Overwhelming Grace

This morning we are going to continue to look at Jesus' public ministry. This morning's passage from Luke comes directly on the heels of last week's scripture which described Jesus in his hometown of Nazareth. If you will remember, Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah and then made a bold and mind-blowing pronouncement: “Today the scripture has been fulfilled.” Jesus asserted to the listeners in Nazareth's synagogue that he himself was the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophetic message: liberation, good news, and the day of the Lord's favor. Last week we investigated Jesus' understanding of himself and his public ministry guided by the notion of forgiveness. This week we will look at Jesus' public ministry in the light of a different notion: the idea of overwhelming grace.

Turn in your bible to Luke 4: 21- 30.

This passage completes Luke's depiction of Jesus' experience in his hometown of Nazareth. What we saw last week was that Jesus' reading of Isaiah was a characterization and self-description of his ministry, attitude toward ministry, but we also noticed that it connected him with past prophets. Jesus, in taking up the scripture of Isaiah and announcing its fulfillment in himself, embraces the prophetic nature of Isaiah; both the author and the text. What we might see this week is the very response of those attending the synagogue that morning—their response to Jesus' claim that scripture had been fulfilled in himsef—will, in a sense, foreshadow Jesus' death, and connect Jesus to the prophets of old.

The prophets of old were people who were often rejected. Sometimes the prophets were in very prominent positions. Often, kings would have a court prophet and would cater to and listen to the prophet. Unfortunately, prophetic messages sometimes ridiculed the very ruling authority that occupied the court. Why were prophets of old rejected by their people? Prophetic messages challenged those who were in control and those who were in power. Often times the social conditions, which were influenced by the powerful, required a prophetic message. These messages critiqued the social situations, and as a result, implicitly (if not explicitly) critiqued those in power; those in control. If you know anything about those in power, you might readily agree that they do not like to be critiqued (especially when the critique might threaten their very power and control). To be honest, if I possessed such power I would have a hard time listening to the critiques warnings of prophetic messages.

Another reason why the prophets of old were rejected by their people was because they demanded change. Not only did the prophetic message challenge the powerful and controlling, but it also demanded the powerful and controlling change their ways and change the social/religious conditions. Finally, the prophetic message also described the “or else.” Prophetic messages pronounced the consequences of a lack of change, often culminating in a message of doom and gloom: destruction and invasion. The messages called for the rulers and people to honor the God that protected them, lest God allow other Kingdoms to invade and conquer. The messages called for those in power, along with the every day folks of the kingdom, to change their ways toward each other, and toward the God that found favor with them.

As you can imagine, prophets were not the most celebrated and popular people. And this image of prophetic rejection is a paradigm which connects to Jesus' experience in ministry, and ultimately on the cross. Jesus offered a prophetic message which challenged the powerful forces of the Jewish religious system. Jesus was at odds with the Pharisees, Sadducees, and teachers of the law. If you will remember, Jesus wanted to emphasize the reality of Yahweh's Mercy, while others, particularly the Pharisees, wanted to emphasize Yahweh's Holiness. To emphasize God's Holiness implied that God's followers had to be strictly committed to holiness; everyone had to be holy: everyone had to follow the law. Jesus argued that this emphasis of God's Holiness was inappropriate because it created unhelpful divisions. Instead, Jesus wanted to see it through that God's Mercy was emphasized. As a result, Jesus' message challenged the current way the Jewish religion was understood, and whats more, he challenged those who enforced the religious system. Jesus' challenge was a call to change; a call to re-interpret the religious system by using the principle of Mercy above the principle of Holiness. Jesus asked the religious leaders and religious people of his day to look at God and their religion in a different way, from the vantage point of Mercy, Grace, and ultimately Love. Jesus wanted not to remove the concept of God's Holiness, but instead to see God as first Merciful, and then Holy. This challenge still rings true today as we reflect on the meaning of God in light of Jesus' message, ministry, and the event of the cross.

Jesus also described the “or else” if nothing changed. His prophetic message included the consequences of remaining without change. Things must change, the religious and social landscape had to be altered to incorporate those who were excluded, oppressed, and in need of deliverance.

