Hard Love
This sermon can be listened to here
Gate Pa – Year C 4th Sunday after Epiphany 2019,
Readings:
Psalm Psalm:
71:1-6
First Reading: Jeremiah
1:4-10
Second Reading: 1 Cor 13:1-13
Gospel: Luke
4:21-30
What I want to say:
To explore the
theme of love in today's readings
What I want to happen:
People to reflect
on who they struggle to love and why
The Sermon
1. Introduction
Number of themes
around today
As said in pew sheet
One is longing
See this in
readings just heard
One options for
today was celebrate presentation of Jesus in temple
- Longing of Jesus' parents for their
son
- Also greater longing of people of God
for salvation from overlords
2. Love
Another related
theme might be love
Found these
cartoons from Naked pastor online
Read out
Just heard Paul's
great hymn about love
Heard in so many
weddings
Want to make a
couple of comments
a. What disservice people who put chapter
divisions into this letter have done to future readers by how they have split
up this reading.
Because split off
opening line leaving it in chapter 12
Often read as
being about the gifts that Paul has just been talking about
They are not
greater gifts
Faith hope and
love are the greater gifts that we are to strive for
Those other gifts
without love
Are nothing
Which is what
this cartoon is about really
b. Love here is
not feeling
Not really how we
would describe love at all
Love is an action
How we live
Offers
description of what love must do rather than what love is
To love someone
is not about how I feel
As it is about
how I live towards them, treat them, love them.
Question might be
left with is "who to love?"
3. Luke
Which takes us to
the reading from Luke
Second part of our
reading from last week
Story of Jesus
homecoming sermon
Not going well
Hard reading
Both in terms
trying to understand what going on
- Is Jesus really picking a fight here?
And in terms of
what is said.
Starts well
as heard last
week
Jesus has touched
into some of their deepest longings
Initially the
hearers seem impressed
But then they say
"is this not Joseph's son?"
Any number of
ways to read that
- Super impressed
- Bemused
- A little bit angry
How we understand
what happens next depends on which of these we think Luke is using in his
telling of the story.
Is easy for us to
be a little judgmental of these people of Nazareth
or maybe of
Jesus?
Clearly some who
were saying/thinking - " just remember where you come from. We are as
needy or more needy of God than anyone else
Or maybe they
were saying something like - why are you going around helping other people when
we have so much need here.
Which is a little
like - lets not help those people, like refugees. We have so much need in this
country. Lets sort that out first. Then maybe. But us first.
4. Who to Love
Which brings us
back to Paul
How to live love
as described by Paul is hard enough
But Jesus makes
it pretty hard
Living love is
not about people like us first
In fact Jesus
goes on
Its not even
people like us at all.
He tells two
stories of the great prophets, Elijah and Elisha
The year of God's
favour is not just for Israel
But for all
people
The Syrians and
all those who have fought them over the centuries
The hated Romans
The beggars
begging
Those sleeping in
the doorways of shops and at centrepoint
refugees
Non white
immigrants
Mexicans
List goes on
They didn't want
to hear
That was not the
kind of good news they wanted to hear
Truth is not the
kind of good news most of us want the hear
The crowd there
tried to throw him off a cliff to that they might stone him
How could God
love those people
How could they
even begin to love those people
Outrageous
It is still
outrageous today
Just listen to
talk back or read some of the comments or letters to editors
Actually
If we are honest
Just listen to
ourselves
Love is hard
Loving God's
people is harder still.
How far would we
go to silence this kind of nonsense?
-> People to
reflect on who they struggle to love and why
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