January 27, 2019
First Presbyterian Church, Sterling IL
Christina Berry
Our gospel reading today is Luke’s account of the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.
Since we last read from the second chapter of Luke on Christmas Eve, the baby Jesus has grown up and gotten baptized. Then he underwent 40 days of temptation in the wilderness. He goes back to Nazareth, the hometown boy, and goes to worship.
Everything is going well – they praise him and are amazed by him. Mary and Joseph’s boy is going to be a great success, right? If it had worked out that way, we’d probably never had heard of him again. As it was, the attention and praise turned to outrage. Let’s listen for the good news in Luke 4:14-30:
Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee,
and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country.
He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.
When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up,
he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom.
He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him.
He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down.
The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.
Then he began to say to them,
“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
All spoke well of him and were amazed
at the gracious words that came from his mouth.
They said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"
He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb,
'Doctor, cure yourself!'
And you will say, 'Do here also in your hometown
the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.'"
And he said, "Truly I tell you,
no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown.
But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah,
when the heaven was shut up three years and six months,
and there was a severe famine over all the land;
yet Elijah was sent to none of them
except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.
There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha,
and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."
'Doctor, cure yourself!'
And you will say, 'Do here also in your hometown
the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.'"
And he said, "Truly I tell you,
no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown.
But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah,
when the heaven was shut up three years and six months,
and there was a severe famine over all the land;
yet Elijah was sent to none of them
except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.
There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha,
and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."
When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage.
They got up, drove him out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built,
so that they might hurl him off the cliff.
They got up, drove him out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built,
so that they might hurl him off the cliff.
But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Hmm.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Hmm.
Jesus gets done preaching his first sermon and asks the disciples,
“How do you think it went?”
“Well, Jesus, there’s good news and there’s bad news.
The good news is that we loved it! Great sermon!
The bad news is that everybody else wants to throw you off a cliff!”
Good news!
We’ve been hearing a lot of good news this morning, as we reflect on the past year.
Did you know the Greek word for good news is “euangelion”?
– the root word for evangelism?
It means good news.
“How do you think it went?”
“Well, Jesus, there’s good news and there’s bad news.
The good news is that we loved it! Great sermon!
The bad news is that everybody else wants to throw you off a cliff!”
Good news!
We’ve been hearing a lot of good news this morning, as we reflect on the past year.
Did you know the Greek word for good news is “euangelion”?
– the root word for evangelism?
It means good news.
The gospel.
Evangelism!
That word may sound like bad news to you – evangelism! Eeek!
Not such a scary word, really, just sharing the good news of Jesus,
making known the power of God’s liberating love!
The word has been commandeered by some Christians and twisted into a different meaning. To be evangelical nowadays is often considered to mean that you are anti-abortion, anti-gay, and politically conservative.
The Atlantic says, “To the pollster, it is a sociological term.
To the pastor, it is a denominational or doctrinal term.
And to the politician, it is a synonym for a white Christian Republican.”[1]
The National Association of Evangelicals says that to be identified as one you need to agree with these four statements:
"I'm old enough to think [evangelical] is a good word, but it's reached a point where there's so much baggage attached around it so that it's no longer a helpful word to identify ourselves,"[3]
Last summer, a group of influential evangelicals issued a call to “stop the culture war” that was initiated by right-wing Christians in the 1970’s that led to the Religious Right and the Moral Majority. They admitted [that] “culture war” began not in opposition to abortion, but in opposition to the Civil Rights Act that required Bob Jones University to accept black students. Conservative leaders recognized that they couldn’t publicly call Christians to support segregation, so instead they created a rallying cry against abortion, using the public momentum against Roe v. Wade to privately leverage power in an (unsuccessful) attempt to keep Bob Jones University and other conservative Christian schools exclusively white.” [4]
So the popular connotation of evangelical may not be very accurate.
For years, I’ve identified myself as an “evangelical liberal.” When asked what that means, I say that I believe the gospel is good news, it just isn’t the same good news that conservative evangelicals believe.
So then, what is the good news?
From what I see in the Bible, the good news is what Jesus proclaims right here in his first sermon. Jesus’ gospel, the evangelion, is all about eradicating all forms of bondage and oppression: economic, physical, political, demonic, and release from bondage to sin.[5]
That’s the definition of the gospel - good news for everyone for all time!
The way some people put it is that “the Gospel we claim to believe and follow, …
has to be good news for everyone, or else it isn’t good news for anyone.
Your Gospel has to be good news for immigrants and refugees
and orphans and people of color and women
and people living below the poverty line,
otherwise it isn’t truly the Good News — for them, or for you.”
But really, who is against the good news being for everyone?
Nobody is in favor of racism or oppression or poverty
or against helping the stranger and the refugee, right?
Everybody agrees that racism is bad and helping the poor is good.
Well, apparently that’s not the case.
Evangelism!
That word may sound like bad news to you – evangelism! Eeek!
Not such a scary word, really, just sharing the good news of Jesus,
making known the power of God’s liberating love!
The word has been commandeered by some Christians and twisted into a different meaning. To be evangelical nowadays is often considered to mean that you are anti-abortion, anti-gay, and politically conservative.
The Atlantic says, “To the pollster, it is a sociological term.
To the pastor, it is a denominational or doctrinal term.
