God's Grace for Today's Gentiles

Nehemiah 8:1-4a, 5-6, 8-10; 1 Corinthians 12:12-30; Luke 4:14-21

You can imagine the surprise of the people of Nazareth when Jesus showed up at one of their morning worship services, one day. In so much that Jesus had grown up in Nazareth, but had probably not been to the synagogue for a while, there were those attending the service who felt that it was certainly Jesus' turn to read the morning's scripture and take his turn at interpreting God's word for God's people. They knew that Jesus was up to it, because they had heard him read scriptures before in that very same place. And, no doubt, they had heard Jesus preach the word of God. But, Jesus had been gone for some time. He had just returned from perhaps several years of walking the wilderness of Judea with the likes of John the Baptist and may have even spent a great deal of time with a group of people known as Essenes, on the shore of the Dead Sea.

So, certainly, it was Jesus' turn to read the scriptures, that morning. And when Jesus got up to speak, he turned to the book of Isaiah and read a short, but powerful, passage: "The Spirit of the Lord is one me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

By themselves, these words were fairly innocuous and non-threatening. There wasn't a person there who didn't accept these obscure words from Isaiah. But, as soon as Jesus was finished reading these words, he looked up at his people, gazed intently into their eyes and said, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

What Jesus was telling them was this: God's favor extends not only to those who are upstanding members of the community, not only with those who have jobs, not only with those with nice homes, and a donkey or two in the garage. Rather God's favor extends to those who are poor, to those who are in prison, to the blind, and to the oppressed. And, as far as Jesus was concerned, it was his ministry to make this inaugurate this reality, to fulfill the ideals of that scripture on that very day.

You know, it is one thing to simply read a scripture that was written two or even three thousand years ago. We may wonder, "How can these words possibly mean anything in our own day?" But, it is another thing to actually apply that scripture to the present and to show how it speaks to our own day. For some, this can be a difficult thing to deal with.

Yet, nevertheless, as we look at that scripture Jesus read, talking about the grace of God, we have to admit that God's grace is as important today as it was back then. We may think that people were somehow different back in Biblical times than we are today. But, really, there is little difference, at all. The human condition is the same. Only the surroundings we live in are different. We are not all that much more advanced or sophisticated than 2,000 years ago. We still discriminate and hurt people who are different.

And just as Jesus went into the synagogue at Nazareth and proclaimed a year of God's favor wherein good news would be preached to the poor, the captives would be released, the blind would receive their sight, and liberty would be given to the oppressed, so does Christ still speak to us today. For we need that message today as much as at any other time in the world's history.

Jesus' message back then was a proclamation of God's grace, acceptance and ministry to all persons in spite of their condition. It was an unconditional reaching out to touch with God's love those who were different and suffering, those who had been neatly packaged by society, put in a corner of the community, labeled as "outcasts," and forgotten.

Jesus' love and reaching out is the same today as it was 2000 years ago. God's grace embraces all of life, not the popular and strong and gifted, only. God's grace can't be earned, for grace is an unmerited gift, a given which is hard to understand since we place so much importance on things being earned. Grace is a gift, unearned, just because you are you, a person. God's grace has nothing to do with status or position or wealth.

Certainly, this was hard for the people of Jesus' own day to understand. They believed that if a person was blessed with good health, position, money, friends, and family, then it was because God had blessed them. And God had blessed them because they had done something right. They had earned God's favor. As they looked at the lepers in their society, the foreigners, the blind, or the lame, they believed that these persons had not obtained God's favor; that they had not received God's blessing, because they had done something wrong. In essence, the poor deserved their misery. It was the will of God.

But Jesus came to challenge this thinking. And I believe we are still challenged by Jesus whenever we may think this way, as well.

Of course, we may ask, "Do we think this way?" Let me offer an example of how we may think that the poor deserve what they get. Every now and then a person comes to my office in need of money to pay their rent. Usually, it is to pay the rent for an apartment that is poorly heated, has inadequate kitchen facilities, whose plumbing leaks, has wallpaper that is peeling off the walls and a floor covering that is worn down to the floorboards. And as I talk with the person who needs help paying their rent I find out that this person never graduated from high school, has several children without benefit of marriage, drinks too much, smokes, has been in jail, and can't keep a steady job. And, so I'm tempted to think to myself, "Well, this person really deserves the trouble he or she is in. He or she has really made some mistakes. So, why should I help him or her get out of the trouble he or she is in?"

But, then, I am reminded of Jesus' words about God's favor being given to people no different than this. And I think that if I can be an instrument of God's grace and peace, then who knows what other wonderful miracles can happen in someone's life?

I am reminded of our Epistle lesson for today, talking about how the Body is made up of many parts, each of them providing an important service to the Body. The writer of this scripture was talking of the importance in God's eyes of all members of society. In the human body, even some of the smallest, weakest parts, are essential for the health or even the life of the body. And, while the body may scorn these organs as being of little importance, just let one of them be neglected and see how sick the rest of the body can get! Tonsils are mighty small, but if they become infected, the rest of the Body can deteriorate very quickly. You can die from an infected toe! So, the health of all the parts of the Body is important to the overall well being of the whole.

It isn't much different in our own society. We may think that if the poor are neglected it won't hurt the rest of society. We may think that if social security and medicare is cut back on the elderly it won't hurt the rest of society, very much. We may add to this list the unemployed, the minorities, and the retarded. But, before we know it, if we let the list get too long, if we allow the weakest to suffer, the rest of society may soon come crashing down around our ears. And God extends his grace to all, to the rich and to the poor, to those who think they deserve it, as well as to those who don't, because God wants us to do the same for others.

Finally, there is the story of a Filipino farmer who had been saving his money for years to buy a water buffalo. He finally saved up the money and went out looking for the work animal, which he soon found. But, sadly, he didn't know that the government had ordered all Philippine paper bills exchanged for a new issue. The money the farmer had saved in the old currency issue were useless.

So, in 1975, he sent a letter -- with the help of some schoolboys -- to the President. After all, he was only a poor, ignorant rice farmer. The answer came back. It said: "The law must be followed. Because the deadline for exchanging bills has already passed, the government can no longer change your bills with the new ones. Even the President of the Philippines is not exempt from this rule."

The letter did not end there, but added: "However, because I believe that you really worked hard to save this money, I am changing them with the new ones from my own personal funds. I hope that you will be able to buy your water buffalo." And the letter was signed: "Your friend, Ferdinand E. Marcos, President of the Philippines."

God gives extends God's grace to all. Even us! Amen.