Sermon 1/21/07
Upon Us - Luke 4:14-21 (Version 2)
(view lectionary notes for this text)
This scripture passage from Luke is one of my very favorites. It is one of those passages that just strikes my heart as soon as I hear the first words of it, like a familiar song that you know by the first few notes. “The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.’” We read that Jesus has come into the synagogue, returning to community life after his time in the wilderness being tempted, already with gossip about him spreading throughout the region. He has been tested and found ready to get to work, and so this visit to the synagogue marks his announcement of his intentions for ministry. We hear that already, his reputation was growing – these people were talking about him, and praising him for his teaching and wisdom. He comes to the synagogue as is his custom – he’s someone who was regularly part of his faith community – he, like we do – found strength, found a connection with God, in the midst of a fellowship of people with a common faith and vision.
And importantly, Jesus is in his hometown, Nazareth, not far away in some distant place. His behavior in itself was not unusual – many who attended the synagogue on the Sabbath as Jesus did would also read from the scriptures, then speak or preach about their meaning. The words Jesus spoke would have been familiar to them, these words from Isaiah. They knew the scriptures. They knew this passage. They knew this tradition of reading and preaching. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,” he read, “He has sent me to proclaim release, to proclaim recovery of sight, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim God’s favor.” What was surprising, even shocking to them I suspect, was that Jesus then closed by saying, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” This is the man that they knew as a young boy, the man whose parents they knew well. And the man that they had heard reports about by now. And here they are, witnessing him speak for themselves. You’ll have to read the rest of chapter 4 to see how the people reacted to his words. But today we hear that it is with all eyes fix on him that Jesus sits down and says, “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” He speaks with such confidence about who he is and what he’s about, and what he has come to do. And his message is riveting. They can’t take their eyes off him.
So what’s so special about this event? What makes this different from anytime anyone else would read this passage from Isaiah in the synagogue? What are we meant to hear from this text? Well, looking closely at the passage, we can discover some interesting things. When Jesus entered on synagogue on the day we read about in our text today, when he unrolled the scroll set before him, he know he was not reading his own words. Jesus was reading the words of the prophet Isaiah. He was reading a text, a prophesy, a vision that had been laid out hundreds of years before his own day. It was the vision of a man from a different time, a different generation, a different situation. But Jesus speaks the words and makes them his own. It is his vision – God’s vision fulfilled in him. The spirit of God is upon him.
Jesus read from the book of Isaiah, the same Isaiah included in our Bibles today. But, what particularly interests me, if we look at the verses Jesus chose from Isaiah for his reading, we’ll realize that Jesus skips around a bit, leaving out a verse or phrase here, skipping back a few chapters to read another phrase there. What he chooses to leave out is as important as what he chooses to read aloud. He leaves out a part that Isaiah includes about “the day of vengeance of our God” that follows the phrase he reads about the year of God’s favor. And he leaves out a mention of Zion, or Israel, the chosen people, instead making his message directed at a broader group of people. Jews and Gentiles. Jesus makes sure that his hearers understand that his mission is to minister to everybody. And he makes sure they understand that he doesn’t come to hand out God’s vengeance, as Isaiah spoke of long ago – he doesn’t come to hurt, to humiliate, to lay blame.
So what does that leave? The Spirit of the Lord has anointed Jesus, he says, “to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Jesus selects verses that describe what will be his mission and ministry. This is what he has come to do: to bring good news, to proclaim release and recover, to bring freedom, and bring God’s favor to the people. He lays it out for all to hear – this is the plan of action he will take.
And yet, that’s not the whole message that Jesus gives to them. We know that the people always found Jesus challenging, so we must wonder, where is the challenge in this message he brings? Why would people not accept this plan he had laid out? Who wouldn’t want good news and God’s favor? The trouble is, we have a habit, as his hearers that day did, of skipping right over the part of the passage Jesus reads that makes his ministry what it is. Jesus does not bring the good news just to anyone, he says, he brings it to the poor. The release is not for the general crowds, but for the captives. Recovery comes for the blind. Freedom comes to those who are oppressed. This is what makes it the year of God’s favor, for those who are least and last, deemed most unworthy by society to receive such good news.
But Jesus’ message is for us, too. His plan of ministry is our plan of ministry. If we truly seek to be Christ like, we must try to do as he did, live as he lived, spread the good news in the way that he called us to share the good news. And we do try. We seek, as people of faith, to do all the things listed by Isaiah that Jesus shares here. But, I must admit my own guilt – my ministry is usually more comfortable than challenging. My congregation has times of struggle, real struggle, real challenges, and I know that yours must too. But are we usually more comfortable than challenged? I suspect yes. I know for myself that answer is yes. When, I must ask myself, was the last time I brought the good news to the poor? Perhaps only through a can dropped off for Salvation Army collections. Is that what Jesus is getting at? I can’t say yes without kidding you and myself. When was the last time I proclaimed release to the captives? When did I help the blind to see? Have I freed those who are oppressed? Who is oppressed today? At best, I have tried to proclaim the year of God’s favor – but how can I convince people of God’s favor when they are poor, captive, blind, and oppressed?
Jesus says he comes to turn everything upside down, and confuse everyone’s expectations of how things are supposed to be. Those who are captive find release, even when we still seek to hold them guilty. Those who are oppressed are freed, even when it means we must give up our role too often as oppressors. Those who are poor receive God’s good news, even when it means we must share from our abundance, even when we want the good news all for ourselves. Jesus challenges us to a radical ministry that defies the normal order. Can we do it? Can I? Can you?
I think that in order to live into this message of freedom, this good news, in order to be a part of it, we have to be visionaries. Because with a vision, we can take action, and brings Jesus’ vision into reality in this place. We have to be like Jesus, and, as he did with Isaiah’s words, we have to make Jesus’ words our own – embrace them as our own. In my own congregation, we’re asking ourselves right now – do we have people with vision? Pastor Heather tells me that Liverpool is a place filled with people who are visionary – and that’s exciting. Because you have to have vision to believe that you are capable, with God’s help, of carrying out these bold words that Jesus speaks. I mentioned that later in this passage, you can read how Jesus’ hearers reacted to his words. You can read there that there were some people who doubted that Jesus could be the one to bring this vision about into reality, into fulfillment. After all, some of them had seen him grow up, or knew of his family and his roots, his background, and they couldn’t see him as one who could bring about such a vision that he so boldly said he was fulfilling. Maybe we can’t see ourselves as visionaries. Maybe we look at ourselves and can’t see that God’s Spirit is upon us. But I believe that we are all called to claim and share in this vision, as Jesus claimed this vision and made it his own, whether we’re part of a congregation in Oneida or a congregation in Liverpool. I believe that we are meant, like Jesus, to understand that God is fulfilling the full meaning of these words through us, using us.
I believe the Spirit of God is upon us, the church. And I believe that the Spirit of God is upon me. And I believe that God’s spirit is upon you – the Spirit of the Lord is upon you. God has anointed you to bring good news to the poor. God has sent you to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind. You are sent to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim the year of God’s gracious favor. The scripture is being fulfilled, even now, in our hearing. Will you be a part of it?
Amen.