We Have Been Anointed

 Luke 4:14-21 January 26, 2025 Epiphany 3

 

I just want to remind people that I don’t pick out

these scripture readings myself.

These were chosen by a committee

in the 1970s and 80’s.

And sometimes I think they made weird choices

that are wrong for the day.

and sometimes it’s kind of spooky how well

it coordinates with current events

and challenges your preachers to

to not get complacent. This is one of the spooky times.

 

So this is Jesus first sermon.

This is kind of a two-parter scripture wise.

Next week we’ll talk about the reaction of

Jesus home community that he was preaching to.

Which is very interesting.

This week, we focus on the scripture he read

and the very short sermon he preached.

 

This is the beginning of Jesus ministry,

the first thing he does after his baptism.

He does some preaching stints around Galilee.

He goes into Nazareth, his hometown,

where his old friends and family would be.

And he reads this scripture.

 

It’s basically Jesus’ inaugural address.

Jesus is setting up vision statement for his ministry.

and the ideal of what his church should be.

 

If we were going to choose

one thing from the Old Testament to read

to epitomize Jesus’ ministry what would it be?

  

Some might say the story of

Adam and Eve and the serpent,

maybe the 10 commandments,

the story of Moses and the Exodus,

Abraham and Sarah, one of the psalms

there are a lot of options to choose from.

 

But Luke, the writer of one of only four gospels we have,

chooses to highlight this one reading.

It’s from Isaiah 61

 

The one that Jesus reads

he “has been anointed to

bring good news to the poor.

release to the captives

recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to proclaim the Year of the Lord’s Favor.”

 

That was the scripture reading.

This is the vision statement for the gospel.

Maybe not what the people were expecting.

Maybe not what we would expect.

Good news to the poor?

When we think about what Christianity has been

and what the most vocal portion of Christianity has become.

This might seem as far from it as you can get.

For a very long time, Christianity has been used to

prop up and defend the powerful and the wealthy.

And the fear of retribution or loss of funding has

made the Christian Church complicit in many

of the saddest  moments of our history.

  

The Church of Christ has been silent

or has been used to support the ruling class, 

brutal politics, war, economic exploitation, slavery, and genocide.

Our own Martin Luther used his theology

to support the government’s harsh treatment and

slaughter of the poor during the peasants revolt of 1525.

 

And as we’ll learn more in the class on Bonhoeffer,

the church in Germany and around the world was

either silent about the persecution of Jews in Europe

by the Nazis or supported it personally and vocally.

 

Historically, we have not followed Jesus vision statement

that he puts forward in this gospel.

 

And you know the church today is not doing

such a bang up job of being good news to the poor.

At best, churches and pastors and bishops are silent. 

Afraid to speak up because of reactions or retributions.

 

At worst, some churches have encouraged the terrible

treatment of the poor and oppressed and homeless.

The hate and vitriol against gay, lesbian, and transgender people

has been led by parts of the Christian church.

The prosperity Gospel that’s sold in many

mega churches in the US has presented poverty

as a personal, moral failing and not a societal problem.

Much of the hew and cry for the deportation of 

undocumented immigrants has come from the segments of the Christian church.

 

Lots of churches and leaders, including our own in the ELCA,

make a kind of statement when they sit on the sidelines

and remain silent about these things.

Or just make generic, mealy mouthed statements

about getting along with one another and agreeing to disagree.

  

Many times when churches or leaders do speak up

When we talk about poverty and justice and immigrants,

other leaders or people inside and outside the church

say that churches shouldn’t be involved in politics.

When these things come up,

we’re  supposed to be focused only on spiritual things,

on heaven and hell and not the things of this world.

But is that really what we’re supposed to do?

 

I think that Jesus’s vision today in his sermon

and at the beginning of his ministry is pretty clear:

Good news to the poor.

Sight to the blind. 

Release to the captives.

Help the oppressed go free.

That sounds like the things of this world to me.

 

That sounds pretty political.

It doesn’t sound ethereal or spiritual.

That sounds like someone’s status quo will be disrupted

That sounds like someone’s gonna get a nasty letter.

It sounds like something real is supposed to happen.

 

Now I have to bring up this sermon given at the

National Prayer service for the inauguration

of the president this week.

I wasn’t going to, really.

But the scripture is kind of begging for it.

I am glad that I’m in a church 

where I can talk about it

because lots of my colleagues are not.

 

This sermon was given by Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde.

It was given at the Washington National Cathedral.

Her church, basically. It was a lovely, appropriate sermon,

about unity, and the importance of humility, honesty,

honoring the dignity of all people.

Stuff we kind of talk about all the time.

 

At the end, she asked the president directly to have mercy.

That’s it.

Have mercy for Transgender people who are scared.

Have mercy on the people who pick our crops and

clean our office buildings who might be fleeing

war zones and persecution. who are scared.

She asked the president – the most powerful person in our country—

to be merciful to some of the least powerful people in our country.

A rather innocuous request from a pastor if I heard one.

But, of course, it’s not just about what’s said,

it’s about the context its said in.

And this was very courageous of the bishop.

 

Well, some people lost their minds.

The president was offended and asked for an apology

calling her a “so-called bishop”.

And certain people from congress passed a resolution

stating that the sermon was a display of “political activism

and condemned its distorted message.”

 

But more concerning to me was the response of

church people who are furious over it.

calling the bishop a “crazy woman” and a “witch” and a “God hater”

One pastor accused the bishop of the “Sin of Empathy.” 

I am not kidding

This is a thing in certain portions of the church.

“The sin of compassion and empathy”

 

I’ll talk more about people’s reactions next week,

when we hear about how the people of Jesus home town

tried to throw him off a cliff.

But today, I just want to say that these people

who condemned this were not offended by

the Bishop and her preaching.

They are offended by Jesus.

They should actually read the sermon on the mount

and see what kind of resolution gets passed in congress.

 

Shane Claibourne is an Evangelical theologian he wrote

yesterday about this moment in our history

in an article he called “a collision of two Christianities”

He said there have been two different versions of

Christianity in our country and our world for centuries.

Two very different versions of how to follow Christ.

One that tries to follow Jesus teachings and example and

one that uses Jesus as a tool for personal and political power.

 

He comes to this conclusion:

The word “Christian” means “Christ-like.” 
If it doesn’t look like Jesus, and it doesn’t sound like Jesus … let’s not call it Christianity.
If it’s not about love and mercy … let’s not call it Christianity.
If it’s not good news to the poor …  let’s not call it Christianity.
If it’s not about welcoming the stranger … let’s not call it Christianity. 

 
Jesus has given us a vision.

In his parables and the way he treated others, he gives us a vision.

In the way he lived and the way he died, he gave us a vision.

He gives us a vision in this sermon.

God has anointed him and therefore anointed us

to bring good news to the poor,

to give sight to the blind,

to give release to the captives

and let the oppressed go free.

 

This is what it is to carry the name Christian.

This is what it is to be like Christ.

Let these words be fulfilled in us

every time we hear them.