January 26, 2024
Luke 4:14-21
Introduction
Have you ever had days where you come home and say, “I had the best day today. I was doing what I love and I did it really well.” I suspect we’ve all had days like that. Things just flow. You’re in the zone. It feels like there’s an alignment between who we are, the energies and values that drive our life, and what we’re doing and everything was just right. When has that happened to you? What did it show or tell you about yourself and your life?
But then there’s those other times.
Last Sunday I told you about my whining—those times when there is no flow or alignment and everything is out of sync. I suspect you’ve had days like that too. There’s no energy, no drive or passion, we’ve lost our wholeheartedness—as Brene’ Brown would say. We wonder if this is really all there is to our life. When has that happened to you? And what did it show or tell you about yourself and your life?
And then there’s those other times when we look back on something we’ve said or done and ask ourselves, “Where did that come from? Why did I do that? Is that really who I am and how I want to be?” Those are the times when old hurts, archaic fears, childhood voices, or ingrained patterns take over and possess us and hold us captive. What has that happened to you? And what did it show or tell you about yourself and your life?
Each of these times and situations are influential points in our lives—each of them shaping who we are and who we are becoming. Each of them informing the kind of impact and influence we will have on others.
Behind each of those situations are questions about who we are and what our life is about—and that is what Jesus is responding to in today’s Gospel because Jesus understands our growing and becoming, our spiritual development is always a work in progress—which is true even for Jesus.
And throughout these times of growth and development—the good days, the whiny days, the “Why did I do that?” days— we ask ourselves in some manner or another these questions—When has this happened and what did it show or tell you about yourself and your life?
And we ask these questions to better help us do what Jesus is doing in our text for today. And what Jesus is doing, saying, and declaring is that today—this day— the spirit of the Lord is upon me.
Today—this day— the Spirit of the Lord has anointed me to bring Good News. And today—this day— this scripture has been fulfilled.
Move 1
Now it’s important to note this is not a “one-off” day for Jesus. It’s a singular focus for this day, yet we see Jesus himself wrestling with these two questions on many other days. Notable times are in his conversations with the Syrophoenician woman, the woman at the well, pretty much every conversation he has with his Disciples, Pontius Pilate, the Sanhedrin, and perhaps most notably, in the Garden of Gethsemane.
And he wrestles with these questions for the same reason we should. These questions about who we are and what our life is about aren’t so much questions to be answered—they are questions to be lived. Chances are your answers to those questions today are not what they were thirty years ago, ten years ago, or even two years ago. And probably for many situations and circumstances our answers shouldn’t be the same because we’ve grown, we’ve experienced, we’ve learned, we’ve failed, we’ve risen up.
When we consider all that happened to Jesus we see this truth. He’s been baptized and he heard a voice say. “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Then he went to the wilderness where for forty days he was tempted and ate nothing. Those two experiences are images and metaphors for love and suffering. And love and suffering are two great teachers in all our lives. They are the two things that have the power to get our attention, make us more self-reflective, more sacrificially and change our lives. They have the power to shape and form our lives in ways other situations or experiences do not. Love and suffering are both at the heart of Jesus’ life and ministry—everyday of course, but most especially… this day.
Move 2
In today’s Gospel Jesus has returned to Nazareth, the town where he grew up, to the synagogue where he worshipped as a child, and to the people who know him. He takes and unrolls the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah and reads: “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 favor.” And then he announces, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
But here’s what I wonder. Is Jesus the only one anointed to fulfill the words of scripture? What about you and me? Might we not also be anointed to do fulfill scripture?
The text Jesus is reading from is from the prophet Isaiah, and those words from Isaiah and Jesus’ comment on them are the first recorded words of Jesus’ public ministry. But the words Jesus reads from Isaiah are not an exact congruent quotation of Isaiah. Jesus has chosen and arranged particular portions of Isaiah’s text in an intentional effort to cast a specific message.
And that specific message is an expression of his baptism and his time in the wilderness where love and suffering began doing their work on him. And ever since the beginning of those works, Jesus has been paying attention and listening to the life that wants to enter the world through him. He’s been discerning what matters most to him and the values he wants to embody and live.
