Does it Make a Sound?

Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC 1/27/13

Scripture- Luke 4:14-21

Now I know that the Christmas Season has passed and we are now on to the season after Epiphany, but as I read the scripture for today I cannot help but to think about one of my favorite childhood Christmas books; The Polar Express. For those who have not read the book,  it is about a young boy on Christmas Eve who desperately wants to believe in Santa Claus, but finds himself in a world of doubt. Until that night after waking from his sleep, he hears a train outside. The train is called the Polar Express, and where else would it be going, but to the North Pole to see Santa Claus. The boy jumps onboard and the excitement of the story ensues. What reminds me of this Scripture is the symbolism of the small silver bell in the Polar Express. During the story, the boy finds two companions who accompany him on the trip. At one point they claim that they hear the sleigh bells from Santa’s sleigh but the main character is unable to hear it.  As Santa’s sleigh passes over the children one of the silver bells falls off, the kids ring the bell but once again the main character cannot it. He is told that you have to believe to hear it. Eventually, the boy comes to believe in the spirit of Christmas and can finally hear the bell. When Santa asks the boy what he wants for Christmas, boy simply asks to keep the sleigh bell; his wish is granted and he put the bell in his pocket, only later to find out that there was a hole in his pocket, and that he had lost the bell. The next morning, Christmas morning, the boy is back home and after all of the presents under the tree had been opened, they find one more small present. He opens it up to find that silver bell, and as he rings it he and his sister bask in the beauty of the sound, while the parents comment that it must be broken, because they cannot hear it. The books ends with the narrator telling us that as his friends got older they stopped being able to hear the bell, that even his sister stopped being able to hear it, but that for him, he could always hear its beautiful music. I love the imagery in this book between faith and being able to hear the beauty of a small bell. It is a sound that so many people had heard once in their lives, but then had lost the ability to hear its beauty; they had lost their belief that something transformative, something amazing could really happen.

            This story reminds me so much of what is happening in our scripture for today, though it may take a little while for it to become clear why. Our scripture starts out with Jesus returning to his home in Nazareth, surrounded by all the people who knew him and watched him grow up. They had probably worked with Joseph, the have probably visited with Mary. In other words, it was a community that knew who Jesus was, and knew his family. Now in the surrounding areas of Galilee there had been a lot of rumors about Jesus, people were starting to talk about him, people were even starting to worship him. I’m sure that some of these rumors had gotten back to the people of Nazareth, and I’m sure since they knew Jesus as a child, that they were probably a little skeptical about Jesus’ return. With that being said, as they gathered in the synagogue on the Sabbath, it seems as though things were pretty normal. They gather to hear scripture, and Jesus is handed the scroll to read for the people. Luke goes out of his way to tell us that this was the custom, which tells us that nothing really unusual was going on, That by all accounts this day was just like any other Sabbath day.

            Now let me stop here to explain the custom a little as we go through the story, so that we might be able to better understand what is happening. In a service like this, what would normally happen is that part of the Torah was read and after it was read then there would be a lesson on the scripture.  Kind of like a mix between a sermon and a Bible study. In those times the did not have books in the same way that we do.  There are things called codexes that were out around the time of Jesus, which would flip in the same way that our books do, but they were made out of papyrus or some other material, and in general were tedious to make, making them quite expensive. Most people in those times still had to use scrolls which were more accessible and cheaper. I mention this because we must realize that with a scroll, you simply cannot flip between books of the Bible. That usually, you would read through the different books, and would roll the scroll to where you stopped and the next person would continue from that point. This puts more meaning into our story because Jesus doesn’t really get to choose his text, Isaiah is given to him. Jesus begins to unroll the words of Isaiah until he finds these words, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free, ¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”   Then what would be custom for the service would be for the reader to sit down and either them or some other leader of the synagogue would sit and teach about the scripture.

            So we have all of this happening in our Scripture. Jesus in handed the scroll of Isaiah, he gets up, finds this particular spot, reads it and sits down to begin to teach. Nothing is out of the ordinary, nothing so far would cause any alarm, until Jesus sits down and says, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”  Wait, what?! This son of  Mary and Joseph just told us that scripture has been fulfilled in our hearing it. This kid that we knew ever since he was little, is now telling us the he is the fulfillment of scripture. He is telling us that the spirit of the Lord is upon him, that he has been anointed to proclaim good news to the poor. That he has been sent to free prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free. He dares to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.  The people of Nazareth get angry because they realize the Jesus is claiming to be the Messiah that they had been hearing about and learning about, and studying about their whole life. In their minds there is no way that Jesus can be the Messiah.

