Seeing Yourself in the Darkness

The Gospel Luke 4:21-30

Jesus began to speak in the synagogue at Nazareth: "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." 

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. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

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It’s Epiphany Season, when you are to let the lightbulb come on over your head and see yourself in the darkest corner of the gospel.

Again, an idea of these Bible stories is to engage metaphorically and see yourself where you least expect it.

To borrow Jesus’ word ἴδωσιν from Mk 9:1*, to see, realize, discern, comprehend, perceive, understand - - shifting from seeing physically to seeing metaphorically, spiritually (but without taking offense as the congregation does in today's gospel story), how today’s metaphor might apply to you, in the twenty-first century after Jesus confronted the self-certain in the synagogue at Nazareth:   

"There were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah … and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon, a foreigner;

"There were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, yet none of them was cleansed, only Naaman the Syrian, a foreigner.

"When they heard this, they were enraged, rose up as an angry mob, and drove Jesus out of town to throw him off a cliff and kill him."

What’s the metaphor? Those of us who specialized in EfM for decades found in Theological Reflection that the metaphor can be elusive, it hides, you have to search for it, and when it finally jumps out at you, you must be willing to see yourself, or you totally miss the lesson.

I hesitate to be too direct lest you take offense, as happened in the synagogue at Nazareth, but you do not want to miss it: in speaking to the congregation of the faithful in Nazareth, Jesus speaks to every faithful person in every congregation everywhere forever: 

It’s for you - - who honestly believe, who "know for absolute certain", as the people in the synagogue did, that your side, your view on every issue, is straight from the mind of God. 

It’s for you - - who, as in Nazareth of old, a metaphor for America today, hate those who are different, other:

Red or Blue; liberal or conservative; straight or rainbow LGBTQIA+. 

Roe v Wade pro-life, pro-choice, where everyone is certain they are right and the others wrong, and hates the opposition, who have their own certainties of right and wrong.

Hearing this gets old, but the gospel keeps repeating until we get it: hatred in Christian life today, the self-certain righteous Faithful drive Jesus out of town to throw him over the cliff. Incredulous shock and anger flare up when we hear that God is on the other side too. 

Christianity (and Judaism from which we emerged) is a religion of stories, good old Sunday school Bible stories like today’s gospel, metaphors of old from which truth shines into our Time. Some of our stories are beautiful and people are happy (Jesus heals the sick, feeds the hungry, raises the dead, calms the storm); but some of our stories are ugly: the crowd is enraged when he says their certainties are wrong and affirms the other side.

Every Bible story is a metaphor for you to search until you see yourself. But be mindful of your certainties, because the gospel is not always good news. 

Today’s gospel is from Luke, as we are reading from Luke all year long: 

When we read Luke’s parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:25–37), if you see yourself in the Good Samaritan himself, you’ve missed the metaphor. Look for yourself in the prideful, self-certain people who walk by on the other side of the road.

When we read Luke’s parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11–32), look for yourself and your certainties in his angry brother, the "perfect" Other Son. 

Just so today, look for yourself in the angry, self-certain, self-righteous mob in the Nazareth synagogue. 

Epiphany: season of realization, of the light coming on. In Bible stories like today’s, you will not find yourself in the light, justified and affirmed and comfortable. Look for yourself in the gospel darkness, and from there let Jesus lead you out the other side into the light of God.  

The gospel truth this morning is That if you are certain you are right, you are wrong. The gospel truth this morning is that the only Right is to love your neighbor, the one whose views you hate; the neighbor, the foreigner, people in the other political party whom you hate because they differ from you.

Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? You say “I will, with God’s help”, but ARE you?

Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? You say “I will, with God’s help”, but ARE YOU DOING SO? 

Epiphany Season is Time for the light of self-realization to come on over your head, Time to see yourself in the darkness, where we hate those who are different from us; where Jesus is led to the brow of the hill, and ultimately to the Cross of Calvary - - by those who are certain that they are right.

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* Mark 9:1 (NRSV) And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”

Mark 9:1 (THGreekNT) Καὶ ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς· ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι εἰσὶν τινὲς τῶν ὧδε ἑστηκότων οἵτινες οὐ μὴ γεύσωνται θανάτου ἕως ἂν ἴδωσιν (Original Word: ὁράω. Aorist form: οἶδα eídō, to see with physical eyes as it naturally bridges to the spiritual or metaphorical sense; perceiving, mentally seeing, to realize, discern, comprehend, understand) τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐληλυθυῖαν ἐν δυνάμει.

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Sermon, homiletic endeavor by the Rev Tom Weller on the Fourth Epiphany Sunday, 30 January 2022, in Holy Nativity Episcopal Church, Panama City, Florida. Text: Luke 4:21-30. 

Art: online, from The New Yorker, April 24, 2014.