Tasty & Bright – 1/25/09

We have a new president of the United States. This past Tuesday was the inauguration event that was attended by millions of people and watched by millions more. Of course, central to that event is the inauguration speech. For days leading up to the event, people were talking about what was going to be in the speech. For days after the event, people were talking about what was in the speech. I was one of the millions who watched the speech on TV. It seems to me that there are four main reasons for giving a speech like this; four themes that all inaugurations speeches touch on: history, identity, a new start, and the future. This recent inauguration wasn’t any different.

It seems that every inauguration address wants to connect the present event with all those that have gone before it. There will always be some mention of our forefathers and their great wisdom and perseverance. We almost always hear about how they overcame the challenges of communism and how they stood by their convictions. There is often language about the men and women who built this country with their bear hands; those people who struggled and sacrificed to build a better country for the next generations. The point of those history lessons is for a president to assure the people that he will carry on those traditions and call the people to live in the same way as their ancestors.

In other words, the President calls the people to share in the American identity. I think “American” was the word that the Obama used most often in his inauguration address. It seems he would want us to know that, before gender, race, or creed, we are all Americans. Most inauguration speeches invoke God when talking about certain values like equality and happiness. All of these words are used to inspire us to action, to be responsible, to connect with the enduring spirit that has carried America forward for all of these years. Obama called for a new era of responsibility to ourselves, to our nation, and to our world. The reason we all have to join in is because recent history has proven unfruitful. All inauguration speeches offer subtle jabs at the previous administration.

Obama said things like the time of supporting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions – that time has passed. He said that the time has come to put aside childish things. He also said that what the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them. All of these were subtle but pointed jabs at what has gone on the past eight years and a statement on how the next years will be different. Of course, every President makes those promises. No doubt every President has to believe that his administration will be better than the previous one. Only time will tell how well they are able to deliver. That’s why the future is also an important theme.

There is great work to be done, great challenges to overcome, but we will do it. We will overcome those challenges. Talk of the future is always especially inspiring. Thoughts of a better day, a brighter future always touch something within us. For a few moments, maybe even for a few days all of us feel like joining in. Inauguration addresses have a tendency to do that. Since Barak Obama took the stage people haven’t stopped talking about or writing about it. All of this talk about Inauguration speeches has me wondering what Jesus’ inauguration address might have sounded like. How would the themes of history, identity, past and future be described in Jesus’ words? Well, before we can talk about his inauguration speech, we’ll have to talk about his inauguration.

Jesus’ inauguration didn’t happen on the steps of a national monument, at least not one built by human hands. Jesus’ inauguration took place in the flowing waters of the Jordan River. Jesus was installed into office as he was baptized by John and the Holy Spirit descended upon him. There wasn’t an oath of office, but there was a voice from heaven that said, “This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” From that point, at least Jesus would know that God had set him apart to be the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior, and Lord over his people. God had chosen him to take the highest office in the land and lead the people into a better tomorrow and a brighter future.

Jesus would go from the river to the desert to be tested by Satan. He would come out ready to live into the role that God had given him. He would give a speech that was short, but very powerful; just nine words formed Jesus’ inauguration address: Repent, for the kingdom of God has come near. Those words would say to the people, “Get your act together. God is coming to restore his people. If you want to be in on it you have to change your ways.” These words of God’s kingdom would draw the mind of the people to their history, to David and Solomon when Israel was great and powerful. They would envision a time much like we heard described in the passage from Leviticus.

The rains will come when their supposed to. Fruit will be borne when it’s expected. There will always be storehouses filled with new grain. There will always be enough bread on the table and the land will be secure. Enemies will fall before them with ease. In every way, God will look upon them and cause them to be fruitful and multiply. It will be as if they were standing in the Garden of Eden itself. God will walk among them and be their God and they will be his people. The Lord will set up a dwelling in their midst to maintain their relationship. Just as surely as the Lord brought them out of Egypt these things will happen.

With his words, Jesus is saying that this vision of the future is about to come true. These are lofty promises to put before a nation. It’s not like the people of Judea hadn’t heard them before. Others had also come promising God’s kingdom. Jesus, however, was able to back up his words with action. While he was proclaiming the good news of the kingdom he was also curing diseases, healing sicknesses, and casting out demons. His fame began to spread and great crowds began to gather around him. They gathered, also, around his disciples which he had recently called. You can imagine that these four fishermen weren’t quite sure what they had gotten themselves into. You can imagine that they were impressed by the numbers of people and terrified by them all at once. If Jesus’ inauguration took place in the river, his first cabinet meeting took place on a mountain.

