January 27, 2013
© 2013
I.
Each year’s observance of Martin Luther King’s birthday holds up the
themes of justice and compassion. That many of the prominent voices in the
civil rights movement arose from the church is no surprise. Since slave days,
African-American and white abolitionist preachers have drawn on the imagery of
Moses leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and the Hebrew Prophets’
crying for justice. In Luke 4:14-21, Jesus opened his ministry by claiming the
call for justice in Isaiah 61:1-2 as his own manifesto. By looking at today’s
other Scriptures through this lens, we see that a congregation’s unity as the
Body of Christ is a living expression of God’s justice and compassion, joy and
strength.
A.
Luke emphasized different
details in the start of Jesus’ ministry than we saw in John last week, but they
come in the same timeframe. The Holy Spirit dramatically came on Jesus at his
baptism. Then the Spirit lead him into the wilderness to be tested by the devil
for forty days, in which he overmastered the devil.
Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned
to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. 15He
began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. 16When
he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on
the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17and the
scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found
the place where it was written:18“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,19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20And
he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes
of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21Then he began to say to
them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
B.
The scheduled reading from the Prophets on the Sabbath when Jesus went
to the Nazareth synagogue must have been from Isaiah, since that scroll was
handed to him. But he unrolled the scroll to purposely skip the assigned reading
to find the passage of the Spirit’s anointing to the ministry of justice. That
passage from Isaiah 61 is also quoted in Psalm 146:7-8, which is call a “Hallel” Psalm that the Israelites sang
in procession to the Jerusalem Temple on holy days. No wonder the eyes of all
in the synagogue were fixed on him. He changed the order of worship. What was
he going to say about this?
C.
Jesus began to speak to them. As we shall see next week, what he said was
so shocking that they interrupt him. By saying this scripture was fulfilled, he
did not imply that justice had been permanently established. Rather, he claimed
that the Spirit had authorized and empowered him for the ministry on which he
was embarking.
II.
We are so used to having books in print, radio, television and now
electronic media that we may miss the power of hearing Scripture read aloud as
Jesus did in the synagogue. As we read from Nehemiah, this same power is clear
when Ezra read what quite possibly was part or all of Deuteronomy.
Significantly, the people are gathered as a single body to hear from God. Men,
women and even children who were old enough to understand. They responded as
one body, much as today a congregation’s unity as the Body of Christ is a
living expression of God’s justice and compassion, joy and strength.
A.
This was not a dull experience of sitting still in silence while Ezra
read. The people were actively engaged with voice and body. When Ezra unrolled
the scroll to read, in unison the people stood in respect, much as liturgical churches
today stand for the reading of the Gospel. Ezra blessed the Lord, and the
people lifted their hands and answered, “Amen! Amen!” At a pause in the
reading, they bowed their faces to the ground to worship, perhaps somewhat like
we might see in a mosque today. In these pauses, the reading was translated for
those who could not speak Hebrew and then interpreted or explained so they could
understand and have their questions answered.
B.
The people responded emotionally to hearing Scripture read. They wept! They
wept for joy to hear God’s Word after generations of exile in Babylon. And they
wept in repentance, knowing that had not been living by Scripture. But Ezra thought
the weeping defiled the Scripture, so sent them out for a festival that
included the wine of joy, as I mentioned last week.
C.
An essential part of the celebration of hearing Scripture read was to
send festive food to those who couldn’t afford their own parties. Rich and poor
alike were one single community of God’s people. Justice and compassion
demanded that everyone share the joy.
III. The first half of 1 Corinthians
12 that we read last week emphasizes the diverse joy of the gifts of the
Spirit. The second half that we read today focuses on the joy of our unity in
Christ. Paul is showing us how a congregation’s unity as the Body of Christ is
a living expression of God’s justice and compassion, joy and strength.
A.
We think of “members” as people who have joined a club, organization or
other group with some common interest or purpose. But the word Paul is using
for “member” means body parts: limbs and organs. Though ancient Greeks and
Romans did speak of their ruling classes as “body politic,” Paul may have invented
the use of the word “member” to mean people who belong to the Church, not a
list of names but being so connected to Jesus that we are the limbs and organs
of the Body of Christ: arms, legs, fingers, toes – eyes, ears, nose, mouth –
liver, kidney, pancreas, intestines. We have radical unity by one Spirit in one
Body. Our Disciples of Christ fore bearers got it! Thomas Campbell wrote in his
1809 Declaration and Address, “The
Church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally
one.”
B.
When Paul asserted that Jews and Greeks, slaves and free share one Body
by one Spirit, he shattered every ethnic, national, social and economic
barrier. The complete unity of the Body of Christ is God’s justice at work, not
in some abstract, ethereal, theoretical, invisible Church but in the real daily
life of real people in real congregations.
C.
Practically, this unity is expressed when we suffer together when one
of us is suffering and rejoice when one of us is rejoicing. Sometimes
simultaneously. Just as we care for our physical bodies from grooming to health
care, we care for each other in the church. This is justice in action. God
intends the church to be a living alternative to the injustice and dissension
in society, living proof that justice and compassion are preferable and
possible.
IV. Paul’s approach here is not
to criticize the Corinthian church for its disunity (though he made his concern
clear in chapters 1 and 11). Instead, he affirmed the principles, attitudes and
behaviors he wanted to nourish. Some of you into management literature may
recognize that as “Appreciative Inquiry.” In this way, even with all of our
flaws, Paul asserts that a congregation’s unity as the Body of Christ is a
living expression of God’s justice and compassion, joy and strength.
A.
Start by thinking of your own spiritual gifts and resources. Thank God
for entrusting you with something that contributes to the Body of Christ. Take
seriously Paul’s word about honor for the seemingly weaker members.
B.
Now think of someone who is different than you are in some way that you
notice occasionally. It could be spiritual gifts or temperament or perspective
or opinion. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what only they can contribute to
the congregation by those differences. Pray to be able to accept those differences
as God’s gifts to the congregation.
C.
Jesus was filled with the power of the Spirit when he started his
ministry in Galilee. The power of the Spirit is essential to living in unity as
the Body of Christ. Joy is not an individual emotion but the profound
experience of the community of faith. I love the last line of our reading from Nehemiah
today, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” It has just enough ambiguity to
be fascinating and enough simplicity to be compelling.
1.
We are strong when our joy comes from delighting to be with God’s
people in God’s presence.
2.
We are strong when our joy comes from delighting in the gifts the Holy
Spirit has given others.
3.
We are strong when we draw our joy from God’s vast reservoir of joy.
4.
We are strong when we are overwhelmed with the realization that God
receives joy when all of our gifts work together for unity in the Body of
Christ.
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