We begin today where we left of last week with the fulfilling of scripture (Lk. 4:21) and then move on to the fact that the people in the synagogue wished to kill Christ (Lk. 4:29). However, in between, there is a marvellous revelation of God's spirit working in the community from the scriptures but not in the way that those in the community expected (Lk. 4:25-27). It is here in these small stories that the truth is revealed to the people of the synagogue and they do not like confronting the truth. The same applies today in our communities as we too no longer wish to face the truth as all we have done over years is to turn away from what is actuality and how it sits in terms of our faith journey. This may seem a very harsh judgement but is in reality, I would say, as much a facing of the truth as the people in the synagogue faced. Unfortunately, sometimes this is precisely what is required for us to wake up to the reality of faith and our own journey to be shaken out of the comfortable rut into which we have fallen.
Paul's treatise on love in chapter 13 of the letter to the Corinthians is a famous passage and one that most Christians know. In today's readings we look at the very first half of the treatise, which in some respects, is perhaps the most important as it lays out what Paul conceives love to be (1 Cor. 13:1-13). I suspect that Paul's writing here is some of the most profound writing that he undertakes for us as Christians, let alone us as human beings. Paul states quite firmly what love is and therefore his expectations for those he is writing to. He takes images from the life of the people in Corinth to reinforce for them the understanding that he has of the Love of God in each and everyone of us as we embrace Christ. It is from the clanging of the brass workers (1 Cor. 13:1-2) that he forms the image to suggest that all their work is for naught unless they are actively doing their work with love. Just as within the church if all our prophesy is not prophesy that is imbued with love then it is for naught. Christ brings forth this imagery in truth and that is what we need to undertake when we allow ourselves to work in our communities.
Communities are not founded on the clanging of brass and incense and our own thoughts brought into ministry but rather the truth that is brought out in love so that we understand who we are in the sight of God. We cannot lie about ourselves to ourselves we must face the truth that is in ourselves and in us as a community. In more ways then one we as a community are no more than the brass pan makers in the squares of Corinth banging away and making a noise, when we can, with no real presence of God's love. Our story of community should broadcast the truth of God's love in everything we do and say. Yet, we are ourselves unable to face the truth of who or what we are in modern society. Our truths are no longer sought after, simply due to the fact that we have debased them to clanging symbols attempting to compete with all the others present in the public square, due to our heritage and not necessarily ourselves. Whilst it is easy to see into the past and the mistakes of the past it behoves us not to repeat them in such a manner that we also contribute to the noisy clangour that has become the space of religion and prophesy in the modern world.
It is we, like Christ, who should be bringing to light the truths of the past and the present rather than hiding in the shadows and refraining like all the others from speaking in love. It is we, who should hold the truth in our hearts and ensure that it is spoken in the public square not to blame, maybe to castigate but above all to teach the Gospel message that reframes the lies of the current era into the love that is God's to give. To tell the truth of God's love in the everyday so that we form communities that are loving and forgiving as much as they are truth telling and stalwart in ensuring that the other has the possibility to achieve greatness in the sight of God. It is only when we surrender ourselves to the ability to tell the world the truth of relationship and love as Christ did, even if those truths are ugly, distressing and unpalatable, that we are enabled in being people of faith.
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