21 January 2007

Luke 4:14-21

“I should do what?”

From the website 

http://www.cybersalt.org/cleanlaugh    

I read this joke:

Just in case your boss catches you asleep at work, be ready to blurt out one of these excuses:

*They told me at the blood bank that this might happen.

*Whew! I must have left the top off the whiteout.

*I’m actually doing a Stress Level Elimination Exercise Plan (SLEEP) I learned at the last mandatory seminar you made me attend.

*The coffee machine is broken ....

*Someone must have put decaf in the wrong pot.

*Boy, that cold medicine I took last night just won’t wear off.

*Gosh, I thought you (the boss) were gone for the day.

*I wasn'’t sleeping! I was meditating on the mission statement and envisioning a new paradigm!

You know, sometimes I feel like we have been caught sleeping when it comes to implementing our church mission statement. According to Noel Santiago, the Conference Minister that helped us discover our mission and vision statements, all the members should know our church vision and mission statements by heart. He also said that new changes to the life of the church must be done with the mission and vision statements in mind. In other words, changes should happen as the result of trying to implement our vision and mission statements rather than implementing new ideas that are not connected to the statements we have already embraced. According to Noel, if we all know our vision and mission statements by heart, we would be more focused in our future planning. The question that we would all ask is: how does this decision contribute to the implementation of our vision and mission statements? 

I take full responsibility for our lack of focus. If you do not know our mission statement by heart it is because I have not asked you to do so.  There were a lot of things that could have been done in order to help us be more focused. Such as, putting the mission statement on a banner and have it in front of congregation every Sunday, like we did for our vision statement. Or have the mission statement be the focus of our Sunday school youth and adult classes for several weeks every year. Or, open our worship meeting every Sunday by reading the mission statement together, not just on special occasions. 

On the positive side, we are not the only ones to lose focus. According to “Design for Ministries” (the church agency we hired to help us with our statements) more than half of the congregations that create new Vision and Mission statements lose focus after one year. So, we are not alone. In fact, we are in good company. According to Christianity Today, most known Protestant Denominations have lost touch with the Gospel and its message. In other words, the inability of the Protestant Denominations to implement God’s Good News in society might be the main reason of its decline. I personally feel that congregations that have become irrelevant to society are not doing the will of God and eventually will die. 

The passage we have read in Luke should be a wake-up call to every North American congregation. It should remind us once again, what is the Good News Jesus Christ came to announce. It should remind us once again, why the Church, the assembly of believers, exists in the first place. It should remind us once again, of the things we ought to do today. It should remind us once again, the mission and vision of the ministry of Jesus Christ, and in turn, the mission and vision of every congregation. 

According to every commentary I have seen, every scholar I have read, in Luke 4:14-21 we have Jesus’ mission statement. St. Luke purposely inserted the time Jesus came to his home town to teach at the local synagogue at the beginning of his Gospel in order to help us see what Jesus’ ministry was going to be. According to Luke, Jesus was 

a) baptized with water and the Holy Spirit, “and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove” (3:22a); 

b) empowered by the Holy Spirit and led to the wilderness to be prepared for ministry. “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil” (4:1-2a); 

c) empowered by the Holy Spirit to reveal his mission. “Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit came to Nazareth went to the synagogue.  The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him and he 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. Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’” (4:14-21 selected). 

It was the Holy Spirit that descended upon him at his baptism. It was the Holy Spirit that helped prepared him for ministry in the wilderness. And, it was the Holy Spirit that helped him proclaim to the world his purpose for coming. 

The question is not however, do we believe that Luke 4 reveals Jesus’ mission statement, his purpose for coming. In reality, no student of the Bible will say otherwise. The real question is; do we believe Jesus’ purpose for coming should also be the Church’s reason for existing? In other words, do we exist, are we here today (you and I), “because God has anointed us to bring good news to the poor. He has sent us 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?” 

There are critics of the North American Christian Church who say that the Church has lost its purpose for existing. The Church no longer seeks to follow the footsteps of Jesus and continue His ministry in our society. Much has been said about the Protestant Denominations’ inter fights between liberal and conservative agendas; inner struggles that the Mennonite Church knows all too well.  A lot more has been said about the “prosperity theology” that has taken over much of the charismatic movement and infiltrated even the most “theologically sound” denominations. However, more and more Christian scholars and practitioners are realizing that the struggle of the North American Church lies in its inability to know and embrace its God-given mission for the world. The Church in Latin American has its own problems and it is by no means perfect. The same thing can be said about the Christian Church in Asia and in Africa.  Yet, it is discouraging to hear that the North America Church, the Body of Christ, in unquestionably the most powerful and richest nation in the world, is failing to focus its efforts to continue the ministry Jesus Christ began. 

You know? I have read and researched Luke’s passage many times before. It was one of the passages I had to do a paper on both in College and in Seminary. It is one of the favorite passages for Mennonites in general. It is a must read passage for anyone interested in knowing about Christian Theology. Yet, the other day when I was reading this passage one word stood out to me. After reading from the Isaiah scroll, according to Luke, Jesus “began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’” (v. 21). The word that stood out to me is the word “Today.” Now, there are many ways one can read and understand the word “today” in our passage. One can say that Jesus was speaking prophetically as in “it is as good as done,” even though it will take a while to come to pass. As you know, when Jesus began his ministry it took him a while even to preach good news to the poor of his day. One can see it in theological terms and speak about the “here and now” and the “not-yet-here” language of the Bible. In other words, we can see “today” as another way of seeing the kingdom of God which is here, but not in its fullness; it is here, but it will not be here in its totality until Jesus returns. The “fulfilled today” language falls in this category. Just like the kingdom of God, it is fulfilled today, but not in its fullness. 

We can also say that the word “today” has an important message for the first reader of Luke’s Gospel. In other words, Luke writes to this Theophilus who might be a powerful person in the Roman Empire perhaps thinking of joining the Church. It is possible that Theophilus was a Christian sympathizer wanting to know more about Jesus Christ and his followers.  Jesus’ words serve to explain to him the authority and the God-given mission of the Messiah, as well as an explanation of what the Christian Church is all about. “Today,” serves to indicate to Theophillus what every Christian is doing at that moment. In other words, it is telling Theophillus that Christians are not trying to over throw the Roman Empire. They are not trying to promote hate toward Ceasar. They are not trying to push their cannibalistic religion on others. Today, what they are doing is bringing good news to the poor. Today, they are releasing the captives, recovering the sight of the blind. Today, they are letting the oppressed go free. Today, they are proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor. 

You know why this word “today” stood out for me? This word “today” tells me I have a second chance.  It has become good news to me. Yes, perhaps we have missed the point. Yes, perhaps we North American Christians were not able to see our purpose for existing, our God-given mission for the word. Yes, perhaps I have been sleeping; I have been neglecting Gods vision and mission. But, today is a new day. I do not have to dwell in the past. I can do something for my Lord today. Now I know, today I have another opportunity to love my God, to love His Church, to love all of His creation, to embrace His mission. Regardless of what I did or failed to do yesterday, today I can do something to bring some good news to the disenfranchised. Today, I can do something to help bring healing to the sick. Today, I can do something to help the ones oppressed and imprisoned. 

I am not sure if the Church can eradicate all the ills of society. But to me that is beside the point. The point is that today I can choose to be a participant of God’s mission for the world.  I can go to sleep on the job and then make all kinds of excuses. Or, I can say “I am sorry,” and try again. 

"Houston Mennonite Church is an Anabaptist community called by God to build His Kingdom by establishing and nurturing relationships within the church and the surrounding world, and by challenging one another to deeper levels of commitment and discipleship in Jesus Christ."