I Chronicle 22.15-16; Luke 4.14-21
In the Friday LA Times, a teaser for the Sunday edition, “Stories made for this Sunday.”
I can’t think of a better story for Sunday than Jesus preaching in his hometown of Nazareth … his formal introduction as a rabbi … when he returns from his baptism and his trial in the wilderness … where the Devil threw at Jesus temptation, to take the easy way out … take care of yourself first of all - feed your hunger, said the Devil to Jesus … and you can feed the world, too … and the world will be eating out of your hand - look at all these stones; you can make bread from them. To which Jesus, True enough, but human beings need more than bread; they need the word of God.
The Devil tries another tact - Jesus, you and I both know how hard this life is going to be … you’ve chosen a difficult assignment - here, I’d like to show you a shortcut … why not make things a little simpler … you want the world to know your Father’s love? Well, I tell ya’ what, just bow down to me, and I’ll give you the world, and then you can do with it as you will. Just bow down; it’ll be easy … no one needs to know; just you and me … to which Jesus replies, True enough, but it is written, plain and clear, worship the LORD your God and serve only him.
The Devil, if you will, plays his last and final card … Astound people with your holy power, do a few tricks, a little razzle-dazzle will go along way; people are suckers for the fantastic - jump off the temple pinnacle; you and I both know God’s angels will bring you down like a feather … and your fame will grow, and you’ll have the world at your feet … to which Jesus replies, True enough, but it is written, clear and firm, don’t tempt God with your own vanity and foolish desires.
With that, the Devil leaves, as Luke says, until the next opportunity … then Jesus heads home, in the power of the Spirit, to announce good news.
Jesus begins with the people he knows best - hometown folks - they know him and his family - they watched him playing in the streets with his friends, they watched him learn how to plane a plank of wood under his father’s guiding hand … they loved his mother and her faithfulness … they were proud of this young man now become a rabbi, commissioned by John the Baptist in the Jordan, at the age of 30, when a man ends his schooling and becomes a teacher of others - rabbi Jesus, in his hometown.
Jesus preaches an imaginative message … can you imagine what the world would be like if the reign of God were to hold sway over the affairs of men and women? … can you imagine what the world would be like if the reign of God could set the pace for government and commerce? … can you imagine what the world would be like if the reign of God governed the banking system and how we care for one another?
Can you imagine these things?
The power of imagination is great … science, art, religion … the greatest human ventures of idea and ideal are born in the fires of imagination.
The American Poet, Emily Dickinson said, “The possible’s slow fuse is lit by the imagination.”
Imagination is the energy of invention ...
Henry Ford imagined a better way to build a car …
The Wright brothers imagined a way to link a gasoline engine to a glider ...
Einstein, when but a 16-year old boy, dreamed of chasing after a beam of light …
Abraham Lincoln imagined the United States free of slavery, a more perfect union …
Gandhi imagined India free of British Rule …
Mandella imagined South Africa free of Apartheid …
“You can’t depend on your judgment if your imagination is out of focus,” said Mark Twain …
Will you seek to serve the people with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love? We ask Deacons, Ruling Elders and Teaching Elders.
The key word is imagination … energy is good, and so is intelligence, but without imagination, energy and intelligence never spread their wings, never take off and go anywhere … and love? Without imagination, love cannot rise above itself, or go anywhere truly great … imagination sets love free, free to fly high, and reach far.
Frederick Buechner writes:
"To journey for the sake of saving our own lives is little by little to cease to live in any sense that really matters, even to ourselves, because it is only by journeying for the world's sake - even when the world bores and sickens and scares you have to death - that little by little we start to come alive."
William Barclay, one of the great Bible teachers of the 20th Century said: “There are two great days in a person’s life - the day we are born and the day we discover why.”
Imagination is the way of discovery … imagination is the only way we can think big enough to imagine the love of God … big enough to see what we can be, what we can do for the glory of God.
Faith requires imagination … so does hope, so does love … faith, hope and love are always beyond the immediate reach of reality … of all the things that can be said about God’s people: “We don’t give in to reality, low down and dirty, as it is; we believe and we live things that cannot be seen by the physical eye … we believe and live in the greater reality of God’s reign, ultimate reality, true and lasting reality … we imagine what the world could be like if the reign of God held sway.
