January 30, 2022 – Epiphany 4C

“Then [Jesus] began to say to [all in the synagogue in Nazareth,] “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 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?” 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.’ ” And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. 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; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 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. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.” Luke 4:21-30

Do you know what Solipsism means?  Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t know what this word meant until about three or four days ago when I was reading an article written by a mister John Stendahl for “Religion Online” magazine. This is what he wrote:

“We (meaning America) inhabit a strange culture in which self-adsorption and solipsism are mass marketed—a culture in which our churches participate, compete and cater to please.”

Now, Mr. Stendahl was writing this article about the Gospel lesson here—so it is interesting to me what he is trying to suggest. We know, of course, what self-absorption means—when people turn inward on themselves focusing only on their personal concerns. Pairing self-absorption with Solipsism gives us a hint then to what it means: since a writer wouldn’t pair the words together if they were not similar in meaning. Anyway Solipsism is a philosophical idea that an individual’s own mind is the only thing that exists. Meaning, the content of a person’s mind is the most certain in their life. Their thoughts and experiences are theirs and theirs alone—and the only ones that matter.

What Stendahl was suggesting is that marketers in our country spend billions of dollars trying to convince us that we, individually are the only people that matter. In fact it is almost criminal how we are bombarded daily with messages telling us just that—that each one of us are the only people whose thoughts and feelings matter. But it isn’t only advertisers and marketers who have influence over us—the places where we grow up, like in small towns can influence a solipstic view on life. I grew up in a small town, you know that—in Millersburg, in the Lykens Valley area—Upper Dauphin County. My small town offered everything we needed—there was no need to leave the area—unless you wanted to go to a football or basketball game up the valley, like at Willams Valley, or Line Mountain High Schools. It was easy to believe that what we experienced in Millersburg was how things were in the world—what the person who lived in the Upper Dauphin County area believed and thought was how everyone thought. Now, if someone from say Lykens or Williamstown told us a different story, well, we “Millersburgers” were suspicious—because they were not one of us.

So let’s fast forward–we have Jesus coming to a synagogue and he has read a passage from the scroll of Isaiah—chapter 61 to be exact.

“The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has chosen me to encourage the poor, to help the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to the captives, the freeing of the prisoners, and to announce the year of the Lord’s favor.”

He rolls up the scroll and sits down—and everyone from his hometown is watching him—and thinking “What a good boy”. Then Jesus says “Today this scripture has been fulfilled – as you heard it being read”. Or in other words, today this scripture has come to life in this place, in this time, in this hearing, through this home-town boy.

The crowd is impressed with his “gracious words”. Oh, how gracious are the words of “Joseph’s son”. Perhaps this is the turning point – because there is a dramatic turning point in this text. In fact it is this turning point that is, perhaps what initially bothers me about this text. It appears that Jesus instigates the conflict between he and his hometown—in fact it seems Jesus goes on the attack—turns on his hometown crowd. It wasn’t so much what they did, but what they said. For you see, they don’t say “What a good person Jesus has turned out to be.” They in fact say “Look at Joseph’s boy—he’s turned out so nice.”

You see the difference, right? One allows Jesus his self-differentiation—being his own man. One, does not. One allows Jesus to be seen as his own person—one forces him to live in the shadow of his childhood—and his family. And, well, that doesn’t sit well with him. After all, through the reading of Isaiah in the synagogue, Jesus has announced the beginning and the purpose of his ministry—it is a prophetic message. He has been appointed to come and change everything. But his hometown people cannot conceive such a thing. The message is lost on their solipsistic minds. But we see this kind of reaction often—how the prophetic is too much to bear for many people because we live in the immediate—while the prophetic is most often beyond our experiences.

Jesus has come to us today–in the word, in the worship, in the bread and wine—he has come to us through our ears and our taste buds and our minds to tell us something so mind blowing, so prophetic we may not be able to understand it at first. Jesus has come for you and for me, but not just for you and for me. Jesus is the good news that surprises, but also includes all people. It is such good news we might want to just keep it for us—but this is not the message nor the intent of his mission. This good news is not just for us to do with it what ever we want—we must follow the path this good news sets us on. And that path is ever-changing, ever inclusive, and ever expanding.

Today we must share Agape love, divine love with all people—G-d’s patient, kind, humble, welcoming, inclusive and generous love with whomever we meet. And that message is one we need to embrace and to share today. It begins today.

Pastor Dave