Third Sunday after the Epiphany (C), January 24, 2013; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

O God of freedom, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.

I’m going to say some things about Luke’s signature story about the miraculous beginning of the ministry of Jesus, but first I want to make sure you noticed that two verses are omitted from our lectionary-appointed reading of Nehemiah this morning: verses 4 and 7. I hope those of you who have heard me preach before noticed that and wondered what was missing! Maybe you even guessed that I would tell you! (I will.) The verses contain long lists of names. Perhaps they’re left out in deference to church readers everywhere – but I wish they hadn’t been.

Verse 4 lists the names of the people who stood with Ezra as he read the sacred text. Nehemiah says that Ezra was standing with eleven others on a wooden platform that had been made for the purpose. He was standing with his leadership team.¹ And then in verse 7 is a list of thirteen additional people who were there to help the congregation to understand the sacred text.²  Let’s not miss the idea that the scripture has always been challenging to understand and that Ezra had a very large leadership team! The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the church in Corinth, has also left us a pep talk about what it means to be a part of a team – one body with many members with a variety of gifts, who have great need of one another.

So it’s through the lens of these two lessons, and some life lessons of my own, that I encounter our Gospel portion from Luke. I see this Gospel passage through the lens of understanding this community, gathered as Emmanuel Church, as a leadership team in the world. You all are called to help others understand the meaning of sacred texts, and you all are to do it by the way you live your lives. We all are called to suffer with one who suffers and rejoice with one who is honored, and we depend on one another to remember to celebrate and to share the stuff of our celebrations with those who do not have what they need. We need one another to remember that the joy of the Lord is our strength.  When I stand on this wooden platform made for this purpose, I might look like I am alone, but I am not. You all are here with me – and I don’t know about you, but I’m always better off when we all remember that!

The Gospel of Luke tells a miracle story about the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. It’s not John’s water to wine story, or Mark and Matthew’s call to repentance and belief. Luke’s signature story is about Jesus, filled with the power of the spirit, being praised by everyone because of his teaching in synagogues. I want to say something about synagogues in Jesus’ time – the word can mean assembly, congregation, and a building used for assembling. It’s much like our word “church.” Church can mean a building; it can mean a particular gathering of people – as in, we are a church with or without this beautiful building; and it can mean a denomination like the Episcopal Church, or even a religion — as in the Church, spanning the globe and the ages. One word means all those things. Synagogue is the same kind of word.

In practical terms, in the first century before the Common Era and into Jesus’ time, some cities and towns had buildings for gatherings, and smaller villages would have just had gatherings without a particular building set aside. Think about what we might call a “house church.” The archeological evidence of synagogue buildings reveals a kind of multi-purpose community hall where people came together for religious, political, social, economic, and educational purposes – and these purposes were not particularly differentiated. What was apparently distinctive and unique about synagogues – the assembly or the place, was that Jews would pause on the Sabbath every week and gather for singing, praying, hearing poetry and scripture, for teaching and learning in a community context. Jewish people at this time in their history were gathering regularly on the Sabbath for engagement with sacred narratives.³ This well-developed practice became critical to surviving the crisis of the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 – after Jesus’ death but before the Gospel of Luke was written.

However, archeological investigation has not turned up any evidence of a synagogue building anywhere in the Galilee from the early first century or earlier. In Jesus’ time, the village of Nazareth most likely wasn’t big enough or rich enough to have any community center building (or any public architecture). Literacy there also seems highly unlikely according to anthropologists. In Jesus’ time, Nazareth was a small-time agricultural village of cave-dwellers, with no more than several hundred residents and a bad reputation.  (Remember Nathaniel’s question, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”) So a synagogue in Nazareth is a gathering without a building, and most likely without scrolls or readers. In other words, just because this story from Luke doesn’t sound supernatural to modern day Christians, doesn’t mean it isn’t!

The other thing to know about this story is that, although it reads as if Jesus is quoting a passage from Isaiah, what the writer of Luke has Jesus proclaiming is really a mash-up of Isaiah 61:1-2, Isaiah 58:6 and ideas from Leviticus 25 – it’s a great mash-up, mind you. The world is broken; things are not as they should be; and God’s restoration is underway. It’s happening now, Jesus is saying, citing prophetic proclamations from hundreds of years earlier. This is a miracle story. And I find it incredibly promising and comforting to hear proclamations of God’s desire for well-being among God’s people, whether the stories are from the Exodus, the Exile, or Occupied Palestine, or the City of Boston.

Because the thing is, God’s restoration IS underway when (and whenever) people with food, shelter, clothing, transportation, money, compassion, enthusiasm, well-being, share it with others in the community who have insufficient provisions, who are stuck or captive, who lack vision or who cannot perceive the goodness of God, who are oppressed by systems of militarism or materialism. The biblical declaration of Jubilee means debts are cancelled; loans are forgiven; indentured servants are freed; the land can rest from incessant productivity; and property is restored to its rightful owner (Who is God). Do you know what the Jubilee does? It rebalances the economy of the community. It causes complete economic chaos and it prevents the otherwise unchecked accumulation of wealth.⁴

So let’s think about this in the context of ourselves – individually and as a community. Let’s see if we can understand this sacred text. We’ll take it in small segments and start with this gathering. (That’s what it means to practice religion – we practice in here so we can do it out there.) In this gathering, who is poor?⁵ What might be good news to that person? If you named yourself, think of what might be good news for you in this community. Now, in your mind, name someone who is captive. (If you don’t know the person’s name, just visualize the person. If you’re new to Emmanuel or just visiting, use your imagination!) What do you imagine might get that person get unstuck – released – forgiven? Now, in your mind, name someone who seems unperceptive or who lacks vision. How might that person more fully perceive the goodness of God? Name someone who is oppressed – put down or put out by the system. What, in this gathering, would lift that heavy burden?

Now do focus on yourselves some more. What part of you is abundantly resourced? What part of you is capable of forgiveness? What part of you sees clearly what is good and true and holy? What part of you is free from exploitation? This part of the exercise might be a little harder, so I’m going to ask again and pause after each question.

What part of you is abundantly resourced? What can you share more of?

What part of you is capable of real forgiveness – to set captives free?

What part of you sees clearly what is good and true and holy, able to perceive God’s glory?

What part of you is free from exploitation – not enslaved by oppressive power?

As a congregation and as individuals, we are in need of restoration. And when we come together as a team, we are simultaneously gifted enough to bring about restoration. We are all made to be awesome;⁶ we are each made in the image of the Holy One. We have work to do so “that the whole world may perceive the glory of God’s marvelous works,” as our collect for day says. Let’s go team!

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