Luke 4:14-21 (NRSV)

Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: "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, 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."

Today’s account of Jesus preaching in the synagogue comes on the heels of Jesus’ post-baptismal experience in the wilderness, where he was tempted with food, power, and security. To each temptation, Jesus steadfastly refused the false promises, privileges and powers of this world. This allowed Jesus to maintain an authentic communing relationship with God the Father. This relationship filled and sustained Jesus with the power of the Spirit. And so, having rejected worldly temptations and being filled with the Spirit, Jesus travelled to synagogues throughout the land to teach people what it meant to have a relationship with God. 

Without much detail, scripture tells us that reports about Jesus spread throughout the land and he was praised by everyone. We can only assume that Jesus had been going from synagogue to synagogue with a message similar to the one revealed in today’s gospel, in which Jesus read the words of the prophet Isaiah, who bore God’s promise of good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight for the blind, freedom for the oppressed, and “the year of the Lord’s favor.”

As was the custom, after reading the scripture Jesus sat down to teach. He began with a promise: "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” That’s all we are given in today’s gospel text and it doesn’t sound like very much to go on. Was that it? Was he just going from one synagogue to another, from one town to another, with the same message that "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”?

Yes; and what a radical and beautiful truth that is!

Today is the day the impoverished receive good news.

Today is the day the captives are released.

Today is the day the blind will see.

Today is the day the bonds of oppression loosen.

Today is the day in which everything in existence is infused with the Lord’s favor.

This is a powerful statement by Jesus because it completely shifts the timeline of spiritual expectation. Prior to Jesus’ radical declaration concerning the nowness of God’s promises, people located God’s promises in the past, in how they celebrated festivals dedicated to the stories of their previous deliverance by the Lord; or the located God’s promises in the future, as in someday the poor will receive good news, someday the captives will be released, someday the blind will see, someday the oppressed will be free, and someday will be the year of the Lord’s favor. They attended synagogue in anticipation of that day; they burnt offerings to bring about that day; they followed religious rules and customs in order to be ready for that day.

Remembering God’s active presence in your past is a vital component of spirituality. The hope that someday things will get better is a hope worth holding onto. But these pale in comparison to the hope that today is the day everything changes – the trust that God’s healing and redemptive power is here now.

Pastor Mark recently preached a sermon in which he referenced the “It gets better” campaign aimed at LGBTQ youth. There is beauty in holding out the promise that one day such people will experience the same rights, privileges, and respect that others enjoy. But the promise becomes even more powerful for LGBTQ youth who are treated with the same rights, privileges, and respect that others enjoy today.

Why put off until tomorrow what can be done today? Speaking as a diehard procrastinator who typically suffers an allergic reaction to this motto, it’s hard to deny its importance when it is referencing peoples’ wellbeing. God does not taunt us by dangling promises before us that remain inches beyond our grasp. God’s promises are meant to be realized today.

Jesus read the prophetic promises given to Isaiah by God and had the audacity to demand that their truth be manifest then and there, “in [their] hearing.” No more waiting for God’s promises to come true someday.

Here I’ll pause and give you permission to let that thought in; you know, the one lingering in the back of your mind. That little voice is saying, “Obviously not. Obviously there are poor people who still desperately need to hear good news. The captive, the blind, the oppressed are still here, seemingly everywhere we look. The world has been full of suffering people who were present before, during, and after Jesus walked this earth. Look around, is this really what it looks like to participate in the year of the Lord’s favor?”

If you’re thinking that, you’re not alone, and I respect that you have not buried your head in the sand regarding the reality of our world. Yes, there are people who suffered yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that, and they’re still suffering today. But that does not negate the truth that good news, freedom, clarity of vision, and the Lord’s favor are present, active, and accessible today. It simply means that we have some work to do to be the hands and feet of this good news.