Paul the Apostle writes: God has prepared things for those who love him that no eye has seen, or ear heard … things that have never crossed the mind … God has revealed these things to us through the Spirit [1 Corinthians 2.9-10).
Can we imagine the reign of God? … can we see it in our mind’s eye? … what love looks like? … all the fruits of the Spirit: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? … can we see these things? Imagine them? What the world would like if the reign of God held sway in the affairs of humanity?
Imagination sets the soul free to fly high and wide in the glories of God and the ways of Jesus … They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint [Isaiah 40.31].
When Jesus goes home to Nazareth, he invites his hometown people to imagine, to imagine with him, the world God imagines!
Luke says of Jesus, He went to the synagogue as he normally did … rhythm to his life, built around worship and learning, instilled in him by Mom and Dad … a faithful family set in the ways of God - to Jerusalem when they could, with all the other pilgrims, to celebrate the feasts of Israel’s life - to imagine a world made new!
The imagination was alive and well in his family … now, in his hometown synagogue, Jesus begins his ministry with one of the most imaginative readings of all, from the Prophet Isaiah:
The Spirit of the LORD is upon me …
The LORD has anointed me ...
Can you imagine what this means?
Can you imagine good news preached to the poor? Those who have not enough, who are without hope in this world, for whom life is hard and mean?
Can you imagine release to the prisoners … prisoners of injustice - who wear the shackles of Rome’s brutality and human cruelty?
Can you imagine?
Can you imagine the blind receiving sight … when eyes can see the glory of the LORD … the majesty of God’s creation and the wonders of love.
Physical eyes blinded by disease … spiritual eyes blinded by sorrow and sin … the eyes of the soul, the eyes of the heart … can you imagine?
Can you imagine what it would be like to liberate the oppressed … those who suffer under the iron heel of the powerful and the mighty, who rule the world for their own pleasures, and care not a whit for the lowly? Can you imagine the oppressed set free?
Can you imagine the Year of the LORD’s favor? When debts are released, when slaves are set free, when land given as collateral for a loan is returned to the original owner, whether the loan is paid or not, so that every family can retain its inheritance … the year of the LORD’s favor, can you imagine, when the world starts all over again … the Year of the LORD, the Year of Jubilee … a new beginning for the world … can you imagine this?
Luke tells us that Jesus hands the scroll back to the synagogue assistant and sits down … every eye is fixed on him; they’re waiting for him to teach … and to them he says, Today the scripture has been fulfilled just as you heard it.
It’s possible, says Jesus.
It can be done.
The way will be hard, that I know … the Devil tempted me to take the easy way, and I said no, because the easy way is no way at all … I have taken up the task of my Father in heaven, and I invite you to come with me, stand and stay with me, learn from me, dream with me, imagine with me, and go my way.
You have within you what it takes … now get busy, and get to it.
The reading from 1 Chronicles … David’s encouragement to his son, Solomon, to build the temple … you have all that need, now get to it.
Nothing more needs to be given; what has been given is sufficient.
Can we imagine it? Can see it in our mind’s eye?
What we see with our eyes depends very much on what we see with our soul … imagination fires up the soul, sets the soul free to imagine the goodness of God and the glory of God’s work …
Like David to Solomon, You have what you need … look no further; no need to wait for another day … just get going and build it.
The marriage of imagination and reality … imagine the temple of God, then to build it.
Imagine the Year of the LORD’s favor and live it.
Imagine the reign of God in all things great and small, and apply ourselves to make it happen.
Can you imagine it? Asks Jesus!
Can you imagine this kind of a world with me?
Can you imagine walking with me, to the far places, to the ends of the world, where there is darkness, so that we can bring the light of love to the loveless and the forlorn?
Can you imagine?
Can you imagine doing the great work of God with me, to salt the earth with goodness and peace?
Can you imagine a world made new?
Our hearts cry out to the Lord, Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can.
To the glory of God. Yes we can!
Amen and Amen!
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