When the Prophet speaks of Love ~ Luke 4:16-30

 

I’ve preached on Luke 4 a number of times. Honestly, it’s many preacher’s favorite, particularly when we end at vs. 22. It’s not hard to see why. It’s a good church service. Jesus walks in, reads from Isaiah about good news, freedom, and healing, and then preaches the shortest sermon every preached. It’s literally one sentence long – “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” No awkward welcome time -   - no announcements - no talk about the offering. And the people respond positively, Luke tells us: “All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.” Wow. Spirit anointed preaching that results in everyone being kind, showing amazement, and reveling in grace – that’s a homerun, right? The passage reminds me of a Covenant Church that had the motto – posted on signs throughout Santa Barbara: “Love everyone, always.” I mean, who would have a problem with that?
But Jesus quickly perceives something – something was amiss. Friends, everyone appreciates love at 50,000 feet. Everyone revels at grace in the abstract. When the preacher says, “unconditional love,” or “healing,” or “good news,” everyone says, “Amen.” But when the prophet Jesus speaks of love, it’s no longer nice and people quickly turn nasty. Our passage asks of us two telling, prophetic questions:

Will prophetic love get an “Amen”?! 

Perceiving that these good, synagogue-going people don’t get it, Jesus speaks two proverbs back-to-back: Proverb one: “Physician, heal yourself” or “Do here what you did for the Gentiles” and Proverb two: “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country.”
There are two things I want to point out about the second proverb of vs. 24: First, is that the Greek literally says, “Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν. . . [Amen, I say to y’all]” We often forget the prophetic power of “amen.” Those of us who’ve been in the church have heard used it so often that we have actually forgotten what it means.  (Lisa’s story – “Don't fart in the mitten.” [Fahre nicht in der Mitte, to hear the story go to trinitycovenant.org/sermons]) I imagine, given it’s use in prayer, that perhaps you thought it meant “the end,” as if God needed to be sure that we were through talking. But no, “amen” is a rich Hebrew word which means “fixed” or “sure.” Over time it came to reflect agreement and consent with the purposes of God but also the truth about God and ourselves. And Jesus is saying to those in the synagogue, “I’m about to drop some “amen” here. I’m going to tell you the truth about you.” And that truth is the second point of the proverb – which is told with prophetic word play here. Jesus has already declared from the Scriptures that he was sent “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” also called Jubilee which is discussed in Leviticus 25:8-54 (held every 50th year; it was a celebration of forgiveness, a cancelling of all financial debts, a return of all ancestral lands to families; a time of rest for the earth with many fields lying fallow). That word “favor,” which can also mean acceptable, is the same word used for the unfavorable prophet in vs. 24. The irony, the “amen,” is that Jesus was sent to proclaim the “year of the Lord’s favor [δεκτός]” and people are not in favor [δεκτός, vs. 24].  At this point, perhaps they might argue? Perhaps they might say, “No, no, no, we do love everyone. We want forgiveness. We appreciate justice.” But all caveats, all niceties, all respectableness goes out the window (or at least off a cliff) when Jesus and love get specific. He makes them wrestle with the truth.
Jesus tells two amen-stories, right out of the Hebrew Bible. The first is from 1 Kings 5:17-24 about the prophet Elijah being sent, not to any of the widows in Israel but only to a foreign widow in the region of Sidon. Sidon, by the way, was the birthplace of Jezebel – the wicked queen in power during Elijah’s ministry. The pagan widow was generous to Elijah and, in return, was miraculously fed by the prophet. The second story is from 2 Kings 5:5-27 about the prophet Elisha who invites a foreign army officer from Aram, with an Israelite slave, no less, in order to heal him of leprosy. The kingdom of Aram was a competing kingdom with Israel with numerous military skirmishes in the book of Judges, 2 Samuel, and 1 Kings.
These stories are from Scripture and speak of God miraculously feeding, healing, and loving foreign, pagan people through a prophet of Israel. Will you give an “amen”? These are the stories that Jesus shares with the good, religious people who were just praising him for good news of God’s grace and forgiveness.  Will you give an “amen”? And the “all” [πάντες] of vs. 22 that spoke well of him and were amazed becomes the “all” [πάντες] of vs. 28 who “were filled with rage.” That leads us to our second question.

When the prophet speaks of love, which “all” will we be?

