Luke 7:24-35
This scripture reading qualifies as confusing. Surely much of its meaning has been lost over time and because we don’t read it in the same way first century folks heard it. In the paragraph before today’s lesson we learn that John the Baptist has sent messengers to Jesus to ask if he’s the Messiah – the “one we’ve been waiting for.” Jesus ignores the question for the afternoon while he heals people, feeds people and teaches about community. Then he directs the messengers to go tell John what they’ve seen. If this is what you are looking for, then I’m the one.
Today’s passage addresses the hierarchy of leadership. John is a great prophet. If Jesus is the Messiah, then he’s even greater. Yet “the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” Jesus suggests that folks are attracted to John’s preaching and by inference to Jesus because they want to follow the “right” leader who is going to change the way the world works. They are waiting for God to send a Messiah to fix what’s broken about their time and place and they want to be sure they recognize the right person. Yet Jesus isn’t about replacing one top-down system with another. He’s not about setting John or himself up to be the authority everyone follows. He’s inviting people to join in what he calls “the kingdom of God” where everyone is equal and no one is greater than any other.
The translation we read suggests that those who accept this kingdom are those who accept God’s justice. Those who don’t join are looking out for themselves. But the movement isn’t about the leader, it’s about what is happening among the people. For some, John is too ascetic and too odd. For others, Jesus is too lax and accepting of outcasts. No leader satisfies the crowd. Jesus says it’s because it’s not about the leader, it’s about the community they are invited to form.
Most of us were encouraged to adopt our religion because it’s the right one and to pay attention to the leaders – the local ones we know and the leadership of the tradition throughout history. We learned to respect authority as telling us the right information about the way things are. Jesus seems to be telling people to stop looking for answers to their problems in leaders or authorities and to form communities that work better for all. Look at what’s happening, not at who’s doing it. Figure it out for yourselves and don’t wait for the perfect leader to do it for you. God’s wisdom and God’s justice lie in the collective wisdom of the group, not in the preacher. Not in the authority of religion.
How would Jesus talk to us about this today? Maybe he’d ask us to look for the kingdom of God among us. It’s not about belonging to the right denomination or maybe even to the right religion. It’s about practicing the justice of God in daily life. We show our commitment to that when we talk about putting our faith into action and celebrate the way we’re light in our communities. We do that when we wrestle with right and wrong in the world around us by asking about impacts on people’s lives.
Over the last couple of weeks we’ve supported the effort in Grand Forks to pass a city ordinance opposing hate crimes. We sent a letter on behalf of the church through the council and people have written individual letters of support. For us that’s a justice issue. No one should be harassed or discriminated against because of who they are, what they look like, or whom they love. We stand up for friends and neighbors and for ourselves. A hate crimes ordinance is important because it protects some folks from those who would do them harm. It’s also important because of what it says about all of us – we will be a community that cares about everyone and respects all people. When we do that life is better for all of us, not just a few folks in certain categories. We stand up and say we will be a community without hate, with respect and justice.
Last week in the sermon that was lost to a blizzard I was going to talk about healing. We want to be well and we want those we love to be well. But we can’t just leave that to the medical professionals, saying “take care of us and don’t let anything bad happen.” We have a responsibility as a community to work for health for everyone. We do that by advocating for affordable health care. We do that by adopting healthy practices – decaf coffee after church and healthy treat options. We do that by acknowledging the many ways people are impacted by health – physical needs, mental health struggles and addiction. The need for nutritious food and strong friendships and a community that supports each of us on good days and in hard times. We create health for one another by creating a healthy environment for everyone.
This week we’ve been horrified by the war Russia started in the Ukraine. We’re all struggling to know what’s the right way to respond. From a distance we don’t have a way to make this go away. Yet if we want to live in a world with peace, we have to stand up to violence no matter where it happens. We can’t just ask our leaders to fix this. We have to support their efforts. If that means rising gas prices or disrupted supply chains, we cope. We pray that this won’t become yet another war to end all wars and that our children won’t be endangered by fighting. That doesn’t happen just by ignoring the news. Already we are seeing protests around the world asking that the war stop as quickly as it started. We can join our voices with those to clearly state that we want ALL people to live in peace. We can add our ideas to the peacemakers’ and the strength of our community to the call for peace.
Jesus tells us that the least in the kingdom of God is greater than the leaders. We have been invited into that kingdom. We say “yes” not by waiting to be told what to do but by working every day to create the kingdom in our midst. If we want justice, health, peace and love, then we must live justly, promote wellness and work for peace. Each week we sing “Christ has no body now but yours.” The kingdom of God is in our hands and it will be what we make of it.