Many Members, One Body

Please stand as you are able (excuse me) for the reading of gospel.

Our gospel reading comes from Luke chapter 4 verses 14 through 21. Jesus returned in the power of the spirit to Galilee and news about him spread throughout the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. Jesus went to Nazareth where he had been raised. On the Sabbath he went to the synagogue as he normally did and stood up to read. The synagogue assistant gave him the scroll from the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the synagogue assistant and sat down. Every eye in the synagogue was fixed on him. He began to explain to them. "Today, this scripture has been fulfilled just as you heard it." This is the word of God for the people of God.

A couple of weeks ago was Baptism of Our Lord Sunday and I talked about how baptism is more than just the cleansing of our sins. Baptism is also an announcement of our identity, our new identity in Christ. We know who we are because we know whose we are.

Our passage today is also an announcement. It is an announcement of purpose. In this passage Jesus announces the reason why he is here.

it isn't just to die on the cross for our sins.

It is also to give us a glimpse of how God desires for us to live.

The ways of the world

are not what God would, how God would have us live. Jesus In this passage announces that.

I'm sure some of you, at least some of you, know what ends up happening in this passage.

He says something else and then the people go from admiring him to throw him off a cliff.

It's interesting how fickle we can be.

I've had the privilege of being in ministry now for a little over 3 years. And I can tell you that there are many times when somebody affirms my call and says that they can see the Lord working through me. But there are other times when someone views the work that I do as the opposite,

where they encounter in me an obstacle.

One of the reasons that I can see behind this is because there are certain subjects upon which we don't all agree.

Whatever the subject is, there is nothing that I can say that every single one of you in here will agree with.

Fortunately, our salvation is not dependent upon our political beliefs. It is not dependent upon what denomination we are a part.

It is dependent upon our willingness to respond to the offer that God gives us. Upon our willingness to believe that God actually does love us. And that God sees in us a value that the world does not.

In this passage, we see Jesus affirming Sabbath, Synagogue, and Scripture. It says that Jesus on the Sabbath went to the synagogue as was his custom, as he normally did.

Jesus is in the habit of going to church.

This passage here gives us a glimpse into synagogue, the rise of the synagogue happened after Israel was exiled from their own land. They could no longer have access to Jerusalem, to the temple. They could no longer make sacrifices at the place where they believed God to be most found. So they had to find a different way of practicing their beliefs. And the way that they found was gathering together to praise, to read scripture, to learn. And it's interesting because it says that Jesus stood to read the Scripture. And they handed him a scroll

Just so you know it's estimated that this Scroll of Isaiah probably weighed about 50 pounds.

And Isaiah is not exactly a short book. There's a lot in Isaiah and it says that Jesus opened it up and found the place where it was written. I guess he had the advantage of knowing that it was toward the end.

So Jesus stood up to read the Scripture and then he sat down and began teaching. This is the Jewish custom; they will stand for the reading of the scripture and then the teacher will sit down.

There's this, almost a visual indicator. This is the word of God. This is just me teaching. Now, of course, Jesus would've had every right to keep standing up, right?

Jesus is the word of God made flesh.

Jesus is the image of the invisible God.

But it's interesting to me that he chooses this passage.

This happened after the baptism, after Jesus has spent 40 days in the wilderness, which, yes, we skipped over 40 days in the wilderness in the lectionary. We'll come back to it at Lent.

But he uses this to announce the beginning of his ministry here on Earth

The spirit of the Lord is upon me. Through his baptism.

Because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners. Now let's just stop right there because I'm reminded of another passage in which Jesus says "I was in prison, and you did not come to visit me."

He says that one group, to another group he says, "I was in prison and you came to visit me."

God makes the prisoners a priority?

Take a moment to think about that.

God makes the people who messed up a priority?

How easy it is for me to think of Luke Chapter 15 with the Prodigal Son and the older brother, who says, "I have done everything right and you've never given me a party."

God values everyone.

in this passage Jesus is saying, "There is no one who is not worthy of hearing the Gospel.

There is no one who is not worthy of a second chance."

In my research this week, I came across this statistic that stunned me. I found out that the world prison population is 10.2 million.

Of that, the United States has 2.24 million. This is almost a quarter of the world prison population and yet the United States is only less than 5% of the world population. Now, of course, there are many possible explanations for this. Maybe we have a better criminal justice system. Maybe we are better at being able to hold people accountable. But I still have to wonder what does it mean

when the country who proclaims itself to be the land of the free has the highest percentage of prisoners?

Earlier this week, I also went to to try to make a visit at the Detention Center. Because someone came to me and said that they thought of me for, for this person. I wasn't able to because I have to arrange an appointment through the chaplain. It's not that easy to get in there, right?

But it really got me thinking this week. About all those who are imprisoned.

Most of whom rightfully so because they messed up.

I also started thinking about how when someone has a felony, do you know how impossible it is to find an actual job?

Even though they've served their time, they still have this on their record. No one wants to hire them. Because they might mess up again. Because they might take advantage of the generosity. Yeah, that's always a possibility. It's a possibility even with those who haven't gone to prison.

I think there's something powerful in what God is saying here.

God is saying, don't just write off the ones who are in prison.

Don't ignore them just because it's easy to. Let's face it, most of us, we never have to drive by prisons or encounter this reality daily.

We actually have to go out of our way to visit someone in prison.

Jesus says he's also been sent to proclaim recovery of sight to the blind. Is he talking about those who are physically blind? Yeah, probably. But more than that Jesus spends a lot of time talking about spiritual blindness

Jesus is saying, "Look,

I get that

everyone at some point in their lives has spiritual blindness. And I am here to announce that you can recover your sight.