            But why?  When this scripture is preached about, often preachers point towards the fact that they knew Jesus, and that you simply cannot go back home. This is not an incorrect understanding of the passage, in fact later parts of the passage make this point explicit, but I wonder, what if it Jesus wasn’t from their hometown. What if Jesus was just a stranger, a guest speaker? I feel as though there would still be outrage and disgust and him making the claim that he is fulfilling scripture. I can imagine that these Jews were faithful Jews. They had probably all followed the laws of Judaism, they were after all observing the Sabbath day. I can imagine that they knew scripture pretty well; while most probably could not read, I’m sure that they had heard the scripture many times in their lives, it had been taught to them and explained for them by the teachers of the synagogue. I’m sure they even revered the scripture and treated it respect. And yet for all of this, there seems as though one thing is missing. It seems as though they did not believe that any of the beautiful stories and prophesies in the scripture could actually happen.  If for centuries they had been reading, and teaching about a Messiah who would come to set at liberty those who were oppressed, who would give sight to the blind, who would proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, then why are they so angry when it actually happens? Jesus comes to tell them that the Messiah has come, and yet their first response is to try and kill him. Could it be that they were angry because they didn’t actually believe that it could happen? That they wanted to kill Jesus because there is no way that someone could really be the Messiah that was prophesied about. Was there such an uproar when Jesus said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” because they didn’t truly believe that scripture could truly be fulfilled? Did they stop hearing that beautiful silver bell?

            Before we start to pile on the Jewish people of Nazareth, let us turn and look at ourselves. Do we truly believe in the fulfillment of scripture? When we hear scripture read in worship, when we hear it preached on, when we read the psalms together, when we study the word in Bible studies or by ourselves at home, do we truly believe that it means something? Do we hear and think, Wow those are beautiful words, or that teaches a good lesson. Do we simply use scripture as a checklist of morals that we need to follow, or do we truly believe that the words that we hear and study mean something. Do we truly believe in a savior who is the fulfillment of scripture? Do we truly believe in a Christ who has declared the year of the Lord’s favor? A Christ who came to heal the blind, Christ who came to set at liberty the oppressed, a Christ who came to set the prisoners free, a Christ who came to preach the good news to the poor?! Do we truly believe that these words, that our savior can transform the world around us?

            Then why do so often act as if there is no transformative power in the sacred words that we hear? Why do we listen to all of the pessimism in the world around and let that tell us that there is no hope, when we know that there is hope in Christ, hope in a savior who is the fulfillment of scripture? And if we are truly followers of Christ and truly believe that Christ has come to heal the sick, set the oppressed free, preach good news to the poor, then why do we so often sit back and watch sadness in the world and throw up our hands and say that there is nothing that we can do?

            If we truly believe in a Christ who is the fulfillment of these scripture, then we truly believe that Christ can work through us to transform the world. Our savior gives us hope. He gives us hope that all of the things hoped for in Isaiah are fulfilled in him. He gives us hope for eternal life, but he also gives us hope of new creation here on Earth. A hope that we can make a difference with the power of the Holy Spirit. A hope that the world is not destined for doom and destruction, but rather a hope that we may all be made new through Christ. That we may be restored from our brokenness to perfection in love. If we truly believe that scripture is fulfilled in Christ, then all of this is not some fairy tale, it’s not some utopian idea, it’s not just wishful thinking, but it is a true hope that we are able to have in our savior Jesus Christ; and not a hope like I hope to win the lottery, but a hope as in an expectation, a goal worth living and striving towards.  When we truly believe in this reality, then scripture becomes like that silver sleigh bell, a beautiful sound that reminds us of the heart and Spirit of Christianity. Just the pure sound of the words brings joy into our lives, challenges us and gives us hope. So as close this morning I have one question for you, when you hear these words of fulfillment and hope, are they like the silver bell to your ears, does it make a sound? If you answered yes then treasure that sound and never let the beauty fade. If you answered no, don’t despair; instead be like the boy in the Polar Express, search for that sound, long for it, if you earnestly seek after it, one day you will hear the beautiful ringing. Today scripture is fulfilled in your hearing it. Does it make a sound?

