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Cover art from Why Jesus? by Will Willimon

Why Jesus? : Preacher

On 23 February 2011, in Formation, by J. Michael Thurman

That set everyone in the meeting place seething with anger. They threw him out, banishing him from the village, then took him to a mountain cliff at the edge of the village to throw him to his doom… (Luke 4:28-30 MSG)

Jesus walks into a synagogue in his home town and narrowly escapes the ire of a mob composed of people who have know him his entire life. Aren’t we glad that the preachers in most of our churches are more… docile?

Foundations for Proclamation

Before discussing the particulars of Jesus’s preaching, we should say a few words about proclamation in the community of faith and what distinguishes it from any other speech.

Quorum

In order to have a congregation, there had to be ten adult Jewish males in attendance, called a minyan. Adult in this context means having completed the bar mitzvah. It is in this assembly that the call to worship is issued and the scrolls read.

Breath

To native English speakers, Hebrew is a strange language. It flows “backward” (right to left) on the page and all of the letters are consonants. As written, the words have no meaning because several different words can share the same consonant patterns. It is only when spoken that the meaning of the word becomes clear.

So it is for the reading of the Law, the Writings and the Prophets. They have no “meaning” as the Word of the Lord until breathed in the midst of the congregation. It’s in the oral proclamation that the words are inspired or breathed…hopefully by the breath of God. That’s the term used in Gen. 1:2 and translated “the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.”

Laying the Foundation

Thus it is that the foundation for inspired proclamation rests on these two stones:

The presence of a quorum (congregation), and
The reading aloud (or breathing) of the Scriptures.

Coming Home

It’s in the context of the congregation that Jesus appears in Nazareth in Luke 4:14-30 to breathe the Scriptures. He might have been just another guest lecturer had he not gone there…

While this is not meant to be an explication of Luke 4, it’s interesting to note that verse 14 says:

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. Lk 4:14,TNIV)

Our class discussion keyed on the words in the power of the Spirit as the differentiating factor between Jesus’s home town synagogue debut and what people in Galilee were accustomed to hear.

Questions to Ponder

How have you experienced public proclamation in your church?
Does the Holy Spirit seem more or less present?
How does that presence vary (from time to time, pastor to pastor, etc.)?

Implications for Preaching Today

Today, we’re apt to think of a preacher as a person with such an inordinate desire to please, with so highly developed verbal skills that he or she is an expert in saying nothing in such a way that it sounds like a sweet something. (Willimon, p. 51)

I’ve already posed a few questions about the context of preaching where you worship. Here’s another:

Does your pastor seem like one proclaiming good news or presenting a good oration?

As someone who has asked that question about myself, I think it’s worth considering. Don’t use it to be harsh. Use your answer to that question

to understand those who preach in your community,
to talk with them about their foundations for preaching, and
to help them grow in the faith. (Yes, pastors still NEED faith mentors!)

5 Characteristics of Spirit-led Preaching

While I’ll leave much of the material in the chapter for you to read on your own, the five characteristics of Spirit-led preaching that Willimon lays out are worth mentioning here. These are drawn from his interaction with Luke 4.

1. The preacher speaks under the power of the Holy Spirit.

I’ve already posed some questions about your own experience of preaching in your faith community. Here’s another:

How can you help the proclamation in your context be more Spirit-filled?

2. The sermon is based upon Scripture.

While an “appeal to authority” is considered a logical fallacy by philosophers and is out of favor in our post-modern culture, that’s exactly what Jesus does.

How is the Bible treated in your church? Is it idolized, respected or marginalized?

3. Jesus clearly believes that these ancient writings provide an accurate clue to what is going on in the present.

Jesus reads from the Isaiah scroll and says that the words are true and they are about him.

Whether you are preacher or hearer, how do the text and the Holy Spirit invade the rest of your experience?

4. All hell breaks loosed in response to the sermon.

…Jesus had to stand up to a more totalitarian and potentially violent adversary [than Elijah or Elisha did]: people like us. (p.50)

As you read Jesus’s sermon in Luke 4, what is it that most angers the people?
How does Jesus’s approach and motive seem similar and different than what you experience in your faith community?
If you could say anything to your pastor in response to your reading of this chapter, what would it be?

5. Jesus’s sermon is about God.

How many times are we content to let proclamation devolve into three points, an altar call and lunch?
How do you and I encourage those we confirm as called to preach / pastor to make the story about us and our needs?
How can you encourage those with whom you worship to focus on the fact that the central actor of the Biblical tale is God?