When love becomes more than a gracious sentiment but an act of justice particularly for people who are being harmed, being hurt, being legislated against, which “all” will we be?When love gets specific and particular, when it encompasses the wicked, the foreigner, the outsider, the awful, another gender, a sexual minority, the other party, a person of color, which “all” will we be?

 
Prophetic love for Jesus is always the love of solidarity – it’s a love with and for people with names and is not first and foremost an issue. The Gospel message and ministry of Jesus toward the hurting, the poor, the oppressed wasn’t so much opposed by nonbelievers, pagan authorities, or even agents of empire. Jesus was opposed by religious people who sought only their own comfort and good. It enraged religious people with strong borders and boundaries who could never believe that God was willing to be that good, that gracious, that loving, toward friend and enemy alike. If we are going to follow “the man of sorrows, who was acquainted with grief”; if we are going to worship the suffering servant “who was despised and rejected”; if we’re going to give our life to the One that religious people want to chuck off a cliff – then grief and sorrow is what we must accept will occur when we speak about love concretely and specifically. The Jesuit priest and social reformer, Father Greg Boyle, who works with Latino gang members in Los Angeles says it this way:
The right wing would stare at Jesus and question where He chose to stand. They hated that He aligned himself with the unclean, those outside – the folks you ought neither to touch nor be near. He hobnobbed with the leper, shared table fellowship with the sinner, and rendered himself ritually impure in the process. They found it offensive, to boot, that Jesus had no regard for their wedge issues, their constitutional amendments or their culture wars. The left was equally annoyed. They wanted to see the ten-point plan, the revolution in high gear, the toppling of sinful social structures. They were impatient with his brand of solidarity. They wanted to see him taking the right stand on issues, not just standing in the right place. But Jesus stood with the outcast. The Left screams: Don’t just stand there, do something. And the Right yells: Don’t stand with those folks at all. Both sides, saw Jesus as the wrong size for this world, came to their own reasons for wanting him dead.”
When love gets specific, when love is not a culture war or an issue but the person right in front of us with a story and a name, when love will costs us something, will we “all” say, “Amen!” to that?

HOW to be free: Parting Words for a Spirit-led Church ~ Galatians 6:1-18

 At the end of Galatians, Paul addresses several topics in rapid-fire succession: how to deal with sin, practice compassion, and sow goodness. It can feel like quite a jolt, like a speed round on Wheel of Fortune, but he aims now, in these last moments, to tell them quickly what freedom looks like in real time. Paul has been saying all along that we are spiritually freed not by following the law, or doing some religious thing, but by the gracious faithfulness of Jesus. And now he wants us to know – with that same grace, how we are to be free to each other. 

HOW to set sinners free. BE GENTLE!
Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently.
 

