You may have heard about the man who slipped and fell over the side of a steep canyon. A few feet
down he caught a little tree root jutting out from the canyon wall, and held on for dear life. As he
looked up he realized that there was no way he could scramble up to safety.
So he cried out, “Is anyone up there?”
And in a heartbeat he heard a voice say, “Yes. This is God. Please listen closely. If you want to
make it to safety, do everything I say. First, let go of the root.” The man thought briefly and said, “Is
anyone else up there?”
I bring this up to illustrate a truth that we find in today’s scripture readings. And that is that it’s a
whole lot easier to be on board with a safe, little message of comfort that jives with our own personal
sense of understanding, than some of the other things God tells us. To a degree I think it’s human
nature for us to be more satisfied with a nice, domesticated God we can control and predict. It’s a
lot tougher when He surprises us. Often the school of hard knocks brings us to the point where we
tend to think that we’re the ones who know what’s right, and we’re incline to evaluate God’s
messages against our own understanding. This has been a problem right from the beginning.
Because right from the Garden of Eden, the basic human problem has been our inclination to insist
on doing things our own way rather than the way God intends for us.
The prophet Jeremiah dealt with this issue in a big way. In our Old Testament reading we have God
commissioning Jeremiah to be a prophet on His behalf. God promises to put His very own words in
His mouth. Sounds wonderful, right? What an honor and privilege! But this prophet thing can be a
two-sided coin. I guess we should take it as a clue when God says to Jeremiah, “You shall go to
whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am
there to deliver you.” If I had been Jeremiah, I can easily see myself looking around and nervously
asking, “Uh, what was that you said about being ‘afraid of them?’ Deliver me from what??”
And Jeremiah would later find out what He meant. Because he ran into all kinds of trouble. Many of
the words God gave him had to do with heavy-duty judgment directed at Judah for forgetting God
and engaging in idolatry, among other things. Jeremiah got to be the mouthpiece for some bad
news. He had to break it to his fellow Jews that the Chaldeans would storm out of the north and
sack their homeland, and there would be many years of heartbreak and hardship as a result. This
was not an altogether warmly received message.
And on top of that, there were self-styled “prophets” who were predicting that all would soon be
sunshine and blossoms, since the Chaldeans would quickly be driven back. These false prophets
downplayed God’s corrective judgment and told the people what they wanted to hear. Jeremiah was
chased, persecuted, hunted, and eventually beaten and imprisoned for remaining steadfast in his
proclamation of the words of God. Little did he know when God commissioned him what would lie in
store. But God’s words through Jeremiah were precisely fulfilled.
And then consider the words of Jesus. A happy, sanguine little group of Jews are gathered together
at the synagogue in Nazareth. They’re all smiles as Jesus reads from the scroll of Isaiah that refers
to some of the promises of Messiah. We heard the words last week. They’re promises of justice, and
healing, and freedom, and the year of the Lord’s favor. They’re all watching intently, waiting
perhaps for words that will confirm their honored status as God’s chosen people, and trumpet the
coming of Messiah, who’ll deliver them from their oppressors.
But Jesus pauses, meets their eyes, and says, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your
hearing.” The momentum of their optimism lingers for a moment or two. Then the smiles freeze on
some of their faces. They begin exchanging glances and remark, “Uh, wait, isn’t this old Joseph-the-
carpenter’s boy? What in the world is he saying? Is he claiming to be… now, just hold the phone!”
OK? “Good feeling’s gone!” to quote the daddy fish in Finding Nemo.
And it all kind of goes south from there. You see, Jesus knows what’s in their hearts. He knows how
fickle their allegiances are, and how conditional their acceptance of God’s words. Jesus knows that
the arrow of rejection is being drawn into the bowstring of their hearts.
