Seventh Sunday after Pentecost: Now is the Acceptable Time

Isaiah 66:10-14

Psalm 66:1-8

Galatians 6:1-16

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

 

From the start, in his “home” synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus presents his ministry, as not only urgent, but immediate, when he reads from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah: “ ‘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.’ And he rolled up the scroll,” the evangelist continues, “gave it back to the attendant, and sat down.  The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.  Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ ” (Luke 4:18-21)  He is not talking about a distant event, but a present imminent reality; a prophecy fulfilled and a new world order begun, a new kingdom already in the process of unfolding.  Its reality is proven by the healings which he performs in Capernaum immediately upon leaving Nazareth, and throughout the region.  They are signs that God is in the world and putting the world back together.

Towards the end of the 9^th chapter  of the Gospel (beginnign with 51^st verse), this sense of urgency and immediacy is heightened, sharpened; and as Jesus turns his face towards Jerusalem there is a shift in the themes and emphases of his ministry.  The issues becomes those of discipleship and costs, and the urgency of the moment demands there be no half-measures.  We began to see this last Sunday, when Jesus reminded his disciples of the precarious, nomadic existence which his own commitment to live out the truth of God’s kingdom had cost him: “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Luke 9:58b); thus hinting that it will be the same for them.  Moreover, he points out that following him means making the kingdom a priority above all else, including the demands of family – perhaps the most important social determiner in the ancient near-east.  Luke records it like this: “To [one] he said, ‘Follow me.’  But he said, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’  But Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’  Another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’  Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’ ” (Luke 9:59-62)  For Jesus and for those who want to follow him the immediacy of the Kingdom undermines the established social norms, and demands priority.  Nothing else will do.  The day of justice is today, and as Paul reminds the church at Corinth, “See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2b) 

And so we listen today as Jesus sends out his disciples – 70 of them in pairs – to proclaim and live out that present reality, the present state of things, that the kingdom of God has come near, very near indeed.  Consequently, that means that it must take priority, and that they must carry out their lives and work in the context of that priority by trusting in God – “carry no purse, no bag, no sandals” and by not delaying in going where they’re going, even for social pleasantries,– “greet no one on the road”.  First and foremost they must be harbingers of God’s peace: “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you.” (Luke 10:5-6)  Everywhere they the go they are to “cure the sick who are there, and say to [the people], ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ” (Luke 10:9)  And what is to be their reaction to those who will not listen, who reject the Good News of God’s kingdom of justice, freedom and peace?  They are to wipe their town’s dust from their feet and get on with their mission – there’s no time for dilly-dallying, for long-drawn out discussions or endless arguments of persuasion.  The kingdom of God is here regardless, whether people accept its truth or not.  For those who want to follow Christ, living its reality is an urgent task; it is the immediate duty and hence must take precedence.

This may not be easy for us to hear.  If we are honest we prefer delay to urgency, while treating “niceness” as a cardinal virtue.  We believe that somehow enough discussion, will keep us from having to make all sorts of decisions; and we are so afraid to offend that we compromise truth, justice and any number of principles which the Christian life demands.  We like the idea of the kingdom – certainly – but don’t mind its indefinite deferral while we get to run the world according to our affections, priorities and values (at least if are in that small subset of the human race who gets to call the shots, or who get the shots called for them).  Nevertheless, the urgency of the Kingdom, and its reality constantly beckons.  It is there throughout the Bible – both in the Hebrew Scriptures as proclaimed through the words of the prophets, and in the New Testament witness to the life and death of Jesus.  It is there in the teachings of the Church, it is there in our baptismal covenenat.  We can ignore it, but at least we should be honest that we are ignoring it, that we value a whole lots of things above its full revelation, that we are choosing to act in ways contrary to its demands.

Now, I do take the point that the Gospel of Luke was written at time in which the early Christians still believed in Jesus’ imminent return, and so there was for the Early Church a heightened sense of urgency, and that certainly the evangelist’s writing was colored by this reality, a reality which feels very distant and a little less than real some 2,000 years later.  Nevertheless, I’m not sure that sort of sophistry gets off the hook completely, if at all.  The urgent immediacy in the Gospel of Luke – and really in all the Gospels – challenges us at least to think in some ways along the lines of urgency ourselves when it comes to living and building the kingdom of God.  It challenges us to face the many little ways that we put off God’s kingdom, prefering rather comfort, family, convention, “business as usual”.  It challenges us to consider the ways in which we may sacrifice the truth for the polite, justice for stability.  And,  because our own lives and livelihoods are little compromised by the very real and definite injustices in our world, the call of the kingdom, in part, is to see the world and its structures from the perspective of the the lowest, the poorest, the most vulnerable.  Issues of poverty and hunger can be delayed for those who have enough food and resources.  Issues of civil rights can be delayed for those who have free right of use to all the benefits and “perks’ of their society.  Issues of healthcare and well-being, can be delayed by those who have ready and available access to medical attention.  Jesus, as revealed in the Gospel, most emphatically says “no” to this sort of delay and the Kingdom call says “no” also.  The time for action cannot be delayed, because the kingdom is a present reality and either one is working for it now, one is a part of it now, or one is not.  “See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2b)   

And yet we do delay, even sometimes work against the Kingdom’s fullest revelation; and the result is that it makes us seem hyprocritical, at best, liars, at worst, in the eyes of society in general.  What is at the core of this dynamic of delay?  In Jesus Was and Episcopalian (the book our study course is currently reading), the author an and explanantion.

 

Maybe it’s because many Christians are out of touch with Jesus’ central message, and have grown out of touch with core Christian virtues….Not knowing the Bible very well, perhaps we’ve lost touch with the main thrust of the Gospel message and tried to accommodate and compromise a message that really doesn’t work well when watered down.  Many of our churches have become more willing to buy into the American civil religion of manifest destiny, patriotism and “family values” than take seriously the hard words of the Gospel.

 

Jesus’ proclamation of the Kingdom’s immediacy at the synangogue in Nazareth, and his sending out of the 70 to live and urgently proclaim the Kingdom’s presence call us to action.  They task us with the absolute imperative to move into the kingdom life ourselves.  The entire Gospel of Christ ought to make us ask ourselves, “What am I urgent about?”  “What gets priority in my world when it comes to immediate action?”  “Why do I delay?”  “No matter what I say, what really are my priorities – the kingdom or my world.”  Jesus sent out his disciples two by two.  He did not send them out to be polite, or tell peple about himself, he did not even send them out to make more disciples.  He sent them out to do one thing, to tell people by their lives and actions that God’s kingdom was a present reality.  And 2,000 years makes no difference.  He sends you out today and every day.  The kingdom of God is near and there is no time for delay.  It is urgent and immediate.  By what we do here, do you think Hanford knows it?  Do you know it?