 

The Best is Yet to Come

Sermon as Preached at Lambs and Evington UMC 1/20/13

Scripture John 2:1-11

 

Today’s scripture is an account of what has possibly become one of the most well know and miracles of Jesus. If you were to go around and just ask people on the street to name a miracle that Jesus performed what would they say? I’m sure some would mention a healing, but it would probably not be a specific instance, people might mention the fact that he walked on water, but I bet you that one of the most common responses would be that Jesus turned water into wine. Even most non-Christians would know about this miracle. There are references made to it in countless stories, movies, television shows, It almost has even become routine to see water a party and joke about turning it into wine. Our society knows this miracle pretty well, but for those in attendance at that wedding, and for all who would come to hear about it, this would be a moment of revelation.

            Up to this point this point talk about Jesus had mostly been all anticipation. We have the prophets foretelling his coming, the angel coming to Joseph and Mary declaring that Jesus was the Messiah. The shepherds and wise men came from all over the Earth and declared the same to be true. John the Baptist even began preaching telling the world that the Messiah, the promised one was coming. Then we have the baptism of Jesus, the heavens opened and the voice of God was heard declaring that “this is my son with whom I am well pleased.” Jesus had even began to gather some of his disciples, who believed what was said about Jesus was true, and decided to follow him. Still, up to this point all we have had so far is anticipation. Jesus is now around thirty years old, For thirty years, people have been hearing about how this man was the Son of God, this man was the savior. They had heard probably heard him speak and interacted with him, and possibly thought to themselves something is different about this man, but still thirty years have passed and Jesus has not done anything to prove that he is truly is the Messiah. 30 years of waiting, and still no toppling of the Empire, no setting free those who are oppressed, not even a sign that this man is any different from the rest of us; that is until Mary, Jesus and his disciples are invited to a wedding. At first this seems like nothing special, Jesus is not the center of the attention that of  course would be the bride and the groom. Jesus is simply a guest, a wallflower. The wedding seems to have gone well, everyone is celebrating with a party, they are having wine, and once again nothing special is happening. Until, they start to run out of wine. Mary comes up to Jesus and tells, they are running out of wine you’ve got to do something. Mary knows what Jesus is capable of, she did after all raise him, but Jesus indicates that the timing is not right. He says, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come." Jesus pretty much says so what, you know what I can do, I know what I can do, but the rest of the world does not, This is not the time for me to reveal that. Or how it probably sounded to Mary, “Mom, Not now, I don’t wanna.”

            But of course Mom always wins, and so Jesus begins to perform his first miracle. He tells the servants to gather the water jars and fill them full of water, he then tells them to draw some of it out and to take it to the chief steward. Notice that the scripture doesn’t simply tell us that Jesus turned water into wine, but rather lets us join in on the anticipation. What is going to happen to the water? What is the chief steward going to say? What did he do? It would not be uncommon in those days if you were running out of wine to water it down to make it last longer. Maybe this is what Jesus did. Will the steward like it? But then we get the steward’s response, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now."  You have kept the good wine until now. That means that Jesus must have actually turned the water into wine! John writes the story in such a way so that we like those present at the wedding make the revelation for ourselves. This man Jesus, has done something incredible, he has turned water into wine. Not only has he turned water into wine, but the wine that he created is even better than the wine that they started out with in the first place! You see, it would be quite normal to deceive the guests at the wedding, serving the good wine first, waiting for them to get drunk, and then serving bad wine so that they at that point could not tell the difference. But the steward, the responsible one, the caterer or host of the party or whatever analogy you would like to use would know better, and yet he is even astonished that this new wine is even better than the original. 

            This is it, the first sign of Jesus Christ. Jesus has done something to make people take notice. This man is not just any ordinary man. This man just turned water into wine. All of the anticipation, all of the waiting, all of the prophecy, might just be true, because Jesus has just made the impossible, possible., I’m sure people were going crazy when they figured out what had happened. If this was in or day and age, it people would be texting, tweeting, facebooking, recording it on their iphone and putting it up on youtube, the media would have already come and interviewed people, debates would have been held on talk shows, it would be a madhouse, and I’m sure in its own way at that time, it was. And yet in the midst of that was going on Jesus makes it clear that his hour has not yet come. His hour has not yet come, how is that possible if he just revealed his power at this wedding?  To answer this question we must once again look at the response of the chief steward.

