The Echo of Hope - 1/27/19

The New Revised Standard Version The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry

14 Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. 15 He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth

(Mt 13:54–58; Mk 6:1–6)

16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Hope cries out, full-throated, true, with strength and commitment. Hope stands upon solid ground, a firm foundation, a sense of resolve, unwavering against the winds of the world which swirl around it and seek to unroot it.

Jesus stands before the people and proclaims a fulfillment of hope. Jesus stands before the crowd and speaks new words of hope, leaning further in to the message of God’s good, redemptive story.

We must ask ourselves, today, “what is the hope I am calling out? what is the hope I must lean into?”

Story of Asher learning about echoing — full throated, abandoned, free

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to take some time off with my family and head to the Cascade Mountains to visit my parents in the little town of Plain, WA, outside of Leavenworth. We played in the snow and rested. I’m grateful to Rev. Dr. Cindy Bauleke for preaching here last week and offering us the gift of a weekend of rest.

One of the afternoons, after playing the snow, Asher, Stacy, my parents and I stood out on their deck. Their home is surrounded by National forest land, 5 acres of open space walled by an amphitheater of trees and forest hillside. The ground was covered with snow, a white expanse out ahead of us. It was cold and still as we stood there. Off in the distance, we heard the call of a bird and Asher replied with a yell of his own “Ooohoo” to which he was answered with an echo. My dad chimed in, yelling out and hearing an echo. Then my mom, then Asher, again, with a little more gusto. I joined in, Stacy too. Each of us yelling out and hearing our “echo” reverberate back off the trees and hills. Asher’s face lit up — he realized he was hearing his own voice, his own echo. This only increased his desire to yell out, louder and fuller, hearing himself bounce back in more strength.

His full throated cries made us all laugh and smile. From deep within him, a passionate voice was raising, thrusting itself out into the void, expectant of its return.

If there is any image that helps me capture the sense of hope, it is this. A full-hearted 4-year-old calling out with expectation of a good return.

I want to invite us, today and always, to look for these glimpses of true hope in our midst. Pay attention to the moments when hope rises like this in you and lean in to it — hope entrusted in the Lord, in the God of the Universe, in Jesus Christ and filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit — it does not return void, but instead echoes with great depth and abundant reply.

Jesus, Isaiah, and the servant

Jesus stands before the synagogue to begin teaching. In predictable, cyclical fashion, the daily reading is given to him to read and teach from. This is much like how we often select our Scripture texts for preaching and teaching at St. James. Based on a cycle of readings, we find ourselves with certain readings at certain times of the year. We follow the lectionary. And, as in the case of this prophetic moment in the Gospel of Luke, I find that I am consistently surprised and encouraged by the way God uses the prescribed texts to link to the unpredictable, every-changing winds of each day. Today’s text is no different. And, for Jesus, this text fits prophetically into his standing up and living into his call.

The scroll Jesus reads from is the prophet Isaiah. This is significant. Why? Because throughout the prophet Isaiah’s texts, there is a thematic character often called the “suffering servant” who appears as the focal point for God’s anticipated action among the people of Israel. Interpreters look at the servant in a few important ways. Some see it as a clear sign of the Messiah and, with Jesus reading this text, we see how easily the “servant” theme maps directly onto him as the fulfillment of the longing for the Messiah. Others see the servant theme more broadly as the people of Israel themselves, when they live into the wholeness and fullness to which they are called. Others see the servant as an exemplar of the faithful life, a model which we are all called to live after, much like we understand New Testament teachings about how Jesus lived as a model for how we are to offer our lives as “living sacrifices” for instance.

The important thing here is that the hearers of this reading from the scroll by Jesus would have immediately seen the parallels between the hoped for Messiah and the man standing before them.

The first-person language of “me” has found its firm foundation and resting place upon the shoulders of the reader, Jesus. In vs. 20, as he rolls up the scroll, the people’s eyes are opened. They see — they realize what just happened. Jesus needs not drop the mic or walk off the stage — they get it — they connect the dots — they hear the echo — God has spoken to them, hope is revealed. His simple words cement it: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Hope has been realized. Hope, which echoed out of the prophet Isaiah’s mouth and was recited by the people of Israel for generations has now been realized in the person of Jesus.

Jesus’ model is what we then see from the great leaders of our tradition

— Luther, nailing his protest to the doors of the church

— Oscar Romero, proclaiming freedom for captives, aligning himself with a martyr’s way in the face of government oppression in El Salvador.

— Mother Teresa, faithfully witnessing Jesus’ presence among the sick and poor of Calcutta, prophetically trusting that as she treated their wounds, she treated Jesus.

— Martin Luther King Jr, drawing on the prophet’s words like Jesus to proclaim a dawning of freedom and equality for all people in America.

— Dorothy Day, whose faith led her to protest the treatment of the poor and the homeless in our country, a faithful response that led many to stand up for this ongoing plight caused by our nation’s greed, a faithful reply to the call of Jesus to care for those in need.

Our Calling

What story has God been telling with our lives?

What needs to be proclaimed in us?

What mantel must we take upon ourselves, story to proclaim, call to live into?

Hope is the memory of God’s goodness for the future.

Hope is an echo of a story that has been told

the liberating word of the prophets — “good news to the poor” release of captives, sight for the blind, oppressed go free, proclaim the year of Jubilee

Jubilee is a fascinating aside for us — the year when God’s abundance was trusted, when land was left to rest, when property was returned, when debts were cancelled.

Our lives tell stories

The lives of the called ones in our community — a story in each of them/us

Today we meet as a congregation to hear reports, presentations of our budget, renew terms of pastoral call. These are all moments in our congregational life when we get to participate in the storytelling, the proclaiming of God’s goodness and favor and anticipating it for the year to come.

We get to hear the reverberations of how God has been good and faithful to us thus far. And we get to anticipate, to listen for the reverberations that will echo out into the future, trusting that God’s favor will continue and blessing will be sustaining. We do not live in fear. We stand as Jesus did before the world and proclaim that God is setting us free and calling us to do the same for others.

Hope has been realized. Hope, which echoed out of the prophet Isaiah’s mouth and was recited by the people of Israel for generations has now been realized in the person of Jesus.

And we remind ourselves, that along with the great tradition we participate in, we are not the first to call out and anticipate the Echo of Hope, even here at St. James. For almost 130 years, members of this congregation have faithfully lifted their voices and lived their lives in response to the call of Jesus. We join with that great cloud of witnesses when we, today, lift our voices and speak a good word of hope for the world, as we live out our faith together.

So what must we proclaim today? What hope must we name? What story must we tell with our lives, what call must we release so that it may echo back in good return?

I want to close and lead us into another important part of our work today, the ordination of elders and deacons, with another passage from Isaiah.

Today we take upon us the call to go out, walk our city’s streets, love our neighbors, stand with the hurting, plant seeds of mercy and justice and peace among the nations. We go with the promise that we will be led forth in joy. Through the prophet Isaiah, once again, the Lord says:

My friends, today we take upon us the call to go out, walk our city’s streets, love our neighbors, stand with the hurting, plant seeds of mercy and justice and peace among the nations. We go with the promise that we will be led forth in joy. The Lord says,

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,

and do not return until they have watered the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

giving seed to the sower and bread to the hungry,

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose

and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”