This week’s text from Luke’s gospel is profoundly challenging for all of us as we think about the way Jesus chose to live out God’s ministry with humankind as the Chosen One, anointed by God as Messiah. Jesus was invited to read at his local synagogue in Nazareth, following glowing reports of his teaching in other synagogues in the region and his local community wanted to hear him too. He accepted the invitation and he chose Isaiah, 61:1-2 as his text for his preaching. This was the choice Jesus made, where he now begins his public ministry, after his baptism, after his time of prayer and reflection in the wilderness, and after word has spread about his powerful preaching and teaching in the region. It would have been like a fire cracker had been lit, I imagine, in the synagogue on that day!
‘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, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’
Jesus rolled up the scroll, and looked around the synagogue and said:
‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ (Luke 4:18-21)
We are now on high alert and we begin to wonder what Jesus meant. We had something similar happen on Tuesday, at the inaugural prayer service led by Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington as she preached from her personal experience with her community, about the impact of the decisions being made by the new President of the USA. She began by reminding people they were gathering to pray for unity, as a people and as a nation. Unity being an essential building block for people to live in freedom and in a free society. She referred to the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus exhorts us to love:
not only our neighbours, but to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. To be merciful as our God is merciful. To forgive others as God forgives us. And Jesus when out of his way to welcome those whom his society deemed as outcasts.
Her sermon was practical as she laid out the building blocks needed for unity: honouring the inherent dignity of every human being; honesty; and humility. She finished by saying:
“Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you, and as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families, some who fear for their lives. The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labour in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals, they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbours. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurdwara, and temples. I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land. May God grant us the strength and courage to honour the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love, and walk humbly with each other and our God, for the good of all people, the good of all people in this nation and the world. Amen.”
Jesus went from the Nazareth synagogue with Isaiah’s prophetic words ringing in the ears of all who were listening, as he spoke truth to those in power in his own faith and to the colonising empire, walking steadily towards his death. Jesus’ words have polarised, energised, inspired and transformed people’s lives. Jesus unleashed God’s unstoppable Spirit of love and courage which continues to flow through God’s people all around the world. Today, we are stilled once again by Jesus’ words and actions, as we pray and listen to the present-day courage of Bishop Mariann, acting out Jesus’ words and I hope we too, find our own courage to speak. If we support the US President we will react as he did, saying he didn’t think it was a very good service and the sermon wasn’t nice and she isn’t a very good person. Possibly the people in the synagogue may well have held the same range of opinions about Jesus.
In Australia today, who might be the people we refer to in our country as we think about the poor, the captives, the blind and oppressed, like Bishop Mariann: certainly the LGBTQI+ community, but also the Jewish and the Palestinian communities; and the First Nations People, who continue to be imprisoned at much higher rates by our justice system, and we stand by and watch them and others who aren’t white, being treated in a racist manner by a country which has no compassion for them. Our treatment of refugees continues to break our UN commitments; our imprisonment of young people in watch houses and detention centres is appalling, breaching all manner of human rights to which we have committed nationally. Might we find ourselves saying to one another, like Bishop Mariann:
‘I ask you to have mercy on those children in our communities whose lives are taken by suicide, on those children locked up legally in abusive state sponsored centres, on parents separated because of violence because we find it difficult to call it out with our neighbours and friends; have mercy on those fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land. May God grant us the strength and courage to honour the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love, and walk humbly with each other and our God, for the good of all people, the good of all people in this nation and the world. Amen.”
Archbishop Jeremy is calling on all of us to have courage this year and into the future as the people of God. We need faith and courage to do as Jesus did, we need faith and courage to follow Jesus as we have promised, to seek mercy and have compassion, love and forgiveness in our hearts, just as we ask Jesus to have for us. We pray for Jesus’ courage to be with us in these days.
The Lord be with you.
