Homecoming

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Episcopal Church
January 24, 2016

3 Epiphany C

Some years ago, I went back to Little Rock for the funeral of a close friend.  My family moved to Little Rock the summer before I started 6th grade, and I stayed in the area through college, so going to Little Rock has the feel of going home for me.  People came from all over the country for this funeral, traveling from places like Seattle, and Arizona, to mourn the loss of this dear friend, hear the powerful words of scripture, to pray the prayers of the burial office together, and pour our grief into the familiar liturgy.  We also came to be together as none of us could bare to do this difficult work alone.  We needed to be together to hear the challenge in both scripture and our burial service to live like people who believe that death does not have the final say.  The funeral and the reception afterwards were a homecoming for all of us, a reminder to live into our identity as Easter people, and a joyful occasion in the midst of deep sorrow.

We hear about two homecomings in today's readings from Scripture.  In the reading from Nehemiah, some of the Hebrew people have returned to their homeland, the Promised Land, from their exile in Babylon. All the people may have gathered at the gate to the city in our passage this morning, but all of the people did not agree about who was among the faithful and who was not, who should govern, how and if the temple should be rebuilt, and who they are as God's chosen people.  They are squabbling, much like the people in the church in Corinth to which Paul writes are squabbling, and in both cases, the very survival of the community is at stake.  When the people gather at the gate this morning, their future is in jeopardy, in part because they cannot agree how to move forward and in part because they are under military attack from their enemies.  The people ask to hear the familiar words of the Torah, the law of Moses, read out loud for them, and to have those words explained.  Over and over again, we hear that all the people stood, all the people said "Amen, Amen," and all the people understood.  And all the people were moved to worship the Lord with their faces to the ground, apparently weeping and mourning.  They heard the challenge of the words of scripture, recognized the ways they were failing to live into their identity as God's people, and realized that their return to the Promised Land was nothing less than a gift from God who loves them and made them God's own.  And so they are able to rise up, rejoice, and make sure anyone who could not be at the gate could rejoice as well.

In the gospel reading, we have yet another homecoming.  Jesus returns to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and goes to the synagogue, as was his custom. The synagogue was the place where the faithful gathered on the Sabbath to hear the word of God proclaimed, much as the Hebrew people had gathered at the gate in the reading from Nehemiah.  Jesus is in the midst of his own people when he reads from the prophet Isaiah, and outlines what he understands to be his work in the world.  "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 Jesus says to the people, his people, "Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."  Next week, we will hear the end of the story, which begins with these words "All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth."  And then the people will realize what Jesus' words require of them, which is to change and to recognize that Jesus' words are not just for them, and they are furious, but that is a story for next week.  Today, Jesus' people are proud of their hometown boy.  They are all amazed and probably all take a bit of credit for the person Jesus has become.

So, we have two homecoming stories.  Both involve the reading of Scripture.  Both have all the people responding as one.  Both have "feel good" endings, as the people in the reading from Nehemiah rise up, eat and drink, and celebrate God's goodness, and the people in the synagogue with Jesus hear that the words of Isaiah are fulfilled in their midst.

However, both stories also call the people to hear the challenge of scripture and to change.  The gathering of God's people to hear God's word is sometimes meant to comfort, but those words are also meant to challenge.  The Hebrew people who have returned from Babylon are likely trying to make sense of what has happened to them as a people.  They are not getting along the way they should be.  They want to hear God's word read and explained.  When they do, they mourn and weep because they realize how they have failed to live as God's people.  They hear the call to change.  Only by realizing the extent to which they have failed can they repent and live more faithfully.

On the other hand, the people in the synagogue who hear Jesus read from Isaiah this morning only hear words of comfort.  They do not yet understand that the words of Isaiah are words of challenge that call them to change and be part of the change for those who are poor, blind, captive, or oppressed.  Next week, we will hear the people's reaction when they realize that Jesus is telling them that the good news is not just for them.  They are God's chosen people, not set apart for special privilege, but to be a light to all the nations.  The people are furious and try to throw Jesus off a cliff.  They definitely understand what Jesus is saying. They just do not like what they hear.

There is a sense in which our gathering in this place every Sunday is a homecoming where we come back together after doing our work in the world, hear the word of God proclaimed, share a meal together, and are reminded of our identity as the body of Christ. We are one body with many members, as Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians this morning.  And yes, part of the reason we come together is for comfort and strength.  But if we forget that we come together to be challenged, changed, and held accountable for living as the Body of Christ, we are not listening carefully to scripture or the words of our liturgy.  We come together  because being challenged, changed and held accountable is far too difficult and too scary to do on our own if we are taking the matter seriously.  Paul reminds us of our identity as the one body of Christ and the way we are to live and treat each other in the reading from 1 Corinthians.  The only way we can live faithfully, to allow ourselves to be challenged, changed, and held accountable in the way that living faithfully as being the Body of Christ requires, is to do that work together.

Amen.