A message of God’s radical inclusivity for all, and how we can better bless people from other lands in duress.

Today. The word signifies the present, current moment. Today is right here, right now. Today is the focal point of our lived reality. Today is the centerpiece of all we seek to understand. Today is the midpoint between what was, what is, what we hope will be. Today is the crux of many things. And it the core of what we’ll explore in scripture, well, today.

Today is an ending
Jesus’ ministry in Nazareth launches in Luke 4 with a look back. Last week we heard Pastor Chris preach on Jesus in the synagogue on the sabbath. He opened the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and began to read.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,” Jesus said.

He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives,
Sight to the blind, to let the oppressed be free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

With that Jesus rolled up the scroll, handed it to the attendant, and sat. All eyes were on him. He then gave the shortest sermon you’ll ever hear; just nine words.

“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”

Today. The –
Poor cared for,
Captives released,
Blind given sight,
Oppressed set free.

Today.

Aka the inaugural public word Jesus spoke in Luke.

With that brief homily Jesus staked claim to being he who had been prophesied of 700 years prior. The people had been waiting to be blessed, once and for all, for centuries. And here the ultimate Blessing was, finally, in the flesh.

These days we get frustrated when Amazon packages gets delayed from two days to three. Imagine what news of this delivery finally arriving must have felt like.

The time of waiting was over. For it was happening, today.

Today is also a beginning
The lectionary these past two weeks contains a curiosity: they share a verse in common. Christ’s proclamation that today this scripture has been fulfilled is so important that it both:

Concludes the gospel last week, and
Begins the gospel this week.

Said differently, today is both –
Prophesy fulfilled, and also
Ministry begun.

Today is exciting
With salvation now upon them the buzz from the synagogue grew louder.

All spoke well of him that day.
All were amazed at his gracious words.

“Is this not Joseph’s son,” the crowd wondered?
Seeing him grown up, speaking with such authority, they were in awe.

Given the build-up, the prophetic claim, the initial response, we might expect Christ to perform a grand miracle right on the spot. But that was not to be, because –

Today is also a surprise
Sensing expectation among the people Jesus began to speak. You may have heard about what I’ve done elsewhere, Jesus began.  And you may want me to do the same here, in my hometown.

To make it clear what his ministry was to be about Jesus drew from the shared history of their collective past.

Remember when it didn’t rain for three years, and famine was in the land? Remember when, in the midst of all that, God sent Elijah to a widow in Sidon? Remember how he blessed her family with food and water for days? Remember how he then raised the widow’s young son back to life?

They remembered.

God sent a prophet to Sidon? That’s a Canaanite city. Canaanites were the sworn enemies of Israel. Even more, there were thousands of faithful in Israel at the time. Yet in that moment God had sent the prophet to a –

Woman,
Widow,
Outsider.

And it was they who received the blessing, not them.

The mood of the audience listening to Jesus that day began to shift.

Jesus continued, telling one more tale from their past.

Remember Naaman, the Syrian soldier?
Remember his leprosy that would not go away?
Remember how God sent the prophet Elisha to him?
Remember when Elisha showed Naaman how to be clean?

They remembered.

Naaman immersed himself seven times in the Jordan that day and was made new.

There were other Israelites at the time with leprosy, Jesus reminded the crowd. And yet in that moment God had sent a prophet to heal a –

Syrian,
Soldier,
Outsider.

In both stories Christ told, the coming kingdom of God wasn’t just for one tribe, or country, or culture, but for –

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People with different beliefs.

It was an early example of what the expansion of God’s kingdom through the life, death and resurrection of Christ entails. It was an early example of who God’s kingdom includes. For God so loved the world. Without exception.

The crowd wanted none of it.

All the –
Good news to the poor,
Release of captives,
Sight to the blind,
Oppressed being set free.

All of that was going to be happening elsewhere, to all other sorts of people.
That much, the people concluded, was clear.

There would be no miracle for the hometown crowd that day.

Today is dangerous
Upon hearing Jesus speak the crowd quickly moved from awe to anger.

Who is this man that blesses our enemies and not us, they may have wondered?
Who exactly does he think he is?

The congregation wanted their blessing. And they wanted it now.
But Christ? He was busy expanding the kingdom.
Busy blessing other peoples in other lands.

So upset were they with this development the crowd was filled with rage.

So they –
Drove him to the edge of town,
Stood him on a cliff, hoping to push him off,
Put him at risk of dying well before his work is done.

Jesus then passed through their midst and went on his way. If there was a miracle that day, it was this.

Today is a look ahead
That Christ started his ministry by sharing how God blesses people from other lands, other cultures, other faiths foreshadows what he was to be about while with us here on earth.

We see it in the conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well. He, a pious Jewish rabbi. She, a single, many times married Samaritan woman. Christ blesses her by revealing the source of living water that will never run out.

We see it when Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee to meet a man in Syria possessed by demons. Christ healed the man, granting him release from that which oppressed.

We see it with a Roman centurion, whose servant was paralyzed, and came to Jesus for help. The Centurion’s employer would later oversee Jesus’ death. And yet Christ healed the servant, all the same.

For Christ was all about crossing any barriers we can possibly think of to construct between each other including the borders of –

Gender,
Belief,
Race,
Ethnicity,
Country of origin.

Finally, today is now
Right after today’s service is our semi-annual meeting. Which, if we’re being honest with ourselves, isn’t always the most exciting for many ?.

Yet nestled among the budgets and spreadsheets and ministry reports and construction updates (woohoo elevator!) is something that, at least for us, is new.

Similar to today’s gospel, our congregation has the opportunity to proclaim blessings on people from other lands. We have a rich tradition of doing that here – our Tanzanian ministry and partnership with ELCA Global Mission are two examples. But this initiative, for us, goes beyond that.

For the past few years Bethesda has discerned whether we’d like to more specifically welcome the immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers among us.

To this end we have engaged in conversation, scriptural study, attended forums. We have studied definitions and terms, prayerfully seeking to understand. We have learned what it means to accompany these groups, and to do so legally. We have heard stories of loss of property, dignity, safety, loss of life from immigrants worldwide. Their stories are heartbreaking. Each remains hopeful for just a small slice of the freedoms we take for granted every day.

To take this next step your Church Council has received and approved a draft congregational statement that helps us better welcome these marginalized groups. Two months ago we asked for your feedback on making these four commitments to migrants and refugees:

• To welcome and minister to them
• To physically accompany them as they make new lives among us
• To advocate in ways that positively impact the current immigration and refugee crises
• To pray for them, every step of the way

Initial response from that earlier test vote was really positive. Well over 90% of you said yes, let’s be about that.

And yet blessing others is, at times, not without controversy. It is human nature to want to hold on to Christ’s blessing just for –

Our people,
Our tribes,
Our culture –

At times seeing others blessed that do not look like, believe like or live like us may even cause anger. If you find yourself getting upset right now I’ll say this – I am grateful high cliffs in central Iowa are rather rare ?

Our neighbors in Central America, Afghanistan, and so many other conflicted geographies have been waiting to be blessed for an awful long time.

Today is the day to –

Give good news to the poor.
Proclaim release to the captives,
Let the oppressed be free.

May we journey with them well. Amen.