And to the politician, it is a synonym for a white Christian Republican.”[1]
The National Association of Evangelicals says that to be identified as one you need to agree with these four statements:
- The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe.
- It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.
- Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin.
- Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation.[2]
"I'm old enough to think [evangelical] is a good word, but it's reached a point where there's so much baggage attached around it so that it's no longer a helpful word to identify ourselves,"[3]
Last summer, a group of influential evangelicals issued a call to “stop the culture war” that was initiated by right-wing Christians in the 1970’s that led to the Religious Right and the Moral Majority. They admitted [that] “culture war” began not in opposition to abortion, but in opposition to the Civil Rights Act that required Bob Jones University to accept black students. Conservative leaders recognized that they couldn’t publicly call Christians to support segregation, so instead they created a rallying cry against abortion, using the public momentum against Roe v. Wade to privately leverage power in an (unsuccessful) attempt to keep Bob Jones University and other conservative Christian schools exclusively white.” [4]
So the popular connotation of evangelical may not be very accurate.
For years, I’ve identified myself as an “evangelical liberal.” When asked what that means, I say that I believe the gospel is good news, it just isn’t the same good news that conservative evangelicals believe.
So then, what is the good news?
From what I see in the Bible, the good news is what Jesus proclaims right here in his first sermon. Jesus’ gospel, the evangelion, is all about eradicating all forms of bondage and oppression: economic, physical, political, demonic, and release from bondage to sin.[5]
That’s the definition of the gospel - good news for everyone for all time!
The way some people put it is that “the Gospel we claim to believe and follow, …
has to be good news for everyone, or else it isn’t good news for anyone.
Your Gospel has to be good news for immigrants and refugees
and orphans and people of color and women
and people living below the poverty line,
otherwise it isn’t truly the Good News — for them, or for you.”
But really, who is against the good news being for everyone?
Nobody is in favor of racism or oppression or poverty
or against helping the stranger and the refugee, right?
Everybody agrees that racism is bad and helping the poor is good.
Well, apparently that’s not the case.
Or at least it wasn’t back in Jesus’ time.
Because it was only moments after they praised his sermon
that they realized that he hadn’t come just for them!
Jesus started talking about Syrians, and that widow from Zarephath, which is in Sidon.
Foreigners. Outsiders. They realized that the Lord’s favor might be for some other people too.
So, they decided to throw Jesus off a cliff.
You know, like you do.
Today as we hear the highlights of the past year of ministry and as we look to the future, we’re hearing an awful lot of good news. These are the gospel, these stories of ministry and mission, stories of reducing, if not eradicating, economic, physical and spiritual oppression. We share these stories not to congratulate ourselves, but to remind ourselves:
The gospel doesn’t belong to us.
We’re meant to give it away, like Jesus said.
Because it was only moments after they praised his sermon
that they realized that he hadn’t come just for them!
Jesus started talking about Syrians, and that widow from Zarephath, which is in Sidon.
Foreigners. Outsiders. They realized that the Lord’s favor might be for some other people too.
So, they decided to throw Jesus off a cliff.
You know, like you do.
Today as we hear the highlights of the past year of ministry and as we look to the future, we’re hearing an awful lot of good news. These are the gospel, these stories of ministry and mission, stories of reducing, if not eradicating, economic, physical and spiritual oppression. We share these stories not to congratulate ourselves, but to remind ourselves:
The gospel doesn’t belong to us.
We’re meant to give it away, like Jesus said.
That’s not always a popular point of view.
It may not seem like good news to people who only want it for themselves.
But for those of us who were lost and now are found,
who were outsiders and now have been welcomed,
who were poor and now are rich in faith and love,
who were broken and now are mended,
we proclaim that Jesus is Lord,
and we follow him,
seeking to be his body here on earth.
That is good news for everyone – very good news indeed!
Amen.
[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/12/evangelical-christian/418236/
[2] https://www.nae.net/what-is-an-evangelical/
[3] https://www.christianheadlines.com/blog/princeton-university-student-group-drops-word-evangelical-from-name-fearing-negative-connotation.html
[4] https://www.patheos.com/blogs/sarahthebarge/2018/08/if-your-gospel-isnt-good-news-for-everyone-its-not-good-news-for-anyone-why-i-signed-pledgetopause/
[5] https://www.ministrymatters.com/library/#/tnib/0bcf5e457ce93cadb51755e86e4f30af/luke-416-30-preaching-in-nazareth.html
It may not seem like good news to people who only want it for themselves.
But for those of us who were lost and now are found,
who were outsiders and now have been welcomed,
who were poor and now are rich in faith and love,
who were broken and now are mended,
we proclaim that Jesus is Lord,
and we follow him,
seeking to be his body here on earth.
That is good news for everyone – very good news indeed!
Amen.
[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/12/evangelical-christian/418236/
[2] https://www.nae.net/what-is-an-evangelical/
[3] https://www.christianheadlines.com/blog/princeton-university-student-group-drops-word-evangelical-from-name-fearing-negative-connotation.html
[4] https://www.patheos.com/blogs/sarahthebarge/2018/08/if-your-gospel-isnt-good-news-for-everyone-its-not-good-news-for-anyone-why-i-signed-pledgetopause/
[5] https://www.ministrymatters.com/library/#/tnib/0bcf5e457ce93cadb51755e86e4f30af/luke-416-30-preaching-in-nazareth.html
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