The Gospel isn’t meant to be gulped down on Sunday morning, but gnawed on through the week so it really becomes a part of us. You’ve got to work at it, like a dog with a good bone! Here’s the Gospel for this coming Sunday — Third Sunday After the Epiphany — with food for thought on the question: How can we be part of God’s Good News of Jubilee? Gnaw away!

Luke 4:14-21

Jesus returns in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and his reputation spread throughout the region. He was teaching in the Galilean synagogues, and all were loud in their praise.

Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. Entering the synagogue on the Sabbath, as was his habit, Jesus stood up to do the reading. When the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed him, he unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:

“The Spirit of our God is upon me:
Because the Most High has anointed me
To bring Good News to those who are poor.
God has sent me to proclaim liberty to those held captive,
Recovery of sight to those who are blind,
And release to those in prison –
To proclaim the year of our God’s favor.”

Rolling up the scroll, Jesus gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he said to them, “Today, in your hearing, this scripture passage is fulfilled.”

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The Backstory – What’s Going On Here?

This passage marks the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in Luke’s Gospel. Immediately following Jesus’ baptism ([1]Luke 3:21-22), Luke introduces Jesus through a lineage going all the way back to Adam … establishing him as not just a Jewish but a universal figure. Jesus then goes through a time of testing and preparation in the desert ([2]Luke 4:1-13), which brings us to this passage.

Jesus begins his ministry in his hometown of Nazareth, and he went to the center of the community’s life — the synagogue. That Jesus was reading was not unusual … any adult member of the synagogue could read and preach. But it is his sermon (certainly one of the shortest in history! “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”) that is the crux of the passage. Jesus chooses a passage from Isaiah — a slightly altered version of [3]Isaiah 61:1-2 (he omits the phrase “to bind up the brokenhearted” and inserts “release to those in prison” from [4]Isaiah 58:6. It is the beginning of the final section of Isaiah … a section about Israel’s
deliverance and judgment.

In claiming that this scripture is fulfilled in this day, Jesus is doing two things. First, he is casting himself in the role of God’s deliverer of the people of Israel. Second, he is using the words of Isaiah to establish the theme of his life and ministry … what he will be about. It is worth noting that his scripture quoting stops Isaiah talks about “the day of vengeance of our God.” Jesus’ ministry is to be about life and grace.

How the people reacted to this is another story! But more on that next week.

A few things to chew on:

• There are several references to “the Spirit” being upon Jesus. In the passage before this, it is the Spirit that leads Jesus into the wilderness. Luke refers to Jesus being “filled with the power of the Spirit” and the passage from Isaiah says “the Spirit of our God is upon me.” The Spirit is literally the breath of God. When we are full of the Spirit, we are living into the reality that every breath we take is God’s breath, every ounce of life in us is God’s life. Jesus was transformed by the Spirit into being fully who he was, who God dreamed of him to be … and that was the fulfillment of the promise to Israel and the world. The word “spirit” is also of the same root as “inspiration” – and rightly so because inspiration is the power of the Spirit to challenge and lead us to live fully. Where and when have you felt “full of the Spirit” or “inspired”? Where and when have you felt part of a greater purpose and drawn into a larger life? What did that look like for you? Do you feel that way now?
• Jesus began his ministry in his hometown among the people he knew. There is a double-edged sword here. On one hand, people who know and trust and love you are more likely to listen to you and you have more power to affect them. On the other hand, there is an incredible amount of risk involved because you can damage relationships that are dear to you. Often it is far easier for us to speak of intimate and difficult things to strangers than to friends and family. Sometimes it’s easier for us to tell complete strangers about our faith or to invite them to church than it is to tell or invite our own families. What has your experience of this been?

Try This:

Jesus says he is here to ” proclaim liberty to those held captive.” There are many forces that hold all of us captive. Things that prevent us from living the lives full of God’s breath we are born to live. We can be held captive by addictions — be they substance, sexual, electronic or other. We can be held captive by destructive attitudes. We can be held captive by toxic relationships. As we affirm in the renunciations in our baptismal liturgy, we can be held captive by “all sinful desires that draw us from the love of God?”

Take 5-10 minutes at the beginning or end of each day this week. How are you spending your time. What Spirit is flowing through you? Where are you living fully and where are you being held captive? Where can you ask Christ to set you free?

Jubilee

“To proclaim the year of our God’s favor.”

What Jesus read in the synagogue was familiar to anyone who would have heard it. It was a message of deliverance. A message of restoration.

For Jews, every 50th year was sacred. it was the year after seven cycles of seven years and it was set aside in Leviticus 25:10:

And you shall hallow the fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you: you shall return, every one of you, to your property and every one of you to your family.

This year was called the year of Jubilee. It was the year of God’s favor. All debts were forgiven. The playing field was leveled. The oppressed were set free.

Jesus is saying that he is the living year of Jubilee. And that means that we no longer have to wait until the 50th year for God to smile on the earth, for the captives to be released and the oppressed be set free.

The year of Jubilee, the reign of God’s justice, is not something we need to pine away for but is something that IS. It IS right now. It IS through Christ’s presence in us. It IS through us being the Body of Christ out in the world.

A question churches do well to ask ourselves is “If we were to disappear tomorrow, would anybody outside the community notice or care?” How we answer that question has everything to do with to what degree we are living as Jubilee people. To what degree are we proclaiming that good news to those among us who are poor, that release to those among us who are captives, that recovery of sight to those among us who are blind, that the prisoners among us go free?”

We exist to be able to say what Jesus said in that synagogue. We exist not just to speak the Good News of what God has promised in the past, but to say and live:

“Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing?”

If All Saints Church were to disappear tomorrow, would Pasadena, would Los Angeles, would the United States notice or care?

Last Sunday, Dr. Leah Gunning Francis reminded us that God comes for us as God came for Moses, asking us to be ambassadors of God. Paul reminds us that as the church we are ambassadors for Christ. How are you being an ambassador for Christ in your own home, school, work, etc? How are you living the Good News? How are you proclaiming release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind? How are you sharing where you have felt this transformation in your life and inviting others into it, too?

This is the year of Jubilee. This year, 2019, is the year that the Good News of Christ is being fulfilled.

How can we be a part of it?

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Check out the rest of Sunday’s readings

The Lectionary Page has all of the readings for this Sunday and every Sunday – [5]click here for this Sunday’s readings.

Collect for Sunday: Pray this throughout the week as you gnaw on this Gospel.

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 perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Want to read more?
[6]“The Text This Week” is an excellent online resource for anyone who wants to dive more deeply into the scriptures for the week.
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References

1. http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=130833038
2. http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=130833062
3. http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=130833095
4. http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=130833122
5. http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearC_RCL/Epiphany/CEpi2_RCL.html
6. http://www.textweek.com/