"Ire"
First Congregational Church of Wauwatosa
Rev. Barry W. Szymanski, J.D.
Associate Minister of Pastoral Care & Spiritual Formation
January 31, 2010

FIRST READING - Luke 4

All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’ He said to them, Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, “Doctor, cure yourself!” And you will say, “Do here also in your home town the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.” And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months,

and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.’ When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

SECOND READING - 1 Corinthians 13

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

SERMON

This morning we are confronted with two major readings. The first is Paul's famous letter on love. The second is an often hard to understand Gospel passage where the villagers of Nazareth where Jesus grew up want to kill him. Both passages call for some background. I reflected for a time on which to start with, and then decided to begin with Paul. His passage on love is quite standard for weddings – and often for funerals. Love is a complicated subject. For me to try to understand it is like an elephant walking on grapes. Very difficult. I easily stomp and squash the subject.

But, since it is the reading for today, I push on. Some say that 'love is indefinable', -- but we recognize it when we see it. An unknown pundit even said, that “Love is a many splintered thing." We can go to the ancient Greeks for words such as agape. Or, in our English language, we can speak of the love of the heart, love of the mind, physical love, spiritual love. We can even speak of the word 'like', as in 'I like ice cream.' But, since I love ice cream, the word 'like' repeatedly leaves us short also. Is there an easy way to understand love? Not really. Because there are so many kinds of love.

There is the love of a mother toward an infant. The first love of teen-agers toward each other. The love God has for us. Our love of things. The love of literature. Passionate love. And the love we have for God. Just too many kinds of love. Love is often our desire that a loved friend be happy.

Love can also be possessive. In other words, I want to own something. Love can be pure in its desire. Or love can be tainted. Love is frequently conditioned love. Then love is conditioned within a context. But what love has - regardless of definition – is that love wants. Love is a desire. The desire may be for the well-being of an child. Or a spouse. Or a loved-one. Or union with God. Which brings us to today's letter written by Paul. Paul uses our understanding of the universality of love and then Paul speaks of love in the context of church. When we take a closer look at the passage of Paul in his letter to the church in Corinth, we find that he is writing to the members of that church as members of the Body of Christ.

Yet, since love has so many varied meanings and interpretations – his statements on love are universally understood as to marriages, friendships, parenting, and on and on in all relationships. Two weeks ago we heard Paul describe spiritual gifts, and last week Paul explained the concept of who we are as the Body of Christ. Paul was writing to a divided church – this is clearly shown at the very beginning of his epistle to the church in Corinth.

Paul's purpose and hope was to unite this church by explaining what it means to be the Body of Christ, and what spiritual gifts are, and what it means to love one another in Christ. He tells them that regardless of each person's spiritual and worldly gifts, that if they do not have love, they are nothing more than loud noise makers. He lets them know that regardless of a person's ability to make Christ's message real in their preaching, if they do not have love, they are nothing.

He declares that even if the people in the church have faith in God, and in Jesus, and in the Holy Spirit, but do not have love, they have nothing. He told them this by referring to himself, rather than to them – but in reality, they were the readers and hearers of his letter. And then he continued by emphasizing that even if a person voluntarily gifts all of his or her possessions keeping nothing for themselves while attempting to gain Christ, and then lives in poverty, but does not do so because of and in love, they are really poor, because they are and have nothing!

Paul asked them to be patient with each other. To be kind. To bear all things. Paul admonished those individuals who belonged to that church not to be envious, not to be boastful, not to be arrogant or rude. He asked them not to insist on their own way. And certainly not to be irritable or resentful. He warned them not to rejoice in wrongdoing.

Let me go to an aside for a minute: When I am asked to include this passage in a wedding ceremony, I like to remind the couple what they are asking for, For they are publicly praying to be blessed at their wedding – with the blessings of patience, and kindness, and acceptance. Conversely, they are stating, while standing before all of the people attending their wedding, that they will * not be envious of their spouse, * not be arrogant with their spouse, * not be rude to their spouse. They will not insist on their own way. And certainly not be irritable or resentful. They will bear with all of those things that spouses do which make the other spouse cringe – and will continue to do so especially after the honeymoon is over!

But Paul's letter speaks of more than that, for Paul tells the members of the church of Corinth that love rejoices in the truth! And that love believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. The next line that Paul writes is a declaration of tremendous wisdom. It is a truth – which is why it is so popular at funerals. Paul asserts that "Love never ends."

As followers of Jesus Christ, we believe in life everlasting with God. And we believe that we will share that endless existence with all those we love. So we embrace the reality which Paul holds: that love never ends. Paul writes that all the gifts which we possess during our time on this earth will end.

Then Paul tells us that when we were children * we talked like children – childish; * we thought like children – immature; * we reasoned like children – illogical; but now we are adults, and therefore are: * grown-up, * rational, * and must be articulate.

He also used another example – that of a mirror. Remember that this was 2,000 years ago, and mirrors were not as clear as they are now. Probably the best example is to say that we are looking at our face reflected in a calm pond. The image is not very clear. But after we die, then we will see God face to face.

Paul closes by telling us that we can have faith in God because of Jesus, and we can hope because of Jesus, and we can love through and in Jesus. Paul then affirms that when love abides, love is the greatest of these. Paul's prayer, in the very last two sentences of his first letter to the Corinthian church are proof of his love of Jesus – and his love for them. He wrote: "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus." 1 Cor 16:23-24

His hope was for a united and loving church! Which takes us to the mysterious Gospel reading today. Prior to today's reading Luke presents the story of the temptation of Jesus

during his forty day retreat in the desert. The very next passage after that retreat tells us that Jesus returned to Galilee and that he was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. He then began to teach, and he traveled to Nazareth. Recall that Nazareth was where he grew up. This is the village where they knew him as a little kid, then as a boy, then as a teen-ager, then as a young man up to age 30. They knew Mary and Joseph. And they knew his relatives.

