When in your life have you felt most connected to God? When has God been close to you? When have you felt disconnected, that God is absent or far away?
Location matters in Luke's story. The locus of God's activity matters to Luke. This story is a theography---not sure if that is a word, but I'll coin it here to describe this sort of writing. Luke presumes God and is not arguing whether or not God exists. I think we can say that Luke is locating God within a particular place in time and space.
In the ancient world, God was always somewhere else. In heaven, on that mountain, in that holy temple or shrine. God was inaccessible. Above and beyond our human reach. Out there. God or the gods might affect the world, but God was not in the world. Some people argue that God is not accessible because God does not exist. Others may argue that God is beyond the limits of space and time and cannot be defined locally. God is everywhere or in everything. It was believed among the Jews that God had spoken to the ancient prophets---Noah, Abraham, Moses, etc...And that God had not spoken in a long time, centuries in fact. And that the people were waiting for God to speak again, to act again in a sort of final and significant way to set right what was wrong with the world. A primary location and presumed destination for God to speak and act was Jerusalem and the temple of Solomon. The Jews believed this place to be the axis mundi, the center of the cosmos. Other people believed other places on earth to be central places of divine revelation or activity. God was somewhere. And any real God was not fashioned out of clay or built by humans, but was somehow beyond our grasp or imagination. An invisible, immovable force. Luke, however, is telling us something strange and new about God's location and accessibility.
Yesterday, Jesus ran into trouble in the local synagogue. It seemed that his own religious community rejected him and his teachings. He found no audience of acceptance there. Perhaps he was too well known as "the son of Joseph the carpenter." He couldn't be taken seriously as a prophet or one who speaks for God.
But today we see Jesus on the beach, in a boat, on the street, and in a house. In all of these places, he is received with amazement. He invites ordinary people, fishermen and tax collectors, to follow him and become his disciples, learning to practice his way of life. These people were not scholars or privileged people, but working people struggling to sustain their households. They follow him because they are invited. You know how powerful an invitation can be. People want to belong, to join, to connect. Connection matters.
He begins to heal people of diseases that separate them, exclude them, and prevent them from living whole and productive lives. In one personal account, a man suffering with leprosy says to Jesus, "If you choose, you can make me well." And Jesus says, "I do choose. Be made well." Jesus chooses connection and healing instead of detachment and perpetual illness. Isn't it true that these things are related? Personal connection and healing? People with healthier relationships are healthier overall, mentally and physically. Again, connection matters.
In another account he heals a paralyzed man by pronouncing that his "sins are forgiven." This action is the role of the priest and the temple system. It requires sacrifices prescribed by the biblical law. You don't just give it away. Sin is what necessitates religion. Its what separates humans from God. He hears opposition from religious scholars about this. "No one can forgive sins but God alone." This is their way of saying that God is not in that place or in the words of Jesus. They reject the notion that God is somehow present and active in such a personal and immanent way. God must be mediated through temples and rituals and priests. God is not proximate, touchable, or close. God is transcendent, somewhere else. Jesus is saying something else and what he is saying is confirmed by a paralyzed man standing up and walking out. He is calling the sick, the sinner to a new way of life.
Finally, Jesus turns to two analogies to describe his actions: the arrival of the bridegroom to a wedding feast and new wine. A joyful celebration is underway, full of goodness and love and sumptuous eating and drinking! Wherever Jesus is, there is a party, a moveable feast! Could this be a sign that God is present and active with Jesus---on the beach, in a boat, on the streets, in a house? God is located where God is needed, sought. In ordinary people experiencing hardship and struggle, exclusion and disconnection. God is located in healing, forgiveness, and invitation to belong. Because connection matters.
Tomorrow, chapter 6: Sabbath, Prayer, and Wisdom.
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