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Nehemiah 8:2-10, I Corinthians 12:12-27, Luke 4:14-21
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, West Valley City, UT
The Rev'd W. Lee Shaw
Today we have stories of two scrolls being opened by two men about four centuries apart, each of whom are beginning a new thing. It is a time of change, transition and risk for each of them.
Over 500 years before Christ was born, Israel was taken into captivity
by the Babylonian empire. Jerusalem and Solomon's temple were
destroyed. The country was in ruins. Years later after King Cyrus
defeated the Babylonians, he freed Israel and eventually possibly
5,000 of them returned to Jerusalem. It is here that Ezra stands
and reads to them the Law of Moses to renew in them their covenant
with their God. They are beginning anew in an old land with a new
emphasis on the Law of Moses with their city, temple and economy
in ruins. They are surrounded by unfriendly nations. There was
no small risk or fear in coming home and rebuilding the city, the
temple and country. They are a small nation, but they did so for
they felt God with them, Do not be grieved, for the joy of the
Lord is your strength.
About four hundred years later, another man opens another scroll
and reads and announces a new thing, Jesus of Nazareth. He has
been traveling around the countryside gradually building a reputation
as rabbi and healer. Now he returns home. He has come home to
announce his new call, his ministry. The synagogue is full because
they came to see the home town boy made good.
Jesus clearly has a presence about him for the eyes of all...were
fixed on him.
His bearing and his voice command their attention.
When he finished reading the familiar passage from the Prophet
Isaiah he sat down to teach, and then he delivered his stunning
message: Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
I am sure you could have heard a pin drop.
What do you mean fulfilled?
Good news to the poor...
release to the captives... recovery of sight to the blind... let
the oppressed go free... to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
This is a new thing! This is a change in the usual pattern, a
change in tradition! This is a risky thing! Next week we will
hear how the good folks in the synagogue responded, let me just say
it was not a nice little reception for Jesus during coffee hour.
This is as if Jesus is articulating what we would call his mission
statement for ministry.
This is what he is about. He is fulfilling
the words of the prophet and he is doing a new thing. It is a risky
thing. We know the price he paid.
To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
That is a powerful
line. It is a powerful message. It is a message of promise and of
risk, of faith and of hope. Two thousand years after Jesus read
this in his home town synagogue it was read in a magnificent cathedral
at the Investiture of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schorri.
She chose this Gospel reading for that liturgy. She invited the
church to reflect on the meaning of, To proclaim the year of the
Lord's favor.
We, as the Episcopal Church have chosen a woman to lead our denomination. Historically, we have had a tradition of women abbesses with great authority over even joint monastic communities, such as St. Hilda of Whitby. But this is the first time in the history of the Christian faith a woman has been called to such high office. We use the term Presiding Bishop. Her counterparts are the Anglican Archbishops. Make no mistake this is no small matter. There is no small risk.
We have only to read the newspaper to see the risks we are taking.
Some people are unhappy. It is a time of change, transition and
risk. It is both an uncomfortable time and an exciting time, a
time of promise and a time of uncertainty. We are living in a
critical moment of both/and
in our religious lives.
I was at General Convention when Katharine was elected and I voted
for her consent in the House of Deputies. I do feel the Holy Spirit
is moving this Church to be a voice of prophecy and hope to the
world. I believe the Holy Spirit moves through a variety of voices,
people and groups to bring people closer to their God for we believe
that it is Jesus alone who is the way, the truth and the life.
In so many ways the Episcopal Church is proclaiming the year of
the Lord's favor
in moving into this new field. But this is a
field not unknown in Christian tradition for prominent women to
have great influence in the wider church with high church leaders;
however, it is a new field given the office of this particular woman
as bishop. For me it is a time of prophecy and of risk. It is a
time of hope and of challenge. It is a time of faith and of
forbearance. It is also a time to hear very carefully and personally
the words of St. Paul that I cannot say, I have no need of you.
I need my fellow Christian pilgrims, of all stripes and conditions,
theologies and beliefs (even when we disagree), for they enrich,
enliven and inform my faith and life. For in the one Spirit we
were all baptized into one body.
This is the year of the Lord's favor
and all are invited to
the banquet. All are invited to the fellowship. All are invited
to the new life of Christ in their lives for you are the body of
Christ and individually members of it.
As your priest and pastor
I do have absolutely a need of each of you as I hope and pray you
have need for one another.