“Just you wait!” The ultimate threat. “Wait and see.” The perennial promise. “Good things come to those who wait.” The ubiquitous cliche. Wait. Just wait.
Been told to wait, lately? Looking forward to something that is not yet, longing for something that might be, could be, will be? Wanting to get beyond a difficult moment, wanting to heal, to forget, to move on? Wait. Just wait.
We spend a lot of time waiting, it seems to me. A lot of time invested in somewhere other than where we are. That is a healthy thing, I think. We need to have goals, we need to have dreams. It is a healthy thing to anticipate and to hope. Sometimes our today is not so good, and the tragedy need not define our whole existence. We need to trust that there will be wholeness and healing again. We need to look forward to completion, to reunion, to reconciliation.
It is a part of the human experience to look beyond today, to anticipate, to lean into what might be someday. We can celebrate this gift that God has given us, the gift of tomorrow, the gift of Someday.
But there is another gift that we sometimes overlook in our desire for tomorrow. The problem is that we are sometimes blind to this gift. We sometimes forget that to claims this gift takes as much faith and as much trust as to claim the gift of tomorrow. And what is this other gift? Today. Now. This moment.
It might not feel like much of a gift, depending on your circumstances. And yet it is. If only we could see it through the eyes of faith. If we could see it with Jesus’ eyes.
Luke 4:14-21 Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. 15 He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. 16 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, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: 18 "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, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." 20 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. 21 Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
We often concentrate on what comes next. The stories offer differing views of how folks hear the words that Jesus preaches here in the synagogue. But they all end the same, with anger and frustration and cynicism and violence. Or at least attempted violence. And there are various theories as to the source of this hatred - the contempt of the familiar, the prodding of long held exclusivism, or plain and simple jealousy. But, even though the response is not really a part of our reading for this week, I’d like to offer another theory. I think that people got angry, that people discarded his words because he said “Today.”
I watched last night the amazing array of stars of stage and screen sit an speak on telephones to ordinary folks like you and me encouraging donations for the healing and comfort of earthquake ravaged Haiti. I listened to the heartfelt pleas for support, and the heartbreaking stories of devastation and death, the emotion laden music, and the news reports and I wondered how they would hear verse 21. “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
There was a part of me that was offended when I read that. Or maybe, I thought, I read it wrong. That Jesus didn’t really say that it was fulfilled today. Surely, he would want to be saying that this is the year of the Lord’s favor. This year? With crushed bodies and broken homes, with mass graves and scant resources, with limited access to the people with the needs and governmental red tape snarling good hearted response, this couldn’t possibly the year of the Lord’s favor. Maybe we are reading it in the wrong year. Maybe it was a short term fulfillment, only applying while Jesus walked the earth. Maybe it is some obscure interpretation of the word “Today” that we can’t really comprehend.
Fulfillment is coming. We would march behind that banner, we could shout that slogan. Advent is a much more accessible season. Coming, that’s our watch word. It’s coming! What’s coming? I dunno, but it will be good! When is it coming? I dunno that either, but it will come. Someday. Soon. I hope.
Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. OK, we could look at the scripture that Jesus quotes again. The Spirit is upon me to preach... Ah, yes, well, preach. He’s going to preach. That’s a good thing! I am a preacher after all. I like that he is going to preach - to proclaim, to bring good news. That is a good thing. But does it really change anything? Are we really excited about preaching?
There seems to be something more in this promise than just words being spoken. There needs to be something more to this fulfillment than a sermon. Silence sure seems a more appropriate response to tragedy, whatever the scale. This is what I get asked often by well meaning people who want to be present in the midst of a difficult moment: “What do I say?” The words aren’t there. Words that would make a difference anyway. Words that don’t seem cheap or even offensive in the face of grief or hurt or despair. They aren’t there, available to us to bring some comfort or some hope. We would love the Spirit to anoint us to speak.
And maybe that is a part of what is being offered here. That in those spirit filled moments, when words come from somewhere, something is shared, something is offered and a bridge is built. When our words offer true comfort and eyes are raised high enough to see more than the dust of our despair, then we have a sense of the Lord’s favor.
I wonder though if we need to look again at the promise. We get caught up in the fulfillment. We get stuck on the Today. Slide over those words for a moment. Look at the end of the sentence. “In your hearing.” Maybe in your hearing is just another way of saying now. Maybe he is doing that bible emphasis thing, repeating himself - today at the beginning, in your hearing at the end.
Or maybe it is an invitation. Maybe it is the offer of a relationship. In your hearing, this fulfillment will happen today. When the Spirit that has anointed him slides over to anoint you, then fulfillment will be within reach. Maybe the Lord’s favor is felt, not when you observe someone else, even someone like Jesus the Christ, proclaiming and sharing and giving, but when you join in.
They seemed sincere, I know they were actors and performers and all. But they seemed to genuinely want to be there, to be a part of the solution, a part of the healing. Maybe the Lord’s favor doesn’t mean that everything is sweetness and light all the time, but the God’s children will work together to bring about wholeness and hope. Maybe when we give, or help, or speak, or love in some form or fashion, then we are a part of the fulfillment. Today.
