180527 Justice and Peace Luke 4:16-21 Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been raised. On the Sabbath he went to the synagogue as he normally did and stood up to read. The synagogue assistant gave him the scroll from the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the synagogue assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the synagogue was fixed on him. He began to explain to them, “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled just as you heard it.” According to Luke, immediately after Jesus’ preparation in the wilderness he returns to Galilee and teaches in the Synagogues. In his hometown of Nazareth they have undoubtedly heard the reports of his teaching. So when he comes to Nazareth and reads from Isaiah’s prophecy what I call his mission statement, they may expect he is coming home to do his most powerful work. The Lord God’s spirit is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. Listen to these verses he quotes in Isaiah: He has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim release for captives, and liberation for prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and a day of vindication for our God, This is what he doesn’t read. to comfort all who mourn, to provide for Zion’s mourners, to give them a crown in place of ashes, oil of joy in place of mourning, a mantle of praise in place of discouragement. They will be called Oaks of Righteousness, planted by the Lord to glorify himself. They will rebuild the ancient ruins; they will restore formerly deserted places; they will renew ruined cities, places deserted in generations past.

The Prophet Isaiah claims that God’s power will be expressed through Israel referred to here as Zion and offer blessing on Israel and its people. By referring to Isaiah’s prophecy and claiming its fulfillment in his reading Jesus aligns himself with its promise. Perhaps the listeners in Nazareth knew the prophecy in its entirety and were expecting special mention, special blessing of healing, release and liberation for the people of Nazareth. Jesus disappointed them. After giving voice to their expectations he told them “no prophet is accepted in his hometown.” It is clear to me that his ministry is for all people.

Jesus came to engage: to preach, proclaim, liberate, the poor, prisoners, blind, and the oppressed. Jesus didn’t come for himself, for his safety and security. He didn’t come for his hometown, He didn’t come for Israel. He came for the world. “God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish, but will have eternal life.” The Holy Spirit inspired the apostles at Pentecost to preach in many languages. We are Jesus’ people, the Christian Church, the body of Christ that has been taken across the world and portions of the Bible have been translated into over 3000 languages. The church didn’t do that for its survival. It did it to bring God’s blessing, release and salvation to all. John Wesley claimed the world for his parish.

You know I’ve traveled a lot. 26 nations. I’ve lived for at least 4 years in 4 of them, serving for shorter periods in 8 more. When you travel and live in the villages of other nations, you tend to see things from a more wholistic perspective. People worship God in everhy language and know God in limited ways. The Word made flesh works on the steps of rural India, at the table of rural Nigeria, in the halls of Malawi and the churches of Cameroon. Liberation and release from the chains of cultural oppression cannot be maintained by simply substituting one captor for another, unless it is to be captivated by that which gives freedom in unconditional love and the implied patterns of justice.

There was a time when clans held families together in common identity. But the clans fought for prominence in the tribe. Tribal identity bound clans together so they could survive in peace and prosperity. But now tribalism is a source of violence and genocide in parts of Africa where national identity is struggling to create peace, stability and prosperity for all their people. There will come a time, and in some respects we are already there when nationalism is an unnecessary and troubling source of violence in an earthly community that is struggling to create a common ethic and prosperity for all. Certainly this was the direction of the church even from its birth and consistently throughout the ages bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the word of God to all.

Today we remember the men and women who gave their lives for the security of this country and its people for the liberation of people worldwide. For personal reasons I am thinking of those who stormed the beaches of France and the islands of the Pacific and those who slugged through the fields and climbed the hills and mountains to confront imperial powers engaging in genocide, forced labor, ghettoization and biomedical experimentations on captured and subjected people. You and I know our nation is not completely innocent of these charges, and my students internationally have pointed this out to me; but this world would be much different today if the 400,000 Americans who gave up their lives in WWII had stayed home and that genocide and subjugation had been allowed to continue. Let us not forget.

Those who returned, and those who remained home to farm and manufacture built the infrastructure of a nation that served the world and helped the devastated and the defeated nations to rebuild themselves. Their sons and daughters are engaged internationally in making the world a better place. My own father, disabled from birth, entered the ministry and served his first church, a place called Caldwell in rural Racine County and his sons are among those of the boom generation who have served worldwide.

This is an important dimension of the memory of this day that we should not forget. There was great debate about whether this nation should enter the global fight. But when we did we committed all our force on both fronts, securing our future and liberating many nations in the process. Our men and women fought for the world. This may have begun in self- interest, but it grew into much more.

God’s peace and justice for all humankind will not be reached by force or violence. It will not be reached by economic or political power. If that were the case, Jesus, who calmed the storms and fed the masses, could have called down the power of the almighty, not only to save his own life but to anoint a new king and engage the forces of the Roman empire. Military victory could have been won for a time, and only for a time. Then forgetfulness of who achieved the victory, self-congratulation and self-service would ensue and worship of other forms of success and satisfaction would result – as it had throughout the history of humankind.

Before the word became flesh the way of justice and peace was the law of exchange: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Israel stood as a singularly chosen nation of God, at war with its enemies. After the word became flesh, Jesus taught a different way of justice and peace when he offered salvation to the foreigner, judged and pardoned the adulterous woman, healed the sick and disabled, gave sight to the blind and commanded us to love our enemies and do good to those who hurt us. Justice was met by walking a second mile, by giving our clothes as well as our coat. He spoke of justice in his story of the beggar Lazarus covered with skin disease, who sat within reach of the rich man’s table. When both died Lazarus went to heaven. The rich man went elsewhere and from there he appealed to God to let Lazarus drop water on his lips, or at least tell his brothers not to be as selfish as he was. God said you had your chance and so have they.

This is what I’d like us to remember: Jesus’ mission to preach, proclaim and liberate is still ours. Jesus’ way of love, compassion, and justice is still the way, the truth and the life for the family, the community, the nation and world. God is still God. If you think there is another way to ever-lasting peace, a peace that can survive misunderstanding, conflict, hurt, injustice, even death, you have found yourself another god, but one that has been already been found wanting. People on all sides of the divides are still following those gods of race superiority, nation superiority, economic superiority, sex superiority, me and mine first, as they did when Jesus came among us. Since then empires have come and gone, nations have risen and fallen, sexism and racism have had their time, borders have been redrawn and leaders have died. The one thing that lasts is the word of God made flesh: to love God over all, and love neighbor without prejudice.

Homework: make peace with someone with whom you are distant or estranged. I suggest sharing food in person or with a gift card, expressing God’s love and your forgiveness, clearing up misunderstanding, and if accepted, praying together. Take a minute if you need one and think of that one person you will engage this week with the love of God or pray that God will lead you to such an encounter this week. If we all let God work in us like this these next 7 days, we will be that much closer to the new heaven and new earth and that much closer to the day we will not need to send our young ones to die in battle. This I do believe. Amen.