Feb
Transforming Mercy
Jeremiah 1:4-10 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 Luke 4:21-30 Psalm 71:1-6
‘The word of the Lord came to me saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.’”
We are now 40 days out from December 25thon which we celebrated the birth of Christ. In Jewish tradition, it is required that 40 days after birth, the mother appears before the priest for the purpose of purification. It was on this occasion, 40 days following the birth of Jesus, that his parents visited the Temple in Jerusalem as required for Mary’s purification, and in order to present Jesus, their firstborn child, to be designated “holy to the Lord.”
We read the account of the purification/presentation in Luke’s 2ndchapter in the verses that follow soon after the narrative of Jesus’ birth. Every year on February 2nd, we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation, reading the beautifully poetic words of Simeon, whom the holy family encountered on this visit to the Temple. We know these words of Simeon as the nunc demittis:
“Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.”
We acknowledge yesterday’s Feast of the Presentation, as it relates to our lessons assigned for today, the 4thSunday after the Epiphany.
Luke’s account of Jesus’ inaugural address in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth that led to the confrontation with the religious leaders comes early in Luke’s record of Jesus’ life and ministry. In these early chapters, we move quicklyfrom the glorious adoration of the infant Jesus by the angels and shepherds and later by Simeon in the Temple; we move quickly through these early life episodes to this outrageous threat of deadly assault on the adult Jesus by his own hometown community.
Luke is eager for his readers to become aware that Jesus was not born for the typical earthly glorification and luxuries associated with lords and kings as would have been expected by his fellow Jews. Already, Jesus, at the very beginning of his ministry, has spent time in the wilderness where he was taunted by the devil; today we read of his return to Nazareth where he was rejected by the people closest to him throughout his upbringing and early adult life.
The babe Jesus was not born for earthly glorification and luxury normally awarded to earthly royalty. Jesus came to this world of sin, to live among sinners where he would be taunted by the devil and rejected by his own people. Because of this sin and evil, Jesus came knowingly, intentionally, and willingly to reveal the light of salvation to all people; he would be rejected by his own people for his message that the salvific power of God included all people – even the Gentiles, considered up until Jesus’ time to be the non-believers – those non-redeemably outside the realm of God’s people.
As was characteristic of Jesus’ innovative teaching style, he used stories or parables to clarify his message. To make his point in today’s lesson, Jesus reminds his audience of the experiences of the great prophets Elijah and Elisha. Both accounts to which Jesus refers would be very familiar to this group. Both prophets were held in highest regard. To this day, at Passover, the Jews fill a cup of wine and place it on the Seder table for Elijah. They then stand and wait for the prophet to enter along with the Messiah. And Elisha, Elijah’s successor, received Elijah’s mantle in a great whirlwind as Elijah rode into heaven in a great chariot drawn by horses of fire. The accounts tell of these great prophets of Israel reaching out to and being accepted by individuals who were notamong the people of Israel: Elijah reached out to the broken and destitute widow – a foreigner, an outsider waiting to die; Elisha healed Naaman – a man of great faith in Elisha’s God, though a foreigner and an outsider, and most importantly, a member of the enemy army. Elijah and Elisha reached outside the boundaries of acceptable norms of their day.
Jesus’ message is that it is the responsibility of all the elite hearers of the Word to carry that message to those who exist inside andoutside the margins of society – inside and outside our comfortable chosen companions. Jesus is telling us that His coming to fulfill the prophecy is not for us only, but for outsiders – those from whom we divide ourselves in society. This is not at all what Jesus’ own people had expected; this is not the Messiah they thought they had been waiting for.
The elite religious leaders within Jesus’ audience in the synagogue in Nazareth were incensed by this outrageous message. This message is the message of divine love – love without fear. Perhaps, we too are uncomfortable with Jesus’ message of love without fear.
Paul speaks of love in our epistle lesson for today. The Greek word for this love of which Paul speaks is αγαπν – self-giving love – the type of love that Jesus modeled for us. We are called to love without fear, without condition, as God loves us, as Jesus came to exemplify for us.
The good news is αγαπν, – the unconditional self-giving love of Jesus Christ. The good news is that, even in the face of rejection and suffering, persecution and death, the Eternal Word that is Jesus Christ is for all. And, it will not be stopped. He is here, now, in our midst. Divine love will overcome all evil in God’s time on God’s terms.
Certainly, it is easy for us to stand by in critical assessment of this attitude of the religious leaders in Jesus’ audience. Yet, we too, at times, are taunted by the devil to exclude others from the message of divine love – the message of love without fear. We, too, at times, drive out the message of divine love when confronted with its uncomfortable realities.
Ringing in our ears are the words of Simeon giving glory to God for salvation provided for allpeople, coming to earth in the human person of Jesus Christ – this babe Jesus, recognized by Simeon as the one who was to be the “light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to God’s people Israel.” The writer of Luke knew of the power of this divine love – and of its cost. We are not to let Jesus’ message of divine love for all slip out of our midst; we are to carry the special message of Jesus’ radical self-giving inclusive love -the “light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to God’s people Israel.”
Each of us, the Lord knows before we are formed in the womb.
Each of us consecrated before we are born.
Each of us appointed to bring the message of divine love as light to all people – to all nations. Thanks be to God.
