Readings: Jeremiah 1:4-10, Luke 4:21-30
Let us pray: Ever faithful God, you know our hearts, our
hopes and despairs, our uncertainties and our sureties. Open us all to your radical grace as we listen
for your word to us, each one of us and as your church. Amen.
One thing that
strikes me time and time again is how incredibly complex good communication
is. And in a world now reasonably
dedicated to non face-to-face communication, we would have to ask how much nuance and understanding is lost
when you can’t see the facial expression or the body language that accompanies
the words. No wonder emoticons are
needed –even if they are limited. Did
you see that Facebook is about to launch 5 additional options to the ‘like’
button – we are also allowed to be angry, sad, wow, haha and love.
But the thing is
that even being in the same room, listening intently to each other, does not
guarantee any kind of perfect understanding of conversation either. Because we bring each individually our own
experience and particular pre-loading if you like interpretations of a
statement made can vary widely. But all
the same we would hope to have more chance of understanding when we are in the
same room and are listening.
But if I had been
one of those people sitting listening to Jesus in the synagogue in Nazareth
that day I might have wondered if I had dozed off for a moment, missed
something somehow or that his or our communication skills needed some serious
work.
Because we were
genuinely thrilled at the wisdom and hope that this boy that we all knew
growing up brought to us this day. Is
this not Joseph’s son, we said. It
wasn’t meant as a put down, it was a statement of wonder.
And what did we
get from Jesus in response – it wasn’t terribly fair on his part – we hadn’t
said anything, or expected miracles – he just assumed what we would say and
what we would want. What right did he have to get stuck into us like that?
I continue to be
amazed at the depth and capacity of scripture to engage us, even today. Each reading a new question, a different
perspective to the words and actions of Jesus.
So what was with
this abrupt and less than gracious response that Jesus had to the people in his
home town, and why tell them in one breath that the prophecy was fulfilled and
in the next that they were likely to be shut out, considered unworthy?
I think that
Graeme touched on one of the reasons last week – that the words of Jesus after
he sat down and as he expounded on the reading were absolute dynamite – jaw
dropping stuff that would have been completely outside their experience –
‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’. It would have taken time to assimilate I am
sure.
But they didn’t
really get that time. It sounds as if
Jesus then went on to pretty much demolish their delight – quoting the
instances of the prophets working well outside of the faithful Israel, bringing
healing and sustenance to the foreigner instead of the chosen people.
But maybe he knew
them better than they knew themselves.
Maybe in their hearts they were rubbing hands and saying ‘Great, it is
happening – how lovely - and we didn’t have to do anything!’ Maybe he knew that a short sharp shock was
needed to make a difference in their attitudes, their behaviours.
Maybe Jesus sensed
their infinite capacity for receiving as the assured and chosen people of God
and wanted to jolt them into a new understanding of the breadth and depth that
ministry in his name might take. That there
would be unexpected directions, all-encompassing promise, and (here’s the
tricky one) a call on the heart of every person who believed to, as James Davis
said: ‘witness to the gospel by investing with radical grace whatever worldly
roles God opens to us.[1]
This was
Jeremiah’s problem was it not? God had
called him to a particular role, that of prophet to the nations, and Jeremiah
was dragging his heels, sure that he was unfit for the task. Grace was in absentia and Jeremiah’s idea of
what he was capable of differed from the possibilities that God saw in
him. He was soon talked round – not a
lot of room for discussion really – but he illustrates an approach to ministry
that is still constraining us today.
Jeremiah didn’t
see himself as equipped for ministry – God’s response is that of a deep knowing
before he was born – a vocation before we have proven our skills at it. This doesn’t mean that we are therefore left
ill equipped for our role but that in our living we have gathered skills to
live out our potential if only we would have the courage and trust to do so.
Today for us we
have established for whatever reason a bit of a mind-set that suggests we have
to be trained properly to participate in ministry. Well yes and no. We all, ordained or not, need to be learning
and growing in both our faith and our ability to live that faith out. If that is training yes. And the reformed church does put a welcome
and strong emphasis on education – but not just for a select few – for
all. Ministry is for all. I was asked at a Knox Centre Retreat at the
end of last year to provide some devotions around the thought that it takes a
whole church to raise a minister – and we ended up saying ‘it takes a whole
church to offer ministry’. It may not be
that everyone can preach a sermon but all have skills in their own way to
witness to the radical grace of God in their lives.
Jeremiah might
have looked back to someone like Isaiah and compared himself unfavourably,
seeing the other as perfect and himself as flawed. No doubt they were two very different people
– Isaiah you could almost say appeared to be of heroic stature – determined,
focussed, accepting of his role.
Jeremiah’s doubts and sense of inadequacy continued throughout his ministry
– but what he did have was the sense that God would and did equip him for
whatever was needed and so he could witness to God in this role with strength
and courage. And I would bet if you
could ask the question of Isaiah he too would speak of doubts and uncertainties
and anxieties that plagued him throughout his considerable ministry
Sometimes I hear
other people preach and just feel like I might as well zip it for the
foreseeable future – just as I have heard say guitarists hear someone
phenomenally skilled playing and think that they should just chop off their
fingers – metaphorically of course. Yet
how are we to learn to articulate our faith, share our journey but by sometimes
halting words and unsure actions – and who wants someone perfect anyway? And it is not about having a certain level of
skill before we can start – its about not being afraid to share what skill we
have – trusting in a God who has known us before we were shaped in the womb to
equip us in every situation.
And lastly,
Jeremiah would have carried on arguing, we do that quite well don’t we, but God
touched him in way that left the words unspoken, that encouraged him to submit
to the task given him and to trust in the presence of God with him.
Interesting word
that isn’t it – submit? In conversation
with a friend during the week we happened upon the word submission – realised
that although the gut reaction is that the word infers unfair subjugation, and
that verse in Ephesians about wives submitting to husbands particularly, it is
actually about recognising that God’s mission is a force to which we
submit. Our problem is when groups of
people declare themselves to be the mission to which others should submit. Quite a difference there isn’t there. So Jeremiah submitted to the role that God
called him to in ministry, still doubting his abilities, unsure of his
capacity, and certainly thinking others could be better at this – and he went
out and prophesied.
And so the
question for us is: what worldly role is
it that we are called to embrace with radical grace? Is it to speak of our belief, certain that we
don’t have all the answers, is it to act into need, pretty sure that we will
feel inadequate at some stage, is it to speak out about unjust practices,
knowing that we will be challenged by alternative viewpoints, and is it to
embrace those whose difference scares us, knowing that God is with us and also
with them. This is ministry for the people of God - all of us.
‘Before I formed
you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I
appointed you a prophet to the nations.’[2] Amen.
Margaret Garland
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