One of the advantages of having a teenager in the house is that they
help you stay up on what’s current in slang. (Maybe that’s an advantage. Maybe not, depending on what new words
you get to learn!)
A few years ago, my son, who is now 22, took to answering certain questions by saying, simply, “Word.”
For example, I might say, “Son, would you empty the garbage can in the kitchen?” And he would answer, “Word.”
Some times that would result in the garbage can getting emptied… and sometimes not! So one day I asked him what it meant, and he explained that in today’s slang, “word” means “yes.”
I rather like that. As a person who cares about words and thinks words matter a great deal, I like that “word” means “yes.” It implies a connection between words and action.
Of course, the connection between my son saying he’ll take out the garbage and my son actually taking out the garbage could never be taken for granted! But that’s about teenagers, not about words and action.
Jesus shows us the proper relationship between words and action. But I’m getting ahead of the story.
A few years ago, my son, who is now 22, took to answering certain questions by saying, simply, “Word.”
For example, I might say, “Son, would you empty the garbage can in the kitchen?” And he would answer, “Word.”
Some times that would result in the garbage can getting emptied… and sometimes not! So one day I asked him what it meant, and he explained that in today’s slang, “word” means “yes.”
I rather like that. As a person who cares about words and thinks words matter a great deal, I like that “word” means “yes.” It implies a connection between words and action.
Of course, the connection between my son saying he’ll take out the garbage and my son actually taking out the garbage could never be taken for granted! But that’s about teenagers, not about words and action.
Jesus shows us the proper relationship between words and action. But I’m getting ahead of the story.
 |
| Ezra Reads the Book of the Law, by Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld |
Let’s begin with today’s lesson from the Hebrew
Scripture. Two things move me every time I hear this story from Nehemiah (8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10, NRSV).
The first is that the Israelites were moved to tears when they were reunited with God’s Holy Word. For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law, Nehemiah tells us.
It is not clear historically whether the scrolls actually got lost for a time, or if they were simply neglected for a time. We do know that when Nehemiah became governor, he led the people back to God. The scrolls were brought out to be read publicly by the chief priest from a stage built for that purpose.
And the people were so moved they wept. Nehemiah and the priest and the teachers had to tell the people: Do not weep! Go, eat, drink and share with the poor, for this is a day of joy.
Today’s Psalm is a continuation of that theme: Being in touch with God’s word, knowing and hearing and sharing God’s word revives the soul, gives wisdom to the innocent and light to the eyes, and is cause for rejoicing, the psalmist says.
The second thing I love about this story is that it makes clear that Holy Scripture must be interpreted. So they read from the book, says Nehemiah, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.
Now, I fully realize that this business of interpretation is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, knowing that making sense of scripture is an act of interpretation is liberating.
It is liberating because it enables us to learn and grow and listen to the Holy Spirit and change our minds about what it means. For example, we all know that at one time, Holy Scripture was used to justify slavery!
We all know that at one time Holy Scripture was used to silence women and to prohibit them from exercising spiritual leadership in the church! Thank goodness, we have left those interpretations far behind!
On the other hand, we also know that nothing has caused more dissension within the church, nothing has been more likely to divide God’s one, holy, catholic and apostolic church into warring factions than different interpretations of Holy Scripture. At their worst, disagreements over the meaning of God’s word have caused blood to be shed.
But at their best, disagreements in interpretation also cause us to engage each other in dialogue and to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, arguing over the meaning of God’s word is a fine, long tradition of the church, going all the way back to Peter and Paul, who seriously disagreed on what Gentiles had to do to become followers of Christ!
It took several hundred years after the death and resurrection of Christ for the church to hash out differences and disagreements, and draft the creeds that we take for granted today. And the process continues because the world continuously hands us new problems and issue and situations, and we must decide how to anchor our responses in our growing and sometimes changing understanding of God’s Holy Word.
Here’s where Paul’s “one body” metaphor is so very helpful. The parts of the body are profoundly different in appearance and function, yet each belongs equally to the body.
If we can but remember that we are all part of one body, then contending interpretations need not pull us apart. They become part of our ongoing conversation with God and each other through God’s Word and the Holy Spirit.
Now comes today’s Gospel story (Luke 4:14-21, NRSV). Jesus has been baptized, and he has been in the wilderness 40 days. He returns to Galilee, Luke tells us, filled with the power of the Spirit and begins to teach in the synagogues.
The first is that the Israelites were moved to tears when they were reunited with God’s Holy Word. For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law, Nehemiah tells us.
