“There's only now/There's only here/No other path/No other
way/No day but today/No day but today.”
These words are sung in a musical called Rent at the end by the
young people who have been coping with not having enough money to pay the rent
and having a friend who is dying of AIDS.
They discover, of course, that what matters most are the supportive
relationships they have created to get them through the hard times.
Luke reports the message Jesus proclaims in the synagogue
has a time-sensitive quality. The key
word is “today.” “Today” the passage from the prophet Isaiah, which describes
the mission of the Messiah, finds its fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth. True,
the arc of prophetic fulfillment is long, for the the scripture Jesus cites was
written over 500 years before the day he read it. And in 2,013 years since the liberating and healing work of the Holy
Spirit continues, for the reign of God characterized by peace, wholeness and
justice has not arrived fully.
But “today—now” comprises one tiny segment of that arc. The worshippers in the synagogue lived on
their segment of the arc, as do we. We have been given “now” and we have been
given “here”—not Nazareth, but Newark or Elkton or Wilmington or Hockessin.
“There's only now/There's only here . . .”
That day Jesus told his listeners in the synagogue who he is
and announced his mission to them. In
that moment—the “now” and the “here”—he gave them an image designed to evoke
awe and, perhaps, cause some of them to follow him. Does Jesus come to us in the same way—perhaps
when we pray or read scripture or worship?
Listen to me right now. Follow me
right here in Newark or Elkton or Wilmington or Hockessin.
“No other path/no other way . . .”
The “other path” or the “other way,” implied in this song
from Rent, could be called the path of thinking about something tomorrow
or later—or of putting off some action until tomorrow or later—the path of
procrastination favored by so many of us.
Jesus told his listeners what was happening in their presence, not
something that would come later. They
were confronted with Jesus' proclamation of his Messiah-ship now. In the verses
that came after those we heard today Luke reported that Jesus' listeners first
responded with amazement at his words.
But their next response was to wonder whether perhaps Jesus was not the
Messiah—there might be another path, another way: “They said, 'Is this not Joseph's son?”
When we experience Jesus as we pray or read scripture or
worship in Newark or in Elkton or in Wilmington or in Hockessin, we may realize
there is no other path or other way, but the path of responding to our
experience of Jesus. Jesus said he came
to heal and to liberate, to tell of God's love and longing for humanity, to
declare a time of forgiveness and release of one's burdens.
“No day, but today . . .”
Because the people in the synagogue questioned Jesus'
Messiah-ship and in the end drove him away, they lost the moment when they
could have responded to God great gift of grace through Jesus. Although Luke doesn't talk about a second
chance for these folks in Nazareth, our understanding of God's way provides for
another chance. Each day becomes: “No
day, but today . . .”
Our prayerbook offers such a prayer for the start of the day
on page 100. It's called A Collect for Grace: “Lord God, almighty and
everlasting Father, you have brought us to the beginning of this new day:
Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin nor be
overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your
purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
“No day, but today. . .”
St. Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth about fulfilling
God purpose in their lives. God's
purpose for each of them was to exercise the skills and talents, or the gifts,
with which they had been blessed. And
not only to exercise their gifts, but to respect and honor the gifts of the
others members of the body of Christ—even when some gifts were viewed as lesser
than some others. St. Paul spoke of
striving for greater gifts and of a “still more excellent way” as a lead-in to
his famous passage on self-giving love (I Corinthians 13).
“No day, but today . . .” to listen and respond to Jesus. “No day, but today . . .” to acknowledge and
use the gifts you have been given, while honoring the gifts of others.
Twelve-step programs teach that we must take one day at a
time. Jesus taught that the reign of God
begins in Christian's lives on the day when we recognize Jesus as the
Messiah of God and find our place in the community where we use our God-given
gifts—in the community where we try to practice “the more excellent way” of
self-giving love—in the community that St. Paul called (and we call) the Body
of Christ. Thus, I believe we will do well
to remember that “There's only now/There's only here/No other path/No other
way/No day but today/No day but today.”
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