January 23, 2022 – Third Sunday after Epiphany

I wonder… I wonder, what was Jesus feeling as he read the scriptures that day in the synagogue? Was he anxious or afraid to tell them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”? I wonder if he worried about what the people would think of him making such a claim. I wonder if his heart wasn’t beating fast or if he had butterflies in his stomach. I wonder what expressions Jesus saw on their faces that day. Do you think there were looks of confusion, disbelief, indifference, boredom? I wonder what Jesus saw in their eyes and how he felt being looked at by them.

Today’s Gospel reading isn’t simply about Jesus standing up to read the assigned passage for the day, like Dennis or Jack or John. According to the Gospel, Jesus “found the place” where the scripture was written, as in he intentionally chose them. Jesus is up to something, or perhaps more accurately, something is up in Jesus – the Spirit is at work through him. The Spirit of the Lord is upon him, the same Spirit that descended upon him at his baptism, that filled and led him in the wilderness, and with which he returned to Galilee.

In today’s Gospel account from Luke, what Jesus reads and says are his first recorded public words. He speaks them in the town in which he grew up, in the synagogue where he worshiped as a child, among the people who know him and his family. It’s almost as if Jesus is saying that he’s back, and he’s trying to tell the people who he is and what he’s about. Jesus is naming what God is concerned about in this world — a truth and our responsibility for bringing that truth into existence. He’s describing the work and direction of his life and taking a stand, a very public stand.

And you know, that terrifies me. Not so much for Jesus’ sake, but for mine. All my wonderings about Jesus – that’s my stuff. That’s me projecting my fears, insecurities, and worries about taking a public stand, about naming God’s concerns for the world. Because it truly comes down to me answering how far I will go for this Gospel I claim to love and follow. To answering what I am willing to do and what I am not. Those are choices I make every day. I struggle and wrestle with these choices every day.

Friends, here is what I see in the world and read in the life of Jesus… The Gospel often asks us to make a choice, or to take a stand, that will inconvenience us, be in opposition to our self-interest, or put us in direct conflict with others, ourselves, our family, our country, and even our religion. Confused? Here are some examples:

  • Jn 3:16 – “For God so loved the world” vs. Lk 6:27 – “Love your enemies”
  • It’s great to bring good news to the poor, but it’s hard to sell all our possessions and give the money to the poor (Mt 19:21)
  • We pride ourselves on working hard to have a comfortable life when we retire, but Jesus says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth” (Mt 6:19)
  • It’s so much easier to fight back than to turn the other cheek
  • We value our security much more than the risk in welcoming a stranger

So, I have some real anxiety about preaching and living the gospel because it scares and challenges me. I don’t think I am the only one… I think we all have fears and concerns about taking a stand and embodying and living the gospel. We know there is a call in our lives that we sometimes do not want to hear or heed. It is so very easy and tempting to let the gospel go in one ear and out the other. But we know that if Jesus’ words are fulfilled in our hearing today then we will have to change.

My friends, Jesus doesn’t just preach, he meddles. He is not the answer, but a question awaiting a response. Jesus is an interruption to business as usual. He says the last will be first and the first will be last. His world is one in which the hungry are filled with good things and the rich are sent away empty. That’s the promise within today’s gospel. Jesus promises a new life and a new ordering of that life. And we are the keepers or breakers of that promise. There is no neutral stand when it comes to Jesus. We all take a stand. The only question is where we stand.

For what and with whom do you and I stand? Where do we struggle with this and where are we doing okay with it? This is less about what we believe and more about how we live. It’s about taking a position. That’s the challenge Jesus set before the people in the synagogue. So what would Jesus do?

What would Jesus do? This is not the WWJD of t-shirts and bracelets. This is not a question for others but for ourselves. To be honest with you, I don’t know what Jesus would do today. I am not sure we can even imagine, and sometimes I wonder if we really want to know. The best clues we have are what he did do and what he said about himself.

  • Bring good news to the poor;
  • Find release for the captives;
  • Give sight to the blind;
  • Pursue freedom for the oppressed.

That’s Jesus’ path. It’s a way of living and relating more than a checklist of things to do. Are we – you and I – willing to do this? And how far down Jesus’ path are we willing to go? I don’t think we can ever be certain of where the path will lead, or what will happen along the way, or what is coming towards us on the path. But I am CERTAIN that we are being asked to take a stand.

So… where and with whom will YOU stand?