Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year C, January 27, 2019
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10; Psalm 19
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a; Luke 4:14-21
St Thomas the Apostle
The Rev’d Leo Loyola
Last Sunday was clearly a huge milestone for Saint Thomas.
We were, our Senior Warden Nancy LeGros puts it in her letter to Saint Thomas in our recent Doubter, “privileged to witness a long-standing wrong being made right”.
The observance of same-sex marriages in this space has been long overdue.
Four years long overdue, since the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples had the constitutional right to marry in this country.
Seven years long overdue, since the Episcopal Church passed a resolution approving an official liturgy for blessing same-sex unions.
Thirteen years long overdue, since General Convention adopted a resolution stating that “gay and lesbian persons are by Baptism full members of the Body of Christ”.
Or as Bishop Gene put it last Sunday, this fundamental right has been two-thousand years long overdue.
But on January 20, 2019, the world as you knew it shifted.
It was as much a miracle as when Jesus turned water into wine.
Last Sunday was, for us, a bright glimpse into what the Kingdom of Heaven can be like.
But it is just a glimpse.
It is not, and cannot, be all there is for us to see, to experience.
It is just the beginning.
And there is no finer example of this truth than Jesus himself.
Our Gospel from Luke tells us that when Jesus was baptized, the power of the Spirit filled him.
But notice the people’s response.
Actually… we see no record of it.
Luke seems to gloss over what had to have been a world-changing phenomenon.
No mention of shock or awe.
No mention of people having a “come-to-Jesus-moment”.
No mention of people abandoning John the Baptist for this new spiritual leader.
It was if the Gospel writer did want to focus too much attention to this amazing event. That he wanted us to understand the scene as a tiny glimpse into something greater.
It was not, and could not, be all there was for people to see, to experience.
It was just the beginning.
And he does this again when Jesus read from the scroll these words:
“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.”
later saying to the crowds “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”.
Luke tells us that all eyes were on Jesus. He got the crowd’s attention. But was this a good or bad thing?
We never know, because Luke chooses to not mention this.
The crowds might’ve been shouting “Hallelujah! Praise God.”
Perhaps this was a sign that God will now show great mercy to a people that starved for it.
Or perhaps Jesus got the opposite reaction.
Perhaps they were staring at Jesus, muttering under their breath, “What arrogance! Who does that guy think he is?”
For all we know, they might’ve saw him as some religious wacko. Who knows?
But, for Luke, these details didn’t matter in his Jesus narrative.
What mattered was what the hearers of his Gospel thought about Jesus, not the crowds. It was written in a way that stirred their curiosity about Jesus.
Who was this Jesus?
What was this good news he shared?
Does it matter to me, and why?
For Luke as a Gospel writer, the scene created a mystery for them.
It was a foreshadowing of something greater. That when it actually happened, their minds would be blown.
And this truth is true for us as well.
Each step that got us to where we are today were important moments. But moments that were hints at something greater. Some hope pointing us toward a future reality.
It was like this thirteen years ago when General Convention affirmed that gay and lesbian member were now to be seen as full members of the Body of Christ”. And yet the ordination of a gay Bishop was still seen as controversial.
It was like this seven years ago when the first liturgy for blessing same-sex unions was made official. And yet it was not fully accepted or practiced by all dioceses.
It was like this four years ago when same-sex couples could now legally marry within the United States… unless your parish was in a Diocese that did not permit them to be performed in their churches or by their priests.
In all these points of history, we had achieved something great. But something more needed to be done.
Even the resurrection is not the end of our story. Even our remembrance of it with our Holy Communion is just a glimpse into something better for us.
Likewise, let us remind ourselves that January 20 is not the end of ours.
It is just the beginning.
Amen.