Jesus proclaims to them that a prophet is rejected in his home town. Perhaps he’s even thinking of
Jeremiah as he says this. Then he digs in even deeper and reminds them of God’s favor being
shown to a Gentile woman in Sidon. The prophet Elijah had been sent to her, even though there
were many widows in Israel to whom he could have been sent. And even though there were many
lepers to be cleansed in Israel, again it was a Syrian Gentile who God healed through Elisha.
At this point Jesus’ message is unmistakable. To use the modern vernacular, they just got told.
Their status as Jews is not in and of itself going to save them. Rather, they’ll need to listen and
respond to God’s message to them. And that message first and foremost is the person of Jesus
Christ. The Messiah is among them, but it’s not who they expected. Freedom is at hand, but not in
the way they expected. Quite frankly, they’d rather have their ears tickled by someone who affirms
them and promises that they and their great “wisdom” will be vindicated. They don’t need some
dusty, local carpenter making outrageous claims about himself and talking about some of these
Gentiles being favored by God when everyone should know that they themselves are the chosen
ones. So they drive him out of town and try to herd him to the edge of a cliff, intending to hurl him to
his death.
Now before we take aim at this group of Jewish worshippers in Nazareth, maybe we should pause for
a moment. It’s easy to get the punch line of this story and simply nod knowingly and say, “Yep, they
sure blew it. But we believe Jesus is Lord so we’re safe.” And one of the wonderful things about our
faith is that it’s rewarded lavishly by the Lord. But can we be tempted at times perhaps to take the
easy road as a result? Do we sometimes think we know better when God’s ways don’t match our
own priorities or presuppositions? Do we distance ourselves from some of the more demanding
expectations of our faith?
When I ask these questions, several things come to mind. One of these is God’s expectation that
we give of ourselves and our personal resources to His work. Another is that uneasy little un-
Episcopal word “evangelism.” Perhaps we cross our arms and squirm a bit when we hear about the
gospel being spread by our own words and actions. “We don’t do that kind of stuff! We’re not
Baptists, for crying out loud!”
And what about when people out there in a cynical world sneer at a gospel that says we need Jesus
in our lives to be reconciled with God and gain eternal life? Are we tempted to distance ourselves
from words that were clearly spoken by Jesus, yet which defy the conventional wisdom of the age?
In an age of “to each his own” are we willing to follow Jesus teachings about the way to God, sharing
the good news with our friends and neighbors, even though many insist that Jesus is no more
special than Krishna, Mohammed or Buddha?
There are many other difficult issues regarding God’s teachings. These include words about our
personal morality, perhaps our self-righteousness and judgmentalism of others, teachings on
marriage, our fidelity to the Christian faith passed down to us, and many other things. Can you think
of any you struggle with? I’ve certainly got my own list. And I’m not pretending there are easy
answers to these questions.
But what, by word and example, may we generally conclude about what God wants us to do? I think
this is one thing today’s readings speak to. It looks to me that at least one theme is that, by word
and action, we’re to stand firm in God’s trustworthy and life-giving word. Like Jeremiah and our Lord
Jesus, we’re to place a higher priority on God’s timeless truths than on the fleeting winds of culture
or the self-serving motives of people. We’re to boldly speak and live God’s words in the face of
rejection.
And thankfully we do this not in isolation, but together, sharing our pain and our hope, and
encouraging each other to trust that, whatever this world has to throw at us, God’s words and His
ways are trustworthy, because God is good and God is love. His mercy is far bigger than anyone
ever expected. It extends to the Gentiles, and indeed to everyone on this earth who’s willing to
receive and follow the Son he sent to save us and set us free.
And His mercy extends to eternity. Our faithfulness has a reward. St. James tell us in his letter:
Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive
the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. The promises of the Lord are rock
solid. By faith we’ve been saved. May we respond by unashamedly receiving and transmitting God’s
words of truth, love and guidance to His beloved people.
Lord, grant us the courage to persevere in the truth of your words, that we may receive the crown of
life you have promised to those who love you. Amen.
down he caught a little tree root jutting out from the canyon wall, and held on for dear life. As he
looked up he realized that there was no way he could scramble up to safety.