The prophetic nature of Jesus' message made him an easy figure for rejection. In fact we will see time and again that Jesus is rejected in his ministry. Ultimately we will see that Jesus is climatically rejected on the cross. Luke describes the process of rejection as it plays out to the very end. And in the very end, Jesus is crucified.

We see this morning that Jesus begins his public ministry with a prophetic message; we also see Jesus for the first time rejected. This one event captures both the direction of his message and the trajectory of his reception. He would be received with a prophet's welcome: rejection.
We do need to look carefully at those who reject him in Nazareth. Because in Nazareth we do not see Jesus at odds with the religiously powerful, but instead with those with whom he was intimately associated: the people of his hometown. It is very important that we look at the context of this scripture passage to understand why his very own people did not want to hear him or welcome his message.

What makes the people of Nazareth particularly unwilling to accept Jesus? Let's begin to examine this scripture, beginning in verse 22. We see that what Jesus said regarding Isaiah immediately awed the people of the synagogue: “they spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words which were coming from his mouth.” Initially they found his words attractive. They marveled at his message of liberation and good news. But then they remembered the Jesus they saw growing up in Nazareth. They did not see Jesus in light of the first part of Jesus' words from Isaiah: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me” (Luke 4: 18). Those words indicated that Jesus had a special relationship with Yahweh; the God of the Israelites; the God of the Jewish people. Unfortunately those at the synagogue did not see Jesus in terms of Yahweh but in terms of Joseph. At the end of verse 22 we read: “and they said, is not this Joseph's son?” What they seem to be asking is whether or not Jesus, born to the family of a carpenter could have anything all that great to actually say or do. Those in the synagogue only understood Jesus in terms of his earthly family and not in terms of his heavenly family and relationship with God.

We see Jesus' response in verse 23. The proverb which Jesus speaks of refers to his previous ministry in Galilee where he did a few miracles, signs, and wonders. Jesus already realizes that the people of his hometown will demand that he, the “physician,” should “heal himself” by performing in his hometown when he did outside of it. But Jesus refuses to perform a sign for those in Nazareth. Why?

Well it may be that the people of his hometown already see him as only in relationship to Joseph, only as Joseph's son. They might be unwilling to see him in any other way, and, as a result, cannot—or better will not—fathom Jesus as a wonder-worker in special relationship to God. In a sense they may have already closed their eyes and yet demand to see a sign. Jesus may see any such attempt to offer a sign as being futile and pointless. But we truly don't know why Jesus does not perform a sign for them. Luke's account does not specifically address why it is that Jesus will not give his own people a sign, just that Jesus does not. So we can speculate as to the reason, but according to Luke we have nothing definitive reason.

But Jesus goes on to say that there were prophets of old who did not provide miracles for their own people, but only for outsiders. He gives two examples: First, the prophet Elijah offers his council to a widow of Sidon, an outsider, and not to the countless widows who doubtlessly existed within his own Israelite community; second, the prophet Elisha went to a Syrian leper, an outsider, instead of to the lepers of his own people. After offering these examples as precedent, what was the response of those at the synagogue to Jesus? What did they say to Jesus when they realized the implications of his message: that he would minister to the outsiders, that he had come to reconcile those who were separated, those who had been excluded? Their response in verse 28 is one of wrath. They are infuriated and unable to comprehend how this could be. The inclusion of outsiders was not acceptable. They may have been thinking: “they are outsiders for a reason, we are holy people, separate people.”

An inclusion of outsiders muddled the boundary that the religious system of the day labored to create. And if we remember anything about Jesus it should be this: Jesus was a boundary-breaker, a division healer. Those in the synagogue could not fathom the overwhelming Grace that Jesus sought to employ on behalf of God. In fact, their inability to understand was a direct result of the religious system which was guided by the principle of Holiness; a principle which trumped all else, including Mercy. But Jesus came to emphasize Yahweh's divine Mercy, God's overwhelming Grace and Love. And thus, Jesus ministry took him directly to those who were outsiders, those who were not included because of the notion of Holiness and the divisions it created. Just like Elisha and Elijah, Jesus would minister to the outsiders.

