This is my Sermon in Progress reflection from my weekly Friday email to my congregation.
The readings appointed for the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany are:
Hebrew Bible: Jeremiah 1:4-10
Psalm 71:1-6
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Gospel: Luke 4:21-30
In last week’s Gospel Jesus made his preaching debut in his hometown of Nazareth. This week we read that after an initially warm reception, the congregation soon tried to push Jesus off a cliff. That turned quickly!
First, let me apologize to you. I am sorry that I have never preached in such a way that caused you to try to push me off a cliff. Clearly, if I preached more like Jesus you would have tried already to push me off a cliff (if we had cliffs around here). Please call the bishop and report on my lackluster preaching. You deserve a preacher who is faithful in challenging you and provoking you to faithfulness, not one who lets your mind wander or who peddles in vapid feel-good messages.
Secondly, there’s a big honkin’ pothole we must avoid when interpreting this story. In Luke chapter 4 Jesus preaches in a synagogue, and within a few minutes of his sermon the crowd wants to throw him off a cliff. We see these kinds of conflicts throughout the Gospels, whether with his hometown synagogue crowd, religious leaders (Pharisees, scribes, chief priests, and more), or with the crowds in Jerusalem at his sham trial.
All these groups have one thing in common – they’re all Jewish. Of course, so is Jesus, and so are his disciples. But facts notwithstanding, there’s a nasty tradition in Christianity of interpreting these kinds of stories in particularly terrible and antisemitic ways. Thus, a story about people rejecting Jesus’ difficult teaching becomes an accusation that the Jews rejected Jesus and that the Jews are uniquely responsible, as a class, for Jesus’ death.
Whoa! Hold on, Pastor Chris. That’s terrible. Isn’t that a bit of a leap?
Sure is! But it is precisely the leap that Christianity made for centuries. It’s the claim that we’ve all heard: “the Jews killed Jesus!” But it’s not just a past event. This claim morphs so that Jews throughout history and also Jews up to today continue to kill Jesus by not embracing Jesus as Messiah. The claim is that as “Christ-killers” Jews deserve neither mercy nor dignity from us, the Christians who rightfully dominate society and government.
This is the twisted and evil basis on which Christian preachers and teachers taught – for centuries! – that Jews are “little devils” who cannot be trusted; spread lies about Jews having horns, kidnapping Christian children, poisoning food of Christian households, and thanklessly living off the goodwill of Christians while contributing nothing of value to society. This is the twisted and evil theological rationale for antisemitic policies that for centuries has led Christian rulers to expel Jews from their territories; force Jews to convert to Christianity; impose boycotts against Jewish businesses; place limits on Jewish property ownership, marriage, and work; and, commit mass murder and genocide against Jews.
This is horrible. The Church really said and did these terrible things?
Yup. Well into the 20th century – well into our times – the church (and Western society, writ large) persisted in these dangerous errors. But rest assured. There’s major progress afoot. And our Christian-Jewish dialogue event next week is part of this ongoing progress.
After the horrors of World War II Christianity took a big look inward and re-evaluated its teaching about and relationship with Jews and Judaism. Official Roman Catholic doctrine about Jews was updated in the 1960s (during the Second Vatican Council). The Lutheran World Federation came out with a statement in the early 1980s condemning Martin Luther’s antisemitic writings. It is only within living memory that major Christian denominations have made significant strides to re-examine their theology and teaching about Jews and Judaism. That’s great progress, but it is going to take more than a few decades of goodwill to overcome several centuries of hate. There’s plenty of work yet still ahead of us.
Ok. But back to the Bible. How do we interpret stories like the one we’ll read on Sunday – where people oppose Jesus and seek to do violence against him?
Come on Sunday and you’ll hear. But just in case you don’t make it on Sunday, here’s one quick bit of advice:
If we read a Bible story and react with anger or blame, an impulse to control and shame other people, we’re reading it wrong. Turn instead to 1 Corinthians 13, Sunday’s epistle reading. This is St Paul’s famous reflection that love is the greatest of all spiritual gifts. You’ve likely heard it read at weddings.
In all things, love. If love is not the lens through which we read Scripture, we’re doing it wrong. If love is not part of our reflections or response to what we see in the world, we’re doing it wrong. If love is not at the center of what we’re trying to do as Christians, then we’re doing it wrong.
LOVE is the center and source of all we do – not blame, not shame, not anger, not rigid laws, not our self-designed pursuits of righteousness, not insisting on our own way, not anything else. Love is the center and source of all we do, for God is love and we are called to live in love. Love is the answer.
I’ll see you at church!
Another feature in my weekly Friday email is Faithful Reading – four articles that I read during the week that prompted my reflection and prayer. The topics each week are: From around the Lutheran Church; Ministry & Christian Living; Migration; Notable (ie, an article on any topic that I find thoughtful and worth sharing). Here it is:
Faithful Reading: Each week I read a bunch of articles that provoke my reflection and inspire my faith. I add many of them to my Faithful Reading dashboard. Here’s a few highlights:
From around the Lutheran Church: Presiding Bishop issues statement on immigration executive orders
Bishop Eaton urges us to turn to Scripture and to the church’s longstanding teachings and ministries as we discern how to respond to our neighbors’ fear. Living Lutheran
Ministry & Christian Living: Elie Wiesel’s defiant faith
Only honest reckoning with former things can deliver us from new failure. Faith, whatever of it we have, is a gift that bears witness to hope and truth. The Christian Century
Migration: Yes, Jesus was a refugee
A thorough look at what the Bible says about Jesus, and other refugees, in our stories of faith. Christianity Today
Notable: Tulsi Gabbard’s religious background is not complicated, say American Hindus
There may be legitimate reasons to oppose her nomination for Director of National Intelligence, but attacks on Gabbard’s Hindu faith are unwarranted. Religion News Service
The Lutheran Zephyr 