These past two weeks, I have switched the lectionary and order of two passages in Luke 4 – for reasons that I think will be clearer later. Last week, we focused on the reactions to Jesus’ first sermon in his home-town synagogue. This week we will focus on the sermon itself. Perhaps, in the terminology started by the Star Wars franchise, you can think of this week’s sermon as the “Prequel” to last week’s sermon.
Can you imagine what it must have been like to have been there on that Sabbath, the one described here in Luke 4?
At first, it must have seemed like any Shabbat service in Nazareth. The service was a simple one: a Psalm was sung, a passage form the Torah was read, and then the scroll of one of the Prophets was unrolled and read by one of the men in the synagogue. The men probably took turns reading from the Scriptures.
That Jesus was standing up to read from the Scriptures was certainly not surprising. Jesus was very much at home in that synagogue – it was his custom to attend services in Nazareth, Luke tells us. But this time there must have been a higher level of attention and curiosity. Because Jesus has been out of town for a while, and stories have been spreading about the healing and teaching that this native son has been doing in the nearby town of Capernaum and in the region. Can you imagine, then, what it must been like to hear Jesus read these words?
Jesus reads from the passage we heard earlier, Isaiah 61. In Isaiah’s time, the people had been forced into exile and felt that God had abandoned them. The words given to Isaiah to speak to the people are words of assurance and hope for these poor exiles and captives oppressed by a tyrant: “God has anointed me to bring good news to the poor,” Isaiah declares. “He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” The “year of the Lord’s favor” that Isaiah is talking about refers to the year of Jubilee that was to take place every 50 years and would be when all debts were cancelled and all lands lost by debtors were returned.
After reading these words from Isaiah, Jesus sits down, as would be the custom for rabbis interpreting the Scripture, and he utters these unforgettable words in his first recorded sermon in Luke: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
“Today.” There is a lot packed into that little word. In proclaiming that Isaiah’s words have been fulfilled on that day, Jesus is making a subtle, but bold, claim. These words of the prophet in chapter 61 were associated with Israel’s longed-for Messiah, because it was widely believed that when the Messiah came, the people of Israel would fully experience what Isaiah is describing. The Messiah is here, Jesus is saying. A new age is dawning – and it begins now.
Today. The waiting is over, Jesus is saying, without explaining why it took so long for today to come. After all, Jesus has been living and working in Nazareth for a relatively long time. He is about 30, Luke tells us in chapter 3. In a time when the majority of people did not reach age 60, Jesus is essentially middle aged.
Why today – and not yesterday? Apparently, Jesus had needed to be prepared. Or perhaps, the people had to be ready to hear what Jesus had to say. In any case, Jesus first had to be baptized and sent into the desert to be tempted and tested by the devil. All of that has taken place. Now – and only now – Jesus is ready to announce: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
“Today” – there are times when we want God’s timing to be yesterday. There are times when we wonder why God is taking so long to give us what we think we need, or what we think our loved ones need. We wait – and pray. We wait – and fret. We wait – and grow impatient and doubtful.
But these words of Jesus remind us that today does come. Just because our plans and our timetables are not realized does not mean that there is no plan or no timetable. God loves us and does not leave us waiting for no reason. Perhaps God knows that the time is not right, or that we are not yet prepared for what we need to do, or that what we think we need, is not what we really need. Or perhaps, God has something to teach us in the waiting – like patience and trust and an ability to tell the time – God’s time. Or perhaps, God knows the full healing we need will not come on this side of heaven. In any case, God knows the right time, just as God knew the right time for the 30-year-old Jesus.
“Today this scripture has been fulfilled.” Not tomorrow, or a vague “some day.” Jesus is not just using Isaiah to paint a picture of what awaits us when we get to heaven or in some indefinite future. No, this new thing God is doing has already begun.
Jesus goes on the move here in Luke 4. Travel with Jesus through the rest of the gospel of Luke and you will see the words of Isaiah coming to life. The poor and outcast are really be welcomed and helped. The blind do see. Those captive – to disease, to demons, to sin – are really released. Those oppressed – by poverty or by the political and religious authorities – are set free.
Jesus begins the work of the Messiah here in Luke 4 – and he has not stopped since. The political religious authorities cannot stop him. Sin and evil cannot stop him. The cross and death cannot stop him. Jesus Christ is alive – today! And, he is at work in the world, bringing justice, freeing the oppressed, healing the blind, and releasing the captives, just as he announced on that day in the synagogue. Christ’s work is not complete. But it has already begun.
Jesus’ inauguration sermon here in Luke 4 is not unlike the American Declaration of Independence – a bold declaration made at the beginning of the quest for independence, not after the British forces were driven out. In fact, at the time of the Declaration, the British still easily controlled the colonies and a year later would force the Continental Congress and signers of the Declaration to flee Philadelphia.
