26 January 2025 Epiphany 3
Nehemiah 8.1-3, 5-6, 8-10 Psalm 19 1 Corinthians 12.12-31 Luke 4.14-21
Some interesting ‘background’ information to what we have heard in the Gospel. According to Luke-Acts, these things occurred regularly, although not necessarily in this order. An attendee brings in the scroll; it is unrolled; there is teaching from the Hebrew Scriptures, reading from the scroll, and a brief midrash or interpretation of the sacred text; the scroll is then rolled up; there is a response to the reading; the attendant leaves with the scroll.
This is what is happening in today’s gospel. And Luke gives us some important information at the beginning. Jesus is ‘filled with the power of the Spirit’. He has just come from being baptised and tempted in the desert, and the power of the Spirit has filled him. So when he reads from the scroll, and then proclaims to those listening that the ‘scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’; he is personalising the words of Isaiah. He is taking these words as his own – the Spirit is upon me and I have come to bring good news to the poor; to bring release to the captives; to give sight to the blind; and to free the oppressed; now is the year of the Lord’s favour.
The thing is, all the people Jesus is referring to are those in the community who are ‘unseen’, they are not the rich and powerful, they are not those who we notice as we go about our daily lives, and sometimes even if we do see them we steer clear of them, they are not those we ‘raise a finger’ to help. We may even ‘thank God’ I am not ‘one of them’. Yet Jesus says he comes for them.
And this may challenge our notions of power, at least the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of God which is demonstrated, not through any accomplishment or attribute we may want to own, but only through what it accomplishes for others. Power is power only when it sets others free, only when it builds up others, only when used for the betterment of others.
This is a different notion of power than what we assume functions in our society. The power that we see in Jesus pushes us to ‘re-think’ how we see power and redirects our attention away from ourselves to those around us. But it also shows us that God sees all of us – not just those the community values, but everyone. The fact that this sermon from Jesus is about what God will do for the ‘least’ in the world tells us that God gives special attention to those ‘unseen’ in the world.
Through reading we are prompted to consider who do we not see in our community. Who are the ‘unseen’ in our country, in our community. And on this Australia Day, we ask, are our first nations people included, which of the groups that Jesus talks about do they fit into, do they matter to our community, are they seen? Do we hear their voice when they speak or would we prefer they ‘kept quiet’ or remained ‘unseen’. Are we ready to hear their ‘story’ or do we assume (wrongly) that we already know it. Can we take the good news to them and others who are also ‘on the outer’ as far as the world is concerned.
Jesus testifies to the fact that God’s power focuses on those the world overlooks; the forgotten, the marginalised and disempowered. Society works, most of the time, in a two-tiered system where some have power, some are valued, and others are not; but Jesus proclaims that God sees all, loves all, and intends and promises to redeem all. Jesus words also mean that God sees those parts of us that we would prefer remained unseen. Those parts of us that are ‘not pretty’, those parts that we deem ‘unlovable’, but God loves us anyway. God does not wait for us to be ‘good enough’ to be loved, God loves us enough to see us, all of us; God loves us enough to forgive us, to challenge us; and God loves us enough to send us into the world to see and love others, especially those the world does not see. Now is the year of the Lord’s favour, may we go, and heal, and set free, and love and share the good news.