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Christ Begins His Ministry
January 21, 2007
Jesus gave a sermon in his hometown synagogue. Everyone was waiting to hear what he would say, because this Jesus was a hometown boy who had become famous. As his sermon text he read from the Old Testament Prophet, Isaiah, the 61st Chapter. Luke
4:18-19 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." Then he began his sermon, saying, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."Isaiah 61 is pure Gospel. In the Book of Isaiah, these words are about when the People of Israel are released from Babylonian Captivity. For 70 years they had been captive slaves. At the end of the period of captivity, the Spirit of the Lord God came upon the Prophet and he proclaimed freedom, release, and many blessings both physical and spiritual. It was the Prophet's calling to announce this great news, this gospel. This happened about 500 years before Christ.
Jesus said that this prophecy was further fulfilled at the very moment when Jesus himself spoke these words, right there in Nazareth. These words of prophecy were spoken to the Israelites 500 earlier, and were spoken again with new meaning in the work of Jesus Christ. When Jesus was baptized, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him in the form of a dove. This shows that he is the Christ, because the word "Christ" means a person who has been "anointed with oil" by God, therefore appointed by God to do his work. Actually, Jesus was not anointed with oil, but rather anointed with the Holy Spirit. Therefore it is with the authority of God, the authority of the Holy Spirit, that Jesus does his work. As his job description, Jesus took that of the Prophet Isaiah to be his also:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, [and] to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." And this is what Jesus did. He preached the Gospel of God's Kingdom. He freed people who were captives of the evil spirits, he opened the eyes of the blind and healed the sick, and on the cross, he gave freedom to people oppressed by sin.This prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and at the same time, it is fulfilled in us. When we believe, the Spirit of the Lord is upon us also. In Baptism, we have been anointed with authority to proclaim the good news to the poor. We have been appointed with the authority to proclaim the release of people who have been captivated by sin and sinful things.
Today's Epistle Lesson from I Corinthians 12 tells us that the Holy Spirit has been given to all of us to work for God. The Holy Spirit has given each once of us different talents and gifts for work in the Kingdom of God. And so we work together, each in our own way perhaps, for doing the work of Christ. Some can speak clearly and in easy to understand words, some can understand difficult words (can "interpret tongues"?), some have energy to do various projects, some can lead the blind and communicate with the deaf, some have hearts that are full of love and compassion, some have ears that can hear the cries of others, some have tears to shed for others, some have smiles to laugh, some have voices to sing.
How shall we understand the words of our commission, spiritually or physically? Are we supposed to physically break down the bars of the prisons and get people out in a military style raid, or are we to say it is only to give emotional release to people? Maybe both are correct when the Holy Spirit leads us.
As we know, Jesus did physically heal the sick. On the cross, he physically died to forgive our sins, and in that way he actually releases us from the chains of our sin. We can only see that with the eyes of faith, but that does not mean that spiritual things don't exist. We have been released from sin, hell and the devil. That is why we know that this is the "year of the Lord's favor."
In Christ's body, this Bible passage was fulfilled both physically and spiritually. Both are necessary. Through Christ's hands and feet and eyes and mouth and ears, we have received many wonderful blessings that our physical bodies enjoy. And that is why we use all our members to do the work of Christ: Sometimes we call this work charity or kindness or aid or love, when in our everyday life we become Christ's hands and feet and eyes and mouth and ears. And in our lives we live out what Christ has given us: love, forgiveness, eternal life, and the peace and courage to proclaim both in our life and death the love of God.
The first sermon of Christ gave an outline for his mission work. It also becomes an outline for our mission work, because "The Spirit of the Lord is upon us" also.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon all Christians, because of their baptism. And so the Mission of the Church is the Mission of the Holy Spirit. The Mission is for the whole church, for the local congregation here in Okinawa, and for each and every individual Christian.
But you know, the Spirit does not act upon us as if we were a puppet and the Spirit were pulling our strings. Neither God nor the pastor nor anyone else can pull our strings or give us commands as to a robot. God has given us eyes and ears and all our senses to feel and understand this world and to respond to the needs of the mission. In this way, the Church is like a body, the Body of Christ. The church is the body of Christ, and we are all members of it. And we start the mission of Christ when we open our ears and hearts to hear the words and then fold our hands to pray for the mission. We pray that the good news be proclaimed, that captives are set free, that the blind see and the sick are healed, and that everyone might know that now is
"the year of the favor of the Lord."Amen.
Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church