The Ministry of Hope

Jesus was aware of his prophetic ministry when he stood in the synagogue for the reading of the Scripture and then sat down to speak.  He read from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah and said his prophetic message was to bring good news to the poor and to announce the jubilee year, a time when liberty is proclaimed, all debts are canceled and all property is restored to the original owners.  He said, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

There is a lot going on in this gospel passage.  Luke weaves together passages from the 58^th and the 61^st chapters of Isaiah. Those are the chapters in which the prophet talks about "loosing the bonds of injustice," "freeing the oppressed," and being anointed by the Spirit to bring good news to the poor.  We learn that Jesus is filled with the Spirit, that his mission goes beyond Israel to all who are in unfortunate circumstances, and that he fulfills God’s promises.

The gospel of Luke has a universal appeal and an interest in human and social relationships.  There is concern for people who are outcasts, for women, and those who are oppressed.  There is also an emphasis on joy and the Holy Spirit, on the graciousness and sovereignty of Christ, and an interest in Christ’s second coming.  Luke's purpose was not to be a reporter of historical events but to provide an interpretation of what God was doing in Christ.

What do you and I have to say today in our interpretation of what God is doing in Christ?  What is God doing today?  Who are today’s poor,  oppressed and broken-hearted people?  To what extent are they simply those other people -- unfortunate victims, enemies,  physically or mentally challenged, or whatever and whomever the “other” might be?  Is good news preached to them?  Are they released from their bondage?  Is their sight restored?  Are they being given freedom from their oppression?

What is God doing today?  Does God speak through the diversity of religions throughout the world?  What is God saying to the people of the Middle East or those in Africa or Asia?  What is God saying to the United States?  What is God saying to the human community when some are well-fed, well-housed, well-educated, and well-paid, and others are hungry, have no shelter, live or exist in deplorable conditions, and die of preventable diseases and starvation?  Is God making a statement?  Through whom and to whom is God speaking?  When I look at the world around us I find it hard to imagine what God is thinking or saying.  Does God really care, or is God complacent and unwilling to challenge the status-quo?

Does God through the person of Jesus Christ live only in our historical memory, or is Christ somehow alive in the world today?  Luke wrote his gospel about Jesus and what he was doing. The prophecy of Isaiah that Jesus proclaimed in the synagogue at Nazareth declared him “anointed.”  That anointing conferred duty toward the poor, the captive, the blind and the oppressed.  What do these words mean?  The answer is that as Christians we have a ministry to others, especially to those in need..  That is the ministry modeled for us in the anointed Jesus.

In his First Letter to the Corinthians St. Paul says, "Just as the body is one and has many members, all the members…are one body…. In the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body -- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free."  We are interdependent beings, united in baptism, and we bear both the joys and sufferings of one another.  "If one member suffers, all suffer together."   You have heard me say it before, but this message of unity and interdependence is in sharp contrast to the individualism and competitive nature of our society today.  Churches and communities of faith present an important alternative to the prevailing emphasis on each individual having to fend for him or her self.

All parts of the body, the community of Christians, regardless of race, gender, religion, or nationality, are needed for the body to function.   In the Christian community every person is commissioned and anointed by the Spirit of God to bring Christ’s promise of freedom and compassion to others.

We gather around this holy Table to offer praise and thanksgiving to God, and to offer bread and wine "that they may be the Sacrament of the Body of Christ and his Blood of the new Covenant."  Through this Eucharistic meal, a meal of thanksgiving, may we be nourished and renewed to carry on the ministry of hope and the proclamation of the year of the Lord's favor.  Today the scripture can be fulfilled in our hearing for the Spirit of God is upon all of us.  Amen.