Nehemiah
8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a Luke 4:14-21
“It
must be absolutely clear that ecumenism, the movement promoting Christian
Unity, is not just some sort of
‘appendix’ which is added to the Church’s traditional activity. Rather, ecumenism is an organic part of the
Church’s life and work.” Pope John Paul II
Until we as Christians learn to embrace the reality
that Christ alone is our Teacher and that we are all capable of getting it
wrong sometimes, the idea of unity within the whole Body of Christ will only be
a theory to be studied in seminaries and talked about in seminars and workshops;
and ecumenism will only be a $20 word
no one really understands.
Yet Jesus proclaimed to His disciples that this unity
is foundational; “By this all will know you are My disciples, if you have love for one
another” (John 13:35). Not “fondness”. Love.
A willingness to do according to genuine need even when we may not be
particularly fond of those who need.
Jesus was also made aware (Luke 9:49-50) there were others “casting out demons in Your name”,
but John found a problem with it only because that “someone” who was
casting out demons was not a part John’s own little crowd. Jesus, however, had no problem with it; “for
he who is not against us is on our side”.
This leads me to wonder what Jesus had said in the
synagogue at Nazareth that caused such an uproar with the congregation. Isaiah’s
prophecy proclaims Messiah’s coming, so it is likely that a strict
interpretation would have been rendered as Jesus claiming He was that
fulfillment in His person, in His very presence.
This is not wrong, of course, but other than reading
into Jesus’ personal claim, what else could we take from Jesus’ proclamation
since He only said, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”? Could it be perhaps Jesus was not making a
strictly “personal” declaration but was, instead, expressing a Divine Determination?
“The
Spirit of The Lord is upon Me because He has anointed Me …”
First we should understand that in Hebrew, ‘anointed
one’ means “messiah”. In that language,
then, we have to know there were others before Jesus who were ‘anointed’. King Saul was ‘anointed’, and he turned out
to be a disaster. King David was also ‘anointed’,
but he was not without problems of his own.
The word “messiah” is rendered in Greek as “Christ”. It is a Divine
title, to be sure, as one can only be ‘anointed’ by The Lord. Jesus had been baptized by the Baptizer and
had just endured His encounter with the evil one in the wilderness. I think it is safe to say the devil found
Jesus to be so ‘anointed’, but Jesus did not personally overwhelm the devil.
Remember His weakened physical state!
The Word of The Lord, quoted faithfully by Jesus’ determination AND faithfulness,
ran the devil off!
Beyond alluding to having been personally ‘anointed’, what
else has been said that is so remarkable, so unbelievable? What other direct claim did Jesus make that
would have been so offensive to this
congregation? “He has anointed Me to (and
remember Jesus was quoting the prophet, reading directly from scroll of Isaiah) …
- · Preach the Gospel (Good News) to the poor
- · To heal the brokenhearted
- · To proclaim liberty to the captives
- · Recovery of sight to the blind
- · To set at liberty those who are oppressed
- · To proclaim the acceptable year of The Lord
My question, then, is this: what has Jesus claimed for
Himself exclusively that is not the
task of all who know The Lord, going back to Moses’ teaching of Israel as a “priestly
nation”, the medium between Heaven and earth?
More specifically in our Christian context under the Great Commission,
what does Jesus claim exclusively for
Himself that is not the task of the individual Christian in union with the whole congregation, the united “ekklesia” of the people of God?
So let us consider how the Church today has been
accused of rendering Isaiah’s
prophecy.
·
- Preach the Ten Commandments (while proclaiming oneself “not under the law”)
- · Heal the brokenhearted (unless they are getting what was coming to them)
- · Proclaim liberty to the captives (but only those whom I deem to be innocent)
- · Recovery of sight to the blind (as long as they learn to see it my way)
- · To set at liberty those who are oppressed (but only if I am also oppressed)
- · To proclaim the acceptable year of The Lord (but only when the time is convenient and acceptable for me)
I would agree we are faced with a lot that is morally
objectionable and downright reprehensible and is tearing at the fabric of the
nation and the Church, and I
would agree the Church must have a stronger voice in this world than we
have. Yet I would submit to you that
perhaps part of the reason we have lost our prophetic voice is that we have
lost our sense of the Gospel itself as “good news” to anyone other than
ourselves and those we deem to be worthy.
This is the say, maybe people are not responding as we
would like because we are not giving them the Good News to respond to. We’re
attempting to impose rules for them to abide by, rules they do not quite
understand. To repent from sin is one
thing, but having an alternative to turn toward is something else
altogether! That is, if they refrain
from sin as we would demand but then have nothing to turn toward, that would
leave a void. There would be nothing to
turn to, and consequently they would likely revert back to what they have known
for so long.
Now we know by the wisdom of the Spirit and the
historic teachings of the Church that these so-called “rules” (i.e., “commandments”)
are intended for the good of the greater community. In fact there can be no real sense of
community without them as it cannot simply be “to each his own”, but it must also
be understood that these “rules” first
apply to we who claim to be a part of a community. We are the ones who claim to know, and so it
is incumbent upon us to first learn to respect those “rules” so we may teach
them in an uplifting and inspiring way.
Attempting to impose THE LAW is how
the Gospel as “good news” loses its luster and deeper meaning. There is nothing to respond to; there is only something to either adhere to in fear or
rebel against in spite. Then we are left
with no other actionable item except to choose “sides”. And this happens within as well as outside
the Church; that single Body with
only One Head – Christ.
The reading from Nehemiah
is hard to comprehend because the Law of Moses, as we now understand it, is the
first five books of the whole Bible.
That’s a whole lot of reading.
Trying to narrow down to a guess as to exactly what Ezra was reading is
maybe how we have guessed he must have been reading the Ten Commandments, but I
think what he was reading exactly misses the point. It is enough to say Ezra was reading the Holy
Scriptures.
What we must take from this, however, is not a matter
of individual interpretation. It is
rather a matter of what it takes to define a community devoted to The Lord.
For the people of Judah it was who they are; who they were before they
lost all sense of themselves and were driven into exile, and what they are
being called once again to embrace.
Jesus is indeed the Head of The Church and His claim
as being the fulfillment of all the prophet proclaimed is not out of line. However, the fulfillment of the Good News did
not die with Jesus on the cross. It is
to be fulfilled in us, His Body. All of us
– Catholic and Protestant alike. Before
we can be effective witnesses for all we claim to believe, we cannot have
enemies – not outside the Church, and certainly not within the Body itself.
Jesus did make a remarkable claim, but He did not make
this claim exclusively for Himself nor did He make this claim in a spiritual
void. He expressed our God’s determination that the Good News will be
for all for whom the News is Good. There
are many who have not heard the Good News as Good News! So
let us be about the business of the Body of Christ. Let us be so determined to “go” and to “do”
and to “teach” – and to “teach” well.
Let us be One Body in Christ – or we are nothing at
all. Amen.
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