“if” is “when”; someone is “everyone”; “caught” means “trapped” and not necessarily “seen”; but be careful about the “you.” Make sure that the “all y’all” [you] “live” or are “led . . . .by the Spirit.” The “you who live by the Spirit” is, unfortunately, not everyone – not everyone, it turns out, is gentle.
The point is “restoration” not rebuke, guilt, shame, or silence. Interestingly, Paul doesn’t actually address the sinner but those who are responsible for dealing with it gently. I, however, want to speak to the sinners – whoever you are. Sinner, are you here? Raise your hand. Friends, free people speak freely. They don’t hide. They’re free to tell the truth. Sinner, are you here? Good. Now, I want to tell you who to look for to help you. I want to give you advice on the way to find those who are the Spirit-led helpers. We don’t want the church to be like Home Depot – helpers everywhere until you need one. Paul does not say: “you who are rule followers should . . .” He doesn’t say, “You who are in church – Lord knows I’ve encountered more than a few hack surgeons in this place who confused surgery with sword-fighting and the church for the Hunger Games. He doesn’t say “You who are sinless, or long-standing members, or who went to seminary.” No, he says, “You who live by the Spirit.” And those who live by the Spirit, we learned last week, are best evidenced by fruit not doctrine, are observed by gentleness and not merely correctness. That word “restore” is καταρτίζω. It’s what a fisherman does to a net that is broken. He katartizei [mends] it (Mark 1:19; Matt. 4:21). It’s the process by which someone or something returns to its original state or purpose.
Gentle restoration is not dismissal of what one has done, particularly when others are being seriously hurt, but neither is it throwing away. It’s what Paul will do in  Galatians 2. But let’s be real clear. What is the hurt in Galatians 2? It’s moral rule following and Biblical argument whose fruit is alienation and shame. Gentleness does not humiliate and neither does it punish. Paul’s call is to restoration NOT retribution. He aims to help both Peter and the Gentile Christians return to themselves and one another.
But what does a Spirited person sound like or look like when they encounter someone who is trapped in sin? Well, let’s look at our Spirit model, Gentle Jesus who encounters a woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11).
The Pharisees understand “caught” to mean: “We caught you, you dirty little sinner and now you should be punished”. And by the way, they had Scripture on their side, which stated she should be stoned (Lev. 20:10). Jesus, who is gentle, recognizes that she is “trapped” and not merely found out, and wants everyone, Pharisees, included, restored to themselves. Such restoration will of course require that we carry each other’s burdens without judgment. That’s Paul’s same point in Galatians 6:1-3. We must help people without falling into the sin of self-righteousness, where we think more of ourselves than we should. And gentle restoration is more than informing but helping.
If someone’s sin robs or empties him of something, it is our responsibility to help to fill him up. If her sin has weakened her, it is our job to give her strength. If their sin demonstrates some lack of knowledge or wisdom, it is on us to help educate and inform. If sin has led someone off the road, it is our work to guide them safely back to the right path.
But the gentle Spirit-led don’t catastrophize. One of the times I think the NIV got a translation totally wrong is when they have Jesus saying to the woman, “Go now and leave your life of sin.” The Greek is simple enough. It literally says, “Go and sin no more.” That’s it. Spiritless sin catastrophizing will tell people that their lives are sin. That they are only sin. The gentle Spirit-led, however, know better. They will honor everyone and gently say things like, “Stop hurting yourself.” Now, if sin has someone not simply hurting themselves but also others, those who are Spirit-led must speak up and act out. BUT the Jesus way is always to mend rather than destroy.
A student once asked anthropologist Margaret Mead what she considered the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected the anthropologist to talk about hooks, clay bowls or sharpening stones, but no. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture is the proof of a person with a broken, healed femur. Mead explained that in the rest of the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You can't run from danger, go to the river to drink water or hunt to feed. You become fresh meat for predators. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal. A broken femur that healed is proof that someone took the time to stay with the one who fell, healed the injury, put the person to safety, and cared for him until he recovered.
"Helping someone through difficulty is the starting point of civilization," Mead explained. Amen. Friends, the first sign of the church isn’t our worship or ur programs. Non, the first sign of the church is the proof of sinners with broken lives, healed and gently restored. Spirit-led, are you here? But alongside gentle restoration, Paul says that free people cultivate another fruit – goodness. 

How to be good. BE GENEROUS.

If we’re supposed to sow it, goodness, that is. We should know the seed that it’s in our hand and what the fruit looks like and taste like. And always remember that that Spirit-fruit is a virtue of God, illustrated by Jesus Christ, and gifted to us by the Spirit.
Goodness is one of those words that can grow murky real fast and taste really sour if it ripens in the wrong way. We can easily imagine it to be a word related to being morally upright. That’s often how the Pharisees understood it. It was a virtue held by those who didn’t do “bad” things, say bad things, or become stained by those who did. But like, gentleness, I want us to listen to how Jesus spoke about this fruit of goodness.
He tells a parable in Matthew 20:1-16 about day-laborers hired to work in a vineyard. Some are hired in the morning, some at noon, and some at the end of the day, with only an hour left. When the foreman is asked to pay the laborers he is instructed to pay those hired at the end first and to pay them the same wage as those hired earlier leading to complaints. In response the owner of the vineyard says, “15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am ἀγαθός [generous]?’ That’s the same word in Galatians 6:10. Friends, the fruit of goodness looks and tastes like “generosity”
If we aren’t leaning into the world with a freeing generosity, we aren’t being “good.” If we don’t walk through Salem with an abundance of forgiveness, we aren’t being good. If we don’t care that brothers and sisters around the world are suffering because foreign aid has been stopped, we aren’t being good.
But, if that’s the case, why does Paul seemingly qualify that generous goodness by emphasizing that it should particularly be for “the family of believers.” The ancient world was a world utterly divided and entrenched in social, ethnic, and family divisions. One’s duty was always and only toward kin and kind. The only loyalty necessary was one’s loyalty to family and empire. And yet by emphasizing the “family of believers” Paul is breaking open the biological and political ties that bound people together. He is defining goodness as a generosity which welcomes foreigners, carries outcast, restores family, challenges any understanding of goodness being about merely me and mine. So be gentle, be generous, live free. Amen.