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Prophesy fulfilled in our hearing

Friends, it is so good to be back with you. This is a wild time to return to you all, and I am so grateful. If you are not aware, much of the Episcopal Church is pretty proud to be the Episcopal church this week. Preachers, a particular Episcopalian one, and faith leaders in general have been very present in our world this week.


Two of our texts today don’t release us from this narrative.


From the Old Testament, we receive from Nehemiah, the story of the Israelites who have returned from Babylonian exile. And all people—men, women, children—who have been so far from their traditions while in exile for so long, have gathered to listen to the reading of Torah in the public square. The people ask to hear the Torah read aloud, and they do so for hours, not just sitting and listening, but responding: standing up, lifting hands, bowing down, saying Amen. As one commentary states:


For those who do not understand the Torah, the meaning is made plain and explained. For those to whom the Torah is new and those who had heard Torah in the form of stories from their mothers, sisters, brothers, fathers, or leaders, it evokes a sense of commitment and recommitment…in listening and receiving the Torah, the people are invited to dwell in the feeling of trust and the expression of hope.


In Luke’s Gospel today, we receive the story well known as the encounter that seems to set off Jesus’ ministry. It’s often understood as something akin to Jesus’ first sermon. In fact, Jesus was doing ministry before this, but he has returned to Nazareth, after 40 days in the desert, after being baptized by John. And Nazareth is his hometown; he has returned home, where people know him. Where he is recognized as Joseph’s child and Mary’s child.


What is crucial here, is that Jesus, in his reading of Torah and reflecting on it, unrolls the scroll and goes to a particular spot that he is seeking within Isaiah. And Isaiah is a well established, foundational piece of text for his community. He deliberately turns to this and it reads as such:


        "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."

 

Recall that he has recently been baptized, the Spirit of the Lord is upon him. And so Jesus speaks to what his purpose as Jesus, as the Son of God, is. His coming to the world, his incarnation, his enfleshing amongst us: to bring good news to the poor; to release those who are held captive; to heal and make whole; to cause those blinded to see; to let the oppressed go free; to proclaim the celebration of the love and restoration of God. And Jesus’ words, this sort of hidden revelation of his calling before anyone can recognize who he truly is (cause remember this is  Jesus, the kid from down the street to them) is all rooted in a deep, time-honored, scriptural tradition that his audience has heard before, and perhaps would claim as a deep-rooted piece of their beliefs. Jesus chooses to reveal the meaning of his life and work through the beloved and well-worn words of Scripture.


Because God has a strange sense of humor at times, or at least remarkable timing—the tactics and words that Jesus uses here are not dissimilar from those of Mariann Budde. The Episcopal Bishop of Washington, who made an appeal to the president of our country earlier this week and asked him to act out of mercy for the people in the country he now presides over. She—rooting her words in an array of Scriptural patterns, and joining the line of prophetic voices, both scriptural and contemporary, who have appealed to rulers to act with mercy and justice—asked him to show mercy.  Show mercy to the marginalized, the LGBTQIA+ communities, children, immigrants,  those who will be impacted by inhumane deportations and a plethora of fast executive decisions that seem to have no rhyme or reason besides being fueled by hatred and fear. Show mercy. Blessed are the merciful.


At the close of our Gospel passage today, Jesus’ reflection to his reading is simple: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”, You hearing this prophetic, Good News, brings it alive for the time in which we live. Brings it alive for this moment. Brings it alive for each person who will listen to the heart of this message, who will dive in to Scripture, allow it to take root in our heart.


And this is why, for all the talk of preachers or faith leaders, or presidents this week, this is not a moment for them. In Bishop Budde’s call for mercy and love and justice and respecting the dignity of our neighbors, she may have been addressing the president, but she was calling to each of us. She was pointing us towards the Jesus we know, the Jesus whom some within American Christianity are trying to distort. The Jesus who preaches and teaches, in tradition, in words, in faith, in Scripture that is deeply rooted in what we have historically believed God to be, and what we believe God will accomplish and is accomplishing. The Jesus who calls all of us to root our response to the inhumanity that we see happening around us in those same beliefs: the dignity of every human being, the ability to have mercy for one another, the call to participate with God in God’s hopes and actions for peace, for justice, for love.


And, like our Epistle reading shows us today, we are not all called to do this in exactly the same way. Be paying attention for how you are called. We each have gifts, gifts that can proclaim this kind of love that we name in the world in ways that will speak to the diversity of God’s beloved children, the diversity of God’s creation. God does not work in just one way. God created an expansive, diverse, beautiful creation so that we could exist together, communicate in the ways that one another needs to hear and experience God’ presence. Be that for one another and ourselves. Use the gifts that we have been granted to bring, and build, and create, and communicate, and express, and share, and live God’s love in the world.


Mariann Budde’s call to show mercy was a call to all of us to root ourselves in the God who liberates, and who will not rest until all are liberated. The God who yearns for us to see that our liberation is tied up in the liberation of our neighbors. We are not free if our LGBTQIA+ neighbor is not free. We are not free if our black neighbor is not free. We are not free if our unhoused or out of work neighbor is not free. We are not free if our immigrant neighbor is not free. We are not free if our indigenous neighbor is not free. We are not free if those who seek wealth and power as a replacement for love are not free. We are not free if our mothers, our children, our veterans, our sick, our hungry, our poor…the list goes on and on. Our liberation is tied up in the liberation of our neighbor.


 In the multitude of ways that God has called us to be God’s beloved children, in the diversity of gifts that God has given each one of us to accomplish this work together, I pray and ask us all to be brave and answer this invitation: Allow the gathering together to hear the stories of our faith to bring us closer together, in confidence and curiosity. Connect our actions and words to the actions and words of Jesus Christ, our preacher and teacher. Allow God to fulfill the prophetic, liberation of scripture by our hearing it. Seek justice. Love our neighbor. Show mercy. Amen.

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ABOUT US

Welcome to Trinity Church in Houghton, Michigan, a part of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan.  

It is a member church of The Episcopal Church, based in the United States, and is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Art pictures created by Carm Meyers_edited.jpg

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906-482-2010

 

205 East Montezuma Ave
Houghton, MI 49931

 

trinityepiscopalhoughton@gmail.com

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