Shalom,
Derek
Been told to wait, lately? Looking forward to something that is not yet, longing for something that might be, could be, will be? Wanting to get beyond a difficult moment, wanting to heal, to forget, to move on? Wait. Just wait.
We spend a lot of time waiting, it seems to me. A lot of time invested in somewhere other than where we are. That is a healthy thing, I think. We need to have goals, we need to have dreams. It is a healthy thing to anticipate and to hope. Sometimes our today is not so good, and the tragedy need not define our whole existence. We need to trust that there will be wholeness and healing again. We need to look forward to completion, to reunion, to reconciliation.
It is a part of the human experience to look beyond today, to anticipate, to lean into what might be someday. We can celebrate this gift that God has given us, the gift of tomorrow, the gift of Someday.
But there is another gift that we sometimes overlook in our desire for tomorrow. The problem is that we are sometimes blind to this gift. We sometimes forget that to claims this gift takes as much faith and as much trust as to claim the gift of tomorrow. And what is this other gift? Today. Now. This moment.
It might not feel like much of a gift, depending on your circumstances. And yet it is. If only we could see it through the eyes of faith. If we could see it with Jesus’ eyes.
Luke 4:14-21 Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. 15 He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. 16 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, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: 18 "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, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." 20 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. 21 Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
We often concentrate on what comes next. The stories offer differing views of how folks hear the words that Jesus preaches here in the synagogue. But they all end the same, with anger and frustration and cynicism and violence. Or at least attempted violence. And there are various theories as to the source of this hatred - the contempt of the familiar, the prodding of long held exclusivism, or plain and simple jealousy. But, even though the response is not really a part of our reading for this week, I’d like to offer another theory. I think that people got angry, that people discarded his words because he said “Today.”
I watched last night the amazing array of stars of stage and screen sit an speak on telephones to ordinary folks like you and me encouraging donations for the healing and comfort of earthquake ravaged Haiti. I listened to the heartfelt pleas for support, and the heartbreaking stories of devastation and death, the emotion laden music, and the news reports and I wondered how they would hear verse 21. “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
There was a part of me that was offended when I read that. Or maybe, I thought, I read it wrong. That Jesus didn’t really say that it was fulfilled today. Surely, he would want to be saying that this is the year of the Lord’s favor. This year? With crushed bodies and broken homes, with mass graves and scant resources, with limited access to the people with the needs and governmental red tape snarling good hearted response, this couldn’t possibly the year of the Lord’s favor. Maybe we are reading it in the wrong year. Maybe it was a short term fulfillment, only applying while Jesus walked the earth. Maybe it is some obscure interpretation of the word “Today” that we can’t really comprehend.
Fulfillment is coming. We would march behind that banner, we could shout that slogan. Advent is a much more accessible season. Coming, that’s our watch word. It’s coming! What’s coming? I dunno, but it will be good! When is it coming? I dunno that either, but it will come. Someday. Soon. I hope.
Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. OK, we could look at the scripture that Jesus quotes again. The Spirit is upon me to preach... Ah, yes, well, preach. He’s going to preach. That’s a good thing! I am a preacher after all. I like that he is going to preach - to proclaim, to bring good news. That is a good thing. But does it really change anything? Are we really excited about preaching?
There seems to be something more in this promise than just words being spoken. There needs to be something more to this fulfillment than a sermon. Silence sure seems a more appropriate response to tragedy, whatever the scale. This is what I get asked often by well meaning people who want to be present in the midst of a difficult moment: “What do I say?” The words aren’t there. Words that would make a difference anyway. Words that don’t seem cheap or even offensive in the face of grief or hurt or despair. They aren’t there, available to us to bring some comfort or some hope. We would love the Spirit to anoint us to speak.
And maybe that is a part of what is being offered here. That in those spirit filled moments, when words come from somewhere, something is shared, something is offered and a bridge is built. When our words offer true comfort and eyes are raised high enough to see more than the dust of our despair, then we have a sense of the Lord’s favor.
I wonder though if we need to look again at the promise. We get caught up in the fulfillment. We get stuck on the Today. Slide over those words for a moment. Look at the end of the sentence. “In your hearing.” Maybe in your hearing is just another way of saying now. Maybe he is doing that bible emphasis thing, repeating himself - today at the beginning, in your hearing at the end.
Or maybe it is an invitation. Maybe it is the offer of a relationship. In your hearing, this fulfillment will happen today. When the Spirit that has anointed him slides over to anoint you, then fulfillment will be within reach. Maybe the Lord’s favor is felt, not when you observe someone else, even someone like Jesus the Christ, proclaiming and sharing and giving, but when you join in.
They seemed sincere, I know they were actors and performers and all. But they seemed to genuinely want to be there, to be a part of the solution, a part of the healing. Maybe the Lord’s favor doesn’t mean that everything is sweetness and light all the time, but the God’s children will work together to bring about wholeness and hope. Maybe when we give, or help, or speak, or love in some form or fashion, then we are a part of the fulfillment. Today.
Shalom,
Derek
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