So he cried out, “Is anyone up there?”
And in a heartbeat he heard a voice say, “Yes. This is God. Please listen closely. If you want to
make it to safety, do everything I say. First, let go of the root.” The man thought briefly and said, “Is
anyone else up there?”
I bring this up to illustrate a truth that we find in today’s scripture readings. And that is that it’s a
whole lot easier to be on board with a safe, little message of comfort that jives with our own personal
sense of understanding, than some of the other things God tells us. To a degree I think it’s human
nature for us to be more satisfied with a nice, domesticated God we can control and predict. It’s a
lot tougher when He surprises us. Often the school of hard knocks brings us to the point where we
tend to think that we’re the ones who know what’s right, and we’re incline to evaluate God’s
messages against our own understanding. This has been a problem right from the beginning.
Because right from the Garden of Eden, the basic human problem has been our inclination to insist
on doing things our own way rather than the way God intends for us.
The prophet Jeremiah dealt with this issue in a big way. In our Old Testament reading we have God
commissioning Jeremiah to be a prophet on His behalf. God promises to put His very own words in
His mouth. Sounds wonderful, right? What an honor and privilege! But this prophet thing can be a
two-sided coin. I guess we should take it as a clue when God says to Jeremiah, “You shall go to
whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am
there to deliver you.” If I had been Jeremiah, I can easily see myself looking around and nervously
asking, “Uh, what was that you said about being ‘afraid of them?’ Deliver me from what??”
And Jeremiah would later find out what He meant. Because he ran into all kinds of trouble. Many of
the words God gave him had to do with heavy-duty judgment directed at Judah for forgetting God
and engaging in idolatry, among other things. Jeremiah got to be the mouthpiece for some bad
news. He had to break it to his fellow Jews that the Chaldeans would storm out of the north and
sack their homeland, and there would be many years of heartbreak and hardship as a result. This
was not an altogether warmly received message.
And on top of that, there were self-styled “prophets” who were predicting that all would soon be
sunshine and blossoms, since the Chaldeans would quickly be driven back. These false prophets
downplayed God’s corrective judgment and told the people what they wanted to hear. Jeremiah was
chased, persecuted, hunted, and eventually beaten and imprisoned for remaining steadfast in his
proclamation of the words of God. Little did he know when God commissioned him what would lie in
store. But God’s words through Jeremiah were precisely fulfilled.
And then consider the words of Jesus. A happy, sanguine little group of Jews are gathered together
at the synagogue in Nazareth. They’re all smiles as Jesus reads from the scroll of Isaiah that refers
to some of the promises of Messiah. We heard the words last week. They’re promises of justice, and
healing, and freedom, and the year of the Lord’s favor. They’re all watching intently, waiting
perhaps for words that will confirm their honored status as God’s chosen people, and trumpet the
coming of Messiah, who’ll deliver them from their oppressors.
But Jesus pauses, meets their eyes, and says, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your
hearing.” The momentum of their optimism lingers for a moment or two. Then the smiles freeze on
some of their faces. They begin exchanging glances and remark, “Uh, wait, isn’t this old Joseph-the-
carpenter’s boy? What in the world is he saying? Is he claiming to be… now, just hold the phone!”
OK? “Good feeling’s gone!” to quote the daddy fish in Finding Nemo.
And it all kind of goes south from there. You see, Jesus knows what’s in their hearts. He knows how
fickle their allegiances are, and how conditional their acceptance of God’s words. Jesus knows that
the arrow of rejection is being drawn into the bowstring of their hearts.
Jesus proclaims to them that a prophet is rejected in his home town. Perhaps he’s even thinking of
Jeremiah as he says this. Then he digs in even deeper and reminds them of God’s favor being
shown to a Gentile woman in Sidon. The prophet Elijah had been sent to her, even though there
were many widows in Israel to whom he could have been sent. And even though there were many
lepers to be cleansed in Israel, again it was a Syrian Gentile who God healed through Elisha.
