Luke
4:21-30
It’s easy, so easy, for yeas to turn into boos.
On any given day in the ballpark, the star pitcher
can have trouble finding the corners of the plate, and on the same day the star
fielder can have trouble watching the ball all the way into his glove. Yeas
turn so quickly into boos.
On any given day, the favorite daughter candidate
can put her foot in her mouth. Yeas turn so quickly into boos.
On any given day, the most popular preacher on TV
can have his dark secrets exposed to the whole world. Yeas turn so quickly into
boos.
On any given Sunday, the local pastor can speak
her passion and discover that a third of the congregation believes she speaks
heresy. Yeas turn so quickly into boos.
… As we turn to the second part of this story in
Luke, the reaction in Jesus’ home synagogue quickly turns from yeas into boos.
At first the folks were amazed and proud of this young man they all remembered.
Isn’t he the son of Joseph the carpenter? Look how well he turned out! Wouldn’t
he make a good husband for our daughters?
But then the folks began to think about what he
said. They realized he was talking about upsetting the olive cart, and they
didn’t like it. Perhaps Jesus could read their minds, or just their faces.
Because he threw down the challenge: “You want me to heal people and cast out
demons in Nazareth. But you folks are not worthy of such healings! You are like
the people of Israel when Elijah and Elijah healed the foreign women and not
one person in Israel. I know well that as a prophet, I am not welcome here in
my home town.”
Under those circumstances, we are not surprised
that the people of Nazareth try to run Jesus out of town, and off the cliff to
his death. But Jesus escapes and leaves town unharmed.
The yeas turned to boos because Jesus was speaking
truth to power. That means he was confronting the powerful with the truth of
their sin. He was pointing out that the leadership of Nazareth was so
self-focused that he would never get a chance to do much ministry there.
When we are truly Jesus’ disciples, we run the
risk of turning yeas into boos. Over the 2,000 years since Jesus, lots of
people have risked life and limb and reputation to be a disciple. Lots of
people have spoken truth to power.
We recently celebrated Martin Luther King Day,
honoring a man who was not afraid to speak truth to power. He certainly enjoyed
both yeas and boos. Crowds gave yeas for his speeches.
I have a dream
that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its
creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created
equal." …
I have a dream
that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be
judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. …
I have a dream
that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made
low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made
straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see
it together.
In
this famous speech, King drives home the fact that in practice, some people are
treated as equal, but not all people. Some people are judged by their
character, but not all people. Some people have access to the promises of God,
but not all people.
He
received yeas from the people of color, and from the people who agreed that
unfair practices needed to change. He received boos from people who disagreed
with him. Many of the people who disagreed with him were people in power who
resisted any change to the status of people of color in the US. Of course, some
of the people who booed him were angry people with no political power, other
than the power of a rifle.
Today,
there are groups of people speaking truth to power about several issues: the 99%
vs the 1%; rights for gay people; new policies for immigrants, legal and
illegal; health care for more Americans; better education policies and funding;
and at the top of the news lately, the right to own a gun.
Yeas
against boos abound in the modern world where communication is instantaneous. Those
who want to make changes to the laws are met with powerful lobbies who want to
resist change. The resistance is often about keeping the most cash in the
pockets of those currently in power, and about controlling who has access to
power.
While
none of these issues has black and black-and-white answers, it is always
appropriate to seek God’s justice and love. We remember the stories about the
prophets speaking truth to power, pointing out that God wants all people to
have enough, and that money and ritual can’t buy God’s favor. We remember the
stories in scripture when Jesus spoke with love with foreigners and other
social outcasts. He gave them lots of
yeas, while his opponents confronted them and him with boos.
In
our interactions with other people, we do well to give lots of yeas and few
boos whether we are talking with or about people. I know from
experience that sometimes giving a yea in response to a boo is helpful. I also
know that sometimes it’s better to keep silent, because my yea will not have
any effect on the boo.
For
example; I read lots of posts on Facebook. Some people constantly posts boos
about Muslims and about gun control. I have tried conversing with them and have
realized that they have their opinions and they will not change. The power of their
conviction is no match to my appeal to fact and reason and love. So instead of
sending yeas to their boos, I pray for them to gain the wisdom to see their
hatred for what it truly is. I pray yeas against their boos, and pray what I
hope is God’s truth to their (in my opinion) misguided power.
It’s
so easy to have strong opinions about many issues. It’s not so easy to be
flexible enough to consider all the facts before forming an opinion. If we
follow where Jesus’ love and justice takes us, we may find it easier to give
yeas where others give boos.
This
week – and always – I pray that you will seek to give more yeas than boos. I
pray that you will speak the yeas of truth to the power of boos and join me in
sharing God’s love and justice in the face of hatred and injustice.
Please
pray with me: Lord, we are filled with judgment, with yeas and boos. Give us
eyes and hearts to see as you see and to love as you love, and the courage to
speak up with our yeas for those who have little power. We pray in your holy
and powerful name. Amen