Jesus had promised that his disciples would fish for people and now there were people. Now was as good a time as any to tell them how they would do that. Seeing the crowds, Jesus took his disciples up the mountain. The great crowd would serve as a backdrop for his words, a living illustration for the task at hand. Jesus could extend his hand out over the crowd below and say, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs the kingdom of heaven.” He could point to the widows in the crowd and say, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” He could point to the orphan and say, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” He could point to those who hunger for God’s ways, to the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and the persecuted, and teach his disciples that they would be inheriting all of God’s promises.

This was Jesus’ way of saying that the ground had shifted. We can be sure that these blessings were strange words to the disciples because in many ways the poor in spirit, the meek, the pure, the peacemaker never got blessed. More often they were overlooked, trampled on, taken advantage of, or cast out. Often times they were treated this way by God’s priests and scribes and often times they were treated this way in the name of God. The only way Jesus’ beatitudes made any sense was if God’s kingdom was a completely new reality. The only way that Jesus’ words could be true was if the ground had shifted so radically that a new world had broken in. This is exactly what Jesus was saying.

Jesus was teaching his disciples that his work was going to be all about those crowds that had been following them around, not about those who sit in the seats of power and prestige. Jesus’ beatitudes were his subtle jab at the current administration. Jesus was saying that the day of narrow interests had passed and that the wideness of God’s mercy was now taking center stage as God’s kingdom was restored to them. He was going to set things right for those who had been wronged. He was telling his disciples that he was going to break the yoke that burdened those crowds and set them free and he was telling his disciples that they were going to help. After looking out over the crowd and blessing them with the good news of God’s kingdom, Jesus turned to his four disciples and said, “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.”

In other words, Jesus is saying, “Consider it good news when people hate you because of me. Prophets are always hated except by God. God won’t forget what you’ve done.” Jesus had set his disciples apart for hard work, for a new era of responsibility. For one, they would be the salt of the earth. They would bring out the flavors that were already there. They would find those people who would do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly and draw them out so that the earth could be more fragrant and tasty. But they would also preserve the earth, these four fishermen, they would sprinkle disciples throughout the earth so that the next generations would have an earth in which to live.

They would also be the light of the world. They would shine their light into the dark corners of the world and expose the secret dealings that go on and the secret thoughts of people’s hearts. They would uncover the corruption and shame. But they would also shine their light on the path to salvation. For those who were looking for a way out of the darkness, the disciples would be the light that would show the way. They would be a city on a hill. These four fishermen would be a light on a lamp stand that gives light to all in the house. Of course, they would not be alone in this endeavor. There would be eight others who would form a kind of inner circle around Jesus. But there would be many more as well.

Many of those who were poor in spirit would begin inheriting the kingdom of heaven as they followed after Jesus. Many of those who were mourning would begin to find comfort as they followed after Jesus. Many of those who were meek would inherit the earth. Those who hungered for righteousness and thirsted after justice were begin filled as they followed. The merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemaker, the persecuted, all of them found that Jesus’ words came true as they followed him. They would all become his disciples. Jesus didn’t go to the universities or seminaries. Jesus didn’t go to the halls of power or the homes of the rich. Jesus drew his disciples out of the endless crowds of people who had a longing in their soul that no one else could meet; everyday people like you and me who would be witnesses to the good news of Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah, our Savior and Lord.

Inaugurations are always hopeful events. The inauguration of Barack Obama seemed to be an especially hopeful one for many people this week. Whether you agree with him or not, there is an energy around him like very few presidents before him, not only in America, but around the world. That’s why his inauguration is also a sad one, at least for the church. I have heard it said that Barack Obama’s words have offered more hope to people than any sermon ever has. People see more possibility for change and for good in him than they do in any body of believers. Justice and the transformation of society seem closer now because of him than because of any group who calls themselves followers of Jesus. For Obama alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; Obama alone is a refuge for us. For many people that is the Psalm of 2009. I am one of his supporters, but even I think that is a sad day for the church.

Perhaps the call for us today is to inaugurate Jesus anew in our hearts, to make his story the one we connect to, to root our identity in his call before any other (even American), to reconnect with the everlasting Spirit of God, to witness to the good news that he spoke and live the Sermon that he gave. Perhaps the call for us today is to put Jesus center stage again as Christians and as the church. To worry less about committees and carpets and more about anger and adultery. To spend less time on the building and the budget and more time on prayer and fasting. To love our enemies as much as we love our favorite hymns. Jesus knew that everyday people like you and me could make the world tasty and bright, but only when we stop judging, stop worrying and start turning the other cheek and going the second mile. God has placed a great light within you that no darkness can overcome. The promise is that in following Jesus we will be blessed and all our longings will be met. So, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Amen.