A sermon by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, January 31, 2010
Jeremiah 1:4–10; Psalm 71:1–6,15–17; I Corinthians 14:12b–20; Luke 4:21–32
“Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4: 21)
Last Sunday, we considered the first use that Jesus made of the word “today”, a word that Luke records in his gospel account eight times. We remarked last week that Luke’s inclusion of this word (approximately eight times) far exceeds all other occurrences of it in the other three gospel accounts combined.
We also remarked that Luke seems to be preoccupied with the notion of “today”, and its implications for living the life in Christ in the here-and-now, in other words, “today”.
And so today, in this second part of our mini-series on the word “today”, let’s consider the implications of this word by contrasting Jesus’ first use of it, and His last use of it.
Perhaps it’s best if we put the two uses side-by-side, comparing the settings and application to those who heard it:
- “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4: 21) Jesus utters these words in the synagogue in Nazareth, to His “hometown crowd”. In so doing, He applies Isaiah’s prophecy to Himself.
- “Very truly I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23: 43) Jesus speaks these words to the repentant thief on the cross, as He – and both of the criminals with whom He was crucified – are about to die. They are spoken as the repentant thief says to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
We can see the circumstances more clearly if we consider the reactions of the group in the synagogue, as contrasted to the request of the thief:
- The Nazareth crowd wants to kill Jesus by throwing Him off the cliff (which is located on the south side of town). Of course, before they try to carry out this idea, Jesus senses their indignation and anger in His comments to them. Recall our gospel account and Luke’s inclusion of these words, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” The subtext seems to be this: “Where did this guy get the idea that Isaiah’s words apply to him?” The crowd’s reaction seems to be based in the immediacy of Jesus’ application of Isaiah’s words to Himself. If Jesus’ statement, which applies Isaiah’s prophecy to Himself, is true, then the very power and plan of God comes crashing into the self-satisfied, proud people of Nazareth.
- The thief, by contrast, has no grounds for pride, or for anger. Immediate need crashes into the reality of the thief’s circumstances. After all, he’s hanging from a cross, and death is coming quickly.
Put another way, the two motivating forces can be summarized in the words “pride” and “abject need”.
A person who is consumed with pride has no need of a power greater than – or outside of - themselves. Pride causes us to think of ourselves as being the center of our world. “We’re in charge!” we like to think.
A person in abject need, by contrast, has no such ground to stand on. Gone is their pride and their self-sufficiency. Powers that are greater and more powerful than they are have proven their ability to crush.
Immediate is the need for the sort of deliverance that Jesus applied to Himself from Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives.”
As we make our way through Luke’s gospel account, between now and the end of the Church Year in November, it would do us well to keep these two attitudes in mind as we progress. For these two attitudes, pride and abject need, will surface again and again in Luke’s writing.
Consider a few examples from Luke:
- The Good Samaritan: (See Luke 10: 29 – 37) Jesus’ parable and teaching concerning pride and abject need are clearly seen in this passage. The respected and respectable priest and Levite pass the wounded man by as they make their way from Jerusalem down to Jericho. By contrast, however, the hated Samaritan (hated by the Jews because he was racially impure) is the one who does the will of God. Those who – by the world’s standards, anyway - have grounds to be proud fail the test, while the one whose status merits the lowest form of existence and need, passes it with flying colors.
- The Prodigal Son: (See Luke 15: 11 – 32) Here, the pride-filled older son fails to exhibit God’s command to forgive, while the younger son – the one in abject need – renews his relationship with his father.
- The Pharisee and the Publican: (See Luke 18: 9 – 14) The Pharisee, standing in the Temple, proclaims, “God, I thank thee that I am not like other men are…” By contrast, the Publican (tax collector) would not even raise his eyes toward heaven, but instead says, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Notice that Our Lord tells us that the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. Jesus is saying that God isn’t listening! Furthermore, Luke makes it clear that the application of this parable is toward those who “trust in themselves that they are righteous and despised others.”
The immediacy of Jesus’ righteousness and His divine commission can cause us to react with pride and indignation. We might say to ourselves, “We don’t need saving, nor do we need release from anything!”
However, Jesus calls us into repentance. He calls us to recognize our abject need and our helplessness. Spiritually, we are in the same predicament as the repentant thief: We are powerless, a victim of our own misdeeds and inability to live according to God’s blueprint for us.
To the proud and the arrogant, Jesus says (as He said to the chief priests and the scribes in Matthew 21:31), “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.”
But to the meek of heart, He says, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
AMEN.
