Psalm 146 on January 19th, 2025
Above is audio of the sermon pulled from the video and amplified.
Below is transcript pulled from the video and formatted by artificial intelligence. There may be inconsistencies or errors.
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If somebody tells you they have good news and they have bad news, which do you want to hear first? Okay, I'm more of a good news kind of guy. So lucky for me, Jesus in His first sermon starts out with the good news. No, he doesn't really ask his congregation which one they want. Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Wow, people are amazed. What the prophet Isaiah spoke so long ago about is finally coming true. Jesus is the one. We all knew that this day would come. See, the Israelites faithful had waited and waited and waited for the one who would finally come. Generations had passed and now God has come through. This is surely good news.
But then the bad news. Oh, one of those bad news. Kind of forgot about that. What's the bad news? The bad news is the good news isn't for you. If the synagogue had a record player back in the first century, I'm sure it would have done one of those super dramatic scratch sounds. The good news isn't for us. We started out as as amazement at Joseph's boy turns into rage and anger by the end. And maybe I'm being a bit dramatic here because Jesus didn't say that the good news isn't for them. Instead, Jesus said that the good news isn't only for them. It's for those others too.
And Jesus uses examples of famous prophets to drive his point home. Elijah visits the widow at Zarafaf. There were lots of other widows that God could have sent Elijah to. Israelite widows even. But God sent Elijah to none of them. God sent Elijah to this outsider. And the same could be said for Elijah and Naaman. Naaman wasn't an Israelite. And yet, Elijah was able to cleanse him of his leprosy. Lots of lepers in Israel, but God chose this one. And this is why Jesus isn't doing all those signs and wonders here in their presence as he did in Kapernaum. He's following a precedent that the God has already sent.
Jesus is taking the good news beyond everyone's comfort zone and the people are kind of cranky about it. And this pushing of the boundaries upsets the normative status quo. These people were there. They were present. They were dedicated. Many of them faithful for a long, long time. If not their whole lives, they did things the right way. They learned and they participated. And despite whatever was going on, they stayed faithful. And when these others get special treatment, it really boils their blood. When you're used to being deprived, anything less feels like an insult. The long time faithful should not get the same as all of those heathens out there.
Which, on the surface, seems a bit petty of these people. I mean, we surely don't think such a villainous thing. Why would they be so enraged at Jesus opening up to others? We encourage Jesus. Go, Jesus go. Go to others. Convince them about who you are and bring them back here to join us. We, for the most part, we're open to evangelism and having people meet, see and experience Jesus. And through the years, we've gotten adjusted to the idea that Jesus is for everyone. We know that he's not just for us. At least as long as Jesus brings those people back here, and has them change to fit into what we're already doing. Whoops. Maybe we're a little more like that original crowd than we care to admit.
We still have this feeling of ownership over Jesus. He's like our hometown boy. It's fine if he goes elsewhere, but we know he's really ours. He goes out to bring people in to fill our pews, to sit on our committees, to fit in with what we're already doing. And that's what's fair, right? Yes, Jesus challenges that idea. He didn't say he came to bring good news to those who gather at 10.30 on Sundays. I proclaim, released through the comfortable and recovery of the way we used to do it. The good news isn't for us. Jesus isn't ours. And that's offensive to those of us who do our best to remain faithful and present. But in our offense is the goodness and the grace of God.
As I mentioned, we're generally okay with the idea that those who aren't like us are loved as much as we are. The outsiders and the unchurched and the mega church, the pacifists and patriots, the elites and working poor, the dirty and the lepers and the widows and you and me. We all are under the same God and Father. Jesus goes to each every and all and all are loved, graced for given called. God is so unfair. And maybe that gets more to the heart of the whole thing. We don't mind God being unfair when God is unfair in our favor. It's when God is unfair toward others, others who aren't here like we are doing their duty of standing and sitting and standing every Sunday. Even them. Even those. Yeah. Even and especially those.
Because when we see church as an exclusive club where we are privileged and we get special benefits, of course we're going to be offended by what Jesus says and does. It goes against what is fair and decent in our minds, surely not them. But instead when we see church as a group of people doing their best to live like Jesus who are trying to figure all this out who all have something about them that makes them an other. Then we know that the spirit is truly among us. We all were outsiders at some point and now we exist not just for ourselves but for those who aren't here. We shine light in their darkness. We point them to God's open arms. We tell the old old story.
And while we at St. Philippe are far from perfect at it as the spirit guides, we have done our best to follow. We feed people who are hungry with monthly meals. Share what we have to better the kingdom of God through our blessing box. We announce release to the captive to sin through God's grace every single week. We shine the light of Christ in Word and song and action.
In our lesson today, Jesus says today this scripture has been fulfilled. So where Jesus shows up, there is fulfillment. Where Jesus shows up, there is salvation. Where Jesus shows up, there is good news. Not because we're open and ready, not because we're part of a special club, not because of us. Salvation is present because Jesus is present. And today Jesus shows up with us. He is here with a splash of water, a taste of bread and wine, a prayer and a song that we know by heart. Jesus is here. Today, scripture is fulfilled. Salvation has come. And next, Jesus goes on to fulfill scripture elsewhere, to be salvation elsewhere. So do we get offended that Jesus goes out? Or do we join him?
The good news, Jesus brings, is not only do you belong, not only do you have hope, but they do too. All do too. So do you want the good news or the good news? Because Jesus is present and that's all we get. So here again, Jesus is fulfillment of scripture. We are loved. You are loved. And so are they.