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Third Sunday of Epiphany
Nehemiah 8:1-10 Have you noticed how family resemblances are sometimes passed on from one generation to the next? I look like my mother, who looked like her mother, who in turn looked like her mother. Yet I have two sisters, and neither of them look like me, and if you saw us together you’d never guess we were from the same family. But even where there are strong similarities in a family, there are also differences. For instance, I share my mothers build, facial features, hair colour and complexion, but she has beautiful hazel coloured eyes and mine are a boring grey/blue. My distance vision is terrible, and I have worn spectacles since the age of 8. She’s 80, and her distance vision is still near perfect. I am sure you’re all aware that our physical characteristics are passed down to us from our parents in our genetic code, or DNA. Yet every time God creates a new life, he doesn’t just make a copy of one of the parents. He makes someone who is completely unique. That’s even true of so called ‘identical twins’. Get to know them well enough, and you find that no matter how alike they are, there are subtle differences between them. My first grandchild is due to be born next week, and I’ve wondered a lot about what the baby might look like. Will it be a boy or a girl? Will it have brown hair, like its mum and dad, or perhaps ginger hair like its granddad? I’m not sure how popular that would be … personally I would love it. Will the baby have grey/blue eyes like most of our side of the family, or dark brown eyes like its mum? Or perhaps even hazel eyes like my mum. Of course, at the moment, we just don’t know, and that’s part of the anticipation and excitement of waiting for a new baby to be born …. waiting to see what God has made. As I prepared this sermon, I found myself reflecting on this idea of family resemblances passing down the generations, yet every new life being different. You may ask, “What’s that got to do with today’s scriptures”? Stay with me, and you’ll hopefully see the connection. Our Old Testament reading was from the book of Nehemiah. In the Hebrew bible, Ezra and Nehemiah are joined together as one book. They record the story of how God brought his people back to their land from exile in Babylon, how they then rebuild the temple, and later the city of Jerusalem itself. Today’s reading records the day when the people renewed their covenant relationship with God, by hearing the Book of the Law read aloud, and recommitting themselves afresh to its statutes. In Jewish tradition, the Book of the Law was read aloud in full, to an assembly of all God’s people, every seven years. Today’s passage is an important one, because it is probably the earliest reference to that practice, and it sheds light on how the public reading of scripture, and synagogue worship, may have developed. As I looked more closely at the Nehemiah reading and its background, I was struck by the similarities between that and the way we worship today. The reading is set in a gathering of God’s people who have come together to pray, to worship God, and to hear the sacred scriptures read aloud and explained. That’s not unlike what we are doing here now. Ezra is the master of the assembly, a priest and scribe. Perhaps a bit like Father Graham or Father John. As Ezra prepares to read the scriptures, he stands before the crowd on a wooden platform so he can be seen. That’s similar to what I’m doing now, standing in this pulpit. He opens the Book of the Law, and the people stand up in reverence for the Word of God. Not unlike how we stood to hear the Gospel reading. After the book has been read, an interpretation is then given to help the people understand its meaning. That’s what I’m trying to do now. The point is, while much has changed since this gathering was recorded for us in scripture, there are a number of similarities between it and the way we worship here today. I wonder whether some of those similarities are a bit like those family resemblances, echoes of the past which have come down to us through the generations, from the Jewish faith and into the early church, and right through to today. Perhaps they are part of our spiritual DNA, markers of our identity as children of God, who were made to worship him, to offer praise, and to gather together to hear his Holy Word. But because wherever God makes new life he creates something unique, every church today worships in a slightly different way. Some look similar to us. Others may look completely different. I suppose it’s a bit like how my sisters share the same parents as me, but they don’t look anything like me. With the worldwide Christian church, it’s God who is the spiritual DNA uniting us together as the Body of Christ. Come with me now to the Gospel reading, where we can see some continuity with the Jewish faith and some changes, as God does something new. Immediately prior to the reading, Jesus has emerged from the desert where he was led by the Spirit after his baptism, and tempted by the devil for 40 days. He came out of the