Epiphany 4C 2007 Luke 4:21-32

Three brief notes from annual Council:
1. Our new Bishop Coadjutor is Shannon Johnston, rector of All Saints, Tupelo, Mississippi, elected overwhelmingly on the third ballot.
2. A resolution for local option for blessing same sex unions was withdrawn for further review and study. It did not pass or come to a vote otherwise.
3. The budget is 500,000 dollars short of needs. We need to send more to the diocese, which does so much with so little.

When we finished the Gospel for last Sunday, Jesus had just read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah "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."

Jesus rolled up the scroll, sat down, waited, and then said: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." And all spoke well of him and were amazed at his gracious words. But as Jesus speaks again as the mood changes. Jesus sees their uneasiness and suspicion. "Doubtless you will say, 'Doctor, cure yourself!….Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.'" Jesus seems to be reading their minds and mood. "No prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown," he says. He then tells them stories they had heard often.

Two of Israel's prophets, Elijah and Elisha, had healed and blessed people who were different, outsiders -- a widow from Sidon and Naaman -- a Syrian general – and a leper. They had not healed any Israelites that day.

And suddenly, "all in the synagogue were filled with rage." They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, and tried to throw him off the cliff. But Jesus passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

What had happened? "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." Was it because lowly Joseph's lowly son claimed to be the one anointed by the Spirit of God? Or was it the stories he told about God favoring Gentile outsiders, people who didn’t believe exactly the way that they did -- the widow in Sidon, the leper in Syria? Had God moved out of Israel --is that what Jesus was saying? It is not so odd to imagine that the people in Nazareth would take offense at him or be a bit miffed. But they were filled with rage. They wanted to kill him.

"Today this word has been fulfilled in your hearing." Another time and place: not a synagogue, but St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. In 1786 the membership of St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia included both blacks and whites. However, the white members met that year and decided that thereafter black members should sit only in the balcony. Two black Sunday worshippers, Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, whose enthusiasm for the Methodist Church had brought many blacks into the congregation, learned of the decision only when, on the following Sunday, ushers tapped them on the shoulder during the opening prayers, and demanded that they move to the balcony without waiting for the end of the prayer. They refused to go. Instead, they passed through the midst of them and led their people out. They walked out, followed by the other black members. "They were no more plagued with us in that church," said Richard Allen.

Lest we feel too smug and self-righteous, in 1962 the vestry of Wicomico Parish Church enacted a resolution to the same effect, not rescinded until 1994.

Absalom Jones conferred with William White, Episcopal Bishop of Philadelphia, who agreed to accept the group as an Episcopal parish. Jones would serve as lay reader, and, after a period of study, was ordained and served as rector. Allen eventually form d the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). Jones was the first black American to receive formal ordination in any denomination. (1)

The great Lutheran preacher, Barbara Lundblad remembered her own hometown Gowie, Iowa and Zion Lutheran Church. It's a silly story, really, but memorable for a child. Every year the Sunday Scholl presented a Christmas pageant. And every year she was in the chorus. The angel chorus or the speech chorus or some other chorus. But Mary was played by a girl who hardly ever came to Sunday School. Lundblad’s mother tried to explain that it was the teacher's way of getting her involved or something. But it made no sense to Lundblad --she was the one who was always there.

A widow in Sidon. A leper in Syria. Two African American ministers in Philadelphia. The wrong girl chosen to be Mary in an Iowa town. Different from each other, but very different from “us” and the people in Nazareth--people like us. The people in Jesus' hometown heard what Jesus was saying. God has blessed and healed outsiders before and God is doing it again. And they were filled with rage.

"Today," said Jesus, "this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." This word changes things. This word proclaims good news to the poor and release to the captives. Those of us who are lifelong Christians would surely say that God's blessings are meant for everyone. But when this happens on God's terms and not ours, some become outraged

How will it be in Nazareth in this new year, 2007? The Episcopal Church this year marks the 31st anniversary of the ordination of women. And there were still some who cannot accept it. Still upset over the new Prayer Book, whose first draft was tested in 1967 forty years ago. Still upset over any little change.

So there has been a lot of resentment in our congregations, in the larger church. Although much less now that the latest schism has occurred. As there was a lot of fear and rage in Nazareth.

But it was a happy Council, a Council filled with joy. Free at Last! Free of the angry and rage filled to become the Church that God wants us to be! Free at last!

Amen

1. http://satucket.com/lectionary/Absalom_Jones.htm
2. Adapted from Barbara K. Lundblad, The Fear in our Home Towns, 1995, SermonMall for Epiphany 4C.