Imagine with me that you’re in Nazareth, up in the high country of Galilee, roughly 2000 years ago. Jesus, son of Mary and of Joseph, a local craftsman, has seemed a bit unsettled lately. There’s lots of work to for a young man who grew up with a trade, but Jesus seemed distracted.
Jesus knew he needed to
figure things out, and withdrew to the Judean wilderness (Luke 4: 1-13) for a
spirit quest. Some forty days later he
returned to Galilee, settling by the lakeshore at Capernaum (Matthew 4:13), and
he started teaching at local synagogues. It was going well.
Imagine, then, what a high
point it would have been to return home, to teach at the local Synagogue where
he’d been known since childhood. Jesus
carefully selected a scroll, from the 61st chapter of the prophet
Isaiah, and he read:
“The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke
4: 19-19, quoting Isaiah 61: 1-2)
Jesus closed the scroll, and
gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the
synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he said to
them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
What a high, holy moment,
surely something great would happen next: either Jesus, local boy made good, would
get hired on the spot to have oversight over the local synagogue. Or perhaps,
knowing that Jesus was already exercising a successful, growing ministry, they
would have passed the hat to raise money to support that venture, and their
generosity would have buoyed him emotionally and financially as he returned to
the seashore.
But neither of those
good things happened. Let’s return to the words of our scribe, Luke, as
recounted in The Voice Bible translation: ( Luke 4: 22-30).
22 At first
everyone was deeply impressed with the gracious words that poured from Jesus’
lips. Everyone spoke well of Him and was amazed that He could say these things.
[but
then, they said] Wait. This is only the son of Joseph, right?
[Jesus
replied] 23 You’re about to quote the old proverb
to Me, “Doctor, heal yourself!” Then you’re going to ask Me to prove Myself to
you by doing the same miracles I did in Capernaum. 24 But
face the truth: hometowns always reject their homegrown prophets.
25 Think back to
the prophet Elijah. There were many needy Jewish widows in his homeland,,
when a terrible famine persisted there for three and a half years. 26 Yet
the only widow God sent Elijah to help was an outsider from
Zarephath in Sidon.[g]
27 It was the same
with the prophet Elisha. There were many Jewish lepers in his homeland, but the
only one he healed—Naaman—was an outsider from Syria.[h]
28 The people in
the synagogue became furious when He said these things. 29 They
seized Jesus, took Him to the edge of town, and pushed Him right to the edge of
the cliff on which the city was built. They would have pushed Him off and
killed Him, 30 but He passed through the crowd and
went on His way.
Part of our Christian
heritage, from day one, even before Jesus had called his first disciples, has
been to speak truth to power. It was Christ’s
calling then, and our calling now. We saw a moving example of this in
Washington this week when the Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal
bishop of Washington, calmly but directly called upon the President to show
mercy upon those who were scared. Those words, spoken with such courage, were
truly speaking truth to power. Jesus
spoke truth to power in his choice of scriptures from Isaiah, which spoke of
God’s holy mission of “preaching good news to the poor, release to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind, liberating those who are oppressed and proclaiming
the acceptable year of the Lord.” Jesus
also spoke truth to power in reminding the people that people they consider outsiders
are critically important in God’s plan. And the response from his neighbours
and perhaps even some relatives, was to hustle him out of town and threaten to
hurl him off a cliff.
Even though I have been engaged
in Church leadership in one form or another for more than forty years, part of
me still wants our life as followers of Jesus Christ who are called together as
Church, to be easier than it is. I long
for having folks automatically flock to the Church, simply because the words
and person of Jesus are so uplifting and life-affirming. I want there to be eagerness to hear the
life-giving, boundary-expanding words and ways of Jesus and to engage in his
work of broad, liberating love.
Sometimes we do have such responses, and to that I say
hallelujah! – but other times, when the Church lives up to its calling, the
response from the locals, even from professed Christians, more closely resembles
the actions of the unhappy throng who had heard enough out of Jesus.
