Psalm 71;1-16 (17-24)
Old Testament Jeremiah 1:4-10
New Testament Hebrews 12:18-29
Gospel Luke 13:10-29
Women, the young, the elderly and the sick have been long considered inferior, incomplete or underdeveloped. Their perceived lack of potential, intelligence or fortitude stereotypes them as less than “the measure of all things.” When racism gets added to the mix, minority groups get added to “those whom WE must take care of.” This condescension is only disturbing when we are the ones condescended to. But when we join in the lie of superiority, this condescension is virtually invisible. The psalm writer is an elderly person seeking God while in desperate need and faithful hope. At the end of his days, the life to come seems the only hope within his grasp. Meanwhile, young Jeremiah cries hopeless at the task God sets before him. “I am only a child” he whimpers. But God will have none of it: “’...I am with you and will rescue you’ declares the Lord.” The letter to the Hebrews warns: “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire.’” But not everyone responds in worship, adoration and thanksgiving. Jesus is the entire brilliance of God as he teaches and heals on the Sabbath day, proclaiming the kingdom that “cannot be shaken.” But the synagogue ruler responds indignant to this ever-spreading kingdom of God in Jesus. It is hard to determine exactly what part of the kingdom reality this man is indignant about: could it be the threat against his authority as a “man-in-charge”? Could it be the threat of a new interpretation of the law that convicts him of hypocrisy? Or could it be this woman Jesus called out and touched, making her social invisibility impossible and now threatening? Jesus, in a social reversal, declares the kingdom through the eyes of a common farmer, who albeit inadvertently, brought in a voracious, invasive species to his garden through a nearly invisible seed. How could he possibly keep it under control now? In a year it will be everywhere. Birds will be chirping in mockery, nesting in it. Jesus also takes us to the kitchen to see the kingdom through the eyes of a woman (heaven forbid!) who mixes yeast into the flour. You don’t expect she could get the yeast out now, do you? It’s too late. This invisible ingredient will soon start growing and growing. And so it is with God’s kingdom, my dear synagogue ruler. Once this seed is in the garden, this yeast mixed in the dough, this woman healed and “loosed,” how can you possibly hold back the tide? It is too late. This kingdom is simply unstoppable.
Pastor Alejandro Sotres
