The Parish Church of St John-at-Hampstead

Last week we thought about Jesus’ first miracle  as recorded in John’s gospel,  the miracle of turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana.  This miracle points to Jesus’ glory, his glory which is in reality, the cross. The cross may be Jesus’ glory ~  and how important it is  in authenticating Jesus’ mission ~  but it is not in itself, the mission he declares is his ~  Though the Church down the centuries  has tended to lean towards this perspective, that the primary purpose of Jesus’ life  is his death!  This was especially so in Reformation thinking with its emphasis on the doctrine of substitutionary atonement,  the idea that Jesus’ work  is to pay the penalty for our sin.  The notion that Jesus’ death alone effects, makes possible,  God’s forgiveness of us  so that in our future life after death we may know heaven  and not hell.
What we hear in our gospel this morning tells a different purpose. In Luke’s account of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry,  we are firmly rooted back in the here and now!  Our earthly life. “Today  this Scripture has been fulfilled in your presence!” Jesus declares. The Scripture which prophesies the coming of the Lord’s Servant,  the Lord’s Servant who shall set God’s people free!  Physically free.
Jesus has returned to Galilee to begin his itinerant ministry after being tempted in the wilderness. From his wilderness experiences Jesus has come to know his own mind, he has resisted the temptation to self-glorification. Now as he travels the Galillee and visits his home town of Nazareth, it is his turn to read the Scriptures and speak. Anyone who had studied the Scriptures might be invited to preach. It is probable that Jesus has done so  even regularly when he lived in Nazareth, before he left to follow John. The difference this  time   is in what he preaches! He chooses a scripture from Isaiah,  one the people of Nazareth would have known well. How can he possibly declare  that this scripture which speaks of the Messiah, the Saviour to come, speaks of him ! How dare he say that the prophecies of Scripture  are fulfilled here and now in himself! For they know he is  only the carpenter’s son ! And some funny goings-on surrounding his birth too ! How can he, son of Mary, be going to set them free ? Enable the blind to see again ? How will he bring into being the year of the Lord’s favour ? How will he do this when nothing else seems to have achieved it !
Luke’s account of this event goes on to tell us  that though the people at first were amazed at his power and authority, when he declared that the grace of God was for all people,  declared so, it has to be said, with provocative words; when Jesus favours the Gentiles they were mad with fury at his presumption! And wanted to throw him off the cliff! Throughout Luke’s gospel Jesus’ message of good news  is firmly for the poor and the outcast,  those rejected by society, the foreigner, the oppressed. Jesus declares:  Now is the year of the Lord’s favour, that is, the Jubilee year when those who have much  shall return much of their wealth  to be shared with those who have little. This is anathema to the established elites,  those who find their worth  in status and possessions. They will do anything to protect the status quo.
Protecting our status, our group, is a universal human tendency  as we wrestle to let go of ego and grow into maturity. We have to learn to rejoice in the success of others. And finding the scapegoat to blame when things go wrong is an unpleasant trait of most social groups and institutions. Those who refuse to conform   will pay a price.    As Jesus did.    
Today is the climax of Christian Unity Week. We reach out to embrace those of different denominations. But what of the factions within our Church of England itself ? The Church wrestles with the tension  between Jesus’ life and all that he taught  and the theological interpretations of his death and resurrection.  Is Jesus’ mission about this life, or the life to come after death? Is God’s primary concern with purity as the Jews of Jesus day propounded, and the conservative wing of the worldwide Church in our day, would have us believe, or is God’s primary concern that we grow in compassion, and recognise the dignity and place of every human being? Is there a warning for us  in the words of Jesus to his old home town? Warning for those who seek to make God exclusively in their own image ? If we would know the abundant life Jesus longs for us to have, then we need to let go of faction, hard boundaries,  keeping the pure in and the impure out! Desist from asserting our religious preferences and beliefs   over those of others. Is being a Christian more about what we believe about God and Jesus or how we behave together and worship together? Will God really cast us out of heaven because we haven’t quite managed to believe properly in the virgin birth?
Or is this what God wants of us:  personal transformation,  a wholeness of life, and conduct which enables the possibility of prosperity for everyone?  The enacting of justice and just social structures. Our love of God, as the letter of James points out, our love of God is only evidenced  in our actions towards one another. We need forgiveness, and we also need   personal transformation. Works do matter.
Christian Unity witnesses to our love and respect for one another, embracing our diversity of belief and practice as the riches of God,  as we all seek to follow Christ.
What is the mission Jesus declares in Nazareth?   To herald the Kingdom of God on earth. Wholeness of body, mind and spirit. Freedom from oppression ~ and from debt which kills the spirit. Jesus’ mission is to show us what divine love really is about. To show us and empower us to grow in that love ourselves. Love which will transform our world now and in the future. If we would know the abundant life that Jesus longs for us to have, we need to be open to God’s world and all that is different within it, amongst our neighbours, within our communities, including our Christian communities. Jesus repeatedly tells us not to judge one another. How hard we find it  to refrain from judgement.
For those who imagine that Jesus’ message is more about the life to come, let us reflect on what is written here in our gospel this morning, Jesus’ own ‘mission statement’. Jesus believes in life before death for all people, as the Christian Aid slogan goes.    Do we ? It is our task now to bring in the Kingdom.    Amen.