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This Week's Sermon

“Fulfilled In Your Hearing”

Rev. Jane Sorenson, January 19th, 2025

Luke 4:14-21

 

When I was a teenager, I remember reading an advice column – maybe Dear Abby? I don’t remember for sure – that had some dating advice for women. Given how long ago I read this, clearly it was intended for hetero and cis-gendered women, but I think it applies to all genders; and that advice went something like this:

Believe what a man, believe what a person, tells you about himself or theirself.

If they tell you that they are not worthy of you, not worthy of being with you? Believe them.

If they tell you that they are not interested in a long-term relationship? Believe them.

Believe people when they tell you who they are.

There are lots of romance novels and rom-com movies that describe men and women who, in spite of themselves, overturn their first expressions, and they wind up being fine with what they said they would never do: the confirmed bachelor winds up marrying. The confirmed dog-hater winds up the proud, happy and competent owner of a dog. The person who says they will never move, or change jobs, or adopt a religion they don’t currently follow – does just that. These books and movies are not telling the truth. People don’t change like that, or at least they do not change for that reason: that one person showed up in their life and Wham-o! They give up on everything they ever said they wanted, or believed. That stuff doesn’t happen. Believe a person when they tell you about what they want, or what they hope for, or what they’re working for. Most people are honest; most are straightforward. They aren’t pulling any punches. They are telling you their truth. And you would be best served to take them at their word. In today’s story from Luke, we meet Jesus after his baptism by John and after he has been tempted in the wilderness. He traveled home, to Nazareth, and he went to the synagogue – a good thing to do if you’re an observant Jew, as he was. He stood to read, just like our lay leaders stand here to read – and the attendant handed him the appropriate scroll. Jewish practice is to read their way through the texts throughout the year. And when they’re done, they start right over again. Many Christians do the same, only we’ve set up the readings to go through a 3-year cycle, instead of one year. One of the gifts of such a system is that it keeps the rabbi or the pastor from simply harping on their favorite passages. So it is the calendar that determined that Jesus received Isaiah – and he read it, just like any other lay leader or reader would do. And he gave the scroll back, just like anyone else would do. And he sat down, like any teacher or rabbi would do. That is all quite normal and quite predictable. And then he lets off the bomb: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” In one sense, we’re interrupting this story – we should keep going, in order to get the whole picture. But in order to have a sermon that doesn’t stretch past lunch, we ended the reading there, with that amazing statement: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” In other words, Jesus just told them what he was about: “…to bring good news to the poor; to proclaim release to captives; recovery of sight to the blind; and to let the oppressed go free.” As you hear those words, or read those words, do you hear anybody being left out? Anybody not mentioned? There is nothing about the rich, or the well-to-do, or the well-connected. There is nothing about throwing out or throwing down the Roman occupiers. There is nothing about helping anybody get rich – as those who preach a prosperity gospel would suggest. There is nothing about letting those on the margins of society stay stuck there, on the margins, ignored or harassed or harmed. There is nothing about being rewarded for following the rules a certain way. There is nothing about it being okay to hate or hurt anyone. Jesus is using the scripture from Isaiah to make his ministry very plain, very clear: Jesus said, I am here for the poor. I am here for the oppressed. I am here for those who have become blind to where and what God’s will is for all people. Jesus told us exactly what he was here for. We who have come after, we have put a whole lot of other stuff on Jesus’ plate. There are those among us who have decided that Jesus was very interested in maintaining a narrow window of what was acceptable in terms of gender and sexuality and sexual expression. We have decided that if you’re rich, that’s Jesus rewarding you. We have decided that Jesus would rather smack people up the head with rules and requirements than ask about their individual experience…and possibly commiserate with the pain they have experienced. We have decided that Jesus really didn’t welcome little children – unless those children are white and wanted. My list could go on and on. You could add to it just as well as I can. We need to take Jesus at his word, and believe that he was (and is) about just what he said he was about: the poor, the oppressed, the captives, the people on the margins of society. He told us. We need to take him at his word. Tomorrow this nation will witness the swearing in of a new president. And he, too, has told us what he is about to do. He’s going to pardon the violent participants in the January 6, 2021 attempt at subverting the 2020 election results and take-over of the Capitol. He’s going to unleash all kinds of destruction in Gaza and let Israel do what it wants to “protect itself.” He’s going to pull any support for Ukraine in its war with Russia. He’s going to actively pursue deporting millions of people. He’s going to “go after” trans people, specifically their right to medical treatment. He’s going to pursue removing protections in place to help LGBTQIA people live: protections like equal opportunity to work, to rent, to be treated fairly. He’s going to “go after” movements like Black Lives Matter, the Poor People’s Campaign, and other organizations that lobby for or defend black and brown people. He’s going to “go after” people he perceives to be his enemies. He’s going to use the Department of Justice to pursue those who oppose his ideas. I am not speaking disparagingly here. I am simply listing a variety of statements that he has made. If you’d like, I can find You Tube videos and news source quotes to back every one that I listed here. I think this list falls under that same advice from Dear Abby: believe a man when he tells you something about himself, about his goals and his hopes. Believe him when he tells you. That’s depressing to me, I can tell you. But I can also tell you something else. Our loyalty is claimed by someone who outranks him. As Christians, at our baptism we made a vow that we would follow Jesus, not the leaders of this world. And we would take Jesus’ priorities to be our own. Which feels to me right now like the biggest uphill slog imaginable. But remember the words from Micah. As a recent Facebook post put it: our assignment has not changed. We are still called to love justice, and do kindness, and walk humbly with God. That does not change because a government changes. That does not change because a political climate shifts. We are still to be about justice, and love, and mercy. We are still to be about alleviating poverty. We are still to be about housing those who are homeless and getting medical care to people who need it. We are still to be about serving one another. Yes, it may all be tougher to do now. We may have to speak up in ways we haven’t before. We may have to show up in ways that we haven’t before. So be it. Remember who you are, and whose you are. Do what you can, where you can, however you can, to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God. And know that you do not move along that path alone. Jesus told you – has told us all – that that is where he’s going to be. We should believe him.

Past Sermons

Here is a Google Drive link with an archive of past sermons:

Sermon Archive

"Be Still My Soul," as referenced in former pastor Reverend Tom Sorenson's Book, "Liberating Christianity: Overcoming Obstacles to Faith in the New Millennium":

Be Still My Soul

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