Epiphany 4 C: Sent to Send
Dear Partner in Preaching,
Okay, I actually started this Sunday evening and it’s coming through in drips and drabs. That tells me, among other things, it will be a little longer than usual. 🙂 So maybe diving it up a bit will help.
First, when working with this passage three years ago, I referenced Robert Frost’s poem “Mending Wall.” At the time, the poet’s confession, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,” helped me give voice to what I heard as Jesus’ proclamation that God has come to save all, even those we fear or despise, and that, in order to extend God’s love to all, God will not simply transcend but actually challenge the walls we make. It is more than a little disheartening that the post reads like it was written yesterday.
But of course it wasn’t – then or now – as simple as saying “no walls” but rather recognizing that we do lock our doors, we do build walls, we do take care for security, and the need for all these things itself is worthy of lament, let alone all the times we don’t need to worry as much yet do so from fear, or the way our fear of others falls woefully short of God’s hopes for God’s children.
Second, a few days ago, I had the chance to visit with a pastor and friend I hadn’t seen in a while. After swapping stories about our families and our parishes – thankfully in that order – we happened to talk about the passage at hand (the first half of this pericope, Luke 4:7-21). My friend, Rob Myalis, talked about an insight he had regarding Jesus’ somewhat mangled, or at least improvised upon, quotation of Isaiah. (What Luke reports Jesus’ reading, as you likely know, is close to Isaiah 61:1-2, but definitely not word-for-word, either in the Hebrew or Greek Septuagint.)
In translating the passage, Rob noticed that, while the NRSV translates a key phrase at the end of v.18 as “to let the oppressed go free,” you could also translate it more literally to read “and send the broken in forgiveness.” The NRSV translation turns on linking the Greek word aphesis – which can mean “to release from bondage” – that occurs both near the opening and close of the verse: Jesus proclaims release (aphesis) to the captives and lets the captives go free (aphesis). Totally plausible, and similar to Isaiah’s emphasis. But aphesis can also mean “forgiveness or pardon from sin (as if it had never happened).” And rather than translate them both as “release,” Rob’s suggested translation hinges on linking another significant word, apostello – “to send” (from which we get “apostle”), which also occurs twice. Jesus reports that he has been sent (apestalken) to proclaim and then says that he is sending (apostelai) the broken/shattered in forgiveness. (The NRSV translates the “sending” and “release” as “letting go free.”) Rob’s suggestion is also plausible and quite interesting, particularly if you link the final phrase so that it reads “send the broken in forgiveness (ev aphesei) to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Third, why does this matter and what does this have to do with this Sunday’s passage, the darker “Part 2” of the story of Jesus’ first sermon? Good question! 🙂 Given that we live in a broken world where a) we will continue to lock our doors and talk about security and b) some will exaggerate and exploit our fear to turn us against other children of God and c) we know that neither of these is God’s hope for us, might we think about a different way to think of ourselves and our neighbors?
That is, the very point of locks and walls and security systems in predicated on an “us” and “them” mentality. And, to be completely honest, there is some element of that in our life together. That is, tere are “those” who, given an opportunity, may do “us” harm. Lamentable, for sure, and evidence of our brokenness, absolutely, yet nevertheless an accurate picture of our sinful world. Too often, however, those fears are exploited and we see anyone who is not part of our immediate “tribe” as a threat. Indeed, fear can become crippling, pitting a frightened, resource-scarce “us” against a towering and powerful and way too expansive sense of “THEM.” Yet, via the lens of this passage, what would it be like, first, to imagine that all of us are “the broken.” And, honestly, does that take much reflection? All of us have hurts. All of us have disappointments and regrets. All of us fail to live up to God’s dreams for us. This isn’t meant to wrench a dreadful confession from anyone, but rather to allow us to stop pretending and acknowledge the hurt and pain every human experiences. That’s true of everyone we place in these categories of “us” and “them” and perhaps perceiving this deep affinity and solidarity might help us overcome the mental walls we build.
But it doesn’t stop there, because the passage also invites us to be joined not only in brokenness but also in being sent. That is, Jesus is sent to heal and send us. Yes, we are all broken. And, yes, we are all forgiven and healed in order also to be commissioned and sent to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Favor for all the broken-hearted, us and them and everyone in between until there is no us-and-them divide but only “we,” we the children of God — broken, loved, healed, commissioned, and sent. We are, all of us, the beloved broken whom God calls to be also beloved apostles.
That message — particularly the part about “all of us” — made some people in Jesus’ day really, really mad. And it will likely do the same today. Not because we’re awful people, but because we’re fearful people, and because we’ve had this sense of fearing our neighbor and defining ourselves in terms of scarcity and security and fear ingrained in us for so long it’s incredibly, incredibly hard to overcome. Indeed, maybe the only way to overcome it is to admit our need, and the need of those around us, and hear God call us blessed and loved and forgiven and send us out into the world bearing that word: that God favors all!
Drips and drabs. I’m not sure what I’ve put together here amounts to much more, Dear Partner, but I hope it’s helpful. Far more, I hope – and indeed am confident – that your words will be a blessing to those who come needing to hear and believe they are God’s favored ones sent out in forgiveness to share news of God’s love. Blessings on your proclamation.
Yours in Christ,
David
PS: You can follow Rob’s incisive work with lectionary passages in Greek at his blog, Lectionary Greek. It’s really good. 🙂
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