            He says, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now." John is very clever author. All throughout his Gospel he words and phrases that have a double meaning. This is a perfect example of one of those double meanings. The first meaning is of course the literal meaning, that Jesus has saved the good wine for last, but at the same time this is also talking about this sign of Jesus. That this is but the first sign, that like the original wine it is good, in fact it is better than good, it is what was expected to be the best, and yet the best is yet to come. There is so much more ahead. 

            We have all experienced the opposite of this. You’ve seen commercials for a new movie that is coming out and the commercials look so good, the movie looks so funny, and then you go to see it and come to find out that the only funny parts of the movie, was what was shown in the previews, It becomes such a disappointment.  This is so common in our culture, we always try to present our best. We drive fancy cars, or have big houses, When guests come over we put out our best china and silverware. If we don’t have money than we flaunt our best attribute; if we’re funny we tell jokes, if we’re smart we show it off, we do whatever we can to portray ourselves as best as we can, but unfortunately that’s all we have. If people dig deeper, expect something else, we’ve already displayed the best we have.

            And yet the opposite is true with Jesus. This miracle of turning water into wine, is but a teaser for what is to come. It’s  like going to a firework show and they shoot of a firework that’s really big, or really loud, or beautiful, or it does something cool like swerves around the sky, or crackles like rice crispies, or my favorite droops like a weeping willow tree. We’re so impressed by these initial fireworks but then the show goes on and more a more fireworks are fired, the do more cool things, they are bigger and prettier, and they all lead up to the grand finale in which the sky is fully of fireworks, you can’t even hear yourself think, and you are simply stunned and amazed by what you have seen. This miracle of turning water into wine is like the first firework. It’s so amazing and beautiful, but compared to what is about to happen, it pales in comparison. My hour has not yet come. This is the first sign of Jesus Christ.

            Through this miracle, Jesus has given the world a glimpse of what is about to come, a foretaste of his glory, and Jesus is so right, that this is not his hour. It is amazing that he turned water into wine, but it was only a sign. What did it do?  It kept a wedding celebration from ending early. In this passage Jesus seems so disinterested in the plea of his mother. What concern is that to you and me, My hour has not yet come?  It even seems as if Jesus is being a little rude, Mary knows what he can do and simply asks for him to help out the celebration. But compared to what is to come, he’s right that this isn’t his hour. That changing water to wine is for the most part a menial and meaningless task.

            Jesus probably seems so disinterested in the request from his mother, because he knows that turning water into wine is not the reason he has come to Earth. This miracle, though his first is, far from his most important. After all he would go one give sight to the blind, allow the lame to walk, cast demons out of people, calm storms that threaten the lives of his followers, turn a small amount of fish and bread into enough to feed a multitude, he would raise a man from the dead, and most importantly he himself would be resurrected,  defeating our slavery to sin and death. Water being turned into wine, simply was not at the top of his list. And yet this sign is an extremely important sign because it was his first. I was the first time that anyone had witnessed his power. It is the first time that he had shown a glimpse of the power the so many people had been anticipating. This miracle would reveal for the first time that Jesus is truly the son of God. What really is so amazing about this miracle is that it points towards the wonderful works that still lie ahead. As the chief steward indicated, Jesus saved the best for last, but as we have noted that statement refers to much more than wine. Because what was it that Jesus was saving for last? It was of course his death, resurrection and ascension. The true miracle is that Jesus, both fully human and fully divine, gave himself up for us on a cross for the forgiveness of sins. That he rose on the third day showing that death no longer has a hold on humanity, That though we die, there is now eternal life. And after this Jesus ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the father. This shows us that Christ still is and always is in control. All of this to give us the hope of eternal life. The freedom from sin. Through the miracles we are able to truly know God love for us, and knowing all of this, remembering all of these miracles and yet seeing a world that is sad and broken, we may realize that maybe, just maybe, the hope that we have in Christ making all things new, the hope that we have in a new heaven and a new earth, the hope that we have in a savior whose most mundane act is the miracle of turning water into wine,  is telling us that the best is still  to come.