The ministry to outsiders was spurred by a Grace so powerful, that it overwhelmed those in the synagogue. Now the Jewish people experienced Grace, the favor of God as God's chosen people. But they could not understand how it was that Grace could penetrate the entirety of the world and encapsulate everyone. But Jesus, as God's prophet, came with a message of change designed to include those who had been excluded. Moreover, Jesus' message of inclusion was supposedly stifled by his death. But in truth it was amplified, magnified, and intensified. Jesus' death and resurrection actually made the message of inclusion complete for all time. Remember back to Jesus on the cross and the image we see in our minds of the temple curtain torn in two. This symbolic tearing opens up the world to the presence of God. Everyone can be with God.

And it is the inclusion of outsiders that brings us to God's House this morning in worship and praise. We are or were once “outsiders.” We have the fallible traits of humanity that separates us from the most Holy God. But when we come to fathom and experience God's Mercy, God's unquenchable and overwhelming Grace, we realize that we can be included in the Kingdom of God. In fact, it is in the spirit of inclusion and community that we can prepare to witness a baptism: The sacral baptism of Jacob Simoneau. As we prepare to witness that public act of baptism, let us remember the overwhelming Grace that makes this possible, the overwhelming Love of God which beckons us to this place in praise.

Turn in your hymnal to the song of Iinvitation. If you need to move to better see the baptism, please do so now.

Benediction:

Most Merciful God, meet us in this place, your house of worship. May we welcome Jacob into our family as Your Child. Grant us the strength to encourage Jacob as he embarks on a journey of faith as part of this community. May we journey next to him in faithfulness, up-building your Kingdom in Hope, Love, Peace, and Joy. Grant us the wisdom to discern your Will for our lives, your plan for your Kingdom. May we be steadfast servants, filled with humility and the beauty of your overwhelming grace. Amen.

The Forgiven World

There's a Spanish story of a father and son who had become estranged. The son ran away, and the father set off to find him. He searched for months to no avail. Finally, in a last desperate effort to find him, the father put an ad in a Madrid newspaper. The ad read: Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father. On Saturday 800 Pacos showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers. (sermonillustrations.com)

I think we might find this to be true in our world today. If you were to look around I believe you would find a world that is desperately in need of the practice of forgiveness. But instead it seems our world has far too much fury and wrath. People lack compassion, mercy and grace. Yet we as Christians, followers of Christ, fall victim to the mentality of wrath, judgment, and fury, when instead we should be the exemplars of the aforementioned virtues. We might be able to better model compassion, mercy, and grace if we look to Jesus' public ministry in light of forgiveness.
So this morning we are going to be looking at the idea of forgiveness. However, before we arrive at an explicit teaching of Jesus regarding forgiveness, we are going to look at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. If you will remember, we have previously been exploring Jesus' childhood and then his baptism as an ordaining event. Now we will transition to some of the first events in the life of the public Jesus.

If you have your bibles with you this morning, turn to Luke chapter 4.

Text: Luke 4: 14-21

What's interesting about this passage is that we recognize, much as the gospel of Matthew has demonstrated for us, that Jesus' ministry is one of teaching. It comes to include miracles, healings, and exorcisms, but Jesus is very much a teacher. So Jesus goes about teaching in Galilee and then comes to his hometown of Nazareth. Jesus, here in the synagogue of Nazareth, proclaims a prophetic message from Isaiah.

Just because Jesus chooses this scripture from the Hebrew Bible does not mean that we can necessarily interpret these things of Jesus himself. Rather, it is because Jesus, as recorded in this Gospel, believes these things are fulfilled in himself. If this is the case, then we can understand the purpose of Jesus' public ministry through the scriptural prophecy.

