January 28, 2007
The Fourth Sunday after Epiphany (Year C)
Jeremiah 1:4-10; Psalm 71:1-6; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; Luke 4:21-30
As I was researching for this sermon, most of the commentaries, the prominent ones anyway, wrote about "call." God's call. Well, you look at the readings and that's not so surprising, is it? But then I went back and looked at the Collect. And I wondered what were they, the writers, thinking when they wrote that. Of course, it was a long time ago but even so it struck me initially as being on some other tack, not really in tune with our readings, almost to the point of being irrelevant; and in addition, being of a certain age! words like "peace in our time" don't sit too well with me.
But I know that they were talking of and praying for another kind of "Peace," God's Peace. And that's what, first Jeremiah, and then Jesus and later still Paul were all preaching, God's Peace. They were each called in their own times and in their own ways to preach God's Peace and so are we, in this age, today.
In Jeremiah we have a wonderful example of both how God calls and how we try to worm our way out of it. First off he says, "I do not know how to speak." Why? "I am only a boy." God doesn't listen to that kind of stuff. Moses tried the same thing, "Since I am a poor speaker, why would Pharaoh listen to me?" God responded, "I have made you like God to Pharaoh." (Exodus 6:30b, 7:1a) In other words Pharaoh will listen; he knows you; he respects you; you have no excuse. And in Samuel there was another example of a "Boy" being called. Jeremiah didn't have a leg to stand on. And nor do we! When God calls, we may as well say right then and there, "Yes, Lord!"
I speak from experience.
Some years ago I had such an encounter with God. I have to say I panicked and I thought up every reason I could to say, "No, I can't; you've got the wrong person." I admit I felt as if I was doing the wrong thing in saying no; it didn't sit right, and I felt that somehow I had let God down and that God wouldn't give me a second chance. It was not a good feeling. Well, about five years later, when all my excuses had run out, my most valid one, in my opinion anyway, being that we had kids to educate, and the last one having now graduated from college, guess who came knocking at the door? And this time I could not ignore him; I knew there wasn't even any point in looking for excuses. So here I am – standing here this morning.
God calls when we least expect it. God called Jeremiah before he was even born and in due time sent him out to speak whatever he commanded him, whether it was to pluck up or pull down, to destroy or overthrow, to build or plant; and God told him that he would be with him to deliver him. God would surround him with his Peace, not necessarily safety and comfort. No, safety and comfort are not necessarily part of any "call" package; but of no matter because Jeremiah would be secure in the knowledge of God's love. God's Peace.
Today's Gospel begins with the same verse that last week's ended with: Jesus' response to his call: "Now this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." That scripture was from Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me . . . he has anointed me . . . he has sent me." He has sent me to proclaim the good news, to free the oppressed, to heal the sick. Initially Jesus' listeners in the synagogue were very impressed with what he had to say but when they asked him to do the things there in his hometown that they had heard he did elsewhere, he said that won't work. He said to them, because you know me, you won't believe me; you are just like your ancestors who wouldn't listen and whose prophets God then sent to feed and heal outsiders, those not of God's chosen people. As is often the case the truth hurt and Jesus' listeners were angry at what he had said and wanted to be done with him, driving him out of town with the intent of throwing over the cliff. "But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way." As with Jeremiah God was with Jesus and delivered him.
This scene, this episode, set in Jesus' hometown, strikes me as Jesus' life in microcosm. He is identified, his calling, who he is, what he is; he preaches the "truth" to a people who don't want to hear it; even though they know him, they attack him with intent to kill; and then in an action that points ahead to the resurrection, he just passes through and goes on his way. No eye for an eye, no meeting violence with violence. Peace, God's Peace!
We have to move on to the reading from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians to hear how to implement in our lives what Jesus has just demonstrated with his. This passage, some say one of Paul's finest moments as a prophet, is so familiar; we hear it so often at weddings. But I wonder how many brides and grooms really hear the message; is it like education, wasted on the young? It was written to a congregation that was in trouble, fractious, at odds with itself, that Paul considered childish. He wanted them to grow up, to mature, to put aside the childish things, to look not into the mirror but to see face to face, the real thing. And in this chapter 13 he gives them the answer as he sees it. He defines Love, personifies it actually, and it is not a treatise on romantic love. He puts it in an entirely different context and he brings it to life, saying Love is better than anything else, better than prophecies, than tongues, than knowledge, better than any gifts, better even than faith and hope. Love is the great unifier, the governing power for the life of the community, without it everything else is nothing. And what is this Love that Paul is describing? It is the power that governs our lives, our communities; it is timeless; it is everlasting. It is the Love of God, the Peace of God which surpasses all understanding. It is God's Peace.
I think this Peace of God is what Jesus was referring to when he said, "Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." God so loved his creation, so loved us that he sent Love into the world in the person of Jesus. And Jesus in turn told us, the timeless "us", to love one another as he loved us. Then Paul, who knew Jesus only through his traumatic encounter on the road to
We are the recipients of this Love but we are also the operatives. Love is an active verb not a passive noun. To practice God's Love is to get out into the trenches, spread the Good News, seek and serve Christ in all persons, and strive for justice and, yes, peace in our time. God's Peace!
As you leave this place this morning, listen for God's call to love. Be assured that you will hear it, maybe many times, in fact, you may already have heard it; but if not, don't fear it, don't panic as I did. Remember God calls us in the simple things as well as on our roads to
Amen.
Sonia F. G. Stevenson, M. Div.
Church of the Good Shepherd