The familiar (Luke 4)

I know I’m talking about the people who expected someone. That’s kind of the theme of advent after all. People expecting a deliverer, people expecting the return of a deliverer.  But it’s impossible to skip over a group of people who  were expecting things the worg way.

Jesus came home for a visit. He reads from Isaiah (see the past few posts).  A simple phrase is recorded. And everyone is impressed at how well he speaks. And then they say, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

It is impossible to hear the tone of voice they used. It’s impossible to know exactly what they meant. However, Jesus’ response may show us that their question was loaded. They ask about his dad, and he talks about prophets being rejected at home.

It’s hard to come home. Everyone goes back to being 12 at home. Implied in the conversation is a sense that they could believe Jesus was really the miracle guy they had been hearing about. Implied is the sense that he should have been doing something for them for all these years. Implied is that they could have saved the life, the sight, the job of Aunt Helen and Uncle Dave and Cousin Frank. He could have been a contender right here at home.

And their response to his response is telling. They get angry. They want to kill him.

When people get incredible angry about an observation, it’s a good sign that they know it’s true and that they don’t like the truth.

And these people weren’t happy that Jesus wasn’t the son of the carpenter they thought he was. That Jesus they could handle. This Jesus, rabbi, miracle worker,  grown up, unexpected, uncontrollable, unlimited, this Jesus they couldn’t handle.

And that, of course, is the point of being God.

Blind (Luke 4)

Jesus had a deep affection for blind guys.

That may be an over-generalization, it may be reading too much into the biblical text. What would be more accurate is that he healed several.  Sometimes he touched them. Sometimes he spit on the ground to make mud and rubbed it on their eyes. Sometimes he said “see”.

In several ways, he let people see.

It must be scary to not be able to see and to orient your whole like to surviving, and then to suddenly see.  Do you ever get lost and close your eyes so you can find your way? Do you ever close your eyes so you can remember a voice or a scent?

Said that way, it sounds almost romantic to have no sight. Except for the fact that everyone that Jesus healed asked for him to heal them.  They wanted change. They longed for change. Some people literally begged him to change them.

So when Jesus read from the prophet Isaiah that “He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind,” he was talking about having good news for some people who were desperate for it. 

Some people think they can see and are confused. Some people are sure they can’t. Both need Jesus. The ones who are sure they blind often end up seeing Him.

Captive audience (Luke 4)

“He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives.”

Some people are trapped by other people. Some people are trapped by their own bodies. Some people are trapped by broken elevators. Some people are trapped by education–or lack thereof. Some people are trapped by poverty, by popularity, by expectations created by others or by themselves. Some people are trapped by labels, by stereotypes, by career paths, by bad experiences. Most people at some point in their lives would describe themselves as captives.

The message here, to captives, is peculiar. People are not freed. Release is proclaimed. It’s a message, not a magic wand. The cage doesn’t disappear, but the door is unlocked, the chains fall off.

That’s what the good news is. You can have release.

But you gotta know you were captive. And you gotta know that you gotta move.

If we are comfortable in our captivity, release isn’t good news; it’s trauma. If we are unwilling to accept the terms of freedom (you can’t free yourself, you can only accept freedom), then release isn’t good news, it’s bondage.

But release has been proclaimed. Jesus said so that day.

poor (luke 4)

I could, I know, talk about how Jesus was tempted. There was some anticipation there, though I think that the anticipation was mostly on Jesus’ part.

I want to skip that, however, and move on to the first recorded sermon. Actually, what is more significant is the reading before the sermon.

There really wasn’t a sermon. A rabbi, or teacher, would read part of the old testament (although, to be honest, that’s not what it was called, since there was no new testament yet) and then would spend some time talking about it. Jesus took the scroll and opened it to some words from Isaiah, a prophet.

THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR.

In a little while, after reading this, Jesus is going to say that this prophecy came true in him. What that means is that something about what he says is good news for poor people.

The usual questions come to mind: does he mean financial poor or poor in spirit? Is the good news that the checks are on the way or that checks won’t matter? Is the good news that God doesn’t think better of people who have money? Is the good news that the poor may be closer to understanding God than the rich? Is the good news that the messiah was pretty poor himself? And homeless? And unemployed?

The good news, at least in part, is that the poor could use some good news, and Jesus is saying that God-in-flesh is paying attention to poor people, whatever their poverty: financial, social, spiritual. Whatever the deficit, he’s willing to talk and care and love. And that is good news.

Sinners (Luke 2)

With that as the title, who is going to read this post?

I wouldn’t.

But I read in Luke 3 that “The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ.”

And what came right before that? A whole long discussion of John telling people that they need to repent from their sins. And after this kind of criticism, this negative thinking, the people wonder if John is the one who is coming to save them?

How can preaching about sin be positive? When the change in behavior is so positive. John says, if you have plenty, share it rather than hording it. If you have the right to gather taxes, don’t abuse the right. Don’t abuse the authority you have.

The message of repentance is always an about face. Stop doing what’s bad. Start doing what’s good. And good news is worth expecting.

missing children (Luke 2)

We’ve had moments when we have wondered where our children are. We spent what seemed like hours searching for our son at a theme park once. But three days? I’m guessing that we would be pretty frantic if we couldn’t find either of our children for three days.

