![The steeple of the Memorial Church](/sites/g/files/omnuum7126/files/styles/hwp_21_9__1920x825/public/2025-02/160725ChurchCalArt4.jpg?itok=rG9ZvXzh) # First Sunday of the Spring Term February 28, 2025 - [ Blog ](/news-categories/blog) *By the Rev. Matthew Ichihashi Potts, Ph.D ’13* *Plummer Professor of Christian Morals in the Faculty of Divinity* *Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church* *(The following is a transcript of the service audio, Jan. 26, 2025)* It's a time of new beginnings here, this new spring term here on campus, a new presidential term also. A time of beginnings, and not all of them happy, some of them difficult or troubling. I think of people in California who have to start again, having lost everything. I think of people in Gaza who are returning to ruins and have to figure out how to start again. I think of hostages returning to Israel after captivity, wondering how to start again—the time of beginnings and newness. We have new university policies; we have new federal policies. Jesus, this day also is beginning. In the Gospel of Luke, this scene is in the synagogue of his hometown. This is read as the beginning of his public ministry. He's just been baptized by John, and then he's out in the wilderness being tested for many days, and then he wanders around Galilee visiting synagogues, and then he comes to Nazareth, his hometown on the Sabbath as was his custom, we're told, and his ministry, his public ministry begins the extract we're given. Today, the church tells us what verses to read. The big church, not this church. The extract we're given cuts the scene short, actually. If you read only this part of the passage, Jesus going into a synagogue, citing Isaiah saying, "You are looking at him." It would seem that the point of this scene is the fact that Jesus proclaims himself the Messiah just to fill it out. As I said, he's been teaching; he's been visiting synagogues, and teaching throughout Galilee. Word is spreading around him when he comes to his home Synagogue. They're expecting him. They're excited to see what he has to say, and he lifts up these verses from Isaiah, which everybody listening would've understood to refer to the Messiah, "I am going to bring good news to the poor, released to the captives, freedom to the oppressed." And Jesus says to them, "You are looking at him. I am him." Drops the mic. If that's all you hear of the story, then that's the point of the story, that Jesus said it. He named himself in this moment, but it's not the end of the story. I've read this gospel a few times. Some of you may have too, and I remember that actually the way the scene ends is everybody in that synagogue tries to throw Jesus off a cliff. Now, many people believe that this scene presents the gospel message in miniature, and I think they're right, but they're right for the wrong reasons. Now, if you read only the passage we have or only remember that they try to throw him off a cliff in nine verses, their mistake, their misreading is understandable, because if we hear only what we've just heard, we see Jesus coming into his home synagogue and flexing, claiming this Messianic mission as his own. And if that is the point of the story, if that's the end of the story, then the question these people are posed is also the question we are posed: do you believe that this man is the Messiah or not? Read that way; that's what Christian life comes down to. Is he or isn't he? Do you believe or don't you? And then if you recall that a few verses from now,` they try to kill him, the stakes of our belief and our unbelief become quite grave indeed. If we remember that, then those who don't believe can be seen as threats to those of us who do. –– Embed Harvard Memorial Church · The Rev. Matthew Ichihashi Potts Ph.D. - Jan. 26, 2025 | Sunday Sermon –– When we read it this way, those who reject Jesus are dangerous antagonists and enemies. I want to be clear, I think this reading is bad and I mean it's bad in both senses of that word. It is incorrect, and I'll tell you why I think it's incorrect in a minute. And it's immoral. It's immoral because that logic has been the foundation of centuries of Christian antisemitism and Christian Islamophobia and Christian nationalism and Christian colonialism and Christian supremacy. So why is it wrong then? Why is it incorrect? Because Jesus does name himself the Messiah and they do try to kill him. The thing is, that's not the reason they tried to kill him. There are nine more verses in this scene and the verse immediately after Jesus says, "You're looking at him." The verse is immediately after that, the people in the synagogue are so proud of him. They marvel at the gracious words coming out of his mouth. They say to one another, "Isn't this Joseph's son, our local boy, one of our own come home? Did you hear what he just said? He's the one." They are on board and they're telling him so, and then Jesus replies and Jesus says to them, "I know you want a sign, but here's the sign I give you." Jesus says, "There were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah during the great famine, yet the prophet Elijah came to none of them except a widow at Zarephath in Sidon." And Jesus says, "There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elijah, but none of them was cleansed. None of them was cleansed by Elijah, but Naaman, the Syrian." These obscure references, Jesus lifts up these references and that's the thing that enrages the crowd. They hear him say this and then they stand up and they throw him out and they try to throw him off a cliff. Why would they do this? The widow is from Zarephath in Sidon, the widow is a foreigner. The widow is a stranger and an enemy. Naaman, we are told is a Syrian. He's a foreigner. He's a stranger to Elijah. Why does this crowd turn on Jesus? It's not because Jesus claims the authority of the Messiah. They hear him do that and they marvel at his gracious words. It's not because he claims the authority of the Messiah, of the Jewish Messiah. It's because he delivers the message of the Jewish prophets, because Jesus proclaims good news to the poor, released to the captives, freedom to the oppressed, and he makes a point of saying to his own people that he doesn't just mean our poor and our oppressed and those of us who are held captive. He means he makes a specific point of saying strangers too and foreigners too and enemies too. Indeed. He suggests that strangers and foreigners like that widow, like Naaman, they may be the ones most of all in need of our mercy. "God is with them." Jesus says. And so he will be too. We Christians, most of us Christians in our history have literally turned that message inside out. We have said, "Believe. Believe Jesus is the Messiah or else." But that kind of belief is not the thing. All these folks in the synagogue believe that Jesus is the Messiah. They're proud of him even. It's what he asked them to do with that belief that causes them to turn it. It's not the title, it's the mission that he asked them to believe in and the mission, the ministry of Jesus is not about creating enemies and outsiders through divisions of religion or ethnicity or identity. It's about overcoming those divisions, reaching past and through those divisions. And I'm not trying to be coy. I am not talking about ancient history. We have all seen this week the condemnation and demonization of migrants, of gender non-conforming people, of trans people, the condemnation and demonization of anyone outside this narrow, constrained, and cruel vision of blessedness. All these outsiders, they are the ones Jesus is asking us to be loyal to and to serve. Not him, them. He's not asking us if we are on his side, he's telling us we'd better be on theirs. I can't emphasize this enough, this is my faith. Despite what you may have heard about our Christian faith, I don't believe the work of Christianity is merely about naming Jesus as Lord. That is so easy to do. Anybody could do it. Look around, just about anybody does do it. All the folks who try to kill Jesus in our story this morning, they do as much. That's not it. The work of Christian discipleship is the work of welcoming the stranger and protecting the outcast. It's the work of justice and peace and mercy and love, and anybody who was confused a week ago about who among us most needs justice and peace and mercy and love should not be confused today, not after what we have seen signed into order this week. That much has been made clear. Here's what else I think is clear: Christian discipleship is not about claiming Jesus so we can condemn others. It's about loving God's children, all of them, outsiders and strangers, most of all. Memorial Church, a new term has begun. Let's get to work. ## Full Sunday Service See also:- [ Sunday Service ](/blog-categories/sunday-service) - [ Sunday Service ](/archive/sunday-service) - [ Sermon ](/archive/sermons) Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#)