4^th February 2013

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley Sunday 27 January 2013

Lessons - Nehemiah 8:1-3,5,6,8-10; 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a ;13:13b; Luke
4:16-21

Jesus said: 'Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your
hearing.' (Luke 4:21)

This well-known passage is fitting for our reflections on the Australia
Day weekend. It reminds us of the Christian-Jewish contributions to the
foundation of our society where concern for the vulnerable is etched into
our laws and collective psyche. It also points us to worldliness of the
'Spirit of the Lord' that encourages the community of faith, not to escape
the world, but to speak good news to those suffering in the world. It
opens us to the One in whom God's just and merciful purpose for all people
has been uniquely embodied.

This text has challenged many people, in the name of Christ, to get
involved with those who have been ignored by mainstream society. It has
stirred people like Mother Teresa to spend their lives working amongst the
poor or agitating for policies to minimise the harmful effects of poverty.
Others like Wilberforce and Lincoln have protested against slavery or
pressed for prison reform. It has been the catalyst for missionary work
amongst often despised groups like indigenous people, immigrants and
refugees. It has galvanised those like Nelson Mandela who have stubbornly
resisted tyranny. It has encouraged many who have sought cures for
afflictions.

They have understood that the 'Spirit of the Lord' is the Spirit of
compassion. Today, preachers around the country will be calling on
governments, the community and the churches to act in a spirit of fairness
and equality to uphold the human rights of marginalised people.

This is as it should be. But the concern to see that justice is done is
often expressed in a way that owes more to left-leaning values than to the
values of the Christian-Jewish community within which Jesus' words were
spoken. That does not mean we should interpret them in line with right-
leaning values! It is not a question of trying to kidnap Jesus' 'values'
for either socialist or capitalist ideals, as was done by Democrats and
Republicans in the recent US Presidential election.

It is crucial therefore that we read the lessons in their context.
Otherwise we will misinterpret them in ours. It takes time to learn the
language and responsibilities of faith - to become immersed in the Grand
Story of God's gracious and demanding purpose for Israel, the Church and
the nations.

When Scripture was read in the public square (Nehemiah) or in the
synagogue (Jesus) the people were invited to 'hear with understanding'
(Nehemiah 8:2,8) and to be 'attentive to the law of God' (vv3,7,8) as it
was 'interpreted' to them (v8). This was a serious and joyful task to be
undertaken in the context of worship. Ezra read and the people stood 'from
early morning to midday' (v3). In the synagogue (Luke 4:18) the people
listened as Jesus read and interpreted the 'good news' foreshadowed in
Isaiah (61:1,2;58:6), Leviticus (25:10) and Deuteronomy (15:2).

When we listen carefully in this way, it becomes clear that the 'good
news' proclaimed by and embodied in Jesus cannot be understood apart from
Israel's special vocation. Whenever Christians have divorced themselves
from the Hebrew story they have misrepresented God's presence in Jesus.
Jesus was a Jew! This fact was tragically neglected by Marcion c AD 144
(who treated the Old Testament as a legalistic book in contrast with the
New Testament religion of love) and brutally ignored by the Nazis (and
many German Christians) in the holocaust. Who Jesus is can be understood
only within the story of God's gracious covenant with the Jews.

Today's readings from the Jewish Scripture (shared by Christians)
challenge and encourage the faithful in dire circumstances.

* Isaiah, quoted by Jesus in Luke, brings a word of hope to dispirited
folk (c 540 BC) who are either living in Babylon or have returned to find
that things are in bad shape. Whether oppressed and captive in Exile or
downcast at home, they are experiencing the disintegration of their
culture and faith - the absence of God.

* When Jerusalem was in a state of collapse and the people were tempted to
live by the 'values' of their Persian neighbours (c 450 BC), Nehemiah
instructs them to learn thoroughly the story of God's faithfulness so that
they will not be deterred from glorifying the One True God and renounce
the attractions of pagan gods.

So when Luke tells his story about Jesus' ministry, crucifixion,
resurrection and ascension, he sees hope for dispirited Jews and a time
when their suffering will be at an end.

What we have in Luke is not a list of socially just and inclusive 'values'
by which anybody can live apart from the message of God's incredible
grace. It is a joyful affirmation of the God who brings hope to a 'people'
who have suffered at the hands of those who do not share their faith in
the one God (e.g. Babylonians, Persians) or who (within the community of
faith) have ignored God's claim on their lives and treated their fellows
badly.

