Sermon for the Third Sunday of Epiphany – 23 January 2022: Nehemiah 8, 1-3, 5-6, 8-10; 1Cor 12, 12-31; Luke 4, 14-21.

Fr Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens

 

Each of us must have at some point said the phrase, ‘I would like to be a fly on the wall’. Maybe it refers to a difficult meeting between two people, or a Cabinet Meeting of Boris Johnson’s Government, or a momentous signing of diplomatic documents, or a decision to go to war. Just think about that for a moment – what would that moment or place be for you?

I would like to be a fly on the wall. Un-noticed but noticing everything; unheard but hearing everything; completely neutral but picking up all of what we call these days ‘vibes’ in a closed room.

I would love to be a fly on the wall. If we have all said this at some point – or its Greek equivalent – we most likely can express a similar feeling about a particular moment in the gospel narratives; maybe the moment when Jesus teaches his disciples gathered together in secret; the time when the risen Jesus shares his teaching about the law and prophets with the two companions over dinner on the way to Emmaus, but the words are nor recorded; or to be a witness to how many Magi there really were when they brought 3 gifts to present to Christ lying in his manger. Just for a moment stop and think which of the gospel events we know about is one where you would have loved to be a fly on the wall.

The event we read about this morning in St. Luke’s gospel is one of those moments for me.

Jesus is in the synagogue in his home town of Nazareth. It is where the Archangel Gabriel first appeared to Blessed Mary to announce that she would be with child, and the town where Jesus grew up – indeed Our Lord is often referred to as Jesus of Nazareth.

So this is a familiar place to Jesus – and he is familiar to the others gathered there. He’s from one of the Nazareth families, and we are told elsewhere in scripture that they all know his parents, and there is even a reference to siblings (Mark 6, 3).

Nothing is different on this Saturday – it is like any other – the Sabbath, and synagogue ceremonial is as normal. Either by turn, or by selection, Jesus is asked to read from the holy scriptures. It is a scroll, remember, not a book. It will be like a roll of wallpaper but there are handles top and bottom, so that the text can be unrolled to the right place. The scripture was the prophecy of Isaiah.

There is an opportunity here for high drama. I wish I was a fly on the wall. Remember they all know him, and many, if not all, already know, or have heard about, miracles and wise teaching – already there would be some build up of expectation, and just possibly it was a bigger turn out than usual because Jesus is there.

By the way it was around this time 2019 that our dear Chief Rabbi Gabriel came to preach here in St. Paul’s, and you all loved him so much that I’m never inviting him back! He would possibly draw a crowd.

 

Anyway, there is a hushed silence as Jesus of Nazareth unrolls this sacred text of Isaiah to read to the congregation of Nazareth.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor…to release the captives…to give sight to the blind…to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’ (Lk 4 18-19)

If I were a fly on the wall I would see the expectation on their faces, their breath drawn in, being held back, and the anticipation would be palpable. With equal drama he closes the text by rolling it up again, a handle in each hand. The scroll is handed to the attendant of the synagogue, and Jesus sits down – sitting down is the posture of the teacher or wise man at this time – and all eyes follow him to his seat.

From this seated position Jesus, Our Lord, says, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’.(Lk 4, 22). Bang! That’s it, the revelation that everything they have lived for, everything their prophets had been foretelling, is located in Jesus himself. That split second, never to be repeated in quite the same way ever again,  is that crunch moment when the good news is broken open for them – the ancient sacred text made real and present in their midst. I would love to be a fly on the wall to see that moment. Bang! Someone has just spotted the fly on the wall and whacked it with today’s newspaper!

Friends, our holy scriptures reveal our living Christ for us, and they are stuffed full of ‘fly on the wall moments’. This is why our scriptures are such a precious heritage. It is why the Book of the Gospels is such an important part of our holy liturgy. It is carried in procession, not because of pomp and circumstance – but to remind us that we are to honour these testimonies of the life of our Lord. After the gospel reading, the gospel passage is in many churches kissed, not as an act of idolatry, but as an act of love, the gospel book then is often held above the people and used to make the sign of the cross in blessing, for it is a rich blessing to hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In his own day the prophet Nehemiah tells of the assembly of the people gathered to hear from the Book of the Law read by Ezra the scribe. We are told they are attentive – that they lift their hands, bow down and worship the Lord with their faces on the ground, and the people wept when they heard the Law read to them. (Neh 8, 6-8)

I wonder – what do we expect to receive from our holy scriptures? What is in our hearts and minds as we are about to hear the gospel read to us? Are we likely to be moved to tears? Well, maybe some of us – but all of us should be open to the work of the Holy Spirit flowing through these sacred words, whether it is the law, the prophets, the psalms, or the gospels we are waiting to hear or to read. By being open to the Spirit of the Word of God these scriptures become alive for us, and inhabit us where we are right here and now. If we are open to the Spirit of the word of God, then we truly drink of one Spirit as St. Paul’s says.

Gathered around the scriptures and the table of Christ we can be diverse, yet one, for we gaze in the same direction, the direction of Christ, and we are refreshed by the drinking of the one Spirit. This energy towards unity in the Spirit, the common gaze of adoration, applies to the different church traditions. To be one we don’t all need to be or do the same, say the same, dress the same, behave the same, for we drink of the one Spirit and we receive with joy the message of the holy scriptures revealing God’s Anointed One.

Within our church communities we do not all have to be the same – what does Paul say in today’s letter to the church in Corinth; all these different parts of the body, yet each is dependent on the other for wholeness. By asking the question – what am I called individually to be for the sake the whole body is a question each of us should be asking, and some will be apostles, some will be prophets, teachers, miracle workers, mystics, and so on. This is the teaching of the scriptures around which we gather together in common gaze towards Christ – remember that phrase from today’s gospel –‘all eyes were upon him’ – and as we seek to be Christ’s faithful people, diverse, individual, unique, and yet ‘one’ because we drink from the one Spirit (1 Cor 12, 13)

This is what we strive for here in the church on earth – Paul calls it ‘the more excellent way’ – as we seek to mirror the church in heaven, where I truly hope and pray that one day, I might just manage to be a fly on the wall.

 

 

(Next week the preacher is Angelos Palioudakis)