We would look everywhere. We would ask everyone we could find if they had seen someone about this tall, with this color eyes, wearing that tunic I made…

The people most desperate to find Jesus, the people willing to give up just about anything to figure out where he was were…Mary and Joseph.

They had been up to Jerusalem as a family, taking Jesus when he was about 12. It was about the time when he would go from being a child of his parents to being a child of the law, accountable for his own behavior before the law.  When his parents left, they thought he was with other relatives, perhaps with his cousin John. A day into the trip back to Nazareth, it was clear that he wasn’t near.

And then, they started their desperate search.

Of course they found him, reasoning in the temple with the (rest of the) rabbis.  And he told them he was involved in the family business. Since Joseph was a carpenter, not a rabbi, it was pretty clear that Jesus was talking about his Real Father.

But that desperation. I can’t get past that desperation. What would it be like to be that devoted to finding Jesus?

I wonder.

Expectation (Luke 2)

Our dog, Shiloh, loves treats. He needs them, so he thinks, before eating his regular food. He whines. He dances around. He nudges us. And he watches.

When we tell him to sit and wait, he will, now that he can hear again, sit and wait. But his eyes never leave our hands. He watches.

When we walk into the laundry room where we keep the treats, he comes to the doorway. When we close the door, because it is also a bathroom, he lays down, nose pressed to the door. When he hears movement, he jumps back up.

At those times, Shiloh lives in expectation. He is watching and waiting with every part of his body.

Anna was a prophetess. In no way was she like Shiloh, except in this: she lived with her heart waiting.

She lived every day at the temple, she spent all her time in prayer and fasting. And so, when the six week old Jesus showed up, she was there.

84 years old.

Temple all the time.

Saw Jesus once.

But once was enough for her. Luke says of her, “She continued to speak of him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.”

But I bet she kept going to the temple until the day she died. Now with news of Hope.

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Consolation (Luke 2)

Q: Who needs consolation?
A: Those who have lost hope.

Simeon was a man looking for consolation. Not for himself, but for Israel. He live among a people who had had everything. They had kings, a temple, armies, God. They were not just a people, they were God’s people.

Now? Puppet kings. A temple built by a puppet king trying to curry their favor, to impress them with his spirituality. An occupying army. And God? They weren’t quite sure what He was doing. He hadn’t said anything for four centuries.

They had nothing but dusty memories and impossible dreams. Oh, they had had a chance, a hundred years before this, but Rome stopped that.

And so, they needed consolation.

And that’s what Simeon was wanting for his people. He was righteous – a good man.  He was devout – a consistent man. The Holy Spirit was upon him – a Godly man. And the Spirit had given him a message – a hopeful man.

Some people want gifts for themselves. We understand that. Some people want gifts for others. We honor that.

And so, and then, Jesus shows up at the temple. Still an infant, He was carried into the temple by his parents. And at just that time, Simeon showed up as well.

And then he was ready to die. Because he had seen the future. And there was Hope.

Shepherds (Luke 2)

On the first day of a new job, one of the first tasks is to introduce the newbie to everyone. It’s part of the orientation, part of saying to the newbie, “here is who you are part of, here is the heritage you are joining.”

On the night Jesus was born, an angel stood in front of some shepherds, telling them that a baby had been born in Bethlehem, the city of David, the city of the shepherd king.

The angel was sending the shepherds to the ultimate in new job orientations.

In thirty years, Jesus was going to describe himself as a shepherd, was going to talk about his work with people in images that would have been completely familiar to these guys that were visiting him that night.

In thirty years, Jesus was going to talk about a shepherd. This shepherd realized that one sheep is away from the others, at risk, alone. This shepherd left a flock of 99 sheep and headed off looking for the one. He was going to talk about finding the one sheep being worth risking everything. After finding the one, this shepherd was going to have a party and tell everyone that the lost sheep was found, everyone.

When Jesus told that story, he had lived in the middle of it, the night he was born.

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Hungry (Luke 1)

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas in the US, food is plentiful and hunger scarce. At least that’s what many people talk about as they complain of weight gain and holiday parties. However, anyone with connections to food banks and helping agencies is aware that gas bills often eat better than their owners.

People who live at the margins know hunger.

The margins starve souls, too. One review of Jewish history describes their time in wilderness between Egypt and Israel: “They were hungry and thirsty. Their soul fainted within them.”* They weren’t just without food, they were without hope.

When Mary recited a poem she had composed,  that history came to mind, the part of it where the writer says,

Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men, for he satisfies the thirsty
and fills the hungry with good things.

Mary said, “He has filled the hungry with good things.”

When we have plenty to eat, whether for body or soul, we have little need to anticipate anything. Food is expected, and we debate whether we like our choices, and we watch choices multiply: whole, 2%, skim, half and half, sugar, sweetener (pink), sweetener (yellow), sweetener (blue).

When our souls are starving, empty, craving, then we cry out for food: “More. Please, sir, can I have some more?” And if we find the Provider–like Israel, like Mary, like crowds in a meadow, like disciples around a table or on a beach, like a woman by a well craving relationship–we find that “He has filled the hungry with good things.”

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Subscribe for free by clicking here*Psalm 107