When God's Spirit Is Upon Us . . .
Luke
4:14-21
by Jim Westmoreland
Newspaper columnist and minister George Crane tells of a wife who came into his office full of hatred toward her husband. "I do not only want to get rid of him, I want to get even. Before I divorce him, I want to hurt him as much as he has me."
Dr. Crane suggested an ingenious plan "Go home and act as if you really love your husband. Tell him how much he means to you. Praise him for every decent trait. Go out of your way to be as kind, considerate, and generous as possible. Spare no efforts to please him, to enjoy him. Make him believe you love him. After you've convinced him of your undying love and that you cannot live without him, then drop the bomb. Tell him that you're getting a divorce. That will really hurt him." With revenge in her eyes, she smiled and exclaimed, "Beautiful, beautiful. Will he ever be surprised!" And she did it with enthusiasm. Acting "as if." For two months she showed love, kindness, listening, giving, reinforcing, sharing. When she didn't return, Crane called. "Are you ready now to go through with the divorce?"
"Divorce?" she exclaimed. "Never! I discovered I really do love him." Her actions had changed her feelings. Motion resulted in emotion. The ability to love is established not so much by fervent promise as by often repeated deeds.(1)
A similar thought is expressed by C. S. Lewis in his book, Mere Christianity. Lewis wrote, "Do not waste your time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbor. Act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less."(2)
The story is told of a Franciscan monk in Australia assigned to be the guide and "gofer" to Mother Teresa when she visited New South Wales. Thrilled and excited at the prospect of being so close to this great woman, he dreamed of how much he would learn from her and what they would talk about. But during her visit, he became frustrated. Although he was constantly near her, the friar never had the opportunity to say one word to Mother Teresa. There were always other people for her to meet.
Finally, her tour was over, and she was due to fly to New Guinea. In desperation, the Franciscan friar spoke to Mother Teresa: If I pay my own fare to New Guinea, can I sit next to you on the plane so I can talk to you and learn from you? Mother Teresa looked at him. "You have enough money to pay airfare to New Guinea?" she asked.
Yes, he replied eagerly. "Then give that money to the poor," she said. "You'll learn more from that than anything I can tell you." Mother Teresa understood that Jesus' ministry was to the poor and she made it hers as well. She knew that they, more than anyone else, needed good news.
In this story was it not about time? By spending the cost of the plane ticket on the poor, this man would also understand who was worthy of his time, energy ministry, attention. Who in our church neighborhood do we deem unworthy? Who that we drive by on our way to church or to the grocery store do we deem unworthy?
How do vision and action come together? Vision without action is a short-lived thought without passion or commitment. Action without vision becomes disconnected activity that is in search of a purpose and long-term values.
Our text tells us that Jesus had been out of the area and had just returned to Galilee, the lush, progressive, northern province of Palestine. He had just returned from the wilderness where he had faced temptations about the nature of who He would be and what His ministry would be like. They went to the core of identity and values.
We, too, face temptations as we seek to decide what kind of church we will be in the first half of the twenty-first century. If we say that we don't have time to minister to others, is it because they'll take too much time? Away from what? How can we make Isaiah's heart for ministry and Jesus' heart for ministry touch our hearts? In our neighborhoods and in our community are there people who are poor, some financially, some poor of spirit, others poor in opportunities and self-image, who need hope, who need encouragement, who need an invitation to something better?
On a Saturday morning, in Nazareth, the town gathered in the synagogue to listen to Jesus read and teach. It was no big surprise. He was well known in the area; it was his hometown. He was raised there. They wanted to learn from him. So when he read from the Isaiah scroll, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor" everyone understood these words to be the words of Isaiah. It is how that prophet from long ago defined his ministry.
When I talk about time, I usually am talking about values. And so, I must ask myself, What is important to me and what do I value? Isn't that true for you, too? And Jesus' words come to us as he said, "As a person thinks in their heart, that's who they are." And also, "where your treasure is, there will your heart also be."
When Jesus finished the reading he handed the scroll to the attendant and sat down. In that day you sat in the Moses Seat to teach to the people. Today preachers stand in a pulpit. So all eyes were on Jesus, waiting for him to begin his teaching. What would he say about this great prophet Isaiah? Would he emphasize the bad news? Israel had sinned and would be taken into captivity by the Babylonians. Or would he emphasis the good news? One day God would restore his people and bring them back from captivity. It was Israel's ancient history but it still spoke volumes.
Now here's the wonderful twist, the thing that catches everyone off guard that Saturday morning in Nazareth. Jesus does neither. He doesn't emphasize the past. He focuses on the present. He doesn't lift up Isaiah as the great role model; Jesus lifts up himself. This is the pertinent point. It's what upsets everybody at the synagogue. It's why everybody was furious with him and drove him out of town. They were going to kill him. He dared to say that these great words of Isaiah were really about himself. "Today," he said, "this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
Have we retreated into the blur of a secular faith that is without power, without substance and without hope. Or, Can we point others to Jesus? Will we pattern our ministry and understand our calling to be like Jesus? Will we listen to the Spirit of God, and what will we do?
Let me tell you about a commencement speech that was addressed to Harvard's Senior Class. On the morning of their graduation, seniors gather in Memorial Church to hear the minister offer words of solace and encouragement as they leave "the Yard" to take their places in the world.
The 1998 senior class heard the unvarnished truth from the Rev. Peter Gomes, minister at Harvard and the author of several books on the Bible. Doctor Gomes took no prisoners that day. He began: "You are going to be sent out of here for good, and most of you aren't ready to go. The president is about to bid you into the fellowship of educated men and women and, (and here he paused and spoke each word slowly for emphasis) you know just - how - dumb - you - really - are."
The senior class cheered in agreement.
"And worse than that," Doctor Gomes continued, "the world - and your parents in particular - are going to expect that you will be among the brightest and best. But you know that you can no longer fool all the people even some of the time. By noontime today, you will be out of here. By tomorrow you will be history. By Saturday, you will be toast. That's a fact - no exceptions, no extensions."
"Nevertheless, there is reason to hope," Doctor Gomes promised. "The future is God's gift to you. God will not let you stumble or fall. God has not brought you this far to this place to ABANDON you or leave you here alone and afraid. The God of Israel never stumbles, never sleeps, never goes on sabbatical. Thus, my beloved and bewildered young friends, do not be afraid."(3)
On this third Sunday of Epiphany, we read this familiar text about Jesus going into his home synagogue and reading this "call to ministry" text from Isaiah. Jesus obviously identified with it as core values for His ministry. What will we do with it? We who call ourselves disciples, followers of Jesus, must open our hearts to hear the burning call of the Spirit. Too many who call themselves Christian have no vision, no passion and no core values.
Hear again the word of the Lord, "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, "to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." As individual Christians and as a church, this text tells us the vision we need.
Let us not be afraid to define for our ministry who the poor are and who the captives, the blind and the oppressed are. We have Good News to proclaim through words and deeds. God is in the life-giving, life-changing business of giving hope and healing to broken people and broken systems of justice, opportunity and respecting one another. God has not brought us this far to stumble and fall. The future is God's gift to us. Let God give you vision. Let God give you strength and power. Let God call you to faithfully follow. Let an unbelieving world look at us and wonder When God's Spirit is upon us. Amen.
Century Christian Church, January 21, 2007 - Sermon by Jim Westmoreland
www.centurychristian.org
1. J. Allan Petersen quoted in www.esermons.com email on January 15, 2007.
2. Our Daily Bread, February 14, 2007.
3. Peter Gomes, adapted by Brett Blair, www.esermons.com email on January 15, 2007.