INSTITUTIONAL CHURCH, ANYONE?

Posted by Christ the King Lutheran Church on August 12, 2010 under Pastor's Message | Comments are off for this article

Have you ever thought that Jesus was an institutional-church kind of guy?

Sure his folks took him when he was young. Luke records his presentation in the temple as a newborn, and his visit to the temple teachers when he was 12. But it seems he was also willing to go on his own. When he announces his mission, he does it in his hometown synagogue in Nazareth. He’s there on the sabbath, “as was his custom” (Luke 4). At Capernaum his first miracle of healing, casting out an unclean demon, is in the synagogue (Luke 4). On another sabbath, in another synagogue, he teaches and heals a man with a withered hand (Luke 6). On yet another sabbath and in another synagogue, he teaches and heals a women who has been crippled for 18 years (Luke 13).

Matthew 17 records that Jesus pays the temple tax, just like every other free Jewish male over 20. John records his presence at the great pilgrimage gatherings: the  Festival of Booths, the Festival of the Dedication, and Passover. In the last week of his life, all the gospels agree that he was teaching and worshipping in the temple.

In John’s gospel, during the trial of Jesus, the high priest questions Jesus about his teaching (John 18). Jesus answers that he has spoken openly to the world, always teaching in synagogues and the temple, where all the Jews come together. There is no “secret message.” What he has said in the countryside or on the seashore is the same thing he has said from the “pulpit.”

Jesus doesn’t limit his teaching and healing to regular places of learning and worship, but he doesn’t neglect them either, or the people who gather there. He celebrates within his tradition even as he challenges those who think to draw the boundaries for God.  He “opens” scriptures to insiders and outsiders, to the certain and to the doubtful. He offers compassion to insiders and outsiders, to the faithful and to the frightened. He jogs the memories of those who have forgotten that the compassion of God is for everyone, including themselves.

In large crowds, small crowds, one-on-one, Jesus lived the same image of his God and Father. In teaching services and temple festivals, on cross-country trips and open-air retreats, Jesus lived the same image of his God and Father. By his Holy Spirit may he gives us the faith and openness to do the same, in the pew and on the pavement.

Pastor Susan