Luke 4: 17-30
(Jeremiah 1: 4-10, 1 Corinthians 13)
When Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah everyone thought they knew what was to come. Reading from the Law & the Prophets was staple diet on Sabbath days. Probably many knew the passage backwards.
So, because he was a good communicator everyone enjoyed his presentation, and were ready to listen. All was going well until some present began to tune into his interpretation about Isaiah’s vision.
Some began to mutter and others to murmur. Yes, this was a sermon and it was in synagogue but who did this upstart think he was? Think about it – he was going against everything that people believed about being the chosen people of God. Jesus was more than suggesting that God’s mission was always overspilling religious boundaries. He even dared cite two examples of of how God ‘chose’ to feed and heal gentiles in preference to Jews.
This really stirred up the congregation. They determined to drive out Joseph’s son … a foreshadowing of his ministry over the next three years.
Reading from the Scriptures
The Bible has been read aloud for centuries. Of course for most of that time most people couldn’t read for themselves and public reading and interpretation through preaching have been pretty much taken for granted. That’s why the pulpit has had a privileged position ( 9 feet above contradiction – until a preacher offends someone!)
Three activities lie at the heart of Christian worship. Baptism, holy communion and reading the Bible. Strip these out, forget them and you have ripped the heart out of the body of Christ.
The Basis of Union tells us : “Christ has commanded his Church to proclaim the Gospel both in words and the two visible acts of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.” (para 6)
“.. the Church acknowledges that the Church has received Old & New Testaments as unique prophetic and apostolic testimony …” (para 5)
Baptism, Holy Communion and scripture are signs pointing beyond themselves calling us into relationship with the God-story which blesses and disturbs those with ears to hear.
When Jesus preached that morning he disturbed the congregation’s comfort by reminding them that God was inclusive, breaking down barriers and on the side of their “enemies” – and called people into that mission.
As we gather to listen, reflect and participate we may be disturbed deeply as we listen to the Message.
We keep on reading the scriptures publicly so that we don’t forget our call to be God’s people – members of God’s family through faith, baptism, sharing at the table of the Lord and allowing this Story to disturb us so that we might be a blessing to others in Christ’s name.
An excursus on translations
Jesus read from an Isaiah scroll. He did so in the days when books hadn’t been invented, and scribes would painstakingly copy texts onto scrolls by hand. Those scrolls were treasured, important and iconic.
In the early Christian centuries codices were created which made bible texts far more portable, although they were still handwritten. It was the invention of the printing press fifteen centuries later that made the Bible into the artifact we know today.
Translating the Bible into English caused an enormous controversy. William Tyndale – who determinedly translated the New Testament into English – was hounded to death, and his body burnt at the stake – for the heresy of translating the Bible.
The King James Bible – the authorised version which so influenced English language- was an attempt to quell the Reformation doctrines as a religious power struggle spilt across Europe and England. The big question was how the Bible was to be interpreted, and who had the authority to do so.
These days there are a wide range of translations – some trying to be as literal as possible, others being paraphrases and still more a dynamic translation. I have eleven translations on my bookshelves!
The most recent is the passionate work of a Melbourne woman, Elizabeth Edwards (also a member of the Uniting Church). Ruth read from “The Gospels for Hearers” today. Mrs Edwards is a Greek scholar who wanted to translate for the ear, and not the eye.
“Chronically dissatisfied with the available translations of scripture, she became renowned .. for her passionate bible readings ( which) entered a golden age at Montrose Uniting Church, a community that nurtured her talents to such an extent that this full translation of the Gospels became possible.” ( from the Introduction)
Translators are driven by the desire to help people hear the Bible again as if for the first time. They wish take the message seriously and allow it to disturb our spiritual apathy. ItBible reading is not religious wallpaper, but an axe to break the frozen sea with in us. ( Franz Kafka)
Speaking truthfully in love
Jesus got up amongst the congregation and read from Isaiah. Familiar words, the dream of the messianic age, the time of God’s Kingdom.
He came to the end of the reading, and uttered revolution, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Then he spoke truthfully in love as he interpreted the scriptures.
It seems to me that the words of a preacher, the work of the gospel, the worship and witness of a congregation all centre around speaking truthfully in love.
Paul, in his famous chapter on love, wrote to a church riddled with divisions. Chapter 11 concerns sharing the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion; chapter 12 emphasises the giftings of the body of Christ; chapter 14 is about corporate worship. The axle upon which all this turns is acts of love.
The apostle highlights various gifts of leadership, charismatas experienced in the church and urged his community “ to strive for the greater gifts ”, but then stressed “ I will show you a still more excellent way.”
He knows well the tendency to become self-obsessed, take ourselves too seriously, and for religion to become over-important. So, he pauses to stress that the church will only grow into the maturity of Christ as it chooses love and service.
Famously, common Greek ( written language of the New Testament) has four words for love. Eros, storge, philia and agape – sexual, family, friendship and selfless … The word used by Paul almost exclusively is agape.
Early Christians called the sharing of bread & wine the agape meal, the love feast. It was a visible sign which broke down boundaries between Jew and Gentile, and called diverse people into this new community of love.
A hymn sings “As Christ breaks bread and bids us share/ each proud division ends./ That love that made us, makes us one,/and strangers now are friends.” (TiS 533)
It was interpreting the verbal sign of the gospel that got Jesus into hot water as he spoke truthfully in love. His interpretation of Isaiah understood the mission of God spilling out beyond the borders of the ancient chosen people and embracing people considered Other, Stranger, Pagan, Defiled.
His message was and is that Love reaches out beyond itself.
Jesus, speaking truthfully in love, disturbed his congregation in order that they might share in God’s mission of blessing.
Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, disturbed that congregation which had become a struggle of competition, rather than a community of cooperation.
Koonung Heights, as we listen to the scriptures – both the familiar stories and those strange to us – we need to be prepared that we, too, might be disturbed and discomforted by them in the risky vocation of living truthfully in love.
They are stories which may disturb us to be a blessing to others.