Sermon
“The Iconic Jesus”
Which of these look more like Jesus to you? (Holding up pictures):
The truth is, of course, that neither of these really looks like Jesus of Nazareth. One, in the fashion of all icons, is flat, two-dimensional. The other one hardly looks Jewish. It could even be your uncle painted from a photo taken in 1974. Neither captures Jesus’ essence, but both, in some way, capture the feeling of one or more people about what Jesus may have looked like.
Try as we might to capture Jesus, to bottle and define him, the church has failed in any complete and definitive way to do so for 2000 years. Even in the Bible itself we have only sketches of Jesus’ earthly life. Guided by the Holy Spirit the prophets foretold of him in expressive ways before he was born. After his earthly life the Apostles and Evangelists told stories of him in both his bodily and resurrected forms. But as the epilogue to John’s Gospel reminds us: “[T]here are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (21:25, NRSV).
The Library of Congress contains 10,000 titles in which Jesus is the main topic of consideration[1] To put that into perspective, Abraham Lincoln – who is claimed to be the most written about American – has a mere 7939 titles to his credit.
Jesus is indeed a popular figure. In a book entitled American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon (published back in 2003)[2], Stephen Prothero -- the chair of the Department of Religion at Boston University – shows that Jesus receives nearly universal acclaim among Americans of all religions (and among those with none at all). But through a historical study of the views of Jesus that have been most prevalent during the various eras of our
nation’s history, he also shows that we Americans have a history of continually remaking Jesus to resemble our current hero-types.
The upshot is that while many Americans cannot agree on religion, doctrine, worship styles, the role of the Bible, the place of the church, social action, political position and a host of other things, a great many find common ground of a sort in Jesus, or at least Jesus as they picture him. The challenge, of course, is that we often picture Jesus differently.
Perhaps we can take it easy on ourselves a bit about this, however, given the fact that the very people through and to whom Jesus was sent into the world could not agree on who he was either. Some, however, reading the signs of scripture AND guided by the Holy Spirit were abler to see Jesus for who he was at a very early age.
In this morning’s Gospel lesson we get a glimpse of
two such people. Simeon, whom Luke tells us, “was righteous and devout,” and
who looked “forward to the consolation of
Guided by the Holy Spirit to the Temple on the very day that Mary and Joseph bought the infant Jesus to there as prescribed by the Hebrew laws, the old, righteous man is -- by one of those things we can only call a God-incidence – able to find the Holy family among the 35 acres of buildings and courts in Herod’s Temple.
Then guided by the Spirit this aged prophet speaks two words from the Lord. First to all who were around he says:
Now, Lord, you have kept your promise, and you may let your
servant go in peace. With my own eyes I have seen your salvation, which you have
prepared in the presence of all peoples: A light to reveal your will to the
Gentiles and bring glory to your people
This beautiful prayer of
praise -- which has come to be known in the Western church as the Nunc
dimittis, from its two initial Latin words, which mean “now dismiss” – is a
reminder that Jesus coming (his birth, life, death and resurrection) had been
promised by God in ages even then long past. It is a reminder to us that any
picture we have of Jesus must be rooted in some way in the biblical traditions
dating back to the Hebrew scriptures which became the earliest church’s
original Bible.
Then the old man speaks to
Mary alone: “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in
Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of
many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too” (2:34-35,
NRSV). This is a foreshadowing to a young mother, whose experience of pregnancy
and motherhood had up to this point, been anything BUT normal. But it is also a
reminder to us, that inasmuch as we allow our own preconceptions and prejudices
to guide our views of Jesus, we, like the many who fell and have fallen in
Israel without heeding that their Messiah has come, will also have our own
soul’s pierced until we allow the working of the Holy Spirit to break down our
walls of resistance.
Later, the prophetess Anna
also restates what Simeon had said, praising God and speaking “about the child
to all who were looking for the redemption of
Both of these pious and holy
characters are placed in Luke’s narrative to illustrate to us the life-saving
and edifying importance of remaining rooted in the essence of the faith, while
allowing for the Holy Spirit to work freely within and among us. Or to put it
another way: they
say and do what they do in
Luke’s gospel to encourage us to allow the imaginative heart of God’s Holy
Spirit to guide us, while always remaining grounded in the foundation of God’s
Being. Or, as Paul put it: “So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a
child then also an heir, through God.”
I want to try an experiment
that will require you to move a bit her (if you are able). We will use our two
Christmas trees as the focus of this exercise. The tree to my left (your right)
is the traditional tree. It is filled with ancient symbols of the Trinity. It
represents groundedness and stability. Conversely, the tree to my right (your
left) is playful and evocative of new things. It represents what is emerging
and suggests God’s willingness to open up to us in new ways.
Now stand, stretch and move
to the side of the sanctuary where the tree that touches the inner part of you
most deeply sits. Remember what they represent as far as this exercise goes. If
you are on the same side as the tree that you prefer, stay put. If you prefer
both in some mix or equally, stand out here in the aisle somewhere.
Now look around. Those of you
in front of the taller, more traditionally decorated tree are valuable to us
because you remind us to remain rooted in the ancient insights and traditions
of our faith. Those who are in front of the tree the children decorated during
this year’s Christmas program are also valuable to us – for you do not allow us
to be limited by the views of those who came before us, nor by our own
limitations. And those of you – like me – who are somewhere out here in the
middle, you too are valuable to us as a community of faith, because you help us
keep working together in a balanced way.
Now all of us need to take a
look at those who are in a position other than our own. These people are those
from whom we can learn. They can teach us to be more balanced, more grounded, more free. Take their opinions seriously (when they are
presented in a polite manner), and learn from their approach to our SHARED
faith. Please return to your seats.
Jesus, indeed he is many things to many people: grounded in the ancient promises of God and yet bursting with new life, a light to those whose eyes have grown dim and a hope for those who are young, the fulfillment of the law, and the one who sets us free from the law. He is all these things and more, for he is the very Living and eternal icon of God who came once and for all to show the Creator’s great love for us. And for that we can only say: Dear Abba, Father, you have kept your promise. Thanks and glory and praise be unto you. Amen.