Reading from Isaiah serves two important purposes for understanding Jesus. First, the opening line of the passage Jesus reads states that the “spirit of the Lord is upon me.” What this is expressing is a special relationship between Jesus and Yahweh, which we observed at Jesus' baptism when he was ordained into public ministry. God had found favor with Jesus; there existed a special relationship. Second, the remaining verses from the passage Jesus read characterize the focus, flavor, and concern of Jesus in his ministry. There is Good News for the poor, liberty for the captives, sight for the blind, and freedom for the oppressed. At the very end we see that it is the year of the Lord's favor. Jesus then boldly claims that those who are listening are witnessing the fulfillment of such prophecy, implicitly claiming that it is he who has brought the fulfillment. Jesus is a bearer of Good News, Liberty, and Sight.

When we apply the prophetic message that Jesus claims to his ministry, we will notice that Jesus truly does minister to the oppressed and needy, restore sight both physical and spiritual, and offer Good News to the poor. But what he offers to the poor is in truth for us all, because we are all poor in reality. We lack the divinity that is needed to bring us reconciliation with God.
So the ministry of Jesus can be interpreted in light of this passage pieced together from Isaiah. The question we then have to ask ourselves is: how does all this happen? What principle motivates such compassion and mercy? What is behind compassion and mercy? I want to suggest to you this morning that the principle made explicit in Jesus' death is the operating principle behind Jesus' ministry: forgiveness. So today let us examine forgiveness.

I submit to you this morning that to be a Christian is to embrace forgiveness, and not just the typical understanding of our personal forgiveness from God through Christ's atonement. Instead I want to reflect on the over-arching and ever-present mentality of forgiveness that we all need in our world today. So this morning I will ask you to consider the notion of pre-forgiveness. The idea that the world and people are already forgiven, not just by Christ, but also by you and me.
But first let us look at what “forgiveness” is? As I tend to do a lot, allow me to ask you to think about the original understanding and etymology of the word “forgiveness.” The roots of the word forgiveness stretch back to Old English and the word “forgiefan.” It meant to give, grant, or allow and many times pertained to the giving involved in marriage. The prefix “for-” literally means completely. The stem “giefan” literally means “to give.” To forgive is to completely give. However, that isn't the way we typically understand forgiveness. The modern usage often implies a giving up of desire or power to punish. And actually that understanding comes from the latin “perdonare” (German: “vergeben”) which comes into English as “pardon.”

Forgiveness as we use it today is more like “pardon”... to forgo deserved punishment, to give up power/desire to punish. But this morning I am going to ask us not to focus on the personal aspect of forgiveness which is linked to God sparing us from our deserved punishment. Instead we are going to focus on forgiveness as a complete and total gift to the world. But not just from God, also from us as we transmit God's forgiveness to the world.

We have lost the idea of forgiveness as a gift, grant or allowance. A lot of times forgiveness feels like a burden. Christ asks us to remember that forgiveness is not as much about punishment and who deserves it, but about the gift of Mercy, and how we all get it.

Text: Matthew 18: 21- 22

Jesus asks us to forgive 490 times; seven times seventy. But the question we need to ask ourselves is whether we think Jesus wants us to literally forgive a person 490 times, and then after that we are free to withhold forgiveness, or whether this is somehow asking us to forgive always. Remember that numbers are very important in biblical times. Numbers have central importance to the creation narrative which gives us our seven day week. Seven is a very important number, because it represents totality or completeness. Also, remember if you will that any multiple of seven, or any additional sevens in a number magnify the importance of totality or completeness. Thus, Jesus does not just say completely forgive, or forgive a lot, but rather COMPLETELY, TOTALLY, and ALWAYS forgive: there is no limit to forgiveness. Forgiveness does not dry up.

My question now is: how then, can we be expected to do this? Well, if we look at how Jesus did it, then we might be able to understand how we can do the same. So we need to look at Jesus ministry as a whole and his death to comprehend how Jesus “did” forgiveness. Jesus ministry, as the precursor to his death, was not separate from his death. Both Jesus' ministry and death can be seen in the light of forgiveness. If the event of the cross was the culmination of his ministry in ever-lasting forgiveness, then Jesus' ministry in itself was working to express that principle in concrete ways.

