02.10.2025
Saint Francis
September 28, 2025
St. Francis Lutheran Church
Pastor Elizabeth Ekdale - Vacancy Pastor
Dear Partners in Ministry - Grace, compassion, and peace to each of you from "I am who I am" or "I will be who I am" or simply the divine "I am".
The T-shirt caught my eye -- beautifully tie-died in vibrant colors. The wearer was a young person likely in their early 20s. One word was printed in bold on the front: Misunderstood.
I wondered . . . what would you like us to know about you by wearing this T-shirt? A few days later, when reading our lessons for today -- especially the brief Gospel reading -- I thought, Jesus could be and should be wearing this same T-shirt: Misunderstood.
They thought him to be "out of his mind and demon-possessed". The Pharisees have been heatedly arguing with Jesus about his identity. The more Jesus spoke, the more he was misunderstood. Finally, Jesus claims that he existed before Abraham -- and the Pharisees pick up rocks to stone him. He was indeed misunderstood.
The Gospel of John is focused on Jesus' identity -- the first words make this clear: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. Our Lutheran Study Bible emphasizes that in the Gospel of John, Jesus' words and action reveal God to us. Jesus in all his earthly humanness, is the very presence of the divine "I AM".
This revelation did not sit well with the religious establishment. The scribes believed Jesus to be controlled by the ruler of demons; his family had determined that Jesus was not in his right mind. The presence of the Word made flesh attacts eager crowds yet draws derision and the label Misunderstood" by the religious elite and politically powerful. Why? What has he been doing up to this point?
Jesus has been being Jesus: performing miracles, turning water into wine, gathering disciples, driving the money-changers and market sellers from the temple, speaking to women of questionable character, healing children and touching the infirm, feeding the hungry crowds, welcoming the judged and teaching about his identity: I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world.
We are only near the beginning of Jesus' ministry in John's gospel. There are already accusations, worry, attempts to discredit him, plots to silence him, threats to kill him all because of his identity. The disciples who spent the most time with Jesus even misunderstood his teachings and identity: "When many of his disciples heard it, they said, 'This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?'"
Jesus has simply been being Jesus. He has been attentive to the cries and pain around him. His compassionate and boundary-breaking responses threaten the social order of the day. He is dismissive of harmful religious platitudes, for example, believing someone deserves to be sick because of the so-called sins of their family. He will continue to level sharp criticism against the religious leaders who want to shut him down. Jesus will be who he is for the sake of the world.
But lest we judge the religious leaders too harshly, we too may want to shut Jesus down, so dangerous is his invitation to follow him. For it is dangerous as followers of the Prince of Peace to speak out against injustice, it is dangerous to speak truth to power, it is dangerous to proclaim the wide and open embrace of God's love in a world filled with divisions.
We know from the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus that God's identity is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounds in steadfast love. God will be who God is. The stories of Jesus and revelation of God's name through the calling of Moses are not always easily understood -- it is, after all, God's perogative to be a mystery at times. Together, let us help each other to always remember our name given to us at baptism, given to us each day: blessed, beloved, child of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
