Rejected by His Own

Gospel: Luke 4: 16-30

Each Gospel writer begins the story of Jesus' public ministry in a different setting.  In today's Gospel portion Luke situates Jesus' inaugural event of ministry in his home town synagogue where Jesus is invited to share a reading and preach, indicating Jesus' status as a rabbi.  The synagogue was full, people who knew Jesus and eager to see what he would read and on what topic he would preach.  This setting is full of anticipatory promise.

Jesus chooses to read not from the Torah but from the prophet Isaiah, and he chooses to preach not on Jewish life and the keeping of the law but on how God is for all people of all races, classes, genders, and religions.  The reaction to Jesus' reading and preaching is swift and violent.  The entire town drags him to the edge of a cliff, intent on killing him.  Imagine - all these people you know, with whom you grew up and worked - all of them now seeking to kill you because you state that God is not their exclusive property.

While each Gospel situates Jesus' entrance into public ministry in different places, they all note in different ways that opposition to Jesus came from the very beginning.  "He came unto his own, and his own received him not."  The message of God being for all people remains as unpopular today as it was in Jesus' day.  Even those who sing the hymn "All are Welcome" do not really believe or practice it.  But the words and deeds of Jesus continue to inspire some to live that ideal, a place at the table for all.   

The Wrong Answer

Gospel: Matthew 16: 21-27

In the passage prior to today's Gospel portion, Peter provided an insightful answer about Jesus, and for that Jesus praised him.  Since then, apologists have used that passage to create an entire ecclesiology, ignoring two important elements.  The first is today's portion, an event that takes place just after Peter's confession.  Here, Peter gets it very wrong about Jesus and his mission, for which Jesus calls him a Satan, rebuking him in the most severe terms.  

Peter had made true statements about Jesus, that he was Messiah and Son of God, but Peter did not understand at all what those statements meant.  For him, the idea of Jesus being arrested and put to death at the hands of the state and religious leaders made no sense.  The Messiah was supposed to drive out the occupying empire and purify the religion of Israel, returning her to some period of past glory, making Israel great again.  But Jesus is not that figure at all - not then, not now.  

The second error of the apologists is in thinking that the Gospels exist to justify our own notions of ecclesiology and theology.  The Gospels exist for us to know the Lord Jesus and to become like him in our lives.  They document our own moments of insight as well as our own misunderstandings about Jesus.  Our own lives are reflected in the figures of the disciples in our own walk with Jesus.  If we want a lot of wrong answers, follow the apologists.  If we want to know Jesus better, place yourself in the Gospel itself.

Whom do We Serve?

Gospel: Mark 6: 17-29

We ought not be surprised when those in power take vengeance on those who rebuke them for their misdeeds and injustices.  Nor should we be surprised when those same ruling powers make decisions on a whim, even those that result in the death of another person merely because of pleasure, convenience, and events wholly unrelated to the life of the person in question.  These events and decisions are endemic to the ruling class and elites of the world.

Unfortunately, we also are no longer surprised when clergy and religious leaders put their lot in with the ruling powers of the world - when the religiously clad bless such injustices or at the very least say nothing at all when people are trampled upon by the ruling elite.  We might be saddened, but we ought not be surprised, when religious leaders choose to become chaplains of the empire rather than pastors and guardians of the defenseless sheep.  

In life and in death John the Baptist was the forerunner to the Lord Jesus.  John and Jesus lived prophetic lives of love, mercy, and care for others.  Both suffered death at the hands of the powers of this world and with the blessing and silence of the religious institutions of the day.  For those who choose a life of religious dedication, a further choice lies before us: will we follow the path of the professional religious elites, or the way of John the Baptist and Jesus?