A reflection on Nehemiah 8: 1-10 and Luke 4: 14-21: Sunday, 21 January 2007
How many times have you been to church in your life? Is that a calculation you have ever made?
If I do some rough maths (and it is very rough maths), if I have averaged church thirty times a year (only thirty to allow for those teenage years when I was not quite the little angel I was earlier), thirty times a year for fifty-four years – that’s 1, 620 times I’ve sat in church! 1, 620 times I’ve heard the bible read. 1, 620 times I’ve joined in the singing of hymns. 1, 620 times I’ve been spell-bound by the minister’s preaching (well, perhaps not 1, 620 times; there has been the odd sermon which was somewhat less than spell-binding; perhaps even more than the odd sermon).
When you stop and think about it, it’s a lot of time spent in church, isn’t it? And that’s not counting the time devoted to youth groups and choir practices (before my voice broke), the hours given to home groups and committee meetings, to church camps and Sunday school picnics. It’s a lot of time, and I have to ask myself the big question: Has it made me any different?
Have all of those hours, those prayers, that reflection on the Word of God, has any of that changed me? Am I a better person because of it all?
Now, I know that there are other reasons for going to church other than self-improvement. I would actually argue that changing me is hardly the most important reason for turning up here on Sunday morning; worship is about God, about glorifying God, and changing me is low on the list of priorities, but I still have to ask that question.
And what prompts me to ask that question is what I find in today’s bible readings.
Both the Nehemiah reading with which we began this morning and the gospel reading are set in the context of worship. Both typify what going to church is all about. For example, in Nehemiah we have the bringing in of the Scripture, the people answering Amen; we have the people listening for the word of God, and the teaching of those given authority to interpret.
Now all of those things are typical of what happens here week by week.
Similarly, on the sabbath day in the synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus “goes to church”. We’re not given a rundown on all the elements of synagogue worship but we can safely assume that it was business as usual.
However, there are two things highlighted in these readings which skewer me with that question about being changed.
Firstly, in the reading from Nehemiah we hear these words:
[A]ll the people wept when they heard the words of the law.
[A]ll the people wept when they heard the words of the law.
And I have to ask myself, “When was the last time that listening to the Word of God reduced me to tears?” When was the last time that what happened in worship was so potent that I was genuinely touched?
It has happened, of course. I do remember being in tears in church. There was even one memorable occasion when my whole family wept around me. It was a significant and powerful moment, and I can identify that as a time of considerable change for my family and for me.
Worship is supposed to touch us. We are meant to be moved and changed by what happens as we gather together in the presence of God. I don’t mean that every week we are expected to burst into tears when the bible is read. I don’t mean that every single one of us is meant to respond exactly the same way at exactly the same time. And I certainly don’t mean that the worship leader’s primary role is to whip the congregation into an emotional frenzy in order to facilitate the bringing on of tears. But we are supposed to be touched, influenced, changed by the process of worshipping our God.
Now change is an interesting thing. It can and does happen in many different ways, which is why I asked earlier, not just “Has worship made me any different?” but “Am I a better person?”
Those who gather in the square, those who hear the law read out, all respond by weeping. Hearing the word of God has reminded them of who God is and who they are. They are reminded that the completion of the rebuilding of the walls of the city is not the end, the highlight, the completion of their calling, but that their end is in fact to be the people of God. Why do they weep? Because they are confronted with the reality that they have had their priorities wrong. Wall-building is fine; but being the people of God is their greatest calling.
Anna Grant-Henderson, the Uniting Church minister and Old Testament scholar, comments:
The proclamation of the Law was a reminder to the people of the covenant relationship with God and what was required of them. It is part of a liturgical celebration which leads to the people responding in action.
What happens in worship leads to action, which is precisely what we find in Luke’s gospel. Today’s reading is just the first part of the story; the next part of the story tells us how those listening to Jesus responded to him, and that’s enlightening, but it’s far more important for us to identify what Jesus is driving at in taking the scroll of Isaiah and reading the section he chose.
Why did Jesus select that particular passage? What does it tell us about Jesus and the God of Jesus?
When Jesus climbs to his feet and reads, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor” he is telling us about what he believes his purpose in life is. If Jesus is touched by reading the word of God, his response is, “[God] has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind”. If thirty years of attending worship in the synagogue has touched Jesus, it is to bring him to the point where he can proclaim that his whole mission is “to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
Jesus’ response to his God is to turn towards others, because others are in need.
To quote Edward Markquart:
God's story is always related to human need. For example, if a woman is dying of cancer, the gospel is God's strong word of resurrection. If a person is permeated with guilt, the gospel is God's assurance of forgiveness. If people experience extreme suffering, the gospel is the prayer: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble." For the starving, the gospel may be bread. For a homeless refugee, the gospel may be freedom in a new homeland. For others, the gospel may be freedom from political tyranny. The gospel is always related to human need... The gospel is God's truth, God's message, God's action, God's word to a particular person, to a particular need, to a particular historical situation. You don't throw a drowning person a sandwich. However good the sandwich may be, it just doesn't meet that person's need. You throw a drowning person a life jacket or a lifeline, or you dive in for the rescue. So it is with the gospel. The gospel is God's truth, God's action, aimed at a particular human need.
Edward Markquart Witnesses for Christ:
Where does that leave us? How do we respond when we are touched by the gospel, the Word of God who is good news to the poor? Does the Spirit of Lord descend upon us to send us out to the poor, the captive, the blind, the oppressed. Do we recognise the needs of those around us, and do we recognise that we are sent be a part of the year of the Lord’s favour?
Already in the time I have been here I have seen numerous examples of people responding to the gospel because they see the needs of others. Sometimes those needs are the needs of other people within the life of the church, and it is good when we reach out to help one another at difficult times in our lives. That is what being community is about.
At other times, I have seen people responding to the needs of people they have never met and never will meet; through God-given opportunities such as the Christmas Bowl or the empty tree or Shellie’s work in Papua, we reach out to meet needs beyond our own community.
And, on occasions, we recognise the poor just outside, the captives in the streets nearby, the blind waiting for us close at hand, and the oppressed looking longing for our doors to open and for us to go out to be with them in their time of need.
Responding to God is not easy. Often there are tears – just ask all those who wept when they heard the words of the law; just ask Jesus when the mob turned against him. But we come to church, not to accumulate points which will get us into heaven, but to be reminded of who God is and who we are, the people of God. We come to hear that Christ has come to proclaim good news for others and to respond, “Amen. Amen.” So let it be. So let it be.
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