In studying today’s text I was reminded by Lutheran professor and pastor David Lose to look to the original Greek language of the text. He says, “as it turns out, the [verb] tense of Jesus’ declaration that ‘the Scripture has been fulfilled’ isn’t the once and done present tense or the singular past tense but rather the ongoing, even repetitive, and definitely re-occurring perfect tense. So Jesus is kind of saying, ‘Today this Scripture is fulfilled and continues to be fulfilled and will keep being fulfilled and therefore will keep needing to be fulfilled in your presence.’”*

Later in the gospel of Luke Jesus will say, “blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it!” (Luke 11:28). When you look around and rightly recognize the injustice and suffering, the next step is to take God’s promise seriously and get to work on others’ behalf…today!

We are rooted in the soil of God’s promises. That daily reality is the good soil from which we grow and produce the fruits of righteousness. The good news is that we are blessed to participate in the reality of God’s promises that enable us to be good news for the poor, to release the captives, to help the blind see, to break the bonds of oppression, and to share the unconditional promise and reality of the Lord’s favor.

This idea is beautifully captured in the poem, “The Work of Christmas” by Howard Thurman. I say Amen and encourage you to read and reflect on this poem in a period of silence before we continue or worship with singing.

“The Work of Christmas” by Howard Thurman

When the song of the angels is stilled, 
when the star in the sky is gone,
 when the kings and princes are home,
when the shepherds are back with their flocks,
 the work of Christmas begins: 
to find the lost, 
to heal the broken, 
to feed the hungry,
 to release the prisoner, 
to rebuild the nations, 
to bring peace among the people,
 to make music in the heart.

* http://www.davidlose.net/2019/01/epiphany-3-c-declaration-promise-and-invitation/

Matthew 14:22-33

Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray.

When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid."

Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

You might be familiar with today’s gospel story by many different titles: "Jesus calms the storm," "Jesus walks on water," "Peter walks on water," "Peter fails to walk on water," etc. This morning I invite you to think about this as the story about Jesus who miraculously appears in the midst of fear.

Fear of the sea was a prevalent phobia in the first-century middle east. There were no swim lessons at the YMCA; no coast guard speeding to rescue ships in distress; no posted signs warning of the absence of lifeguards or the dangers of rip currents; nor was there a team of action alert weather forecasters warning of the next disruptive sea storm. The sea was a place of provision and destruction, life and death.

The first century audience would hear the storyteller speak about a boat being battered by strong waves and feel the same sense of dread and foreboding as we feel when we pick up a Steven King novel or listen to a story by a campfire told by someone holding a flashlight casting ominous shadows onto the storyteller’s face.

This gospel story is a story about fear – how it affects us and how it does not overshadow the ways and promises of God.

In order get in the right mindset, I encourage you to think of an experience in your life where you felt terrified. Recall an experience in your life where the talons of fear took hold of your heart. Perhaps it was a diagnosis, an accident, being let go by your employer, being let go by a loved one, a near-death experience, losing someone you loved, or stepping into something completely unknown.

My moment of greatest fear was almost three years ago, when my youngest son endured his first seizure. It happened without warning. One minute I was coaching my oldest son’s soccer team, with my perfectly healthy youngest son watching on the sidelines; the next minute I heard people yelling my name.

A crowd had formed around my son as he had fallen from his chair. He was lying on the ground, convulsing, and turning blue. I had never witnessed anything like it; I had no way to be prepared for it; I had no understanding of what was happening; and I have never felt so helpless. I thought I was watching my son die.

I found a medical article quite helpful in explaining what is going on neurologically when one feels fear. Essentially, the amygdala activates a series of physiological systems but the “brain basically shuts down as the body prepares for action. The cerebral cortex, the brain's center for reasoning and judgment, is the area that becomes impaired when the amygdala senses fear. The ability to think and reason decreases as time goes on, so thinking about the next best move in a crisis can be a hard thing to do. Some people even experience feelings of time slowing down, tunnel vision, or feeling like what is happening is not real. These dissociative symptoms can make it hard to stay grounded and logical in a dangerous situation.”

