Judy Skaggs, Presenter

Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21

"The Word Among Us"

One of the themes that runs through the scripture lessons for today is about the value the people of God place on being able to hear scripture read as they gather to worship. The lesson from Nehemiah takes place when the Israelites were returning to Israel from exile in Babylon. They are in the process of rebuilding the temple and their homes and lives. And once again they gather to hear the law as it is read. Read Nehemiah.

For this liturgical year, which began with Advent, our Gospel readings will be mainly from Luke. So as we begin this year with Luke, I thought we should hear the introduction to his account of the life of Jesus. Then we will hear Luke’s first story about the way in which Jesus begins his ministry.

Read Luke 1:1-4.

There have been several ideas about who Theophilus was. He might have been a real person, a patron who financed Luke’s work or someone of high rank in the government or society. But Thomas Troeger has a different idea about Theophilus is, and I would like for us to consider it. He reminds us that Theophilus can be translated in two ways, as “lover of God,” and “beloved of God.” And so perhaps Luke writes hoping to gain a listening from any Theophilus, from any lover of God, who hears or reads his work. In the Greek culture, the name might connote a seeker, a questioner, a person curious about God and how God is known.

I like Troeger’s idea, because it speaks to the seeker in each of us. And many of us are discovering that being lovers of God does not mean we cannot be seekers also – those who struggle with what Luke calls the “truth concerning the things in which you have been instructed.”

So could we not all be addressed in Luke’s Gospel – lovers of God, seekers of truth, questioners, those who yearn to make the story of Jesus something more than instruction or body of knowledge.

And even though Luke sets out to write an orderly account, drawing from all the resources he can, he knows the account itself is not the goal. We learn in this first story of Jesus’ public ministry that Luke wants his readers to encounter the fullness of the Christ, Emmanuel, God with us, the Word among us. Let us continue reading: Luke 4:14-21.

Jesus returns to his hometown. He’s been traveling around teaching in other places and being praised by all. So on the Sabbath, as was his custom, he goes to the synagogue in Nazareth. It was the custom to invite visiting Rabbis to read scripture and then comment on it, so the attendant handed Jesus the Isaiah scroll.

Jesus carefully chooses the passage he will read. He comes to a cherished text that has kept the promise of a Messiah, a liberator, burning in their hearts for hundreds of years. Isaiah speaks of one anointed by the spirit who will free captives, grant liberty to the oppressed, bring good news to the poor, and to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord, the year of Jubilee.

Now all those folks in the synagogue knew about the Jubilee Year. It is described in Leviticus 25 and is rooted in the idea of Sabbath. Every 7 years, the land should be allowed to rest and they were to eat only what the land brought forth on its own. They were to trust God that there would be enough for everyone. And every 50th year was supposed to be a whole year dedicated to restoring the land and people. Debts were to be forgiven, land was to return to its original owner, and slaves were to be freed.

They knew about jubilee. They just had a hard time practicing it. The prophet Jeremiah rails on them for failing to keep the jubilee for almost 500 years.

So imagine the scene in the synagogue. Jesus read this powerful text from Isaiah. He sits down, and you could probably hear a pin drop. His inaugural sermon is brief, but just as powerful as the text he read. “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Today – there is an immediacy in Jesus’ few words. Now – not in some sweet by and by. The Word you have just heard is a living Word, right here in your midst. The Torah which the people of Nehemiah’s day yearned to hear is now among you as a human being.

How could they wrap their minds around what they were experiencing? What Jesus proclaimed would turn their world upside down, if it were to happen literally. And today! Now! Could it be?

This whole scene reminds me of the story in Exodus of God speaking to Moses and saying, “I have heard the cries of my people and seen their afflictions and their sufferings and I have come down to deliver them from their cruel taskmasters. I will bring them back to the promised land.”  Can’t you just see old Moses smiling and thinking that he is so happy about what God is going to do!

But then God goes on, “Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring forth my people.” And you will remember that’s when Moses started to argue – not me, Lord!

I had that same feeling when I read Jesus’ comments. Today this scripture has been fulfilled. Great!! Jesus will take care of all those injustices, heal all afflictions, and set everything right. But that was not the way it worked out.

And much of the Gospel of Luke and all the Gospels are spent in calling and then making disciples who will, like Moses, be called to do the work of the kingdom. And perhaps what the Gospel writers were hoping was that all of us who read or heard their words would be transformed by the living Word of Christ as we surrender our lives to his life, as we literally become his teachings.

If Luke is writing to all of us  -  “Theophilus, lovers of God” – then, we are included – we are anointed by God’s spirit to bring good news to the poor, release to the captive and  the oppressed, and to set things right. The Kingdom of God has come in Christ Jesus. By his birth, the kingdom entered our time and space. We live in the light and reality of that kingdom.

Of course the kingdom is not fully realized. But we are given glimpses – thin places, when the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ actually share space. One of those times just may be this afternoon when nine churches of different denominations and traditions come together in worship because we all believe that we want to bring some good news to the poor in our neighborhood through the Micah 6 organization – that we want to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.

Today, we have gathered; we will gather. We will sing, we will hear scripture read and proclaimed and we will worship together, and today perhaps this scripture will be fulfilled in our hearing. Amen.