Love Never Ends

A passage about conflict and a passage about love. Both tell an enduring story about God’s love. 

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13: 1-13 and Luke 4: 21-30

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In-Person worship will resume on Sunday February 13, 2022. Proof of vacination is required and strict physical distancing will be adhered to. If you have any questions please contact the church office. 

Children’s Story & Craft

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We begin this week where we ended last week. A bit of a cliff-hanger ending in the scripture. Jesus has made a bold pronouncement which is repeated this week. “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” The people are amazed, until they took a second look at who was speaking.

“Is not this Joseph’s son?”

In other words, how could the son of a carpenter have such wisdom, speak so eloquently, and perform such miracles? Jesus has read scripture, spoken some very authoritative words and has now been rebuked by the people of his hometown. In our passage today he delivers the sermon and let’s just say that no one present hears anything that they like. Jesus compares the people of his hometown to a period when the prophet Elijah was active, sever famine had fallen over Israel. Elijah was sent to a widow in Sidon and a Syrian leper.

Why, because in that piece of scripture God is withholding rain from Israel due to the nation’s rampant idolatry. Jesus has just compared those from his hometown to a rather dark period in Israel’s history and they aren’t enjoying the comparison. They aren’t willing to hear the truth or accept that it’s possible that he, Jesus, the son of Joseph the carpenter, could have the wisdom he does and perform the miracles he has. They can’t hear his message because they have already classified him and written him off. In a major act of foreshadowing, they attempt to kill him by throwing him off a cliff.

They couldn’t accept Jesus as he was, and he was trying to help them see beyond the blinders and social ranks they had constructed. Regarding the approach Jesus has to deconstructing our own myths and ideas about people and society Richard Rohr writes the following, “The absolute religious genius of Jesus is that he utterly refuses all debt codes, purity codes, religious quarantines, and the searching for sinners. He refuses the very starting point of historic religions. He refuses to divide the world into the pure and the impure, much to the chagrin of almost everybody—then and now.

Jesus is shockingly not upset with sinners. This is a shock so total that most Christians, to this day, refuse to see it. He is only upset with people who do not think they are sinners: these denying, fearful, and illusory individuals are the actual blockage. They are much more likely to hate and feel no compunction. Formerly, religion thought its mission was to expel sin and evil. Through Jesus, we learn that sin lies in the very act of expelling. (Richard Rohr)

The people of Nazareth couldn’t see their own sin and hypocrisy in not understand or accepting the message Jesus had. It’s not that they didn’t believe God would do those things, that point is left unclear. They didn’t accept that Jesus could be the one to fulfill them.

Perhaps this is the risk when we read and interpret scripture within community. Whether it is bible study, a sermon, discussion after service or during the week. There is a risk to interpreting Gods word. Is it just opinion or biblical truth? There are different ways of reading scripture, there are different reasons for reading scripture.

Shively Smith reflects on this encounter in Luke, she writes, “Leveraging the popular wisdom and gossip circles of his people, Jesus counters the impending character attack. The matter here is not what Jesus says, but who Jesus is. As the son of a modest artisan, Jesus should not be teaching with such authority, honor, and influence. This story reflects the problem of the honor-shame code when it meets God’s prophetic disclosures and intentions. The prophetic word and messianic power rise up from below the social caste system rather than trickling down from above.” (Shively Smith)

Jesus has recognized that the people of Nazareth are reacting poorly to his presence and teaching. His rebuke might seem harsh, but is offered in love. What we witness is a community that is fractured and it is here that we can turn our attention to our reading from Corinthians.

We recognize that love is a verb. A very tangible action that we are called to get caught up in. Alienation and difference exist in our passage from Luke. Melanie Howard puts it this way, “Jesus’s audacity in pointing to the inclusion of outsiders (the widow of Zarephath in Sidon and Naaman the Syrian) is met with such outrage that he is nearly killed on the spot. Here, in the context of a heated debate about the proper use of spiritual gifts, Paul has the audacity to preach on the importance of love across lines of difference.” (Melanie Howard)

In our passage from Luke, we also have a conflict. The community doesn’t understand Jesus, or perhaps better stated, doesn’t understand how Jesus could have the wisdom he does. His background, the son of a carpenter, doesn’t suggest he should have such wisdom he does. Conflict erupts, rather than a path of understanding and love.

It’s an important lesson for us as a community of faith. An important lesson for us as people of faith. How we resolve conflicts matter. This doesn’t mean that all conflict and misunderstanding is resolved amicably. Where we all end up agreeing at the end of the day. What it does mean is that even if we cannot find common ground, we can agree to abide in love. Doing our best to see the face of Christ in those we meet and treat them with love and respect. If that love and respect isn’t returned, then in love we can distance ourselves from those who are causing us harm.

Paul is writing to a community dealing with significant internal turmoil. They aren’t agreeing with one another. Matt Skinner writes, “Paul interrupts his thoughts about gifts (charismata) and the body of Christ to remind us that any gifts we’ve received for ministry are temporary and incomplete, meant to help us navigate our way through a dim world. It’s love that matters. Love isn’t a gift; it’s the point of all the gifts.” (Matt Skinner)

When if comes to our relationship with God, we acknowledge and rest secure that God love us. That God’s love never ends. That is the promise we have from God. Amen.