“Covid and the Domestication of Jesus”
Luke 4:21-30, Psalm 6 ~ Northwood UC January 30, 2022 ~ Rev. G. Scott Turnbrook
It started off as a tickle in the throat ~ no it can’t be! Then there was a bit of a cough ~ surely it can’t be? Then fever and aches and finally a test revealing that I had Covid. Despite the many precautions taken, I had fallen prey to the, seemingly unavoidable, virus. I had joined, as Rev. Gabrielle referred to it last Sunday, the ‘Covid Club’. I was incredibly touched by the levels of care and compassion received by so many in the church. They meant so much as I was recovering. And, to be clear, I was very lucky that it was a very short-lived bug quickly overcome with rest, liquids and the mandatory hot-toddy before bed. (surely, there had to be some benefit in being down with Covid!) They caution us preachers with sharing too much personal information in our sermons; however, my Covid experience caused me to ponder a lot about theology, culture, and life in general, so I hope on my first Sunday back that you might indulge me as I make this morning’s reflection a little more personal than I normally do. What have we been learning during these Covid times?
The first thing that arose were a set of feelings that I didn’t much like. These feelings included frustration, guilt, and anger. How could this happen? We have spent so much vigilant effort sanitizing surfaces, wearing masks, social distancing, and vaccination. Two years without hugging members of the congregation who might otherwise reach out for one; two years praying with people over zoom…and then when we actually were allowed to meet in person, we would pray with masks, six feet apart, and certainly not holding hands. We have paid high costs during these two years. Covid fatigue, social isolation, depression, and anxiety to name a few. I’m sure people’s experiences will be subject of many a doctoral dissertation. But before any are even published, we already know what they will say: tremendous costs have come through these isolating times; we are tired; we are frustrated and we are angry. And after so much vigilance, to receive a positive test, it seemed that I had failed. And to the many others who find themselves in the ‘Covid Club’, you might also share some of these emotions of anger and frustration over this seemingly impossible situation. It has become impossible to test everyone who has been ill; however, I have heard Epidemiologists speculate that upwards of half of our Province has now had one of the various strains of Covid. And we are rightfully tired, angry, frustrated, and unsure of the future.
Another dynamic that we are feeling grow is a growing divide between ‘us and them’. It seems that this long-distance pandemic race that we are running has increasingly been removing kindness, compassion and care towards others who hold differing beliefs from us. People are holding increasingly hard-lines when it comes to their belief on the place of public health and government policy. And divide is widening. In some cases, the ‘vaxers’ hold strong judgement out towards the ‘anti-vaxers’. And, in other cases, the ‘anti-vaxers’ hold similar judgement over the ‘vaxers’. When the theory of the virus’ origin from China was advanced, anti-Chinese sentiments arose. When a dangerously high outbreak occurred in India causing borders to be closed, racist sentiments began towards those from India. What is happening with the pillars of compassion, care, and forgiveness that found our faith? For those of us here who have gone through Covid, I’m wondering how you felt? During my period of isolation, I felt like an outcast. Who had I been in contact with when those symptoms began? I was fearful of spreading the virus to anyone else. And as I remained in isolation, I think that is probably the closest experience I have ever had to feeling like ‘a leper’. I had delivery of food and other items to my door; I went to the mailbox in the darkness of night; I saw no one for fear of harming others. I truly felt like I was now among the ‘unclean’ and I wanted it to be over.
I think my deepest experience, as I sat alone in my home, was gaining a deeper realization into the impartial nature of God. I want to highlight before I move too far ahead that I do not see anything good being created by Covid. However, as I considered the way it is transmitted, I would like to suggest that it offers us a deeper insight into the nature of God’s movement: the impartial nature of God. Consider this…with Covid, we are dealing with an entity that ignores all human-constructed boundaries, separations, and segregations. Nothing that our world constructs to divide us matters to the virus. We are dealing with something that does not discriminate over one’s nationality, age, ethnicity, sexuality, economics. We are dealing with something that will pass through ANY border, ANY separation constructed by humanity. And, in some ways, I found that the way the virus works gave me a deeper insight into the impartiality of God. Certainly, the trajectory of Covid is bringing death and destruction in its wake. But this impartial nature, that scares us as a world, is the same way of impartiality that Jesus taught about with the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God. God’s Kingdom…that Jesus talked about, and yearned to birth is impartial also. It does not discriminate over our nationality, our age, our ethnicity, our sexuality, our economics, or any other human-constructed division. God’s Kingdom will unite one and all with this divine desire to bring about healing, hope, and a future of peace. In some odd way, I gained a deeper insight into the Kingdom of God that we pray for, that we seek to strive for, that is so often illusive to us. Right here in front of us is this illustration of impartiality that moves through every border ever constructed.
