“The Problem With Good News”
Nehemiah 8:1-3,5-6,8-10
Luke 4:14-21
Barbara J. Campbell, Pastor
According to Luke’s gospel, when Jesus returned from being tempted and tested in the wilderness, (a story which we shall look at in a few weeks when we begin the Season of Lent) Jesus was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and began to teach in the synagogues throughout Galilee.
Eventually he made his way to Nazareth, his hometown. In their synagogues it was highly unusual and even a bit offensive for someone to stand up to read from the scroll without previous permission from the elders. Whether Jesus received such permission or not we do not know. The story only tells us that when he stood up to read, the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah was given to him. Jesus unrolled the scroll until he found a certain text and began to read, probably reciting mostly from memory, the words he found there.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to bring good news to 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;
And to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Last week we read the story of a Wedding Feast at which Jesus turned water saved for their ritual cleansing into wine for the celebration. This was John’s gospel story of the start of Jesus’ ministry and the revitalization that would be his central theme.
Today we read Luke’s gospel story of how it all began and the key to the entire ministry of Jesus, as Luke saw it. All three synoptic gospels tell this story of Jesus in the synagogue, but only Luke places the story at the very beginning of his gospel and only Luke gives the readers the content of what Jesus read and said.
For Luke, this is the mission statement; the moral agenda; the purpose of Jesus’ life and work. One preacher calls this the “plumb line” of Jesus’ teaching. Insofar as we measure our lives against this (“plumb line”), according to Luke, we are following Jesus’ ministry. (Carol Lakey Hess, Feasting on the Word, Year C, Vol. 1, pg 286)
It has become very popular in our culture for folks to work at knowing and clarifying the purpose of their lives. You remember the best-seller written by Pastor Rick Warren, A Purpose Driven Life, a few years ago. Pastor Ernest Hess finds it very disturbing that Warren’s book is filled with dozens of citations of scripture in every chapter, but that these words from Luke’s gospel are never quoted.
Hess writes, “For me it is axiomatic that a Christian’s understanding of his or her purpose, and the church’s understanding of its purpose and mission, should be informed by Jesus’ understanding of his purpose and mission.” (Hess, Feasting on the Word, Year C. Vol. 1. Pg 289.) Let’s read it again:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to bring good news to 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;
And to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
The passage from Isaiah that Jesus recited was well known. The words had been used by Isaiah in reference to the job description of the coming Messiah, but Jesus left out the last words from Isaiah. Christians do that even today when with readings such as the Psalms. We often leave out the parts about slaughtering our enemies, for instance. The Isaiah text ended with, “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God.” It seems that Jesus didn’t like the “vengeance” part but was focusing, instead, on the work of healing and justice.
The “year of the Lord’s favor” in this text Jesus recited, referred to the Year of Jubilee. Every 50 years, according to the laws of Moses, the fields were to rest and become reinvigorated for future harvests.
In this Jubilee Year, debts were also to be forgiven. Releasing captives and setting at liberty those who were oppressed referred very specifically to those in prison or held in slavery for their indebtedness. Some scholars think that the year that Jesus spoke these words may have been the actual Year of Jubilee, around 26-27 CE. “The Jubilee Year,” writes Professor Walter Brueggemann, “is God’s way of intervening in the vicious cycle of indebtedness and poverty which is kept going by inhumane practices of land, taxes, and debt.”
I’m not sure how long or if the actual observance of the Jubilee Year was ever really followed and we can understand why it was conveniently ignored. We know, all too well, the cycle of indebtedness and poverty that is growing larger and larger in our own economic culture. During our recent recession an “interest-cap movement” started which was supported and highly influenced by people of faith. Such a movement is strongly rooted in Hebrew scripture’s teachings against usury. Throughout our history, the church has spoken out against those who charge high interest rates, especially when it enslaves the poor.
Yet we also stand by and watch while those in financial corporations get rich through unethical and immoral policies that our culture allows. When a law was signed last May requiring companies to give 45 days notice before raising rates and providing bans on rate hikes, many lending organizations responded by raising their interest rates an average of 20% before the deadline.
We have created our own “debtor’s prisons” these days. Think of all the ways that people are imprisoned, enslaved, held captive, in our culture. What comes to mind?
When Jesus finished reciting from Isaiah he rolled the scroll back up and handed it back to the attendant. He sat down, as was customary after the reading, and everyone waited eagerly, straining their ears to hear how he would interpret the text. After all, word was that this Jesus was no ordinary rabbi. His words were said to have the power to heal and everywhere he went he drew large crowds who were captivated by his message.
Jesus said only, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Whether these are the actual words of Jesus, or the agenda of some enthusiastic first century evangelist, the gospels continue to declare that liberation of the impoverished and oppressed was the mission Jesus claimed for himself.
Whether Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah or whether he had decided that these words were God’s call upon his life, and perhaps even upon the lives of all the faithful, we’ll never know, but Jesus came proclaiming, demanding, the year of the Lord’s favor. That was his mission statement.
St. Mark had to do a mission study and write a new mission statement seven years ago, as you began a search for your next pastor. Lots of folks worked long and hard on this, I expect, and it is a wonderful statement, but I doubt if anyone can recite any of it, by heart.
I looked for the active verbs out of St. Mark’s mission statement; those verbs that relate to what we see ourselves as called to do (rather than who we are) and I found three basic but profound statements. St. Mark believes its mission is:
To apply the radical teachings of Jesus;
to be nurtured by gathering at his table, and
to live out his example in every aspect of our lives.
Jesus clearly declared how he was going to live out his life in these words. So these words become St. Mark’s mission now:
“The Spirit of the Lord has anointed us to bring good news to the poor.
The Spirit has sent us 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.
Following worship, at our congregational meeting, you will receive the budget that your session has approved for 2010. This budget reflects the mission goals of the church. It’s a wonderful coincidence that we set our congregational meeting to look at our budget on the Sunday that the lectionary suggested this gospel text.
There are index cards in your pews. As you reflect on the gospel lesson today and receive our operating budget, I’d like you to write down just one idea for how St. Mark might fulfill our mission, which is to follow the mission of Jesus. You can leave the cards on the table in the foyer after our meeting.
Let us pray that the spirit will lead and enable us to fulfill our mission this year.