, but maybe any year with Jesus in it is a year of jubilee. Jubilee would be a chance to get a social fresh start.

 

For all the trouble in repairing the wall of Jerusalem, this was a big moment to note its completion. Both passages interpret Scripture-they use a passage for the present. Our Scripture is translated unlike the maintained Arabic-only Koran.Almost all of us agree that Scripture has to be interpreted. That is the primary push for a sermon, after all. The reaction of the people to the reading of Scripture in Nehemiah was weeping: it had been so long since they heard it, or they were hearing the words in their own condition, or merely opened up to the travails of their lives. the response is to tell them not to weep but to celebrate.

We often use ritual at turning points-think of graduations and weddings. They are beginnings and completions at the same time. Nehemiah is at the end of a project and Jesus is just engaging his work.ritual and worship-the ritual joins the people there with the Scripture-in synagogue people know what the pattern is with time.Trouble with the insistence on the special order-no commonality-more difficult to capture a sense of the holy. Ritual doesn't have to be ornate; it puts an event into a shape, an order. Our time is getting ritually bereft as shared experience. Sure we have some left, especially at sporting events. On the other hand, we have mistaken ritual and ritualistic. A good ritual helps us with meaning; it doesn't have to be a a thoughtless act. After all one ritual often replaces another and I am afraid the poorer rituals we are using to replace some old ways of doing things make us poorer for it. Ritual allows us to learn the steps as we try to make an event our own.