The Word of God Disturbs

One moment the home crowd is cheering and then the next they are threatening to throw Jesus off a cliff! Why are they so disturbed and enraged? (Fourth Sunday after Epiphany. Jeremiah 1:4-10; Psalm 71:1-6; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; and Luke 4:21-30.)

You may like to read what I wrote three years ago on these same texts.

The Disturbing Word of God

So, what happened between last week’s reading, the first half of the sermon, and this week, or the second half of the sermon? The home crowd have gone from being impressed to wanting to throw Jesus off a cliff! (And doesn’t that resonate in our world at the moment?!)

In the first half Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah and reminded the people of the good news of the relief and comfort that God had promised to those who were chosen, faithful and looking for salvation. In the second half Jesus begins to unpack the implications, as related to himself and his ministry, and it seems to dawn on the people that this is not easy convenient good news and it does not favour them in the way they thought their tradition promised. And what led them to this disturbing conclusion was the two small stories from their Scriptures that Jesus chose to tell – as an explanation to why he would do no great miracles in his home town and the direction his ministry would take. The story of the widow of Sidon and the military leader with leprosy Naaman.

These two stories share some common threads: they are both about faithful prophets (Elijah and Elisha); who go to faithful but unlikely people; and they are unlikely in that they are female and male, poor and powerful, and both edge-dwellers (a widow and a military leader of a foreign army). Suddenly the good news of Isaiah is not such good news personally despite being among the chosen nation, neighbours of Jesus’ family and boyhood, and despite their initial enthusiasm. They may have felt judged and left out despite having looked forward to one who was rumoured to have been healing and promising hope.

Tom Wright (New Testament scholar and Church of England bishop) puts it this way: the passage that Jesus had just quoted from is about the Messiah … and Jesus has focused on the larger picture in Isaiah in which Israel has been called to be the light of the nations. The servant-Messiah has not come to inflict punishment on the nations, but to bring God’s love to them. “This message was, and remains, shocking. Jesus’ claim to be reaching out with healing to all people, though itself a vital Jewish idea, was not what most first-century people wanted or expected… [and worse still] Jesus coupled it with severe warnings to his own countrymen. Unless they could see that this was the time for their God to be gracious, unless they abandoned their futile dreams of a military victory over their nation’s enemies, they would suffer defeat themselves at every level – military, political and theological.” No wonder the locals wanted to throw Jesus off a cliff!

It is easy to criticise the first ones to hear this message. And for many of us it provides some relief to recognise some of our contemporaries playing the role of Jesus’ hometown neighbours who did not welcome the good news once they understood a little of its implications for themselves. But what about us?

In what ways are we like the young prophet Jeremiah and finding excuses as to why we are not able to undertake the work of God in our time and place? And in what ways are we like Jesus’ neighbours who are delighted when we hear that the good news of Jesus is good news to us personally but then are disturbed when we learn that the good news is for all, especially for those we think should be left out or at least left until last?

What are teachings of Jesus that make you want to throw him off the metaphoric cliff? Is it the teaching to forgive seven times seventy-seven (or some other huge number)? Is it the teaching to go the further mile? Or to regard the most “other” person we meet (such as the injured traveller) as our neighbour? Or to run toward the person who has most betrayed and hurt us with outstretched arms? Is it the commandment to judge not? Or to regard poverty and mourning as blessedness? Even if we agree in principle with these teachings most of us at least some of the time find them deeply inconvenient and like young Jeremiah think there are many reasons why we are not quite up to the task and wish to be excused.

So, what are we to do? Well, I think the words given to Jeremiah are instructive – “to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” This is grown up learning and growing to constantly be pruning and plucking, turning over and reviewing, setting aside and taking up, constantly overturning one idea and position and building another as we  grow in knowledge and courage and hope. This is the way of internal personal growth in faith and wisdom and it is also important to how we are as a community for it is surely easier to practice love, forgiveness, mercy, starting anew in a community where turning things over and building up are the norm and valued ways of developing and being human. Every time we turn over an old understanding and grow and share a new insight, every time we let go of and thank those who point out our failings, every time we applaud those of courage and humility, not only do we grow but we also make it easier for others to grow and change and develop.

And when in doubt then let us apply St Paul’s standard of love, not cleverness or power but love, not success or authority but love, not convenience or even competence, but love. We are not likely to get “there” but the standard of love will keep us growing in the right direction. And when we fail we have only to turn toward home and we will be greeted with outstretched arms.

Even so, come Lord Jesus the Christ, come inspire and disturb us until we desire you with all our hearts and minds and soul and recognise you in our neighbours.

This is my work informed by all I have heard, read and experienced. I am indebted to the wisdom of others. This week I am particularly grateful to:

John T Squires at An Informed Faith for “Jesus, the widow of Sidon and the soldier of Syria: representatives of the community of faith (Luke 4:25-27, Epiphany 4C)”  www.johntsquires.com 

Tom Wright: “Luke for Everyone”, SPCK, London, 2001