Jesus stood in the synagogue and read from the Isaiah scroll:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because he has anointed me to bring good news the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To let the oppressed go free,
To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)
Then Jesus handed back the scroll and took his seat. What more needed to be said after the stunning poetry of the prophet Isaiah? But al eyes remained fixed on Jesus. So he stood quickly and added, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Jesus upped the ante of Isaiah.
Isaiah imagined good news for the poor, release of captives, oppressed people walking free as something in the distant future. He dreamed of Jubilee recalibrating the economy of the New City someday.
Jesus refused to wait a day longer. Today the poor get good news of release, today yoke of oppression will begin splintering, the blind will start to see and the deaf will begin to hear. Today the economy will shift in favor of the have-nots and we’ll watch the last going first. There is no time like the present, according to Jesus, for some jubilee.
***
A while later we read another story told by Luke. Jesus walked through Jericho, surrounded by crowds and he noticed Zacchaeus perched in tree. “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your home today.”
The tax-collector climbs down immediately. Then he promises restitution to all his neighbors for the ways he’d exploited them over the years. The clear sense is that he would begin divesting his own ill-got wealth and distributing it to his neighbors right away. And Jesus says, “Today salvation has come to this house.”
It struck me how Jesus acted in the moment – wanting to eat with him today, acknowledging the arrival of salvation to the entire household today. Even Zacchaeus didn’t terry or create a restitution repayment plan with a long time horizon, the money would move quickly from his hands to those of his neighbors. I got the sense that there’s an immediacy about reconciliation.
When you see the person you must restore to yourself or to the community – it is a today kind of action. When you realize you need to divest of your wrong-doing to be reconnected to neighborhood, to set things right – you begin today. When reconciliation is afoot you announce the salvific work immediately. When there is an opportunity for reconciliation, there is no excuse for delayed action.
***
Jesus gives another picture of reconciliation in Matthew 5. If you are bringing your offering to the altar and remember that your brother or sister has something against you – drop everything! Run down the isle and find that person and make it right. Now! Once you’ve set things right with your brother or sister, then you can come back and make your offering.
And another snapshot is offered when Jesus says that if you are on your way to court to settle a legal matter with someone – come to terms quickly with them, before you even make it to the courthouse steps. Don’t waste any time in making it right and settling your differences.
It would seem that delaying reconciliation is never something Jesus advocated. To the contrary Jesus says that nothing is more urgent than finding your way back to your brother or settling up with your sister. It is more important to reconcile than to make your offering in the temple or get to court on time. Today is the day we are saved from alienation and division and inequity. Why wait any longer for salvation to come to your house?
***
I have friend I haven’t spoken to in awhile. Nothing is awry between us, just time and the realities of life keeping us busy and apart. But every so often she comes to mind and I miss her. I think about picking up the phone – but I don’t. What will I say? It’s been so long and, frankly, I’m embarrassed about the time that’s lapsed between us. So I delay.
But here’s the truth – the longer I wait to call her, the harder it gets to make the call at all. More time becomes more distance that separates us; with each passing day turned week, there grows an internal resistance to reconnecting. And this is between friends who’ve not wronged one another! Imagine how much harder if there were hurt festering in our relationship… I’m beginning to see why Jesus says today! Why he says to drop the offering and pick up the phone!
Often my husband will ask me to do something and my response is to schedule it, to plan for it, to put it on my agenda for the week. “Why don’t you do it now?” he asks. I’m a planner, so I plan. I decide when it fits into my schedule – I’m not a fan of spontaneous entries in my day’s routine. In 13 years of marriage, this continues to mystify (and sometimes frustrate) him.
When something needs to be done my husband jumps in and does it right then. He’d not a believer in tarrying, in putting off till tomorrow what could be done today. And when it comes to the work of reconciliation, he is more in sync with Jesus, who never delays the opportunity to come clean with someone or offer a moment of salvation, of jubilee goodness. With Jesus, now was always the right time to reconcile.
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I’ve been thinking a lot about the today-ness of reconciliation. There are things I can do to prepare my heart for restoration. Steeping my imagination in Scripture, contemplating the example of Jesus, reading books that offer insight and engaging in conversations with those further along the way all help me. But the truest moment is when I see a chance to confess my sin or extend an apology or offer an attempt at restitution. In that moment do I set everything else aside and run into reconciliation with an open heart?
I want to lean into the today-ness of reconciliation, of restitution, of salvation. I want to be part of the jubilee campaign Jesus announced today. I want to be ever-ready and even when I’m not I want to do it anyways because today is always the day.
I don’t want to wait a day longer.
What a great reminder for this planner/procrastinator! And it’s easy to see that inaction in conviction is really simply disobedience. I’ll be sorting through some of those “today’s” that I’ve pushed to the future.