Grace Congregational UCC

“The Center Is Always The Center”
I Corinthians 12:12-31a
Luke 4:14-21

January 21, 2006 - Kim M. Henning

In early December our family went out to find a Christmas tree. We did something different this year. Instead of bringing home one of those pre-cut trees, we went to one of those places where we could cut down our own tree. So we went out into this field, located a tree, pulled out a saw and cut it down.

We brought it home and put in into a tree stand----but that’s when things started to go wrong. One person held the tree upright, another tightened the bolts and in a few minutes it started to lean. So we did it again. We loosened the bolts, readjusted the tree, tightened the bolts, and a few minutes later it was leaning again. We went through that process a third time and probably a fourth....and when the tree started to lean again, that’s when I lost my patience. I went downstairs, found a couple of screws and I turned them into our living room wall. Then, I tied some string around the tree, and fastened it to the wall. And it stood straight. And it was beautiful. Ask Jacob.

One evening, as I sat on the couch I looked at the tree and I noticed something peculiar. It seems that the trunk of that tree—was literally off-center. The branches on one side of the trunk were <this long>. The branches on the other side were <this long.>. I smiled and understood why that tree wouldn’t stand on its own. Have you ever seen anything so odd? The tree grew up lopsided, the center was not in the center.

I thought about that Christmas tree as I read this morning’s Gospel. At the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry before any miracles take place, he names what is to be his center, his focus. Before any disciples are called forth, Jesus gives an inaugural address, the trunk from which branches will grow.

“When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because 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.”

And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

With the help of the prophet Isaiah, Jesus names ‘his center’ today.

Jesus said that the Spirit of God had anointed him; the Spirit of God was moving inside him, and he has to ‘preach good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, let the oppressed go free, proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

In Eugene Peterson’s “The Message” Jesus’ words are paraphrased like this

God's Spirit is on me;
he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor,
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and
recovery of sight to the blind,
To set the burdened and battered free,
to announce, "This is God's year to act!"

Make no mistake. Jesus’ focus is on the poor, those who are down-and-out, those who for the life of them can hardly see the light of day.

Travel with me through the gospel of Luke and hear how this center is always the center.

When Luke tells us the story of Mary’s pregnancy, Mary tells us, “”He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant, Israel.”

When Luke tells the story of Jesus’ birth, where is he laid? In a manger. That’s a metaphor. And to whom do the angels announce the birth of Jesus Christ? Shepherds. They are at the bottom of the social-economic stratum.

When Luke records Jesus’ exposition of the beatitudes, Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor.”

The story of the widow’s offering is in Luke. Do you remember that? It comes time for the offering. The widow has only two copper coins but because she recognizes the importance of giving because ‘this’ is all gift from God, she gives them both away. That story is in Luke.

And Luke also tells us the story of Zacchaeus. When Zacchaeus has a religious conversion, an awakening, when Zacchaeus’ heart is grabbed hold of by God, his spontaneous response to Jesus invitation is to give ‘half of his goods to the poor’ and if he has defrauded anyone of anything, he promises to repay them ‘four times over.’

The Bible records this one story about Zacchaeus because Zacchaeus ‘gets it.’ When Zacchaeus’ heart is gripped by Jesus’ Spirit or Jesus’ message, his response is not to put a bumper sticker on his car that says something like, ‘I am a follower of the Master Carpenter’.

No, the authenticity of Zacchaeus’ faith is that he responds to Jesus central concern which is Jesus’ commitment to the poor. We can’t have it any other way.

The center is always the center. When a person says that they want to become a Christian or when a person announces that they want to become a member of the church, one of the first things we ought to read with them is Luke, chapter 4. “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.”

If you say you love Jesus, one’s heart is bent toward the poor. If you want to make a commitment to this One who suffered a death upon a cross and was resurrected for the forgiveness of sins, we must embrace an ethic, an ethos, a commitment to the least of God’s children.

Luke will not let us get away with just a head commitment to Jesus Christ. Faith is knowing the peculiar heart of Jesus for the down and out, and responding ...

Likewise, we can also say this with firm conviction:

If your faith is struggling.....find a poor person and listen to them.

If your faith is kind-of-just ‘going through the motions’, if you find yourself leaning, falling, I can hardly think of anything more revitalizing—than to respond to the needs of those who are in the Third World (per capita income of less than $800 a year) or to respond to the needs of those who are in the Fourth World (more than 1 billion human being with per capita income of less than $150/year) or to respond to the needs of your neighbor.

If we believe in Jesus, and if we believe in the truthfulness of his message when he said the Spirit of God has anointed him to bring good news to the poor, release to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free-----then, an obvious response is to be centered with the very same center.

A story. One of the personal losses that grieves me is the death of colleague in ministry who many of you know, Father Greg Smith. He died in December, and I have reminisced and reflected upon his passing many times in the last month. He had a heart for Jesus Christ and he was genuine.

I have been carrying in my Bible, that little funeral card that we are sometimes given when someone dies. On Father Greg’s funeral card, these are the words that are written,

May the Angels lead you into Paradise.

May the Martyrs come to welcome you

And take you to the Holy City,

The new and Eternal Jerusalem.

May the Choirs of Angels welcome you

and lead you to the bosom of Abraham,

And where Lazarus is poor no longer (repeat)

May you find Eternal Rest.