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/

John 2:1-11

On the third day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” She said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Now, standing there were six stone water jars for the rites of Jewish purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “fill them up with water.” So they filled them up to the brim. Then he told them to draw some out and take it to the chief steward, so they took it. When the chief steward tasted the water that had become wine and did not know where it had come from (though the servants who drew the water knew), he called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first and the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have saved the good wine until now.”

Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

I had a conversation a week or so ago with one of my boys about the concept of “luck.” I don’t remember the details, but I think it had something to do with a half-court buzzer beater at some basketball game that went in, earned someone three points, and won the game. “Lucky,” right? Of course “luck” may have been involved, but I assured them it also very likely involved some preparation and practice, too.

One of my favorite sayings – for which I give Oprah credit, though she may have learned it from somewhere else – is the notion that there’s really no such thing as “luck.” Instead, she suggests that “luck” is nothing more and nothing less than the moment when preparation meets opportunity. “Luck is nothing more and nothing less than the moment when preparation meets opportunity.”

It may not apply, so much, to a winning lottery ticket – or if I were the one who made a half-court buzzer beater on the basketball court. That would be nothing more than dumb luck, for sure. But it does make sense when it comes to a half-court buzzer beater by Jordan Reid, say, or Steph Curry, or any time when good fortune finds someone who’s been preparing for, practicing on, working toward such blessing, abundance, or victory – like passing the test; or getting the job; or winning the game. What looks like “luck” to outsiders a lot of the time really involves a whole lot of practice, preparation and just the right opportunity coming together.

And I wonder if the same might be true where miracles are concerned. Don’t get me wrong, miracles are miracles are miracles. I don’t mean to discount them or suck the mystery and magic and power they carry from our faith’s story. I think they are evidence of grace when they happen and by the power of God, for sure, in ways I don’t always try to explain or rationalize or justify. And there are miracles worth praying for in these days for many of us gathered here…just look at our prayer list for evidence of that.

But what if “miracles” are more like “luck” a lot of the time, too. What if what we want to call – or need to be – “miracles” in our lives also involve some preparation, some practice and some opportunity coming together at just the right moment?

I read a reflection on this passage from John’s Gospel last week, written by a pastor in Kansas, named Joanna Harader, who suggests that miracles can be hard work. She considers this miracle – of Jesus turning water into wine – from the perspective of the stewards in the story, who Jesus enlists to help him make it happen.

The short of the long is that these stewards had to fill six hefty, heavy, stone water jars, each with 20-30 gallons. Imagine the weight of those jars before they were full, let alone after they were filled to the brim with all of that water. And remember that there wasn’t a tap or a hose or a pump, and who knows how far they were from the nearest well or what kinds of buckets they had at their disposal.

(I found myself wondering about the kids and sisters who care for us in Haiti who, each morning before they do almost anything else, have to hoof it up or down the mountainside for long distances with containers as large as 5 gallon buckets and as small as an old, re-purposed Canola oil bottle to collect water for their day. Suddenly, 20-30 gallons of water – times six – seems like no small “miracle” in and of itself, and no small favor to ask of the stewards at the wedding.)

So again, the point is that, as miraculous as Jesus’ water-to-wine event was, it wasn’t all magic; it wasn’t easy; and he didn’t do it alone. There was no small amount of preparation involved, coupled with the opportunity of God’s power and God’s people being willing and able and in the right place at the right time.

And I wonder if you and I are preparing ourselves for the opportunity to see and share in, to instigate, to accomplish, even, the miracles we long for in the world these days.

If we want there to be safety and warmth and shelter for those who are without it this winter, have we done something to prepare for that – or are we just waiting for a miracle?

If we want hungry people to have something to eat, have we so much as made a sandwich, passed out a gift card, volunteered at the soup kitchen – or are we just hoping their luck will change?

If we want the politics in our country to change did we vote? Have we contacted our representatives? Are we praying, by name, for our leaders?

If we want there to be peace on earth (a miracle to be sure), what are we doing – what have we done – to let it begin with us? Or are we just waiting, praying and hoping for a miracle to do the trick?

I guess what I’m saying is, maybe you and I are called to be like the stewards at that wedding in Cana – the ones called to get things ready, if you will, and to let someone else have their miracle. Maybe it’s time we start fetching the water; readying the jars; following Jesus’ orders; creating the opportunity for God to do God’s thing.

You and I – and wow, the whole lot of us together – could just be the miracle someone’s waiting for; we could just be the lucky day someone’s been praying about.

Yes, miracles can be hard work. But look at the joy that follows. Imagine the party that flowed from the abundance Jesus created that day in Cana. Imagine the fun those servants had drawing out that new wine, re-filling those empty glasses, jump-starting that celebration, when everyone thought it had ended too soon.

And what a miracle it will be, when all God hopes and everything Jesus died for, comes to pass – thanks to the faithful work and heavy lifting of you and me; God’s church, the baptized children of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, at work – making miracles – in and for the sake of the world.

Amen

The Divine Possibility of Today

"Luck" and "Miracles"