By Rev. Canon David B. Tabo-oy
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
– Luke 4:18-19
Jesus returns from forty days in the wilderness and begins to preach in Galilee. On a Sabbath he went to his home synagogue and was given the Book of Isaiah and without hesitancy went direct to the 61st chapter of the book. Our text is a citation from that portion. This is a Messianic passage of great importance to the Hebrew people. The prophet Isaiah had been inspired to write those words more than 700 years earlier. For seven centuries, preachers and teachers of the holy word had preached on a soon-coming Messiah who would turn the world’s systems upside-down. He would lift up the hurting, the oppressed, the blind. The Hebrew people knew only too well what it was to suffer, to be held captive. They had waited hundreds of years for the fulfillment of this prophecy, and were prepared to wait hundreds more if necessary. And now a poor, no-name carpenter claims to be that Messiah who would “proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
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The gospel text is not for discussion or debate. It is an announcement. It is a statement of what Jesus would be doing – it is a mission statement. After reading this he declared: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” It is one way of saying, “I came to fulfill these things”, or “I am the fulfillment of these promises.” It was a perfect timing of such declaration because it was uttered at the very beginning of Jesus ministry. He just came from the desert triumphant over the temptations hurled to him by the devil. He has now come to where the people are in order to fulfill his mission: to preach the good news to the poor; proclaim freedom for prisoners; recovery of sight for the blind; to release the oppressed; and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
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God’s desire for creation is not alienation or separation, but a holy covenant that respects and depends on each person’s unique giftedness. The world today is very sick. Millions are dying of hunger due to abject poverty while billions of dollars are spent in war armaments. Millions are in prison due to various crimes committed and because of principles contrary to those of the powers that be. Millions are blinded due to material obsession forgetting their spiritual sustenance. And because of this they see their neighbors as things instead of fellow human beings – hence, oppression of those who have less in life is unbridled. Well-minded believers are called to own this mission statement of Jesus Christ if we are to bring serious change in our communities, our nation and the whole world today.
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The Spirit is active and present in the world. Jesus, reading the scroll of Isaiah in the synagogue, selects a passage that speaks of the one who is Spirit-blessed, the anointed one, the chosen one. But we make a serious mistake if we believe that because Jesus announces the fulfillment of the Scripture to the congregation, he is taking Isaiah’s words to refer exclusively to him. The original passage in Isaiah refers to the mission of the whole people, a redemptive mission to heal and rebuild what was destroyed in the exile. The “one” who is anointed and chosen is “the people” who together are called to repair what has been broken, and to bring freedom to the enslaved.
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“Human beings are created to live in community. Being in community gives us a sense of belonging, as we come together with a shared vision and purpose. In these days of individualism and self-centeredness it is not an easy task to live in communion with one another. But maybe things in this world could change if we allow ourselves to come closer to others and let others come closer to us, giving ourselves to each other without restrictions, just as we are, caring for the practical and spiritual lives of those around us, and accepting their care for us.” These are the words of Caesar Molebatsi, president of the World Alliance of Young Men’s Christian Association sixteen years ago in his message during an observance of the World Week of Prayer for Christian Unity for the YMCA and YWCA. The challenge still remains today.
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Any congregation that is truly part of the Body of Christ is a Spirit-filled, anointed community. It is a place where the guidance of God actively sought and the presence of God is actively welcomed. It is a place where the gifts of God given to each are used to bless other people of God. It is a place of shared suffering and shared rejoicing. A community that is truly part of the body of Christ where there is justice, mercy, humility, and equity. It is a community with a redemptive mission. The words of Isaiah speak of that mission, that redemptive mission to heal, calls the whole body to that mission. It is not a mission for individuals, but for a community committed to being a nurturing environment in which healing, teaching, praying, prophesying, and preaching are the focused intention of every person. No one person can do it all. Even Jesus did not do it all, he called his disciples, then us, to form a community in which there would be consistent, ongoing, interdependent witnesses.
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Jesus in this mission statement brought healing and hope to the seeming daunting task in our world today. Our God is a GOD OF HOPE. Listen to Jesus’ message again: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Wherever Jesus went, he brought hope. It was his calling-card. He brought hope to the leper, exiled from his home and his community. He brought hope to the paralyzed man who was unable to care for his family. To people who felt worthless, or lost, or broken, or rejected, or beyond saving, Jesus brought the message that God loved them—that they had a purpose in life. Even in Jesus’ last moments, when he was dying in agony on the cross, he offered the hope of eternal salvation to the thief dying beside him. This was Jesus’ first act in life and his last act before death—the giving of hope.
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We are enjoined faithfully to commit our personal and corporal lives to Jesus’ statement of mission which is now ours by virtue of our baptism founded in this hope. It reminds me of the Five Marks of Mission in the Anglican Communion: “Proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom; Teach, baptize, and nurture new believers; To respond to human needs by loving service; Transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and pursue peace and reconciliation; To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth.” We need to trust each other to work cooperatively to create a healthy community, so that we can eventually take our place as a whole and healthy body working alongside other corporate, incarnate bodies to bring the kingdom to life here and now.
God calls us to duty, and the only right answer is obedience. God calls. It is better to obey blunderingly than not to obey at all.
Let us pray.
Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may receive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Epiphany 3 Collect, ECPBCP p.119)