We now have the medical insight to verify something people have anecdotally known for centuries: When you’re scared you can’t think straight.

One of the important truths in a gospel story like today’s is that God comes to us when we’re scared and when we can’t think straight.

Whatever sense of fear the disciples were feeling on that boat battered by the waves, their fear actually intensified when Jesus came to them. Jesus was doing something so unprecedented, so unnatural, so unbelievable, that they couldn’t even recognize him at first. After all, they were so scared they couldn't think straight.

The disciples cry out in fear and a sound cuts through the roaring of wind and wave – the voice of Jesus saying, “Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid.” With this sentence Jesus makes it clear that God remains present with us in the midst of fear.

I don’t believe Jesus is making light of their predicament or their fears. He’s not saying, “I can’t believe you scardy cats let a couple big waves rattle you.” Instead, he’s saying, “I understand that you are afraid but right now you are not thinking straight. Take some deep breaths, keep your eyes on me, I am coming to you.”

Peter responds with something you could interpret as faithful confidence or the irrational action of someone with a compromised cerebral cortex. He asks Jesus to command him to go to Jesus. Jesus obliges. Peter takes one step onto the choppy water – the very thing he is most afraid of. Then goes the other foot. Each step lands firmly on the water without sinking.

Despite a successful beginning to his water-top journey to Jesus, a strong gust of wind once again ignites Peter’s amygdala and it asserts control, convincing him that his fear of the wind and water is more real than his dry ankles; more real than the Jesus whom he has nearly reached. His mind is once again compromised by fear and he begins to doubt himself and sink.

This story is both a promise and a warning. The two-fold promise is that God is with us in our fear and equips us for incredible acts of faith. The warning is to be aware of the fact that when we’re scared our brains are hard-wired to look for solutions anywhere but the God who is present in our suffering.

Recall again that life experience I asked you to think of earlier. Was God present in that experience of fear?

If you were able to feel God’s presence, I am grateful along with you. You witnessed something truly remarkable; something which hopefully gave you hope and peace.

If you were unable to feel God’s presence, I lament with you and I know how you feel. In my moment of pure terror around my son’s seizure I did not bother looking for God. It was only through hindsight that I recognized God’s presence:

in the crowd that was praying for my son;
in my wife who, thanks to medical training, knew what was happening and responded with decisive action;
in the presence of my parents who happened to be in town that day and were able to be with Nolan and provide a sense of normalcy while we rushed his brother to the hospital;
and, of course, in the care of the first responders and emergency room staff.

My hope is that this amazing story from Matthew’s gospel convicts you to learn enough about yourself to know when you are operating out of a sense of fear. There is nothing wrong with feeling fear; however, the problem comes when we pretend that the fear is the most logical and accurate response and allow our fear to call the shots, ignoring God’s promises that remain within our field of vision.

This is not an abstract issue. Over the past few weeks pastors from Dallas to Indianapolis have pronounced God’s blessings on the potential action of our President launching a pre-emptive nuclear weapon strikes on the people of North Korea. This is just the latest example of Christ-followers affixing a self-righteous label on their fear-based assumptions.

The White House is not looking to me for theological advice. They have their own echo chamber for that purpose. And, truth be told, maybe you don’t think a pastor should have anything to say about the possibility of nuclear annihilation nor anything else that falls under the realm of “politics.” Regardless, know that as a Christ-follower others are looking to you to teach them the ways of truth, peace, hope, and love. And these things are impossible to manifest if your attitudes and decisions are rooted in fear rather than faith.

I’m not telling you to avoid being afraid; that’s impossible. I am, however, praying that you would understand the difference between fear and faith. One has the potential to destroy this world. The other has the potential to save it. When we are afraid, the ways of peace and love look as absurd and unrealistic as a man walking on water. And yet, this man beckons us to step into the heart of our fear and be with him. May we be so courageous.

Amen.

The Divine Possibility of Today

"A Water-Top Jesus Journey" – Matthew 14:22-33