02022022 – Luke 4. 14-21
SOMEONE will remember the film, “MY FAIR LADY.” The year was 1964.
The film starred Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle and Rex Harrison as Henry Higgins, and others – in supporting roles.
It became the second highest-grossing film of 1964 and won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director.
It depicted a poor COCKNEY flower-seller named Eliza Doolittle who OVERHEARS an “arrogant phonetics Professor,” Henry Higgins, as he casually WAGERS that he could teach HER to speak “proper” English, thereby making HER “presentable” in the HIGH SOCIETY of Edwardian London.
“Words, words, words, I’m so sick of words ~ I get words all day through ~
First from him, now from you ~ Is that all you blighters can do …”
Freddy (her suiter) was a young man of many words, but not of much action.
So Eliza begged him to … sing me no song, rhyme me no rhyme, if you’re in love show me!
SOMEONE besides me, must remember songs like, “Wouldn’t it be lovely,” or “On the street where you live,” or what I think was the biggest one, “I could have danced all night!” We live in a world of words.
We text, we tweet, we voice-message and we e-mail.
We put “post-it notes” on “our monitors and on our laptops” and tape paper SCRAPS, with NOTES on the refrigerator.
We make LISTS to keep the important TASKS of the day ahead of us.
We scotch tape those little appointment cards that we get from Doctors offices and Dentists, so we wont miss our DATES and TIMES.
And even create LISTS to aid in our shopping.
We use WORDS to extend an invitation, to APOLOGIZE for a faux pas, and to make our carefully structured PRESENTATIONS in the world of business.
The church too, is full of words.
What is a sermon, a meditation, a homily made up of — but words.
We even call it the liturgy of Confession, the liturgy of “the WORD,” and the liturgy of the “meal”…or Eucharist.
But lying therein, are A LOT of WORDS…hundreds of WORDS…
What would we do, without WORDS?
Think about, the four designated readings, the sermon, the creed, the prayer of the faithful…we even call the words that follow “THE WORDS OF INSTITUTION.”
And what about the words in the LORDS’ PRAYER?
I don’t mind telling the kids in First Communion Classes that for them, it might just sound like a lot of blah, blah, blah…maybe to some older folks, as well.
But IF you listen CAREFULLY ENOUGH, there is always SOMETHING in there to hear…and to think about…
In spite of all the blah, blah, blah, and all the VERBAGE that is going on…
Today’s Gospel lesson is a big bunch of WORDS, but then, they always are…
But surprisingly, the people AT FIRST “liked the words” that they heard.
That is, until they thought about it a little…
If only Jesus would have kept quiet. If only he had stopped right there.
The people were adoring him and were amazed at his gracious words…
But then, he HAD TO GO ON…
He had to speak THE TRUTH…
He had to REMIND THEM of some things they weren’t too keen about remembering…
WORDS…WORDS…WORDS…it was the continued words, the continued truth-telling that got him into trouble.
WHO CARED about the widow at Zarephath or Naaman the Syrian?
Well, Elijah, Elisha, and Jesus did…
Jesus’ WORDS of TRUTH enraged them…and it says, they got up and drove him out of the town and led him to the brow of the hill…
They TOTALLY meant to do him HARM because of his WORDS.
Sometimes our WORDS get in the way.
Sometimes they do not COME OUT as intended.
Sometimes we are at a LOSS for words, but probably NOT OFTEN ENOUGH.
And, sometimes we speak OUR TRUTH, and get ourselves in all kinds of trouble…just as Jesus did.
Fortunately for him, he was able to walk through their midst – untouched. We however, aren’t always as lucky.
Maybe we would be better off – taking the advice of ELIZA DOOLITTLE, and stop with the words already…
Sing me no song, rhyme me no rhyme…
And just SHOW OTHERS what we mean to convey. Wouldn’t it-be lovely? Who knows, but it might be worth the try…
Amen.