If you enter into a relationship with me, if you spend time encountering God through scripture, you can begin to recover your sight. Through the power of the spirit.

Our salvation is not dependent upon us and our actions, but we are expected to walk alongside of Christ. Not to have Christ carry us the whole way, but make no mistake if we cannot walk Christ will carry us.

That is a promise.

If at some point in our life, we are so broken and we cannot continue to walk. Christ will lift us up.

I'm sure many of you have heard the story of the person who, the footprints on the sand. And the person says to God, "Look, you abandoned me when I was at my darkest, when I was at my lowest point." God says, "No, that's not the case at all. I was carrying you."

To liberate the oppressed, and to proclaim claims the year of the Lord's favor

Just out of curiosity, does anybody know what the favor is referring to?

it's referring to the Year of Jubilee. Have you heard of that?

Okay, so the Year of Jubilee is a Jewish custom. It's similar to the Sabbath. So, sabbath, six days you work, seventh [day] you rest.

When it comes to the land, six years you work the land, the seventh year you let it rest. And after seven cycles of seven is the Year of Jubilee.

In the Year of Jubilee all debt was to be forgiven, and all land restored to the rightful owner

That's not exactly good news for the people who are lenders.

I can just imagine like right around year 40, maybe, they stop wanting to lend people money. Cause in nine years, if they haven't been paid back, they gotta forgive the debt.

We don't actually have any proof that the Jewish people followed this. But it's still significant that this is what God teaches us.

The year of the Lord's favor

We think of favor as something we kind of earn

To be in someone's good favor.

We can also translate the word "favor" as grace.

The year of the Lord's Grace

For those of us, and I'm including myself, this is a hard, hard message to hear. Because we get to live a pretty comfortable life.

I daresay most of us in this room

likely haven't had to experience the kind of struggle that people in other countries do

We don't have to wonder, most of us, where our next meal is coming from. And I thank God for the work of our food pantry.

We had an opportunity earlier this week to help out the Coast Guard.

That is a fantastic example of what it means to be the hands and feet in Christ in the world. You know, John Wesley once said that no one can hear you proclaim the gospel over the sound of a hungry stomach.

Our physical needs have to be met. Before we begin to wonder about our spiritual needs.

This is an announcement of purpose

and it is paired with a passage that talks about the different parts of the body, the body of Christ.

It's almost as if someone is trying to get us to see the connection here. Yes, there is the Great Commission from Matthew 28 where we are called to go out and make disciples of Jesus Christ, baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit. But here in this passage we also see another mission statement in which Christ says, "I have been sent to proclaim the good news."

I just found out this week that the United Methodist mission statement intentionally blends the two. The mission statement of the United Methodist Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

One of my favorite things about our tradition is that we intentionally seek to pair our faith with our work. John Wesley believed that there is no holiness, no personal holiness without social holiness. There's private worship, private study, but there's also group worship, group study.

I just thought of a song that was popular when I was a kid. It's Rich Mullins. He has a song where he talks about faith without works is like a submarine with a screen door.

That's a pretty powerful metaphor if you ask me.

We get bogged down in this idea that going to church is about receiving spiritual nourishment, about

just about maturing as a disciple, and it is, but it's not just about that.

It is about a group of people coming together each with a different spiritual gift, a different passion. There are some people who have a passion for helping people growing in their Devotion to God. To grow in their knowledge of scripture. There are some people who have a passion for being the hands and feet of Christ in the world.

There's some people who have a passion for pastoring, for walking alongside people through the dark times of their lives. I could go on. I think you get the point.

We believe different things, we emphasize different parts of our faith. And God's desire is for us to use all of that diversity together for the same purpose, which is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

When we talk about unity, when we say the United Methodist Church, we're not saying, You better believe all of this in order to be a part."

We're acknowledging that we are different that we have different beliefs, but that yet we believe that if we open ourselves up to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and in the power of the Holy Spirit we can work together and we can transform the world.

One of my commentaries it asked a question. It said, "Do I believe I'm changing lives when I stand up here to preach?"

I kinda had to stop for a second.

Do I believe that I'm changing lives when I stand up here to preach? I sure hope so.

It's not in my nature to want to challenge people. I much prefer to comfort. I much prefer to avoid conflict.

But at the same time

I look at Christ, the example of Christ.

and the way in which Christ was able to take a stand, to be firm

with grace,

with peace and compassion.

What would happen if, as the body of Christ, we actually practiced the words of First Corinthians where we value the lesser gifts. What would happen if we value a janitor the same way we value the CEO.

And in the eyes of the world, that makes no sense. The CEO has gotten education and training and is one of the few people who can be in this position whereas the janitor, anyone can be the janitor.

But God says,

"Don't think about people that way."

Henri Nouwen believed that there were five lies that we tend to tell ourselves, about our personality, about who we are, our identity.

I am what I do. I am what people say that I am.

I'm forgetting one.

But I am no less than my best moment, and I am no better than my worst moment.

The first one in particular... I am what I do. I think about this because what do we ask kids all the time? What do you want to be when you grow up? How early we begin this.

Maybe we should be asking what do you want to do when you grow up?

I for one am grateful

that God values us in a different way. God looks at us and says you are you are my child.

And I love you. And your value to me is not dependent upon how well you serve me. It is not dependent upon never doing what you're not supposed to. It is dependent

upon your willingness to be in a relationship with me, your willingness to believe that I love you.

I'm gonna stop. I could go on. It'd be easy.

But I can see all the faces just sort of....

So, my prayer this morning is that you've heard the word that you need to hear from God

And that you will allow the Holy Spirit to work within you, to work within your heart. And to stir you to action. So at this time I'd like to invite you to sing in our hymn of faith, which is found in the little black hymnal on page 2236. "Gather Us In."