Jesus, Thorn in Our Side

Luke 4:14-21

January 24, 2016

Epiphany 3

This is the beginning of Jesus ministry,

the first thing he does after his baptism,

is to go into his hometown and read

Christ Pantocrator, 6th Century
St. Catherine's Monastery, Mt. Sinai

 

 

 

 

 

this scripture. And Luke found it significant

enough to put this down for everyone to remember.

It’s kind an inaugural speech if you will,

a mission statement for Jesus ministry.

If you were going to choose

one thing from the Old Testament to read

to epitomize Jesus’ ministry what would it be?

Some might read the story of

Adam and Eve and the serpent,

maybe the 10 commandments,

the story of Moses and the Exodus,

Abraham and Sarah

a psalm,

Maybe we would want to hear

about forgiveness of our sins

or our union with God in the after-life.

But Luke, the writer of one of only four gospels

chooses to highlight this one

that we read today from Isaiah 61

 

Jesus reads that he “has been anointed to

bring good news to the poor.

release to the captives

recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to proclaim the Year of the Lord’s Favor.”

That was the scripture reading.

That was the mission statement for the gospel.

Maybe not what the people were expecting.

Maybe not what we would expect.

Good news to the poor.

Sight to the blind.
Release to the captives.

Help the oppressed go free.

That sounds like something real

is going to happen with Jesus.

That sounds maybe like social upheaval.

That sounds like some people’s comfort

might be challenged.

By the way, the last thing,

the Year of the Lord’s Favor,

isn’t as easy as it sounds.

The Year of the Lord’s Favor is not just a year

when God proclaims God's love and favor for us,
It was the year of Jubilee proscribed in Leviticus,

at the foot of Mount Sinai, and in Deuteronomy.

This Year of the Lord’s favor

was something that was to happen every 50 years,

On the 50^th year, all debts were to be forgiven,

Those people who had to work as slaves

for other people to pay off their debts,

were released and those debts forgiven.

Land was to be returned to its original owners.

So if some people had accumulated property

or land because someone else

had to sell it to pay off a debt,

the land was to be returned to the original owner --

either given back outright or sold 

at a greatly reduced price from its actual worth.

This was done to prevent a great accumulation

of wealth and land by one portion of the world

and a great accumulation of debt on the other.

Every 50 years, money and land from the more well off,

were in essence, given away to the poor.

So that each person started off the same, with a clean slate.

But the most striking thing about the Year of the Lord's Favor,

is that although it was told to personally to Moses

by God at the foot of Mount Sinai

there is no evidence that it was ever actually done.

People generally believe that it was pretty much ignored,

The religious people paid attention other Levitical codes

they took them very literally:

They did the sacrifices,

They washed their hands at the prescribed time,

they stoned women for committing adultery

but relieving debt and giving things back to the poor,

that was pretty much ignored .

We can understand that, right?

Christianity has often forgotten about Jesus inaugural

statement and the many commands in the bible to

care for the poor, release the prisoners

care for the disabled, and let the oppressed go free.

We would rather focus our time on

our personal salvation, our worship styles,

forgiveness of our sins (and judgment for others)

and Jesus guaranteeing our eternal life.

We don’t actually want God to get involved here,

in our finances, our wealth, or our comfort.

At Christmas time,

when we look at that little baby Jesus

in his manger, lying there all peaceful,

we think of things like the preciousness of life,

the wonder of children, Jesus is cute and cuddly,

he fills us with pleasant thoughts.

But the epiphany realization is that

God's incarnation into humanity is not all skittles and beer,

not all comfort and cozy.

Incarnation is God coming to this earth,

Jesus is God's word come to earth

those passages from Isaiah come to life.

As well as being a comfort in our trials and struggle,

God means to get involved in this world in some really specific ways.

We understand that God loves us,

We like to say that God so loved the world.

We like to say that God loves us just as we are.

And I believe that is all true.

But God doesn’t want to keep us and the world

just as we are,

God doesn’t want the world to stay the same.

That is why God gave us Jesus.

God needs us to change.

God needs the world to change

Sometimes, maybe, it might be nice if God

would just stay up in the sky

sitting on a heavenly throne somewhere far off,

quietly working out my salvation.
It would be decidedly easier for many of us if

God wasn't involved in my here and now

But that’s not the God we know in Jesus.

Jesus is God's word come to earth.

Jesus is God's word put into action here.

Jesus is the scripture put into the world and lived out

Absolutely incarnate, and absolutely a thorn in our side.

Today still the poor are in need of some good news,

the captives are still imprisoned, the blind still can't see.

The Year of the Lord's Favor still has not happened 2,000 years later.

Now how could Jesus preach that

the scripture had been fulfilled in our hearing?

He can, because Jesus is the living Word

when we hear Jesus read about the poor,

and the captives, and the oppressed,

these words come alive for every new generation.

We know that he’s talking about the poor today.

the captives today, the blind today.

And Jesus talking about it, makes us talk about it too.

- Jesus wants us to talk about the fact that 

one in five children in the US are living with food insecurity.

- He wants us to know that people with disabilities are

twice as likely to be living in poverty.

- He wants us to realize that we have only 5% 

of the world’s population and 25% of the world’s incarcerated people.

-He wants us to know that the richest 10% controls

2/3 of all of America’s wealth.

- He wants us to be aware that debt lines the pockets of

the wealthiest corporations, makes poor people even poorer

and cripples most of the small countries all over the world

- He wants us to talk about the fact that one of the poorest cities

in the nation, Flint Michigan, has had their water supply sacrificed

at the altar of budget cuts and savings.

Jesus means to be real and present with us today,

Jesus wants his words to live in us,

and bug us and take up our time.

Jesus wants to be a thorn in our side.

And more than that,

Jesus first words of his public ministry

challenge that and tell us that he hasn’t come

to save us individually, privately, apart from another.

But for Jesus, our salvation is wrapped up

in the lives of others,

the poor, the prisoner, the disabled, the oppressed.

By the power of our baptism,

we are one with those in most need all over the world.

Let us hear the word of God new every day,

Let the word of God be alive in our world.

Let us be good news to the poor.

Let us give release to the captives.

Today, let God's word be fulfilled in our hearing.