Freed to Serve the Poor: A sermon for 3rd Sunday after Epiphany

Text: Luke 4:14-21

            It was MLK Jr Day on Monday, and I saw a quote of his I hadn’t seen before. It wasn’t part of some big speech, not some dramatic thing. Just a simple question. What are you doing for others?

            Frankly it’s a question we need to be asking more often, as a culture, as a country, as a world, because for a lot of people the answer is nothing or a question in response, what are they going to do for me?

            We live in an indivualistic society, take care of yourself, and maybe if you have extra time or money, care for others. Or for many, if helping someone else doesn’t benefit them directly or monetarily, they don’t do it. We care for grandstanding and getting our own way more so than the care and concerns of others, just look at how our government shutdown this last month, leading to government workers being at risk of missing housing, rent, medical, car payments, while also trying to keep families fed, and some can’t even take the time to find extra work.

Yes, many will receive their back pay, but the fear in the moment is real. And there are many throughout our country who live in that uncertainty every single day, not just in shutdown situation. the question still arises, what are you doing for others? Why do we only look out for the needs of others in the direst of situations?

[Jesus good news to poor]

            Our question is addressed also in our gospel lesson today. This time not from MLK, but Jesus.

            “¹⁸“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.”

            Ok, so, Spirit with Jesus, good. Anointed to bring good news to the poor. That’s good it sounds, what does good news to the poor mean though? This is the Gospel of Luke, which means it’s very Mary focused at the beginning. Mary in her song at Elizabeth’s as she is talking to her cousin about the miraculous birth that will occur, sings the Magnificat, Mary’s Song. In it Mary sings, He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.

Jesus is indeed his mother’s son, and I think his message of good news to the poor is a reflection of his mother’s message. Good news to the poor, doesn’t mean also good things for the rich, it’s an equalization, a justice making event. Or to use biblical langauge, making things Zedek, Hebrew for righteous, all things right as God wants them. A study came out this week from the organization Oxfam, a poverty relief group. There are almost 8 billion people in the world right now, the poorest 50% make up 3.7 billion of them. Oxfam has calculated that the richest 42 individual people have the same wealth as those 3.7 billion. Of all the wealth generated in 2017, 82% went to the top 1%. That’s enough of that statement of Jesus, but it’s not the best of news for the rich.

            Next, release to the captives. All of them. Some of course the people there will love, their family and friends imprisoned by the Romans or other authorities. But, what about the rest? Really all of them?  Just so you know, America makes up for around 4% of the world’s population, but has around 22% of the world’s prisoners.

            Recovery of sight to the blind, ok, that’s an easy one, we can all get behind curing blindness, no confrontations there.

            Let the oppressed go free. Sounds great again, not sure the oppressors will like it all too much. Much of our world has been built on the backs of oppressed people, and oppressors don’t often want to give up their power. For the people of Jesus’ time, it is good news for them. Under Roman occupation, they were the oppressed people.

            Lastly, proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Or often called, the Jubilee year. This is an event called to be practiced in Leviticus 25, calling for every 50 years all debts to be cancelled. If you owe something, it’s cancelled! If others owe you something, it’s cancelled! That’d be pretty nice for housing and student loans.

            And Jesus says he’ll do that all. Today the scripture will be fulfilled in your hearing. Arguments will be, well, he is talking metaphorically about how he will save people through his death and resurrection. Well, he doesn’t say that. He says, I will change everything about how this world works. What are you doing for others? Well, Jesus is championing justice for the poor and those in need.

            When we ask the question What are you doing for others? And then we read the bible, and you can find things like this in more than just this passage, we find that Jesus answer is not just doing some good things for them, but his answer is, I’m living my whole life for the other. And even to the point of death. Our Vocation, how we live out our life of faith in the world through daily life, is to do the same.

I saw another quote this week, it needs some clarification I feel though. The quote is this, The Gospel is less about how to get into heaven after you die, and more about how you live in the Kingdom of Heaven before you die. In Jesus’ teaching he talks often of the kingdom of heaven or kingdom of God coming near, meaning here on earth, not an after death occurrence. Here’s the clarification, Jesus does in fact guarantee us salvation, and eternal life with God, from Romans 5, But God proves [God’s] love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Christ cares for the other, us and all others, so much he died, so that sin and death will not overcome us.

            And therefore, as freed Christians, we are called to serve our neighbor. We are called to answer the question, what are you doing for others, with an enthusiastic everything we can. And to do so as the assembled body of Christ. Our 1 Corinthians passage reminds that we are all needed, all worthy, all important parts of God’s creation.

            People of God, we are freed from our selfish needs by Christ who gives us life, who claims us, who feeds us. And the Christ asks us, what would this world be like if we cared for the other first. What if we cared more about other people than we cared about money? What if we put our communal needs before financial gain? What are you doing for others?