Epiphany 04: Solidarity

Redemption Church KC Sermon Podcast

1. In Luke 4:21, Jesus says that the Isaiah 61 scripture from which he read was fulfilled “today” for his listeners, in their hearing. Cole pointed out that he says “today,” rather than tomorrow, or at the cross, or at the time of the resurrection.

What do you make of that “today?” If we’re taking Jesus at his word, how do you understand that idea? What was going on that day that was fulfilling the proclamation of liberty and Jubilee? And what do you make

of the fact that he didn’t indicate the fulfillment of the passage would be coming at the cross or the resurrection? What previously held ideas might that moment challenge?

2. Cole also posited that when the crowd responds favorably to Jesus, but immediately also asks, “isn’t this Joseph’s son?,” that perhaps after they see Jesus’ demonstration of power, they’re reassuring themselves that, as Joseph's son, Jesus is one of their own. And that, by extension, they can exercise some sort of control over him and feel safe from his action and activity. But, of course, they find that Jesus is on a mission of his own, and they cannot make him be who they’d like or act as they'd demand. In response, they turn on him completely.

Where do you see this same inclination in yourself? Where does Jesus demand from you something beyond what you’d like to give? Where do you find yourself tempted to jettison Jesus, even just a bit, when his way of being in the world is a challenge to something to which you’d rather cling?

3. Cole talked about the Transactional Belonging inherent in empire, and which is prevalent in our society today. He compared it to the only other type of system that Israel could imagine: a purity movement and a system of Obedient Belonging.

But, Cole taught, both of these systems end in violence, and that Jesus’ model of belonging was wholly other and centered on solidarity. He provided a working definition of solidarity: “a way of being together where even our differences are evidence of our shared faithfulness, hope, and love.”

Spend some time as a group talking about each of these three types of belonging. Do you have places where you’ve seen or imagined the existence of one or another in action? What does it look like to participate in a transactional system of belonging? An obedience system? Where and how can you see these systems ending in violence?

When you imagine a solidarity system of belonging, what are the features you think of? What does it look like at its core? How does it operate? What is your part in enacting that system?