Sermon for January 15

The reading 

Luke 4:14-30

 Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country.  He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:  "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."  And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."  All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"  

Jesus said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, "Doctor, cure yourself!' And you will say, "Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.' "  And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown.  But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land;  yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.  There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."  When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage.  They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.  But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

The message  (I had no prepared manuscript today so I tried to write what I said, not sure how accurate it is though)

My first sermon was at Redeemer St John’s Lutheran Church in Brooklyn. It was over the Summer after my first year at seminary.  This congregation was the first Lutheran Church I attended after I left the Roman Catholic Church and the community was incredibly welcoming and supportive.  I was excited to do my first sermon there. Despite many pastors and professors warning us “you can’t say it all”, that exactly what I wanted to do.  This would be the most amazing, interesting and educational 8 minutes anyone there ever sat through.  I wanted to cover everything I learned during my first year at Seminary and teach good Lutheran theology (again all of it).    I was up till late making each word perfect and profound.  As it turns out, when you try to say it all, it just ends up as a confusing mess that’s hard to follow, packed with unknown theological terms and not exactly amazing to sit through.    After the sermon, people were nice, saying “great job”, more meaning “its great that you did the first one than great I understood that”.   One person did grab me after church and said “I need to talk to you about your sermon”.  I figured okay, someone is going to be honest.  What he said next surprised me, he told me “I did some terrible things in the past, things I knew God could not forgive, after hearing your sermon, I think God does forgive me”. I resisted the urge to say “you got that from what I just said” and simply listened.  At first, it was verification that I was amazing but after I thought about it, I realized that it was the Holy Spirit at work through us and sometimes even despite us, that God’s word works.    

This week, we heard Jesus first Sermon.  In Luke it is a little out of order.  To set the tone for the entire Gospel, Luke starts Jesus public ministry with this message that the kingdom of God is for all people.    It happens right after Jesus is Baptized and overcomes temptation  by Satan in the wilderness.  Of course, since the crowd in the synagogue knew of Jesus teachings, power and miracles, he must have already started his work. At first, Jesus declares that he is the fulfillment of the promises in the prophet Isaiah, that he is the long expected Messiah.   People respond with joy, excitement and amazement.  Instead of being happy with this, Jesus realizes that this reaction means the people do not get it.  Jesus goes on to talk about God’s saving work amongst the non-Jewish people, about God’s care for all people.  After this, the crowd tries to kill Jesus, he just gave away their kingdom to outsiders.  I knew the Holy Spirit was at work when someone heard the message of God’s forgiveness. Jesus knew the Holy Spirit at work when people were confronted with God’s vision for the world and realized just how different it was.    

Tomorrow,   we celebrate the work and memory of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the only pastor to have a Federal holiday.   Like Jesus almost 2000 years before him, Martin Luther King also  taught that God’s kingdom has room for everyone. that the rich and poor, uneducated or scholar, black, white, Asian, Hispanic or anything else were loved by God and saved by God’s grace.