There are so many things that we do out of habit. Brushing our teeth at night and in the morning. Maybe saying grace before a meal. Perhaps opening or closing the day with prayer or reading the bible. And for some of us, coming to church on Sunday mornings, or pulling up Facebook or YouTube at 10:30 on Sunday mornings. We have bad habits, too. But there are such things as “holy habits”- those things we do that draw us closer to God. One of Jesus’ habits was going to synagogue. He didn’t just happen to show up to synagogue on Sabbath when he got to Nazareth- that’s what he did. From Luke’s wording, this was a holy habit for him.
I love how the writers at UMC Discipleship describe what happened when Jesus went to his hometown synagogue: “[Jesus] ambled into the synagogue where he sat as a boy in Sabbath school…. [The town] had gotten the news; his reputation preceded him. So, he was invited to teach. Called to the front, he was handed the scroll—Isaiah, the biggest one, the heaviest one. He was told to read. Luke says he looked for the bit he wanted. …[He didn’t] just happen… to come in when the lectionary had the right text. No, he searched for it. He found the place after an uncomfortable silence had filled the room, and he began to read. ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.’ Well, of course, it was. Luke told us that in verse fourteen! [‘Jesus, in the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee.’] …[The Spirit] surrounded him like a cloud, preceding him like headlights on bright. ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach.’
“...Jesus read [the scripture] through. And they all sighed contentedly. ‘Yeah, those were the days,’ they thought. ‘When old Isaiah stood there declaring the Word of the Lord, people took notice; you better believe it. God was closer then… Those were the days.’
“Jesus let the scroll roll up in his hand like a window blind and then handed it to the dazed attendant, and then he sat down—not because he was done. …rabbis taught sitting down. You stand to read out of respect for the Word, but then you sit to explain and expound and apply. You sat down, and we had the Word for lunch.” They expected a big sermon- about the history of the text, and the application, and the cultural implications. They were ready to dive in. And instead they got that nine-word sermon: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Jesus has just begun his ministry, so it’s appropriate that we hear what that means for him here in Luke’s gospel: Jesus will sit with sinners, eat with outcasts. The poor and forgotten are especially important for him. Over the next few chapters, we’ll learn about him bringing sight to the blind, healing, forgiving, teaching, and welcoming everyone, especially those who felt the most forgotten. Indeed, the word used for “poor” …has to do with economic status as well as other factors that lowered one’s status in the first-century world—...gender, genealogy, education, occupation, sickness, disability…. Jesus’ mission is directed to …those who for various reasons are relegated to the margins of society.”
Jesus is proclaiming his mission… but this is just the beginning. How could it be fulfilled already? The poor were still poor. The blind were still blind. Captives were still imprisoned. But when Jesus says “this scripture has been fulfilled,” it’s in something called the reoccurring perfect tense. So Jesus is saying something more like: “Today this Scripture is fulfilled and continues to be fulfilled and will keep being fulfilled and therefore will keep needing to be fulfilled...”
And then, he adds “in your hearing.” “That means that …this is about Jesus, but it is also about [us].... When we decided to be within hearing distance of Jesus, we entered into a …whole new understanding of our own lives and the mission [we’ve signed on to]. …[When] we claim to hear, we [also] claim to follow…. It is about loving as he loved, loving enough to make a difference in the world.”
This text invites us to act- to be part of the continuing fulfillment of the Scripture as we also hear what Jesus said. As we heard with last week’s text- we can be part of the miracles, working with God in the world. As Rev. Dr. David Lose noted one year: “You are invited to be part of God’s fulfillment of God’s promises…. Admittedly, that invitation can be daunting, leading to a variety of self-doubting questions [as t]he problems …seem so big! But the invitation can also be empowering: …[That w]e can make a difference [and] the small things we do matter. That God is at work in our lives and relationships for the sake of the world.”
See, “...we get closer to being like Jesus [and] loving as he does [when] we make [following] a habit.” The Spirit of the Lord which walks beside us, pushes us from behind, and dwells within us inviting us to these things. The Spirit who was at Jesus’ baptism, who filled Jesus as he began and then throughout his ministry, who inspired the prophets and the apostles… this same Spirit works within us, is upon us, inviting us to ministry.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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