It is like C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, when the evil White Queen’s sled can no longer slide easily over frozen ground. There is still snow on the ground, but the thawing has begun because Aslan, Jesus Christ, is on the move.
“Today.” There are a lot of people these days, especially in the global West, who seem to think that God’s best days are behind us. Christianity is something that belongs to the past, like great cathedrals and a politically powerful church. For outsiders, Christianity can be said to be for the old, for people living within the strait jacket of a dead tradition. For those inside the church, for the faithful, a powerful sense of nostalgia can take over, a belief that the past is better than either the present or the future.
On the other hand, there are others who can only focus on the future, like those believers mesmerized by discussions of the rapture and a Second Coming, or those who worry only about whether they will have a place in heaven. And, there are others overwhelmed by that future and its uncertainty. Some have said we have an epidemic of anxiety related to our future.
To be sure, we have reason to look to the past, and we want to do so to remind us of God’s faithfulness in the past. And we want to look to the future, to be reminded that what is now is not all that shall be. We have reason to be filled with gratitude for what God has done in the past, and to live with trust and hope for what God will do in the future.
But we cannot focus so much on the past or future that we lose sight of the present. We cannot let a nostalgia for the past, or an anxiety for the future, cripple us and blind us to the present activity of Jesus Christ. Because God’s Son, God’s Messiah is at work, and on the move, today.
“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” So, what do these words mean for us here and now – not just at the global or theological level, but at the personal and daily level? What do these words mean for you and me today?
First, look for Christ.
As Craig Barnes writes, “it is popular to ask, ‘What would Jesus do?’ The better question is always ‘What is Jesus doing?’” The first question assumes that the Savior and Messiah is on the sideline giving us instructions and “setting impossibly high standards that we attempt to imitate by doing what we assume he would do if he were in our situation.” The second question, on the other hand, assumes that he is alive, active and at work in the world and in our lives.[1]
In other words, the question, “what would Jesus do?” assumes Jesus is the architect but when it comes to the building, we are on our own. The question, “what is Jesus doing?” reminds us that Jesus is not only the architect, but Jesus is also the builder. It is not all up to us. We are just called to join with Christ in doing Christ’s work.
Look for what Christ is up to – and join him. That can be easier said than done. Especially when the headlines are dark, when we see people suffering at the hands of others, when we are standing at the bedside of the dying and alongside the grieving. How then, how now, can we count on Christ being at work today?
As one commentator on this text writes, Jesus is declaring these words ”before he calls Herod a fox, before John the Baptist is executed, before he cries over Jerusalem, before he is betrayed by a friend, before he is tortured and lynched on a Roman cross.” This Jesus Christ is familiar “with the sharp realities of living in the shadow of empire’s might. So, his “today” is not naïve or optimistic or positive thinking.”[2]
So look and listen for Jesus Christ at work in the empires of our day. Tune your eyes and ears through prayer. Focus not on the darkness. Look for the light and the agents of Christ’s light who are joining with Christ to bring good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and freedom for the oppressed. Join them. When we do, we will find once again the truth of the words on the back of the shirts of those who show up after hurricanes, floods, and fires with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance: “Out of chaos, hope.”
God’s promise is today. God’s love is today. God’s justice is today.
There is a second implication for us in that word, “today.”
We may well think that our best days for being useful for God and doing Christ’s work are somehow behind us. If we think our worth, purpose, and meaning are tied into our paid work, then we may think we lose that worth, purpose, and meaning when we lose our jobs, or when we retire. If we think our worth, purpose, and meaning are tied into the times and ways we have cared for others, then we may think we are less valuable, less worthy of doing God’s work, when the nest is empty or the loved one we have cared for dies. If we think that our worth, purpose, and meaning is tied into our ability to be physically active, strong, and in good health, then we may think there is not much we can do with Jesus Christ when we lose that strength or health. In such cases, we may think that these words of Jesus are limited to “yesterday” and not “today.”
On the other hand, if we think we are too young, or too inexperienced as a Christian, too much of a sinner, or too poor, we may well think that we will only be able to join Christ in doing that work tomorrow, when we are older, or have been coming to church longer, or have changed our lives for the better, or have a better job and more money.
But the word on Jesus’ lips here is not “yesterday.” And it is not “tomorrow.” It is “today.” Today, you have a mission. And I, though mine is changing, I have a mission today. Today, we are each called by Christ to join him.
If we want to find purpose, hope, and joy in this often chaotic and menacing world, we must join Christ in his work…
Today. Amen.
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[1] M. Craig Barnes, The Pastor as Minor Poet (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009), 59.
[2] Eric Barretto, “Not Later. Today.” https://day1.org/articles/620288c26615fbd79f00000d/eric-barreto-not-later-today.
