Fulfillment

Sermon by Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist

Luke 2:41-47, 4:14-21

 

In our first Gospel lesson from Luke for today we join Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem as a twelve year old boy studying with the saints of his tradition. Which is, of course, also our tradition. He is learning his sacred Scriptures. He is asking tough questions about them. And he is maybe even telling his teachers a thing or two about what he reads there, as is depicted in this print version of a stained glass window, to my right and your left.

Those of us who were here in worship just four weeks ago on the Sunday after Christmas have already heard this story of Jesus in the temple with the teachers. But I have brought it back again today as a way to celebrate the role of the educator, now that we have just commissioned of Susan Shaw-Meadow for a long-term and fruitful ministry with our children and youth for many years to come, in the tradition of these biblical educators in the life of Jesus two thousand years ago.

It may be tempting to believe that Jesus was born “knowing it all” from his infancy. But the truth is that he—like us—was formed in a particular religious tradition as a youth, among a particular people, in a particular time and place. And he—like us—experienced the educators of his tradition shaping his worldview, and his “God-view,” and his conviction of his calling. For better and for worse. Just like they did for every other Jewish boy of Judea and Galilee in the first century. Just like Susan and the Christian education team she has pulled together this past year do for us.

Educators in the life of Jesus would have focused his formation in three ways. First, on the covenant between God and the people of God as expressed in the Law and the Prophets. Second, on the particular way of life and set of traditions that fulfilled this covenant, also expressed in the Law and the Prophets. And third, and on a particular set of skills that would contribute to the needs of the family and the community and allow him to earn a living. Which for Jesus would most likely have meant carpentry.

This education of Jesus would have begun in the home, just as Christian education must begin in the home. His parents, as his primary religious educators, would have taught him to recite the Shema on a daily basis. To speak from his soul every day of his life the text from Deuteronomy 6 that had shaped the covenant for his people for centuries.

This covenant says: Hear, o Israel, The Holy One is your God, The Holy One alone. You shall love the Holy One your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Which is how Jesus would have learned the Great Commandment he came to teach his own disciples so many years later. This Commandment did not come out of nowhere. An educator taught it to him!

An educator also taught him to observe the Sabbath, and to attend the Nazareth synagogue he returns to in our second Gospel lesson today, and to follow the Jewish dietary laws, and to participate in the temple festivals of Jerusalem. Which is where he runs into the highly respected class of “certified” educators known as scribes. And his education continues.

It is not beyond the realm of possibility that the ones who educate Jesus in the temple on this day after the Passover Festival pull out the very same scroll on which is inscribed the words of the prophet Isaiah. The words that form the basis of our second Gospel lesson today. The ones that say the Spirit of the Holy One is upon me . . . because God has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free. 

It is not beyond the realm of possibility that the ones who educate Jesus this day after the Passover Festival, having just celebrated the story of liberation from oppression in Egypt, teach Jesus that Isaiah had proclaimed these words to a people who had lost everything. Who were living in exile at the time of Isaiah’s teaching. But who longed to return to this land in true freedom and justice and peace. And it is quite likely these educators suggested to Jesus that there was a parallel between the longing of the people in this Scripture and the longing of the people of his time to live in freedom and justice and peace.

And it is not beyond the realm of possibility that the ones who educated Jesus that day after the Passover Festival taught him that the prophet Isaiah had predicted a Messiah—an anointed child of God—would lead the people to reclaim in that land the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. And that those educators tapped Jesus on the shoulder and said, “Tag . . . you might be it.” And that Jesus might have actually believed them. Which is why he comes back twenty years later with a mission and a ministry and an anointing, based on these very words from Isaiah, that is affirmed by everyone!

It is in fact emphatically clear, at least in Luke’s Gospel, that Jesus becomes who he is in ministry and mission because he is celebrated and anointed and educated for that ministry throughout his infancy and his childhood and his young adulthood and then finally his adulthood, when he returns to his hometown synagogue and proclaims the Scripture has been fulfilled in his reading of it.

And all speak well of him, and of the gracious words that come from his mouth.

It makes you wonder what might become of all of our children when they are celebrated and anointed and educated for ministry, too. When they are told the stories of the covenant every day the way Jesus was, every day. When they are reminded to love God and to love their neighbor, the way Jesus was, every day. When they are taught from the prophets to make sure those who are on the margins of society—those who are poor, captive, blind, oppressed—know that God is most especially concerned about them, the way Jesus was, every day. It makes you wonder what might become of our children when they believe—because some educator has tapped them on the shoulder—that maybe they might be the ones God has anointed today, the way Jesus was, to lead us all in reclaiming the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

But I do not expect us to have to wonder about this very long here at Madison Square. Because the ministry of educator Susan Shaw-Meadow is doing just this: celebrating and anointing and educating every one of God’s children for a ministry that is only just beginning to become clear in their lives. Just as the ministry of Jesus was only beginning to become clear among the educators in the Jerusalem temple two thousand years ago.

In fact Susan’s vision for the Christian Education program at Madison Square sounds remarkably like the education that formed Jesus for his ministry in our lesson from Luke. She wants Madison Square to be a vibrant church home for children and youth from a variety of backgrounds. Where young people are welcomed as they are and appreciated for who they are. Where they learn the stories of our faith and the core practices of worship and prayer. Where their questions about faith and life are taken seriously and are engaged actively. And where they see faith in action and have opportunities to serve others. It is her updated version of the Shema and the vision of Isaiah preached by Jesus. And it is a good one!

The good news of Susan’s ministry with us is that the future is wide open and ready to unfold. Like any good educator she is already steeped in the rich heritage of this congregation. Like any good educator she has carried forward the beloved traditions of her predecessors so that our children and youth can have a common thread from the past through the present. But like any good educator she is always reaching for something more, something creative, something new to speak the truth of God’s claim on every one of our children’s lives.

Because the Spirit of our God is still yet on her! To fulfill in her own life—as well as to teach in the lives of others—what it is to proclaim good news for the ones the world does not love, but whom God draws the most close.

And our prayer for her—and for ourselves—is that the Spirit will continue to anoint her with grace and enthusiasm and courage for the ministry that lies ahead. And that our gratitude for her ministry will continue without ceasing, as she passes on the tradition to a whole new generation of God’s fabulous beloved children.

I pray it may be so.

Amen.