January 24, 2010
What Gives? - Luke 4:14-21
Pastor: Luke Maybry
DownloadIf you know nothing else at all about me, you certainly know by now that I am from Campobello, South Carolina. You know that all too well, in fact. It was the very first thing that you read about me. I absolutely love that place. I love the name, for one. Campobello is a perfect name for a little southern town. It means “beautiful field” in Italian. The natives call it Campbeller, or Camponella. If you’re trying to impress somebody, you pronounce it like it’s spelled. If you’re me, you just pronounce it like Coumpabella. Other than the name, there’s nothing all that spectacular about it. The town itself is not particularly pretty or scenic. Norman Rockwell would pass it right by. There’s nothing there, really, except the few buildings that make up the town hall, and the Campobello Café (which is now ironically called the Dutch Plate), a fire department, a few used car lots, a pretty brick church where I grew up, and some old houses. That’s about it. That’s always been about it.
Come to think of it, that’s one the things that I love most about it. Campobello is one of the few places that has looked pretty much the same all of my life. I spent a weekend there last January and I went to a church function they had there on a Saturday morning. They built a new family life center not long ago, similar to ours, but not much else had changed. It’s familiar, you see. I was brought up there, not just by my parents, but largely by the whole community. A large part of my heart is there. If heaven isn’t just a little bit like Campobello, I’ll be disappointed.
Nazareth, I am sure, was to Jesus as Campobello is to me. Jesus was brought up in Nazareth, Luke tells us. He had grown up in that synagogue, very much like I had grown up in Campobello Church. He knew the customs there. He knew the people and I’m sure that he loved them very much. His parents and brothers and sisters were still there. Like Campobello, there was nothing all that special about Nazareth, except for Jesus, it was home, and there is honest to goodness no place in the world like home. Jesus had moved away and made a name for himself, but now he was home again, back in his home church.
Luke takes us through that homecoming step by step. Jesus entered the Synagogue, stood up to read, read a passage from Isaiah (probably one that he had picked), and he closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down (as was the custom). The eyes of the whole synagogue were fixed on him, Luke tells us. There was no turning water into wine or raising the dead, but what Jesus said in response to the Scripture is more profound even than that. In fact, it’s the very first thing and in some ways the most important thing that Jesus says in Luke’s Gospel: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ears,” Jesus said.
You’ll have to come back next week to see how the people reacted to what Jesus said, but I want to ponder that statement. How would that statement change Nazareth? Equally important, how would it specifically not change Nazareth? If what Jesus said there was true, then he was more than a boy who hit it big. He’s more than a small-town hero. If what Jesus said is true, then thousands of years of religious experience and tradition had led up to him. In fact, the entirety of human history led up to Jesus and would continue to lead from Jesus, if what he said here is true.
My little Methodist congregation in Texas was about thirty miles from Crawford, where President George Bush spent much of his time. I heard that he while he was there, he would drop in sometimes on local congregations. I thought about writing him to see if he could come to Mooreville. I often wondered what would happen if the leader of the free world darkened the doors of our church one Sunday morning?
Jesus quoted here from the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, in the 61st Chapter. If Isaiah is right about that prophecy, that the entire world had come from God and was leading to God who would be manifested in this Savior, and if Jesus was right about him being that Savior, then having Jesus come to your Church is an infinitely bigger deal than the President. Presidents are no big deal. We’ve had forty-four presidents in this country, not even mention every other country in the world. There’s only one Jesus. So I ask you again, if what Jesus said here is true, then how should Nazareth have changed? What gives? Or does anything give at all?
Nazareth was to Jesus as Campobello is to me and as Steele Creek is to you. Many of you grew up here, and more importantly were brought up here. If there is one thing in your life that has remained constant, it’s Central Steele Creek. Charlotte, goodness knows, has not remained constant. It has changed drastically. There is no longer a baseball field behind me. The old backstop is the only thing that’s left of it, and its days are numbered. The Blackwelder’s house on the corner out there is gone. Dean Basset’s cows across the street don’t get out anymore and come over here on Sunday morning. Along with every other cow in Mecklenburg Country, Dean Bassett’s cows are gone. And sadly to say, so is Dean Basset. We are an urban church now, which has changed almost overnight.
Central Steele Creek Presbyterian Church is about the last vestige of what we once knew. We have not changed all that much. We have a few different faces and maybe a few different programs. Andy Cheek leads us in some contemporary songs on his guitar, and the sanctuary looks a little different. We may have changed a few things in worship. We have Communion every month now instead of every quarter. We moved the offertory from before the sermon to after it. We have a fairly new pastor. Our deacons and elders have somewhat different roles. Some things have changed, but by and large we are still largely the same. If you are anything at all like me, you love that constant. There are precious few things in life that are remotely constant, and Church is one of them.
But like Nazareth, Jesus has come here. He may not literally be sitting beside you in your pew, and he may not be preaching the sermon literally, but we do certainly believe that he had a lot to do with it. At least we hope so he did. You don’t want to hear just from me, do you? Campobello is not known for its great speakers. When we pray, we believe that Jesus hears us, and intercedes for us, which is why we pray in Jesus’ name. When we have Communion, we believe that the Spirit of God, that Jesus, is somehow mysteriously in those elements. To quote Flannery O’Conner, if it’s just a symbol, then what good is it? When we baptize somebody, we believe that God enters that person’s life and makes it eternal. We believe that Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, is here now and every Sunday.
So like Nazareth, we have to ask ourselves what needs to change. What gives? And, what should stay the same? I want us to intentionally think about that question. On one hand, we could get a sociologist in here to figure out who all these new people are and what we need to do to attract them, if we’re even interested in doing that to begin with. He might tell us to change the way that we worship, or to change our structure, or to mow down this old sanctuary and build a new one that doesn’t look so “churchy.” He would probably recommened that we get out of our denomination, because denominations are “so yesterday.”
I don’t what he’d say and I really don’t care that some subject matter expert darkens our door. What concerns me deeply, though, is that Jesus has darkened our door. We believe that very much, so therefore, what should change? And, of course, that has everything to do with how we treat others. We cannot separate how we treat others from how Jesus has treated us. Ultimately, God has decided to show up here. That’s what we have to ponder first, in everything that we do. God has shown up at Steele Creek. God is God, and God has saved us through Jesus the Son, and sustains us through his Spirit. So how must we change? Because whatever it is, if it’s true, it can never just be the same.
In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