I submit to you this morning that Jesus' ministry was the concrete application of ever-lasting forgiveness. Jesus ministered and spent time with those that the world had rejected. Jesus' message catered to the dirty, unclean, ill, possessed and “out-of-bounds” members of society. Thus, Jesus could be seen as someone who showed kindness and mercy to the seemingly un-forgiven.

Why were they “seemingly” un-forgiven? Because they were only un-forgiven im-pure, and un-clean from the perspective of those who could not accept them. Jesus, by virtue of his acceptance, sees them as forgiven subjects of God's Mercy. These are not un-forgiven people with whom Jesus associates, but forgiven people whom the world does not recognize. Jesus sees and plays out God's Mercy in the world by seeing people as forgiven.

But to view the world through the eyes of forgiveness is difficult to do. Yet we must ask ourselves how we view people. Do we view the world through the lens of forgiveness? Are people un-forgiven in our eyes, or are they already forgiven? When we see people as forgiven, how does that change how we interact with those around us, especially when we are wronged? God has already forgiven them. Shouldn't we?

To view the world through the eyes of forgiveness requires two things: first, that the eyes have received forgiveness, and second that the world has been forgiven. Both of these conditions have been satisfied for all time by Christ. We live in a terrible world which was terribly forgiven by the Christ. Do we acknowledge and accept that world, or do we reject it? Do we choose to hold on to our own wrath, hate and fury, and refuse to offer our forgiveness? Forgiveness is not as much about doing something as it is about accepting something that has already been done.

I am not saying that forgiveness is not tough, difficult, or at times seemingly burdensome. When we have been seriously wronged it is incredibly hard to sacrifice our dignity and pride at the alter of forgiveness. But then again, the world ultimately is not about us. The world has already been forgiven and so we must extend that attitude of forgiveness to others. We have been filled with forgiveness so that we might overflow and offer the world a taste of the beauty of forgiveness. When we as Christians to not demonstrate forgiveness, when we hold on to our fury and our hatred, we give a message to the world of fury and hatred. I do not believe that is Christ's message.

In his book Lee: The Last Years, Charles Flood reports that after the Civil War, Robert E. Lee visited a Kentucky lady who took him to the remains of a grand old tree in front of her house. And there she bitterly cried that its limbs and trunk had been destroyed by Federal artillery fire. She looked to Lee for a word condemning the North or at least sympathizing with her loss. After a brief silence, Lee said, "Cut it down, my dear Madam, and forget it." It is better to forgive the injustices of the past than to allow them to remain, let bitterness take root and poison the rest of our life.

We must learn to forgive, but not because it hasn't been done. Forgiveness has already come, when we choose to reject it—when we cannot forgive others—we may be indicating that we cannot forgive ourselves. The pain of un-forgiveness can saturates us, and ultimately can poison us.

Listen to these profound and moving words: “O Lord, remember not only the men and women of good will, but also those of ill will. But do not remember all of the suffering they have inflicted upon us: Instead remember the fruits we have borne because of this suffering, our fellowship, our loyalty to one another, our humility, our courage, our generosity, the greatness of heart that has grown from this trouble. When our persecutors come to be judged by you, let all of these fruits that we have borne be their forgiveness.” These are the words that were found on the clothing of a dead child at Ravensbruck concentration camp. How is it possible that we cannot forgive, when this child, experiencing one of the greatest wrongs of humanity, can do so?
This morning as you reflect on forgiveness, remember that you have been forgiven by a loving God that embraces you. But also remember that the Love you receive is a gift that must be transmitted to the world in forgiveness. The rest of the world has been forgiven by God. Have you forgiven those in the world as well?

Let us sing.

Benediction: Lord of Heaven and Earth we thank you this morning for our forgiveness. May we be sources of forgiveness in this world, recognizing that you have loved us all so much, that you would send the Christ to us, to offer us all Hope, Love, Peace, Joy and Redemption. And let us resist our selfish desire for hate and vengeance, and instead offer Grace, Mercy and Forgiveness so that we may Love as you have Loved and Forgive as you have Forgiven.