Less than one week ago, last
Monday, our neighbours south of the border had the Presidential Inauguration
and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on the same day. To me, it seems like longer than a week, it’s
been such a tumult since then. Those who
chose to focus on Martin Luther King day were reminded of the legacy of courageous
Christian faithfulness of those who, with non-violence pushed hard against the
powers of entrenched racism. When we are
Church at its best, we keep striving for the kind of world spoken by Dr King
when he preached, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day
live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but
by the content of their character."
May that be our continued dream, for our denomination, for the US and
for the sovereign nation of Canada and for all lands, and may we build on that
dream to include the safety and support of all Trans people and all persons on
the 2SLGBTQ+ rainbow.
Progressive Christian friends
south of the border are having a very hard time right now, both because of the
specific policy announcements being blurted out by the 47th
President, and because of the continued, all-too-familiar environment of
divisive nastiness. That powder keg was
shown in the virulent response to Bishop Budde’s words. In a context where the
more factual and reasonable something is, the more likely it is to be dismissed
or attacked, it’s hard to know where to even start. One set of starting points is
suggested by Rev. Cameron Trimble, a United Church of Christ pastor and change
agent in the US who works with other women to work for transformative change in
Churches and charities, in business and in society as a whole. Her comprehensive
program is entitled “Who do we choose to be in an age of collapse?” and is well
beyond the range of a Sunday sermon, but I want to share its first section with
you. Following on the work of management
consultant Meg Wheatley, Cameron asserts that, local resilience is the key to
surviving widespread chaos. Put simply, “Whatever the problem, community is the
answer,” and she suggests action steps for local congregations. While stated within the American context, I
hope that some of them will at least pique our curiosity. They are:
· “Create small support groups within your congregation
to discuss fears, share hopes, and envision a resilient future. Consider
hosting book discussions to foster resilience.
· Encourage people to set up… “Islands of Sanity” [a
term from Meg Wheatley to describe active, intentional groupings where ‘people
work together to uphold principles of kindness, inclusion, and shared
responsibility, creating a sense of sanctuary that nurtures well-being and hope’]
· “Organize community dialogues to discuss shared
concerns and identify mutual support strategies.
· “Form mutual aid networks to provide community members
with essentials and assistance.
· “Start community gardens, offer workshops…and
collaborate with local partners on resilience-building initiatives.
· “Build alliances with local advocacy groups that
provide services and protection for vulnerable populations, ensuring that they
have immediate access to support within the community”.
Clearly, this is just the first step, but it indicates
that even when things are so unsettled we are not just frozen in one spot, things
can be done together, to provide safe and Christ-like community. Here, on the
Osoyoos-Oliver United Church Pastoral charge, we are called to choose
life-giving ways within our congregations to the benefit of the communities
we serve, especially those whose lives are hard. Jesus also lived in challenging
times, as he and all Jewish people lived in the constant shadow of their Roman
overlords, and in those times he was not shy about speaking truth to power, and
creating safe and inclusive community. Starting with a very eclectic group of
disciples, he helped people to see God’s loving, redeeming power in their midst,
and empowered them to live lives shaped by that holy love. Sometimes the
response to what he was saying and doing was very positive; other times, well,
not so much.
We live in uncertain times, when instability is one of
the tools of Empire. May Christ’s example, and the ongoing indwelling of the
Holy Spirit, inspire this community of faith and all communities of faith, and
to speak boldly, may the Spirit fill us, our neighbours and neighbourhoods with
a commitment to God’s sacred gifts of love, hope, equity and justice. May we acknowledge the challenges of the day
and in the face of those challenges choose the abundant life of Jesus Christ,
our ever-present source of light and life. Amen.
References consulted
and cited:
Associated Press. “MLK's
"content of character" quote inspires debate” https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mlks-content-of-character-quote-inspires-debate/
Lavietes, Matt and
Prindiville, Tara. “Bishop at inaugural prayer service urges Trump to 'have
mercy' on LGBTQ children, immigrants” https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/bishop-trump-inaugural-prayer-service-lgbtq-immigration-policie-rcna188590
Trimble, Cameron. “Who do we
choose to be in an age of collapse?” https://convergenceus.org/report-age-of-collapse/
© 2025 Rev Greg Wooley,
Osoyoos-Oliver United Church Pastoral Charge.