This is a word of hope to a people besieged by foreign 'values' and
falling short of 'values' shaped by the grace and righteousness of God! It
is a word of hope to people of all political persuasions: a word of mercy
unparalleled in history and unknown in any political or church manifesto.
In Jesus we are met, not by a teacher of universal human 'values', but by
the God of mercy - the God who forgives and absolves the sins that enslave
us either by what we have done or by what has been done to us.

It is noteworthy, therefore, that when Jesus quotes Isaiah 61:1,2, he
omits the reference to 'the day of God's vengeance'. The emphasis is on
God's mercy! Jesus' proclamation of good news to the poor and oppressed is
much, much more than a manifesto of universal values. Whilst it opens our
eyes to the plight of the vulnerable, and has shaped public policy and the
mission of the Church in our society, it is much, much more than a
statement of social justice.

Such statements never mention God's mercy uniquely embodied in Jesus!
Public apologies about a range of past ills go some way to express sorrow
for wrongs done by individuals and institutions (including churches) but
the emphasis is mainly on justice, fairness and rights - not mercy.

How different this is from what Luke tells us about Jesus! In him is a
word of hope to Christian and Jewish communities which have lost their way
- those whose faith is under siege from outside and within! What Jesus
says in the synagogue is a summary of what takes place in the whole of his
ministry, death, resurrection and ascension. He displays the unparalleled
mercy of God by inviting tax collectors and sinners into the Kingdom
(15:1,2), telling of the father's love for his prodigal son (15:11-24),
welcoming outcasts to the wedding banquet (14:23), and forgiving the
penitent criminal on the cross (23:40-42).

In Christ we do not have a teacher of universal 'values' (which happily
agree with ours) but the One in whom the 'Spirit of the Lord' was uniquely
present, embodying God's mercy. Who he is and what he says must not /
cannot be squeezed into our left- or right-leaning programmes for social
justice and individual rights.

Luke's portrayal of Jesus continues to challenge the Church to speak up
for the vulnerable. But what he says will not be fully understood if we
ignore the fact that, in Christ, the unparalleled grace of God is uniquely
present to bring hope to communities of faith (churches) beset by
persecution from without and heresy within. This is also a word of hope
for a Church under siege!

Recently, the Principal of Moore Theological College, Sydney, the Rev Dr
John Woodhouse, alerted churches to a seismic shift taking place in the
Australian community: 'For the first time in my experience Christians are
being perceived as evil. Until recently Christians have been dismissed
because they are overly self-righteous . . . [but] our society, which was
so influenced by Christianity, has been losing those roots so that what we
stand for is perceived to be evil.' (Eternity, Nov 2012, p10)

If this seems exaggerated then consider the venomous descriptions in the
media of religious leaders as bigoted and dogmatic, and moves to implement
Anti-discrimination Legislation at State and Federal levels which may lead
to the silencing of orthodox Christian belief.

What Principal Woodhouse neglected to say, however, was that there are
also many Church leaders and members who now think that believing that the
'Spirit of God' is uniquely embodied in Jesus is an evil which can no
longer be tolerated in a society that 'values' religious diversity and
individual rights. Such are the views of those who shape the social
justice agendas in some mainline churches.

Despite what is happening in our Australian context we can find hope in
the context of Luke's affirmation that, in Jesus, the 'Hebrew scripture
has been fulfilled'. It is a great comfort to know that the God who
called, sustained, chastened and renewed such a wayward and downcast
people has uniquely embodied his righteousness and mercy in Christ as a
sign of hope for what lies ahead. No matter what the Church is confronted
with - exile or collapse, hostility or complacency - we can be assured
that God's justice and mercy will ultimately triumph.

In that freedom, the Body of Christ (as Paul puts it) must be shaped in
such a way that we can stand with vulnerable, dispirited people while
proclaiming the word of hope for a broken world and a wayward Church. In
the knowledge that the love of God for all has been embodied in Jesus, we
are encouraged to hold fast to the truth to which our post-Christian
society (like the ancient Babylonians and Persians) is increasingly
hostile and about which, sadly, many of our churches are increasingly
embarrassed!

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Rev Dr Max Champion is minister in the St John's Uniting Church,
Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia. Dr Champion is Chair of the Assembly of
Confessing Congregations within the UCA.

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