It is not clear historically whether the scrolls actually got lost for a time, or if they were simply neglected for a time. We do know that when Nehemiah became governor, he led the people back to God. The scrolls were brought out to be read publicly by the chief priest from a stage built for that purpose.
And the people were so moved they wept. Nehemiah and the priest and the teachers had to tell the people: Do not weep! Go, eat, drink and share with the poor, for this is a day of joy.
Today’s Psalm is a continuation of that theme: Being in touch with God’s word, knowing and hearing and sharing God’s word revives the soul, gives wisdom to the innocent and light to the eyes, and is cause for rejoicing, the psalmist says.
The second thing I love about this story is that it makes clear that Holy Scripture must be interpreted. So they read from the book, says Nehemiah, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.
Now, I fully realize that this business of interpretation is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, knowing that making sense of scripture is an act of interpretation is liberating.
It is liberating because it enables us to learn and grow and listen to the Holy Spirit and change our minds about what it means. For example, we all know that at one time, Holy Scripture was used to justify slavery!
We all know that at one time Holy Scripture was used to silence women and to prohibit them from exercising spiritual leadership in the church! Thank goodness, we have left those interpretations far behind!
On the other hand, we also know that nothing has caused more dissension within the church, nothing has been more likely to divide God’s one, holy, catholic and apostolic church into warring factions than different interpretations of Holy Scripture. At their worst, disagreements over the meaning of God’s word have caused blood to be shed.
But at their best, disagreements in interpretation also cause us to engage each other in dialogue and to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, arguing over the meaning of God’s word is a fine, long tradition of the church, going all the way back to Peter and Paul, who seriously disagreed on what Gentiles had to do to become followers of Christ!
It took several hundred years after the death and resurrection of Christ for the church to hash out differences and disagreements, and draft the creeds that we take for granted today. And the process continues because the world continuously hands us new problems and issue and situations, and we must decide how to anchor our responses in our growing and sometimes changing understanding of God’s Holy Word.
Here’s where Paul’s “one body” metaphor is so very helpful. The parts of the body are profoundly different in appearance and function, yet each belongs equally to the body.
If we can but remember that we are all part of one body, then contending interpretations need not pull us apart. They become part of our ongoing conversation with God and each other through God’s Word and the Holy Spirit.
Now comes today’s Gospel story (Luke 4:14-21, NRSV). Jesus has been baptized, and he has been in the wilderness 40 days. He returns to Galilee, Luke tells us, filled with the power of the Spirit and begins to teach in the synagogues.
 |
| Jesus Reading from the Prophet Isaiah, by Greg Olson |
When he gets to his hometown Nazareth, he goes to the synagogue as
usual. And what does he do there? He stands to read Holy Scripture and is
handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
Then, Luke tells us, Jesus unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written… That suggests to me that Jesus wasn’t just following a lectionary as we do today. Rather, he was choosing the passage he wanted to teach on that very special day in his hometown near the beginning of his ministry.
And what is the passage? It is one of several passages in Isaiah we identify as “the servant passages.” So Jesus reads it, and then he interprets it. He makes himself the interpretation of it!
Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing, he says. And we know from the remainder of the Gospel according to Luke, he not only teaches it, he lives it.
In that moment, Jesus embraces servant ministry. He takes the identity of The Servant from Holy Scripture and declares it to be his own. And he lives out the calling of servanthood: ministry to the poor, the sick, the prisoner, the stranger. In Jesus, word and action are one.
So... how will this scripture be fulfilled in our time? By Christ’s body in the world—those who not only claim him in words but follow him in servant ministry.
And that would be us.
Then, Luke tells us, Jesus unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written… That suggests to me that Jesus wasn’t just following a lectionary as we do today. Rather, he was choosing the passage he wanted to teach on that very special day in his hometown near the beginning of his ministry.
And what is the passage? It is one of several passages in Isaiah we identify as “the servant passages.” So Jesus reads it, and then he interprets it. He makes himself the interpretation of it!
Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing, he says. And we know from the remainder of the Gospel according to Luke, he not only teaches it, he lives it.
In that moment, Jesus embraces servant ministry. He takes the identity of The Servant from Holy Scripture and declares it to be his own. And he lives out the calling of servanthood: ministry to the poor, the sick, the prisoner, the stranger. In Jesus, word and action are one.
So... how will this scripture be fulfilled in our time? By Christ’s body in the world—those who not only claim him in words but follow him in servant ministry.
And that would be us.
AMEN
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