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?