At this point Jesus’ message is unmistakable. To use the modern vernacular, they just got told.
Their status as Jews is not in and of itself going to save them. Rather, they’ll need to listen and
respond to God’s message to them. And that message first and foremost is the person of Jesus
Christ. The Messiah is among them, but it’s not who they expected. Freedom is at hand, but not in
the way they expected. Quite frankly, they’d rather have their ears tickled by someone who affirms
them and promises that they and their great “wisdom” will be vindicated. They don’t need some
dusty, local carpenter making outrageous claims about himself and talking about some of these
Gentiles being favored by God when everyone should know that they themselves are the chosen
ones. So they drive him out of town and try to herd him to the edge of a cliff, intending to hurl him to
his death.
Now before we take aim at this group of Jewish worshippers in Nazareth, maybe we should pause for
a moment. It’s easy to get the punch line of this story and simply nod knowingly and say, “Yep, they
sure blew it. But we believe Jesus is Lord so we’re safe.” And one of the wonderful things about our
faith is that it’s rewarded lavishly by the Lord. But can we be tempted at times perhaps to take the
easy road as a result? Do we sometimes think we know better when God’s ways don’t match our
own priorities or presuppositions? Do we distance ourselves from some of the more demanding
expectations of our faith?
When I ask these questions, several things come to mind. One of these is God’s expectation that
we give of ourselves and our personal resources to His work. Another is that uneasy little un-
Episcopal word “evangelism.” Perhaps we cross our arms and squirm a bit when we hear about the
gospel being spread by our own words and actions. “We don’t do that kind of stuff! We’re not
Baptists, for crying out loud!”
And what about when people out there in a cynical world sneer at a gospel that says we need Jesus
in our lives to be reconciled with God and gain eternal life? Are we tempted to distance ourselves
from words that were clearly spoken by Jesus, yet which defy the conventional wisdom of the age?
In an age of “to each his own” are we willing to follow Jesus teachings about the way to God, sharing
the good news with our friends and neighbors, even though many insist that Jesus is no more
special than Krishna, Mohammed or Buddha?
There are many other difficult issues regarding God’s teachings. These include words about our
personal morality, perhaps our self-righteousness and judgmentalism of others, teachings on
marriage, our fidelity to the Christian faith passed down to us, and many other things. Can you think
of any you struggle with? I’ve certainly got my own list. And I’m not pretending there are easy
answers to these questions.
But what, by word and example, may we generally conclude about what God wants us to do? I think
this is one thing today’s readings speak to. It looks to me that at least one theme is that, by word
and action, we’re to stand firm in God’s trustworthy and life-giving word. Like Jeremiah and our Lord
Jesus, we’re to place a higher priority on God’s timeless truths than on the fleeting winds of culture
or the self-serving motives of people. We’re to boldly speak and live God’s words in the face of
rejection.
And thankfully we do this not in isolation, but together, sharing our pain and our hope, and
encouraging each other to trust that, whatever this world has to throw at us, God’s words and His
ways are trustworthy, because God is good and God is love. His mercy is far bigger than anyone
ever expected. It extends to the Gentiles, and indeed to everyone on this earth who’s willing to
receive and follow the Son he sent to save us and set us free.
And His mercy extends to eternity. Our faithfulness has a reward. St. James tell us in his letter:
Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive
the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. The promises of the Lord are rock
solid. By faith we’ve been saved. May we respond by unashamedly receiving and transmitting God’s
words of truth, love and guidance to His beloved people.
Lord, grant us the courage to persevere in the truth of your words, that we may receive the crown of
life you have promised to those who love you. Amen.
Outrageous Messages
January 31, 2010
Fr. Dan Tuton
Fr. Dan Tuton
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |