First Presbyterian Church – Willmar
January 27, 2013
Sermon:
“Jubilee”
Nehemiah 8:1-10
Luke 4:14-21
Earlier this week I had an
idea for a sermon that focused on something Jesus read from Isaiah in today’s
Gospel lesson: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor. He has
sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” That’s from Isaiah 61.
What Isaiah is referring to
as “the year of the Lord’s favor” is what is described in Leviticus 25 as the
year of jubilee. If you are someone who
insists that the Bible must be taken literally, I recommend that you read Leviticus
25 very carefully. Essentially every 50th
year, all debts are forgiven, all prisoners are freed, and all property goes
back to the original owner. One of the
most interesting verses would result in a redistribution of wealth and
resources: “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine
[says the Lord]; with me you are but aliens and tenants.”
For Isaiah that day would be
the realization of the restoration of the glory of Israel as they returned to
worship only the Lord. And Jesus says:
“This is that day.” He tried to tell
them that through Him the glory of the restoration of the relationship – the
covenant – with God had been achieved. Well,
we know how well that idea has been received!
So, then I thought maybe I
could focus on the Old Testament reading from Nehemiah. There are two things in that reading that
caught my eye. The first – again a word
of warning to literalists – is that the priest Ezra had to “interpret” the
scriptures for the people “so that the people understood the reading.” I have met people who won’t talk to me after
I put the words “interpret” and “scripture” in the same sentence.
The second thing that caught
my eye was the fact that when the people heard the word rightly interpreted to
them, “… all the people wept….” When was
the last time you read or heard scripture and wept from humility and gratitude
and joy? Ezra tells them to stop crying
for this is a day that is holy to God so they should celebrate and share their
wine and food with all those who have none.
He adds: “…for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
“The joy of the Lord is your
strength.” Let me interpret that: we are at our strongest when we are so
faithfully locked into the will of God that God is filled with joy because of
us!
Years ago CS Lewis wrote a
little read book titled “Surprised by Joy.”
It’s a memoir of his childhood and younger life as he winds through
atheism and agnosticism to finally be ambushed by a ruthless and relentless
God. To his surprise, embracing God
became an act of spontaneous joy. For Lewis,
joy became the serious business of being a Christian.
Perhaps it’s something that
we have lost or overlooked: joy! Two of Lewis’ British contemporaries, GK
Chesterton and Dorothy Sayers also recommended joy to us. For Chesterton it was the great secret of
Christianity, and for Ms. Sayers the absence of joy was the greatest sin a
Christian could commit. Still another
great spiritual writer has referred to joy as the strongest sign of the
presence of God in our lives.
Like those people listening to
Ezra rightly interpret scripture we too should be filled with joy, even joy
that might be expressed by tears.
Don’t ever make the mistake
of thinking that anything in scripture suggests that as a believer in God your
life will be easy, painless, or always happy.
We are called by God to collaborate in the presence of God’s kingdom
here on earth.
“Kingdom” is a misleading
word. For the most part, we Americans
have very little concept of that political structure called a “kingdom.” More recent translators and interpreters have
suggested that we simply acknowledge that what we have traditionally called the
“kingdom of God” describes any place that is ruled by God’s sacred will. It’s whenever we submit to the will of God,
recognizing the reign of God over our lives.
“Any place” includes both
within our Christian community and within our own hearts. That’s what it means when Jesus says the
kingdom is here, at hand, right now. God
will reign now in your heart if you will let God in! Through Christ we have been given the
opportunity to bring God into our church, our homes and our hearts and when we
do we are living in the “kingdom” of God.
Life in the “kingdom,” life
lived following God’s will, is life in which we are at our strongest and God is
filled with joy because of us. The
joy-filled presence of God is an affirmation of our strength. When we live our lives that way, we are
indeed aliens and tenants in this strange and foreign land.
There is so much to do. So many challenges to us if we are to live
our lives in joy-filled faithfulness to the will of God. Make no mistake: as we live our lives carrying the kingdom of
God out to share with the world, there are many forces in this world that will
push back, oppose us, even actively go to war with us.
I’ve been watching a
three-part series on public television about “The Abolitionists,” those 19th
Century crusaders who fought to bring an end to slavery in the United
States. As I watched the show my mind
wandered to the life of William Wilberforce the British Christian and
politician who tirelessly fought to bring about an end to slavery throughout
the British Empire in the 18th Century.
One night after another of
the many heartbreaking defeats that his cause suffered in Parliament for over a
decade, he came upon a letter written to him by John Wesley, the founder of
Methodism. Wesley wrote this to his
friend:
“Unless the divine power has
raised you up . . . I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise
in opposing that (abominable practice of slavery), which is the scandal of
religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for
this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But
if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger
than God? Oh, be not weary of well-doing. Go on in the name of God, and in the
power of His might.”
“In the power of His
might.” It is when we are in the joy of
the Lord that we affirm the strength that the Lord has given us. And it is when we feel the presence of the
joy of the Lord – a joy that spreads through us – that we shall be know the
power of His might in us.
I’m not sure if this is the
sermon that I was thinking about earlier this week. Sometimes experiences and thoughts and
feelings get in the way. But this is the
only message I have for you today.
Nehemiah had the joy of the
Lord in his soul. Isaiah had the joy of
the Lord in his soul. Jesus had the joy
of the Lord in His soul. Wilberforce had
the joy of the Lord in his soul. That
was their great strength. Do you have
that joy? If not I hope you will give God’s kingdom a home in your heart and
claim that joy for yourself today.
Amen.
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