The Spirit of the Lord Is Upon Us

Brad Sullivan

2 Epiphany, Year C

January 17, 2016

Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church, Bay City, TX

Luke 4:14-21

The Spirit of the Lord Is Upon Us

“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”  That was the teaching from the hometown Nazareth carpenters’ kid.  Not someday.  Not keep waiting on God to deliver you, but now, today, Jesus claimed, is the year of the Lord’s favor.  The spirit of God was upon him, anointing him to bring good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, an end to oppression, and the year of the Lord’s favor.   

“The year of the Lord’s favor” was possibly a reference to the year of Jubilee which God commanded in Leviticus 25.  Every fiftieth year was the Jubilee year, a year of rest for the land when the people didn’t work the land.  God promised to bless the land so that it would provide in abundance, and the people ate whatever the land provided.  Additionally, in the Jubilee year debts were forgiven.  In the 49 years before each Jubilee, if anyone fell on hard times, they could become their kinsman’s servant, being cared for by their kinsman and living as an indentured servant.  There was no interest or penalty.  Rather, those who couldn’t support themselves were cared for by their relatives, but not as a free ride; those being cared for also contributed. 

Then, on the 50^th year, anyone who was living as an indentured servant was released to go back to their own house, their own land, and start over.  Everyone was to return to their own property and all of Israel was to observe this year of rest for the land, restoration for the poor, and trust in God to provide for them. 

So there was a partnership in the Jubilee year.  God blessed the land and the people, and the people trusted in God and showed mercy and forgiveness to each other.  God was reminding the people, “you became slaves in Egypt, and I delivered you.  You were hungry in the desert, and I provided for you.  Now release the land from its work and release each other from service, and trust in me to bless you and provide for you.

We don’t know that Jesus was actually proclaiming a year of Jubilee, but he was proclaiming God’s blessing on the people, release for the captive, good news to the poor, and recovery of sight to the blind, and freedom for the oppressed.  Like the year of Jubilee, there was release, and like the year of Jubilee, there was necessarily a partnership and ownership of Jesus’ words by the people.  If there is going to be release for captive, freedom for the oppressed, and good news for the poor, those things are going to have to be lived out by those who hear Jesus’ words. 

So, then, what is the good news that Jesus was fulfilling, the good news that was to be proclaimed to the poor?  The good news is God’s love and blessing not only for those who are obviously blessed, but for the poor and marginalized as well.  The good news is God becoming human and living among us, uniting himself to us perfectly through Jesus.  The good news is the life of God’s kingdom which Jesus describes in parable after parable.  The good news is a job for the jobless.  The good news is bread for the hungry.  The good news is an employee who chooses to pay his workers what they need, even if it seems overly generous.  The good news is Jesus himself who lived among us in one body for 30 years and now lives among us in each of our bodies continuing to fulfill the good news to the poor.

Jesus also proclaimed the good news of release for the captives and freedom for the oppressed.  People are captive to all sorts of things:  prison, jail, booze, poor decisions, low expectations, harsh childhoods, poverty, anger, resentment, pride, guilt, wealth, success, anxiety, fear.  The list of things people are held captive by goes on and on, and Jesus came to proclaim release.  “Neither do I condemn you,” Jesus told to the woman caught in adultery.  “Your faith has made you well,” Jesus told the woman suffering from a hemorrhage and the man who was blind.    “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise,” Jesus said to the dying thief crucified next to him.  “Feed my sheep,” Jesus told to the guilt ridden Peter.  Jesus proclaimed release to people held captive to all kinds of things.  He released them and told them they were God’s beloved children.  He releases us from all that we’ve done wrong and proclaims us to be God’s beloved children.

We then get to be the voice of Jesus proclaiming release, and we get to be the body of Jesus providing release to people from that which holds them captive.  As we saw in Jesus’ life, this is often messy work.  That too is the good news from Isaiah which Jesus proclaimed fulfilled.  Strive for righteousness, justice, mercy, live the ways that Jesus proclaimed fulfilled, and I will be with you, God proclaimed. 

So then, God became human and lived these very ways that he commanded.  God lived with his people as Jesus and got down in the muck with them to fulfill what he had proclaimed through Isaiah.  That’s the good news of the Gospel, and then, Jesus says there’s even more good news.  Y’all get to get down into the muck of each others’ lives too.  As Paul writes in Romans 12:16, “Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are.”

God fulfilled Isaiah’s words by associating with the lowly, by becoming one of us.  He showed us that associating with the lowly is the way of the good news of his Kingdom.  He also showed us that everyone is lowly in some way.  Do not be haughty, do not claim to be wiser than you are.  Everyone is held captive by something, and no one is too good to associate with the poor, the marginalized, and the oppressed. 

There is freedom in those words.  There is freedom in realizing we really are all in this thing together.  There is freedom in realizing we all have muck in our lives.  There is freedom in fulfilling Isaiah’s words, in being helpers for one another in the muck of our lives.  We were after all made from the dust of the ground, the muck of the earth, and we were made to be helpers for one another.  For Adam, when God saw that it wasn’t good that he was alone, Eve was the good news. 

As Jesus’ body and Jesus voice, we get to be the good news for each other.  We get to be the good news in our more private lives, and we get to be the good news as the church.  We get to mentor children in our schools, some of us through Kids Hope USA beginning in a couple of weeks at Linnie Roberts.  For the kids whom we mentor, we are the good news.

We get to give as we each have means to do so.  We get to give to each other and to those we know who are in need.   For some, this will be giving in a big way for someone who is really down and out.  For some, this is will be smaller things, but no less big to the person in need.  We get to be the good news.

We get to be the good news when we cook breakfast on Friday mornings and offer Bible study and prayer.  We get to be the good news when we sit and talk with the folks who come in to eat, and often, they get to be the good news for us. 

We get to be the good news to young frightened mothers and mothers to be when we donate to and volunteer with the Women’s Pregnancy Center.  We get to be the good news that says, “You aren’t judged; you are loved.  You’re baby is not a mistake, but a blessing.  You are not raising your child alone, for I am with you.”  That is the good news the mentors give to young frightened moms who come to the Pregnancy Center.

So how are we all going to be the good news?  How are you going to be the good news?  How am I going to be the good news?  What good news has Jesus brought to you, and who was Jesus when he brought that good news to you?  How have Jesus’ words be fulfilled, and how as Jesus, will you fulfill them?

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon us, because he has anointed us to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent us 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."

 Today this scripture is fulfilled in our hearing.  Amen.