That is where Jesus announced that he, personally, was anointed by God as foretold in the scriptures. That leads us to today's reading where we are told that Jesus made it clear to his fellow villagers that what they had just heard Jesus read from the prophet has come true this very day right in front of them. You can picture the people turning to each other to talk about Jesus. Their first impression was amazement at the wonderful things he said. However, during their discussion an obvious question was asked: "Isn't he Joseph's son?"

You can easily imagine many hotheads in the synagogue grumbling at this point as they pointed out that he was just an ordinary guy from Nazareth. Some even objected that Jesus should 'make himself well first before going out as 'God's annointed' * to preach and * to bring good news.' Because of those who were complaining, Jesus first answered by telling them he understood that they certainly wanted to tell him to be a physician to himself – a Doctor, and make himself well – before anyone else.

In addition, Jesus also answered them that he realized that many of them wanted him to do the same things here in Jesus' own hometown that they heard that he did in Capernaum. You can see the shift in the attitude of the people. They went from being astonishment at Jesus' knowledge, and how he preached; to being upset when reminded that he was just one of them -- and the son of Joseph the laborer! Jesus went further and told them that they could be sure that no prophets are liked by the people of their own hometown.

He reminded them of the story in 1 Kings chapter 17 that once during the time of Elijah there was no rain for three and a half years, and people everywhere were starving. During that time there were many widows in Israel, but Elijah was sent only to a widow in the town of Zarephath near the city of Sidon. Zarephath was a town on the Mediterranean coast occupied mostly by the Phoenicians, who were Gentiles.

You will recall yet another Gospel story where a Phoenician woman asked Jesus to cure her – and Jesus, at first, rebuffed her because she was a Gentile, but did, in fact, cure her because of her faith. Then Jesus reminded the people in the Synagogue of the story in the 2nd Book of Kings in Chapter 7 that during the time of the prophet Elisha, many men in Israel had leprosy. However, no one was healed, except a man named Naaman who was a Syrian, not an Israelite.

So, using both stories, Jesus told his neighbors in Nazareth that Gentiles were sometimes ahead of Israelites in being helped by God – for, in those two stories, the Israelites continued to starve, and continued not to be cured of leprosy. Do we have any doubt, when we hear what Jesus said to them, that his neighbors became angry – actually, they became so livid that they got up and threw him out of the synagogue. They were so annoyed that they took him out of the town. They dragged him to the edge of the cliff on which the town was built, fully intending to throw him down from the cliff.

Luke tells us that Jesus slipped through the crowd and got away. Picture those enraged people! They were irate! Their ire took them to almost committing murder. We look at religious intolerance in 2009 and 2010, and the fury that some people even now, because of their religious beliefs. Yet Jesus escaped the mob. Was it because of his strong character? Did he just stare them down? Did they just wither when they realized that this 'annointed one of God' was beyond their power? Or was it pure divine intervention?

All we do know is that it was not Jesus' time to die. We learn from this Gospel story which occurred at the very beginning of Jesus' ministry that, even then, there were people who wanted him dead. Yet, I know that my first reaction, had I been dragged through the streets to be tossed off of a cliff to my death, would be to want to take revenge – to punish those who sought to take my life!

However, Jesus continued to loved them – he did not condemn them – or punish them – he simply walked away. I look at those townspeople – his fellow villagers who dragged Jesus through the very streets he grew up in, and I can grasp that they were expecting a Messianic King, a person of power, a person of military might – but instead there came to them a common laborer – a person who also preached very well – and a person who they were in awe of – yet a person whose hands were calloused; a person who did not wear purple. A person, who we learn later, was willing to wash feet. And indeed, did wash feet.

When given the task of preaching, a preacher can make every attempt to synthesize the readings presented by the liturgy on a Sunday. This can often result in a convoluted message. But the liturgy this Sunday has no intricate messages. We realize that God sent Jesus out of love. And we realize that Jesus did what he did out of love first in time, for his own townspeople, and, as time unfolded, for all of us. Paul's conversion took place out of God's love for Paul.

Paul spread the Gospel, who is Jesus himself, out of his love for Jesus; which spilled out and over into love for all people. We realize that Paul's concern for churches was because of his love for Jesus and because of the relationship he had with the members of those churches. Paul understood very well that the 'New and Eternal Covenant' was Jesus's love for each of us.

Today's Gospel shows that there were people then, and people now, who emphatically deny that Jesus is who is says he is. And that people of all ages will, often with indignation, deny the message of Jesus. What Jesus teaches, both in words and in his life, is that love is in giving not in keeping; that his love was total, all consuming love; and a pure love; that love is free; and that love overcomes fear.

Let us pray,

Lord, our God, your Son Jesus came to us as the Living Word, because of love for us. We, now, are his Body on this earth. Lord, as members of Christ, help us mature in the gifts you have given us, but most of all in the gift of love. As your Apostle Paul reminds us, we pray that we be patient, and kind, and rejoice in the truth, and endure all things, in the name of our redeemer Christ. Let us strive to be tolerant, struggle to be mature, do our utmost to be reasonable, and endeavor to put our love for God first, and then love everyone we come in contact with. For, Lord, we realize that when all is in order, you first loved us, and we pray for the grace to love you in return, and, in your name, to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Lord, we pray as the Psalmist prayed, that we trust in you, as you are our divine rock. Amen.