The title for today could be "Cliche Sunday". 1 Corinthians 13 is so well known, and is read at countless weddings by pastors who preach it while in their hearts knowing it is not for a couple but for a community. And Luke 4:21-30 contains two sayings that are also spoken out of context - physician, heal thyself and no prophet is welcome in his hometown.
Meandering down the lectionary trail today, I hope to avoid all of these cliches. First, who speaks and who is silent in the Luke reading? Jesus tells the hometown crowd in the synagogue that the reading he's just completed (the Spirit of the Lord is upon him to proclaim good news to the poor and oppressed) is fulfilled. It is no longer a future, a hoped-for reality, but a present reality. This must have been hard to take knowing that things didn't seem as if they had changed. The Israelites were living under an oppressive foreign government but they had a way of working it. And now here comes the carpenter's son, proclaiming that the scripture is fulfilled while nothing has changed. They must have thought him quite presumptuous. So the second group that speaks is the congregation, first impressed at his religious knowledge and then furious at his implications. When Jesus speaks a second time, he cites scripture in which prophets are welcomed by outsiders rather than by Israelites. The people's reaction is to attempt to kill Jesus. Quite a contrast to all the contemporary worship songs in which we imagine ourselves laughing and hugging Jesus. What if we look at this reading as an opportunity for us to examine ourselves and how Jesus infuriates us? An opportunity for us to examine the ways in which we don't want our status quo to change? An opportunity for us to hear Jesus proclaim good news that disturbs us?
The questions about who speaks and who is silent are implied in the epistle reading. Paul is responding to a letter regarding conflicts in the Corinthian church. Their initial letter is lost to us, so we can only assume what has been written to Paul by the way he frames his letter, addressing conflicts and power struggles prior to this chapter. After exhorting the Corinthians to understand themselves as an interconnected body, now he explains the underlying principle that should be present in all they say and do. Love.
In my view, this is the key factor that differentiates secular speech and action for the common good and Christian speech and action for the common good. Anyone can organize a group for disaster relief, but Christian love is the motivating factor for Christian mission. Last year I marched alongside several thousand women in our local Women's March. People brought a wide range of motivating factors to the march, many of which were made plain on the signs and posters they carried. I had gone to the march alone as I didn't know anyone else that was attending, and as I stood in the stadium I realized that the speakers didn't have the benefit of an audio system so everyone could hear them. I made my way to the edge and eventually saw a poster with a United Methodist cross and flame. There's someone I could meet, I thought, and went over. Being a United Methodist clergy, I figured it would be easy to meet these other Methodists. They were kind people and we marched together for a bit. I knew that our motivations for being in that march were similar - God's love for all people. We wanted to witness to God's love, the kind of love Paul describes. Love is patient, love is kind, love isn't jealous. Love does not brag, boast, or seek it's own advantage. Love is happy with truth and justice. Love endures.
Perhaps an intersection of these lectionary readings is that when love is proclaimed and lived out, it can upset the status quo - in our personal lives and in our communal life. Can we be open enough to hear both Jesus and Paul tell us the good news that disturbs our status quo?
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