And as we shift over to the Gospel text, this is exactly where we find ourselves in Jesus’ proclamation. Today’s passage that Gwen read is a continuation from last week’s powerful presentation in Luke’s 4th chapter. This morning’s passage begins with “then he began to say to them…” Backing up to the give the context, Jesus is in the synagogue, the full presence of the Holy; he unrolls the scroll of Isaiah and taught in a way that had never been done before. He proclaims the year of Jubilee. Jubilee is delightful freedom proclaimed in scripture. We recall that the 7th day was the biblical day of rest. Seven is a very holy number. And after seven rounds of 7 years, the year of Jubilee…the year of freedom was proclaimed! Jesus had just read these words from Isaiah’s scroll: ‘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 favour.’ Slaves were released, new visions were seen by those who had been blind, good news to all who lived in poverty was there. And somehow, the people began to HEAR it in a way which allowed it to become alive. Somehow these words had a deep resonance. Somehow these words came alive. This morning’s passage begins: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”. This Kingdom of God that Jesus is bringing in is that way of impartiality that God has for all Creation. Restoring sight that those blinded to truth…that they might see; restoring freedom…that those enslaved might live in dignity; lifting the poor from poverty…that all might live the abundant life that is the Kingdom of God.
The paradox, of course, is that it takes us leaving our comfort zones in order to experience God’s Kingdom. When, ONE DAY, this pandemic is under control and we can rest a little easier, perhaps we will find that it has been through these times of living in fear, in uncertainty, in chaos…when we truly grew in our faith? Jesus makes reference to this in two great stories of faith where faith is experienced, not by the insiders, but by the outsiders. A powerful foreign commander – Naaman from Syria was ill with leprosy. He was on the outside to the Israelites. Yet he learns from, of all people, one of his slave girls (another outsider) that there is a holy man…the prophet Elisha in Israel who might be able to heal him. He is not pleased by Elisha’s prescription: bathe in the Jordan seven times. The river Jordan was a filthy river compared to his mighty land. He was first angered, then cajoled by his servants, then Naaman relented, bathed, and to his astonishment…he was healed and was won over to God. To the outsider, God’s healing and hope was found. A similar narrative occurs with Elijah going to the unnamed poor widow of Zarephath. Widows were cast aside in those days, left to fend for themselves. One can only imagine the plight of the widow in times of deep poverty? Yet the great faith of the widow, another one living life on the edge of life, is where God’s provision occurs.
The challenge is that we want it the other way around. We want God to come to us because, frankly, we deserve it! Aren’t we God’s people? We have lived life in the right ways! Yet, here we find that sometimes, God comes to those on the margins, on the outside, to bring them home too! In the text, Jesus uses some very familiar Greek phrase as they asked for his healing: ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” Yet, Jesus will not be domesticated to be the exclusive domain reserved for his hometown people. Jesus was sent to break down any border, any barrier, any separation the human mind has created. They cannot domesticate Jesus. If they want him, they will learn that they will need to participate in the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God, as they too, live life on the margins.
This will anger them at first. The text concludes with the crowd’s anger as they consider killing him…throwing him off the cliff. Yet, when the crowd tries to ‘own Jesus’, they can no longer see him and he walks right through. The angry crowd was not ready to be embraced by the Kingdom of God and therefore they could not see the Messiah in front of them. The crowd has yet to mature spiritually. There is quite a call here for us…I do wonder if we might find the patience, the compassion, the depth of faith to live through this time on the margins and find it as a time of growth; a time where we more deeply see the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God? What a large task; however, when did God ever go easy on God’s people?
Amen.