In so many words Jesus is saying, “This is who I am and what I’m about. These are the values that energize and drive my life. Today I am giving myself to something larger than myself and my own interests.”
And the implied message that lays underneath what Jesus is saying is that just as this is Jesus’ life work, it is our life work too. And because it is our life work too, we must ask ourselves, “What does that look like in my life today? In what ways have love and suffering shaped who I am? What is being revealed in my life that wants to enter the world through me?”
Move 3
Jesus neither reminisces about the past nor forecasts the future. He comes to his people and speaks about today—this day. He says that today is the day of fulfillment. Is he talking about today, January 26, 2025, or is he talking about today as in that day he was in the Nazareth synagogue? Yes, yes he is. Today is this day, and every day is this day.
If it’s not happening today, what does it matter if it happened yesterday? If it’s not happening today—this day— it probably won’t happen tomorrow. Today is the day—this day. And what we do or do not do today—this day— makes a difference for the lives of our children and grandchildren, for those we care about, even the stranger, and for the life of the Word, and what tomorrow looks like.
Today—this day— the Spirit of the Lord is here. Today—this day— is the day of anointing. Today—this day—is the day to bring Good News to the poor. Today—this day— is the day to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind. Today—this day— is the day to let the oppressed go free. Today—this day—is the day to proclaim 2025 as the year of the Lord’s favor.
And the fulfillment doesn’t end there. Jesus is talking about today—this day— as the day of fulfillment, more than he is giving a specific or exclusive list of things being fulfilled.
So we could also say that today—this day— is the day to love…
Today—this day— is the day to tell the truth…
Today—this day— is the day to forgive…
Today—this day— is the day to end racism…
Today—this day— is the day to welcome the migrant…
Today—this day— is the day to feed the hungry…
Today—this day— is the day to reconcile and make peace.
Today—this day— is the day for this Good News. This day.
Conclusion
Today… not yesterday and not tomorrow… this day… is the day of fulfillment Jesus is talking about.
There is no other day. We won’t get yesterday back, and we don’t know if we’ll have tomorrow.
Today is the day for this Good news. Because if not this day, then when?
*******
So let us ask ourselves…
In what ways is this Good News fulfillment happening in your life and my life today?
In what ways are you and I participating in this Good News fulfillment in the life of another today?
What’s the Good News scripture you’ve been anointed to fulfill this day?
Because this Good News fulfillment is always in progress—on our good days, our whiny days, and on the “Why did I do that?” days.
The Good News fulfillment is who we are becoming and what our lives are to be about…today…this day. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, January 26, 2025
Gracious and loving God, on this day you have brought us together to hear your Good News, to feel its presence and power, to be reminded that no matter life’s varied circumstances, you are at work fulfilling the promise and vision you have called us into and called us to be active participants to help fulfill.
We give you our deepest thanks, and our adamant praise for the gift of your Good News, your power, love, and wisdom. For we know you have known us and loved us from before we even were, and extended your grace to us before we knew your name. You save us from ourselves— from our arrogance, rebellion and sin; and from the powers of the world which seek to ensnare us with lies and ignorance and division.
And you save us for something, as well—for a new life of holiness and for the great purpose of sharing and spreading your Gospel truth—giving it away with love and hope for its fulfillment this day.
Because of this we can trust you and depend on you to renew our spirits and our resolve to see in this day the opportunities before us to spread your Gospel truth, your Good News.
Guide us as your church, we pray, to live up to the best of who we are and who you call and aspire us to be. Implore us to look beyond ourselves and see the needs of our neighbor, the stranger, and the needy. Empower us to be in the world but not of the world, to be the Salt of the Earth and to be the Light of the World. And give us the heart of our Savior, the mind of the Holy Spirit, and the creativity of you our Creator that we might be full participants this day, and every day, in the redeeming, renewing, and fulfilling work of your almighty hand.
We ask for you to hear now the prayers of our hearts as we lift them to you—this day—in this time of Holy Silence.
All this we pray in the name of the one who is the Word, the Good News, Jesus the Christ, who taught us to pray, saying, “Our…”