Sermons for the Month
Called to Serve a Living God
DATE: January 28th, 2007
SERVICE: 4th Sunday after the Epiphany
TEXT: Jeremiah 1:4-10 and Luke 4:21-30“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN At a preaching seminar a pastor shared his story. The bishop had sent him to a little town in South Carolina. One Sunday he preached about the challenge of racial justice. The people of the church were so angry that the bishop moved him. At the next church he was determined that his ministry would be effective. So, he didn't preach about racial issues; but there was an incident in town that compelled him to speak out. After that his wife was insulted in the grocery store and his children were ridiculed on the school play ground. The church board voted unanimously to ask him to move on. After this revelation one of the two leaders of the seminar felt compassion for the suffering pastor. But, the other leader was not so kind. "And your point is what?" he asked. "We work for the living God, not a false, dead god! Did someone tell you that it would be easy?" (1) Could it be that this is the type of situation that Jeremiah was concerned about when he responded to God's call by saying, "Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." After all, it's better to plead inadequacy than unwillingness. Yet, the story of Jeremiah reveals that he spent 40 years in faithful but reluctant service to God. He struggled with a sense of failure, with opposition from detractors and with overwhelming discouragement. So, it's good that his call included a two-fold blessing. The first blessing is that, in spite of Jeremiah's excuses and sense of inadequacy, God affirmed that Jeremiah - not anyone else - was God's chosen agent for that place. The second blessing was that God would guarantee His presence to Jeremiah. His call, like all true calls from God, was greater than he was. Such a call is undeserved and un-requested, not based on what a person has done, merited or worked his or her way up to. (2) That's what makes it so intimidating; it requires trust in the One who called. In today's Gospel lesson Jesus demonstrates his confidence in his call and his trust in the Divine power at work within him. The story is a continuation of last week's Gospel lesson in which Jesus read from the writings of the Prophet Isaiah in the synagogue at Nazareth, his home town. He tells the listeners that the words of the prophet are being fulfilled today in him. The waiting is over. The time has come. The Spirit of the Lord is upon him NOW. He brings good news to the poor today. He proclaims, at this very moment, release of the captives and recovery of sight to the blind. He has already begun to let the oppressed go free. (3) The listeners are surprised at the strength of this "hometown boy's" words and pleased that he, about whom they have been hearing so much, has finally come back where he belongs to do for them what he has done for others - and more! You can almost hear them chanting, "It's our turn now." After all, he's been living in Capernaum where there are many Gentiles who, in their minds, are less deserving. If he can do great things among the ungodly people of Capernaum, then he should do even better for them, the Chosen people of God. But Jesus cannot accept their assumption that they are included and "those others" are excluded. So, in a subtle, yet powerful, response Jesus turns their own scripture against them. He tells two well-known stories in which the recipients of God's grace and mercy are, dare I say it, Gentiles. It never occurred to them that the gracious words that Jesus had shared were for anyone but the people of Israel. They have always clung to the belief that the messiah would bring good news to oppressed Israel, will bind up the brokenhearted of Israel, will proclaim liberty to captive Israel. Their expectation is for the deliverance of Israel and the raining down of God's vengeance on everyone else. (4) The implication that they are not the exclusive recipients of God's favor fills them with rage and they fully intended to push him into a gully where he would be a good target for the stones they would throw to kill him. Somehow, though, he walked away from their anger; he will face more suffering for not fulfilling people's expectations. I wonder how may of us see ourselves as following in the footsteps of Jeremiah and Jesus? Soren Kierkegaard must have thought he was doing so when he wrote that many great minds of his century had given themselves to making people's lives easier - inventing labor-saving devices. He said that he would dedicate himself to making people's lives more difficult. He would become a preacher. (5) Now, before you convince yourselves that God's call is not for you, let me assure you that it is not just for those who preach. One way or another God calls all of us. And, if we are serious about that call, our lives will be more difficult because of it. What's easy about doing what Jesus challenged the people of Nazareth to do, which was to see all people as included among the chosen ones of God? What's easy about doing what Jesus talks about in the Sermon on the Mount that we read in Matthew 5? He says you are blessed when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on his account. He says that being angry at someone, or insulting that person, is as much a reason for judgment as murder. He tells us to love our enemies and pray for them and to give in secret, not letting our left hand know what the right hand is doing. We are to be the light of the world, so that people may see us and give glory to God. And, those are the easy commands. In order to respond to God's call we must have courage. That means we believe that the Sender knew just who he was sending. Remember how God told Jeremiah that even before he was formed in the womb, God knew him and before he was born God had consecrated him as a prophet. The other thing we must have the courage to believe is that the message lives independent from the messenger. To me that implies that the message has a life of its own that survives even if we mess up as long as our attempts are sincere. (6) Remember Jeremiah's two-fold blessing? It's our blessing too. In spite of our sense of inadequacy, God has chosen each one of us for a particular time and situation. And, God promises to be present with us. The Lord put out his hand and touched Jeremiah's mouth as a sign of selection. We too were touched by God's hand in our baptisms and a cross was traced on our foreheads marking us as those who by the power of the Holy Spirit will respond to God's call. Do not kid yourselves, it won't be easy. But we too serve a living God, so it will be transforming. AMEN (1) "Book 'Em" by William Willimon, The Christian Century, January 27, 2004, pg. 20, www.religion-online.org AMEN
(2) "God's Calling: A Two-Fold Blessing" by Thomas F. Fischer, Ministry Health, Number 4, www.ministryhealth.net
(3) Sermonwriter, Epiphany 4C, Luke 4:21-30, by Richard Donovan, pg. 3, www.sermonwriter.com
(4) Same as #3, pg. 5
(5) Same as #1
(6) "The Call of Jeremiah: Human Struggle with the Divine Summors" by Dan Clendenin, for Sunday, January 28, 2007, www.journeywithjesus.net