Sermon for January 23

Let the words my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you O Lord, our strength, and our redeemer. Amen

Growing up, I was a Brooklyn Dodgers fan. But for some reason, I always liked Yogi Berra. But it was only until later, about 10 years ago or so, that I was introduced to Yogi-isms. Yogi-isms are sentences that just don’t come out exactly right, but usually we know what he meant. He said things like: “That’s restaurant’s so crowded, nobody goes there anymore.” “If people don’t come out to the park, nobody’s going to stop them.” “Baseball is ninety percent mental, and the other half is physical.” “We made too many of the wrong mistakes.” He even said this about himself, “I never said most of the things I said.”

One of my favorite ones is this one: “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” Today we first look briefly at our reading from Nehemiah. The exiles have returned and rebuilt Jerusalem. Ezra’ the scribe and priest, was called on to read the law of Moses in a square in front of all the people, both men and women. We need to remember it had been some seventy years since these men and women had heard anything about God. This was a new thing for the crowd. They had never heard the Torah read, and they didn’t even know anything about their ancient tongue. The all had been raised up in Persia.

If we would look at how the reading was done, it resembled a lot like the way worship is done today. He stood above the people and when he opened the book, or scroll, all the people stood up, just like we do when the gospel is read. It’s just that in this case, he read from early morning until midday. They read from the law of God, with interpretation, giving the people understanding. The people began weeping, for now they knew how sinful they were. But Nehemiah, Ezra, and Levites told them “No. go on your way, eat the fat meat, drink the sweet wine and send some to those who don’t have any, for this day is holy to our Lord, and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength! Sounds a lot like Holy Communion! They had come to a fork in the road.

Now let’s turn our attention to Luke’s story about Jesus going back to Nazareth. After he was baptized, the Holy Spirit led Jesus to the wilderness where he spent 40 days. Then, filled with the power of the Spirit he returned to Galilee and a report about him spread throughout the land. He began to teach in the synagogues and was praised by everyone.

First, wouldn’t we like to know what was in that report? And it spread throughout Galilee. He apparently was getting a reputation as a teacher. And he was praised by everyone. They liked him. He was bringing the good news to the people, and no one was upset. He was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Now he goes back to his hometown. What kind of reception would he get? He went to the synagogue. He apparently was asked to read and give interpretation like Ezra did. He unrolled the scroll and found the verses he was looking for. He had an announcement to make. It was a fork in the road. He read a prophecy from Isaiah 61:1-2:

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.”

He rolled up the scroll and gave it back and sat down. It was customary to stand during a reading and sit while teaching. Luke tells us that all eyes were fixed on him. I would imagine you could have heard a pin drop.

Then he said something—an announcement to his friends, his buddies, the men he grew up with, and to the friends of Joseph and Mary, and the local rabbi. “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus is sitting in front of his friends telling them he knows who he is and what he is called to do. He took the fork in the road.

But all this is about us, too. It’s about knowing who we are and what we are called to do. And who we are comes directly out of who Jesus is as the Son of God and what that means in our lives. What we are called to do comes directly from what Jesus was called to do and what that means in our lives.

Jesus was in the wilderness for forty days—a long time. He had a lot of time to pray and to think about who he was and what his Father was asking him to do. He came out of that experience filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus had spent that time in prayer and study to be prepared for the moment that God called on him to come forth as the Anointed One. The Spirit, the inspiration came on him because he was ready to receive it. And he took the fork in the road.

We need to be like Jesus—prepared, ready, and open to the Spirit. We, too, are called to study the scripture, to pray, and to seek God’s will in our lives within our community. It was Jesus’ custom to go the synagogue on the Sabbath. He didn’t go because they were friendly (we’ll see more about that next Sunday—this is a two-parter); he didn’t go be-cause of his family, even though his mama and brothers and cousins were there. Jesus went to pray, to hear God’s word and the interpretation of it, to prepare for that moment when God would call him to do something extraordinary, and when that time came, he was ready. You see, Jesus was also dependent on the Holy Spirit. The Spirit was with him at the fork in the road.

Recently, somebody told me about a church sign that she saw. Up at the top in big bold letters it said, “WE CARE FOR YOU!” Down at the bottom, in small print, it said, “Sundays, 10 am only.”

GOD CARES FOR YOU! What does that mean? Good News to the poor, release to those who are captive of evil spirits, recovery of sight to the blind, freedom for the oppressed. It means love, care, action. As the followers of Christ, we too are called to care, not just in our hearts, but also in our actions. And we are called to act all the time, not just on Sundays at 10 am. We are called to find ways as individuals and as a church, as a community of faith, to do those very things Jesus talks about it this Scripture lesson. To do any less would be to back away from our call to take up our cross and follow. Another fork in the road.

Yogi had another saying: “If you don’t know where you’re going, you might wind up someplace else.” Jesus clearly knew who he was and where he was going. We are called this day and every day to follow Jesus in this ministry of study and prayer and to live out a commitment to the gathered people of God by coming together in worship and prayer and service. And we are called to follow the Spirit’s leading in serving the world in Jesus’ name.

A fork in the road. Pray, study, act. The Holy Spirit is guiding us all the way.

Amen and amen!