How long is it since any Scripture came true 'in our hearing' - except in the most general sense? So, is there something wrong with Scripture? Or, is something wrong with us? Is it a matter of what's preached, how it's preached, how we listen, what we want to hear? Despite feeling good when v.22 applies, wouldn't a much healthier, Jesus-like church emerge from experiencing vv. 28-29? Not too literally, for preference! Seeing we're to act mercifully, maybe we'd better let v.30 have the last word!
Isaiah, Elijah, & Elisha, all of whom loom so large in Jesus' ministry tell the truth as they see it. As God conveys it to them. In today's language, they're all stirrers. As was the Big Dipper & his prize pupil, Jesus himself! A good & effective preacher ought to know from experience that by taking their prophetic role seriously they run the risk of alienating those who thought he or she was speaking gracious words just so long as they didn't rock the boat. What Jesus says (quoting Isaiah) about God's view of acting justly, compassionately, & humbly (homing in on Micah this time) & how he illustrates this in the way God treats outsiders (instanced by Elijah & Elisha's actions) does not make Jesus popular. It's all right as long as he sticks to the text, but once he starts applying it, out he goes!
Two incidents in the last twelve months have kept me on my toes:
In the first, I was taken to task after a service because I'd made fun
of the Australian government (pretty easy to do!) over its xenophobic treatment
of refugees & asylum seekers. The person concerned made her point after
the service, to which I simply & politely said the politics of God
outweigh the politics of this world's John Howards & their ilk.
The second came when I said one Sunday (in the midst of the furore over
the appointment of openly homo- sexual bishops in England & the USA)
that the issue would not go away & we must all, under God's guidance,
work our way through the issues involved, whatever pain that might cause
us. (Among other things, inviting the congregation to reflect on how family
& friends have responded to any person in their midst 'outing' themself.)
After the service I was vigorously if only verbally attacked (in the aisle)
by a man known as a 'conservative'. To the horror of others who saw &
heard what was going on, (they couldn't help doing so!) he made the usual
accusations of my 'not being true to the Gospel'. There was no point in
reasoning with him, though for a minute I fell into the trap of trying!
The outcome of the first encounter has been that I believe the woman at least understands a bit better where I'm coming from now, even if she doesn't agree. We have a better pulpit-pew relationship. In the second, that person now regularly goes out of his way to congratulate me on my preaching!!! Far from being fooled by this, I'm quite disturbed. If he thinks I'm now preaching the Gospel, I suspect I must have stopped preaching it! If I thought he was confused before, now I'm confused!
I can't say I'd enjoy being run out of town (which is what that fellow
would like to do to all the homosexuals, especially any clergy among them)
& thrown over a cliff (I don't think he'd want to go that far!) but
both these personal incidents represent the challenge to preachers to get
beyond what people want to hear us say & thoughtfully, prayerfully,
pastorally try to get across what we believe God is trying to tell us about
this situation or that. It takes all our communication skills as well as
a broad over-arching grasp of what Suzanne de Dietrich once called 'God's
Unfolding Purpose' (Westminster, 1960) What appeals to me about that is
that God's purpose isn't a closed canon! No-one can put a stopper to it
or in it! It's still unfolding, & always will be. Our part in
it is to find out where we fit into it & how. That, above all, is the
preacher's task.