desert filled with the Holy Spirit, and ready to do the work God had planned. He went back to Galilee, and began teaching in the synagogues there. He soon gained a reputation for himself, and word spread quickly about him. Everyone who heard him praised him. He then returned to his home town, Nazareth, and entering the synagogue on the Sabbath day. Luke tells us this was his usual custom. Of course, Jesus was a Jew, and as such he would always have been found in the local synagogue on the Sabbath. In Jesus’ time, the synagogue was the centre of Jewish community life, a place to gather for fellowship, as well as for worship and teaching. Synagogues were everywhere in Israel. They existed wherever Jewish communities had settled. When the city of Jerusalem fell in 70AD, 394 synagogues were destroyed in that city alone. And Jerusalem is not a big city, even today. But when Luke says it was Jesus’ usual custom to be in the synagogue on the Sabbath, he probably doesn’t mean this particular one in Nazareth. Luke has just told us that Jesus has only just returned there after teaching in the synagogues throughout the area. He had probably been gone from his home town for quite some time. So just imagine the scene that day. It’s the Sabbath, and most of the community are gathered in the synagogue as usual. There is no evidence that men and women would have been segregated. But there’s something different today … a mini-celebrity is back in town, a local lad, and he’s been making a bit of a name for himself. News has reached the village about him, and apparently people are saying great things. Jesus would have been well known in Nazareth, and he had probably read in the synagogue many times before. He would have been very familiar with how worship was conducted. But he may not have taught there before. The locals were probably keen to hear what he had to say. Then Jesus stands up to read – opinions are divided as to whether the Isaiah scroll was the equivalent of the lectionary reading for that day, or was just given to him at random. Either way, Jesus unrolls the scroll, and begins to read from Isaiah 61, beginning at verse 1. The words would have been very familiar to the hearers; the Jews were deeply steeped in their scriptures and would probably have been able to recite the words of that ancient prophesy from memory. But wait a minute. Jesus is changing the words. He started off alright, but now he’s changed the order. He hasn’t even mentioned the bit about God’s vengeance! He’s not reading what’s on the scroll at all! I imagine it must have really jarred with the people when Jesus started changing the words of their treasured scriptures. How would you have reacted if someone had done that with the Gospel reading this morning? I imagine Jesus must have created quite a stir in the synagogue that day. Jesus then sits down and teaches the crowd, speaking graciously to them. He then says that the ancient prophecy has been fulfilled in him as they have heard his words. Luke says they were all amazed at his words. But I think some would have felt confused about what had happened. Others would probably have felt angry. Later in the story, we are told that some become furious with Jesus. They jumped up, mobbed him, and tried to force him over a cliff on the edge of town. The fact is, Jesus had taken their ancient traditions, which they deeply treasured and knew well, and challenged them to see them in a new way. God was doing a new thing now, and Jesus was trying to help the people to see it. He didn’t set out to destroy their traditions; in fact he said elsewhere that he hadn’t come to abolish the law, which they lived by, but to fulfil it. Nevertheless, some would have been excited by what Jesus did that day, some would have been confused by it, and some would have been downright annoyed. What relevance does this have for us? I’d like to suggest three possibilities. Firstly, I think God wants to affirm what is already happening here. The treasures of the faith have been passed on down the centuries through this church, and the people who have worshipped here, and they are honoured and held in trust for the next generation. There is also a genuine openness to let God do something new in this place. I believe God wants to encourage all of that. But He may also want to remind us that some of the things we hold dear may need to change, as he breathes new life into them. That could apply to us at a personal level, or as a church. And I think he wants to gently challenge some of us about how we respond in our hearts when we face the possibility of things changing. Are we excited by that, confused by it, angered by it or maybe something else. Remember that whenever God creates new life, he always changes it and doesn’t just produce a copy of what existed before. So don’t be afraid to let God bring change, as he breathes new life. My prayer is that we will all remain open to the new places God wants to lead us in the future, and the new challenges he has for us. May he bless us and grow us, individually and as a church, as we trust in him in that process. Amen. |