First Presbyterian Church
Carrying the Gospel
Sermon for January 28, 2007
by Pastor Susan Barnes

Children's time: 1 Kings 17:9-15 and 2 Kings 5:1-14.

There was a prophet of God named Elijah who tried to tell King Ahab to be a better king. King Ahab didn't want to, so Elijah left town. God told him a widow in Zarephath would feed him. Zarephath was a foreign country, but Elijah went there, and he saw the widow. He asked for some water and bread, but she said, I don't have any bread, just some meal, and a little oil. I'm getting some sticks to make a fire for my son and me so I can make pancakes. It will be our last meal, because we don't have any more food.”

Do any of you know what Elijah did?

He said “don't be afraid. Bring me a pancake first, and then make something for you and your son.”

Do you think she did it? Yes, she did. She served Elijah first, and because she did, there was enough meal and oil for days and days.

There was another prophet of God named Elishah. Elishah was living in Israel when the army commander from an enemy country came to his house. The commander's name was Naaman. He had a kind of skin disease called leprosy, and he wanted to be cured. So Elishah told him to go wash in the Jordan river 7 times. What do you think Naaman did?

No, he didn't follow the directions. He complained that the directions were stupid. He walked away in a huff. But he had servants with him, who convinced him to try it and so he dipped himself into the Jordan 7 times.

What do you think happened? Yes, he was cured.

What do you think God thought about what Elijah and Elisha did?

Our first reading is in unison. Psalm 71 is found on Page 532 of your pew Bibles. The psalmist has suffered sickness and other crises, and is now endangered by enemies in his old age. The psalm uses cliff imagery for God. High places are easy to defend against enemies and the caves shelter us from the weather. Listen for the word of God as we read it together in Psalm 71:1-6.

1 In you, O LORD, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.

2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me.

3 Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.

4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.

5 For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth.

6 Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took 1 me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you.

This ends our reading from the psalm. Our gospel reading is found on page 61. The gospel writer Luke chose to begin his story of Jesus' teaching ministry with Jesus reading from the law of Isaiah in the Galilee. You heard that reading last week: “ He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”

For people who had been under foreign control for centuries, this is good news. In Jesus' day, the Romans occupied Palestine. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Luke 4:21-30.

21 Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

22 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?"

23 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.'" 24 And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown.

25 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; 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."

28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 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.

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

This ends our gospel reading.

The gospel reading doesn't make a lot of sense. Why did the people in the synagogue get so mad at Jesus?

Jesus spoke those amazing words about the reign of God, that it was fulfilled with good news for the poor and release for the captives. Who wouldn't celebrate that? At last, the long occupation was over, God's chosen people would finally be rewarded. His people in Nazareth heard Jesus did good things in Capernaum. He was finally returning to his roots, and they expected good things too.

Then Jesus tells the two Bible stories where foreigners are saved by God; the widow is fed and given a way to make a living, and the Aramean army officer is healed. The chosen people in Nazareth won't be the only ones to experience the good news

They disagreed with his interpretation of those old Hebrew stories. So they did what people do when they encounter blasphemy; they tried to kill him. Violence was their answer. Isn't it interesting that they weren't able to harm him? Maybe he passed through the midst of them because he looked like them. He was one of them. Maybe that's why they were so angry. They felt betrayed by one of their own. It isn't that Jesus leaves Nazareth because he is rejected; he is rejected because he announces God's will and his mission is to leave Nazareth and go elsewhere. 2 And Jesus, instead of retaliating, just went on his way.

The later Christians were also faced with violence, and they too went on their way. They followed Jesus' way, and did not retaliate.

Let's listen to the choir.

“Go Ye Into All the World”

Today, violence is still an answer when people disagree over religious interpretation. Political leaders find it convenient to capitalize on people's tendencies to mistrust and condemn other ways of connecting with God.

Last week I was flipping through The Book of Confessions. I ran across this paragraph that I wanted to share with you. The Second Helvetic Confession was written in 1561 and came from the Swiss branch of the Presbyterian tradition. Parts of it still speak to us today. But other parts don't. They reveal the prejudices of the time.

“We teach that baptism should not be administered in the Church by women or midwives. For Paul deprived women of ecclesiastical duties and baptism has to do with these. We condemn the Anabaptists, who deny that newborn infants of the faithful are to be baptized. For according to evangelical teaching, of such is the kingdom of God, and they are in the covenant of God. Why, then, should the sign of God's covenant not be given to them? Why should those who belong to God and are in his Church not be initiated by holy baptism? We condemn also the Anabaptists in the rest of their peculiar doctrines which they hold contrary to the Word of God. We therefore are not Anabaptists and have nothing in common with them.” 3

When this was written, the Reformation had recently happened, and new denominations were trying to survive. A good way to cement followers was by claiming you had the only truth.

I am glad that now we can interact with our brothers and sisters in Christ who belong to Baptist denominations, and with other churches that baptize by immersion. I served a church of three denominations and one believed firmly in immersion, and the other two usually baptized babies by sprinkling. So we did it both ways.

I liked that compromise. Sometimes we condemn people of other religions and faiths because they condemn people of other religions and faiths. Condemnation is one way violence begins.

Jesus did not condemn those who condemned him, not even those from Nazareth.

But what do we do about people of other faiths? We don't have the luxury of ignoring this difficult question anymore. Given the religious violence around the world, we have to figure out how we are going to respond.

