“Jesus went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was
his custom.”
If you are in church on this snowy, icy, cold morning it
is your custom to be here! Art Bunton
used to pull me aside after the late service and tell me I needed to preach
about the importance of coming to church every week. “But Art,” I would say, “the only people who
will hear me are the people who don’t need me to say it!” Most likely you are familiar with the phrase
“preaching to the choir”. Well today I
want to coin the phrase “Sunday is our Custom Customers.” You folks are to church services what letter
carriers are to delivering the mail… neither
snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night will keep you from getting to church
within eight minutes give-or-take of when the service begins.
We are learning more about the synagogues Jesus
attended. Because archeologists had
never found their ruins, for a long time it was thought the synagogues around
the Sea of Galilee were small, simple structures that did not stand the test of
time. It made sense because the rural,
poor agrarian communities of the region would not have been able to afford to
build something significant and, in fact, did not need to because the Jerusalem
Temple was only a week’s walk away.
But just a few years ago a dig uncovered a synagogue from
the time of Jesus in the hometown of Mary Magdalene on those shores of the Sea
of Galilee. It was big enough to hold over
200 people and, considering the era and location, was much more opulent than
anyone ever expected. It had a mosaic
floor, multi-color frescoes on its walls, chambers for private reading and
study, a room to house the scrolls, and a bowl at the entrance for ritual
washing. In the center of the sanctuary,
archaeologists unearthed a mysterious stone about the size and shape of a small
chest. Various images were carved on its
flat surfaces, including a seven-branched menorah and a chariot of fire, along
with symbols associated with the Temple.
Given Luke’s report that Jesus went throughout Galilee
preaching and teaching in various synagogues, it is most likely he did so at
least once in this very location. Far
from back-water, country rubes, his audience was well-educated and steeped in
the Hebrew scriptures. They knew how to
find a particular passage in a specific scroll.
They shared the tasks of reading in public and expounding on the meaning
of what was read.
We can imagine the synagogue functioned much the way our
church does. It was a place to encounter
God and to rehearse cherished traditions.
It provided a space to offer prayers of thanksgiving, contrition, and
concern. It was where one went to question
and to learn. It was a communal gathering
point to talk about the events day. No
matter where he was, it was Jesus’ custom to attend a synagogue on the Sabbath
day. We Sunday is our Custom Customers
understand why. We get it.
There is no word if synagogues held annual meetings. Still, they, like we, had to manage budgets, address
issues of building maintenance, line up
volunteers, and get word out about births, marriages, burials, and other life
events to be celebrated. In the days
prior to his baptism, Jesus no doubt did his part to tend to these mundane
tasks.
And while it was his custom to go to synagogue on the
Sabbath, the gospels reveal once Jesus began his public ministry his
experiences in these houses of worship became more and more contentious. He heals a person in a synagogue on the
Sabbath, forgiving that person’s sins, and this sets off a firestorm. Today’s reading, with its sermon in his
hometown synagogue in front of those who knew him best did not go well
either. Congregants are enraged when
Jesus claims to be the fulfillment of prophecy.
They want to throw him off a cliff, but he slips away.
So Jesus
increasingly takes his message to the streets, the lakeshores, and the
hillsides, while not neglecting to attend synagogue. His mission is not dependent on his
popularity. Luke tells us Jesus engages
his mission because he is filled with the Holy Spirit. It is the same Spirit you and I receive at
baptism; the same Spirit we invite to live in us, to move around us, and to
work through us.
It is my
observation that we Sunday is our Custom Customers are Spirit filled/Spirit
fueled people. We show up out of more
than habit. We sense how God has called
us, how God has equipped us, and how God has placed us here in Suffolk at St.
Paul’s. It drives who we are, what we
do, and how we are in relationship with one another. Thank you for being a blessing in my life and
for blessing so many others in and through this place – as is your custom!
