Epiphany 4
“Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Jesus’ sermon was short and to the
point. He had just read an excerpt from
Isaiah 61, a passage that talks about God’s restoration of Israel after the
Babylonian Exile, the reconciliation God will bring between peoples, and the
Anointed One (Christ) God would send to lead the people. Jesus says, in effect, “I am that one.” But, rather than seeing God’s Son, the people
of Nazareth only see Joseph’s boy.
Rather than seeing Jesus as the one who brings reconciliation and
restoration to the world, they only see a miracle worker who can cure some of
the sick hometown folk. Instead he
reminds them that God’s vision and activity goes well beyond the limits of the
hometown. He reminds them of two stories
where God sent the great prophets Elijah and Elisha to outsiders, strangers, foreigners. A widow in Sidon is fed. Naaman from Syria, an enemy general, who
worships another god, is healed. The
local folk are so incensed that they try to throw the hometown boy off a cliff!
Earlier this month, I spent a day along the US-Mexican border
learning about what is happening there. We
listened to several speakers, including a US Border Patrol agent who spoke powerfully
about the complexities and injustices of our immigration policies, the need for
change and the importance of compassion in dealing with the people coming to
our borders. The widow of Zarephath and her son crying out
for help.
Through the Oklahoma Conference of Churches, I have been in conversations
and shared in fellowship with leaders and others in the Muslim community in
Oklahoma City and Tulsa. I have heard their
stories about the hatred, fear and suspicion that they have experienced in our
communities. These are people who have
jobs, are trying to raise families and are as concerned about the realities of
terrorism as I am. Many of them were
born and raised in and around Oklahoma.
If God, through Elijah, could be compassionate to someone like Naaman… shouldn’t we extend at least that much compassion
to neighbors who are, in fact, our friends?
For the past eighteen months, I have been a part of the
Arkansas-Oklahoma Synod Racial Justice task force. We have been meeting to discuss and learn
about the real, pervasive and insidious sin of racism in our land and in our
communities. We, in the Church, need to
be talking and learning about these realities, and finding ways to address
them. The conversation is already going
on in a few of our synod churches… but
the conversation needs to expand.
The love and grace of Jesus Christ is not just for the hometown
crowd. The love and grace of Jesus
Christ is for the whole world. The love and grace of Jesus Christ is for widows
from Sidon, generals from Syria, immigrants, refugees, and people who look and
think and believe differently than we do.
God’s love is truly stronger than all the hatred, fear, mistrust,
suspicion and anger that we humans can muster.
God proved that by sending his Son to a cross… and then rising him up
again on the third day.
Peace,
Bishop Mike
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