Christians historically have viewed Jews with prejudice, as part of those who need to be converted. The gospel lesson today would have been used as evidence that Jews are bad. Those Jews in the synagogue in Nazareth were after Jesus. Never mind that plenty of synagogues welcomed Jesus and invited him to preach. Never mind that Jesus was a Jew and so were most of the people who ministered to him.

In 1967, the church wrote a new confession emphasizing reconciliation in Christ. This section deals with the Jewish question.

“The church in its mission encounters the religions of men and in that encounter becomes conscious of his own human character as a religion. God's revelation to Israel, expressed within Semitic culture, gave rise to the religion of the Hebrew people. God's revelation in Jesus Christ called for the response of Jews and Greeks and came to expression within Judaism and Hellenism as the Christian religion. The Christian religion, as distinct from God's revelation of himself, has been shaped through its history by the cultural forms of its environment. The Christian finds parallels between other religions and his own and must approach all religions with openness and respect. Repeatedly God has used the insight of non-Christians to challenge the church to renewal. But the reconciling word of the gospel is God's judgment upon all forms of religion, including the Christian. The gift of God in Christ is for all men. The church, therefore, is commissioned to carry the gospel to all men whatever their religion may be and even when they profess none. 4

What does it mean to carry the gospel? Does it mean to do people the kindness of letting them know that if they don't believe in Christ, they are doomed to burn in hell for eternity? I don't think so. For one thing, finding scriptures to support that theology is difficult.

Are we still commissioned to carry the gospel to all people of every religion? Or can we treat it like the words condemning Baptists or forbidding women to baptize? Do we get to say that we have changed with the times? I don't think so. We can still carry the gospel.

What has changed with the times is our interpretation of what the gospel is. It is not about determining who is saved and who is not. 1 Timothy 2:4 says “God desires that everyone be saved” and the sayings in Matthew 7 show that only God knows who will be saved. Why do we Christians want to know who is saved and who is not?

Is it so we know who to befriend? Who to marry? Who to allow to teach our children? Who to do business with? Who to elect? Who we'll let into our home? Who we will let into our churches? Why is it any of our business who is saved? Maybe because we want to know who to send missionaries to. If you are unsaved, then you get wells, clean water, food, medical care and Jesus. If you are already saved, you have Jesus and we don't need to bother.

But that's not what Jesus said. He preached that we all can be part of the year of God's favor by not just preaching good news to the poor, but in bringing that good news about. We become part of the gospel story when we feed the hungry, heal the sick, clothe the naked, and care for the prisoners. And so when we go into the world, as the choir sang, we don't just carry the gospel, we live it. And we aren't just doing it for non-Christians. All of us Christians need to be reminded of the gospel from time to time.

God commanded us in the Hebrew Bible, the old testament, to love our neighbor. Jesus commanded the same. But love can be defined a lot of ways. Apparently the Corinthians needed reminding what love is, so Paul wrote these words: Listen for the word of God as it is found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

But if we don't condemn other faiths anymore, why should we be Christian? Why should we be Presbyterian? How do we know it is the one true and right way? If love means to rejoice in truth, shouldn't we find the truth first? If we have any theological integrity at all, shouldn't we try to find the best possible faith and then follow that one?

The problem with that solution is that in order to understand a faith, we have to live with it for awhile. Those of you who have ever gone church shopping know that it isn't always easy to find a good fit. If you expand your search to include other religions, it becomes even more daunting. It's hard to be spiritually homeless while you're looking for a church.

But how do we find that one particular faith where we can be at home? The words from Psalm 71 are “ Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.” Even the psalmist was looking for a safe place. Here are some questions to consider.

1. “Can you teach it to your children?”

2. “Does it spill over into more loving relationships with other who are not part of your own nurturing community?”

3. Does it help you “in moments of profound crisis, like coping with a serious illness?”

4. “Does it help you learn how to grow, how to live, how to act with others, how to share the gift of grace with all?” 5

5. Is scientific exploration a welcome addition to the glories of God's creation or a threat that needs to be squashed?

I think if you can answer yes to these questions, it is OK to stop searching and make your spiritual home. It's possible to engage other faiths even while we are deeply rooted in one particular faith. Our mission co-workers around the world do that.

Jesus did that. In the tradition of Elijah and Elisha, he ministered to unbelievers.

God's grace provides us with strength and deliverance from evil the psalm talked about so we can live the gospel.

Our statement of faith today comes from our most recent confession, adopted in 1992. It is one way to describe the gospel. It uses words Jesus himself spoke: “proclaiming good news to the poor and release the captives.” It adds teaching by word and deed and blessing the children. Today we do some of those things by supporting Souper Bowl Sunday, led by the youth, who are blessed by being taught, and who bless the rest of us by their words and deeds.

Amen.

1 Literally, it's “you cut me” a clear reference to cutting the umbilical cord.

2 R. C. Tannehill, “The Mission of Jesus according to Luke 4:16-30,” In Jesus of Nazareth, ed. W. Eltester [Berlin: Walter deGruyter, 1972], p. 62, quoted in Reading Luke, by Charles Talbert, p. 57.

3 “Second Helvetic Confession,” 5.192, p. 101 of The Book of Confessions.

4 “The Confession of 1967,” 9.41, 9.42, p. 259 of The Book of Confessions

5 “The best kind of Spirituality,” Context, January 15, 2003, p. 4