Luke 4:14–21
The Third Sunday after Epiphany | 26/01/2025 | Luke 4:14–21 | Evan McClanahan |
Luke 4:14-21 NRSV
14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. 16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Jesus’ Inauguration Address
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
We had a presidential inauguration this week. All of the pomp and drama that comes with such a rare and important event was on full display. The best designers offered their best designs. Prayers were offered. Hymns were sung. Speeches were given. It was a national liturgy planned down to the minute, communicating the importance of a peaceful transfer of power and offering evidence that we remain a nation of laws and not of men.
As per custom, the president delivered an inauguration address. Such speeches are often full of bromides and cliches about the greatness of America and our prospects for the future. The speeches offer Hallmark-esque feel-good quotations that are forgotten in a matter of days as Washington D.C. gets back to its fight-to-the-death partisanship.
President Trump’s speech this week was a little different. It was full of specific policies that he campaigned on and intended to see through. The language was direct and gruff for the most part, not flowery. And it was highly critical of the previous administration, even as the previous administration was only about ten feet away.
Love it or hate it, at least it was honest. You either had something to root for or work against, much different from the usual speeches that are as empty and unsatisfying as a sugar-free dessert.
Well, you might look at what Jesus says and does in Luke 4 as his inaugural address. Remember that Epiphany is the season of beginnings. John the Baptist paves the way. The disciples are called. Jesus begins his ministry. And here, in Luke chapter four, Jesus preaches in his hometown synagogue. He tells them that things are beginning, that old prophecies are being fulfilled in their hearing that day, that Jesus is the messiah they have been waiting for.
No, there was not a democratic election. We don’t elect God. So Jesus is simply announcing that his revelation as messiah has begun. And like any good inauguration speech, he has policy proposals. Indeed, they are provided by Isaiah, and Jesus reads them from the scroll, then rolls up the scroll, and sits down.
Now, we hear “sits down” and think to ourselves, “Okay, he’s done.” No, he is only beginning. Rabbis taught sitting down, not standing up. The point is that when he lays out the role of the messiah and then he “began to say to them, ‘Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing,’” we are to understand that he spent more time explaining how he will fulfill the prophetic mandate. Luke did not record this entire sermon for us because the rest of the Gospel is the sermon.
But let us look at this new administration’s policies as laid out by God’s prophets. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because 1) he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. 2) He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and 3) recovery of sight to the blind, to 4) let the oppressed go free, and 5) to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
One of the immediate challenges we will encounter with texts like this, especially in Luke, is the degree to which Jesus is addressing physical/economic hardships or spiritual hardships. Luke is often considered a Gospel account that is more concerned with the material well-being of others, while the other Gospels are more concerned with the spiritual well-being of the hearers.
The nice thing about different Gospels having different emphases is that we don’t have to choose. The material and the spiritual well-being of the whole world is our concern. But just keep that in mind.
1) “He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.” One of the problems with money is that no matter how much we have, we always want more. As we acquire more money, our standard of life usually increases. Only the wisest among us achieve the discipline to maintain a modest standard of living even if we can afford more. Something like half of all Americans – depending on the poll – live paycheck to paycheck, and our credit card debt as a nation has never been higher.
Yes, certain expenses have dramatically increased due to our money printing and profligate spending. Still, in a nation where the median salary of someone with a bachelor’s degree is over $80,000/year, half of us should not be living paycheck to paycheck. But we spend more than what we make and then think of ourselves as “poor.”
By any historical standard, we are not poor. Meanwhile, there are many, many people with oodles of money who are deeply impoverished. Their souls are as empty as their bank accounts are full. So what does Jesus mean?
Well, clearly he does not preach a mere “redistribution of wealth gospel” to the poor, so he can’t simply mean that the good news he will preach is material. He is saying to the materially poor that their life is more than their backbreaking labor and they can possess the real hope of an eternal reward in heaven. And to the spiritually poor, he offers a rich life of meaning and purpose, something far more fulfilling than the mere chasing of carnal pleasures. So yes, Jesus has good news for the poor, and we see it demonstrated throughout his ministry.
2) “He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives.” Jesus is quoting here from Isaiah. Was this originally good news sent to the exiles from Israel, who found themselves imprisoned by the invading Assyrians? Is Jesus opposed to the prison as a concept? Are we to believe that the release of prisoners – even those guilty of terrible crimes – is a good thing?
Well, truth be told, prisons are not biblical. Thieves paid back what they owed, and murderers swiftly got the death penalty. In a perfect world, we would not have prisons at all, actually, but methods by which criminals would make repayment for their crimes. Taxpayers would not bear the burden of their crimes; the criminals would! And we would lead efforts to encourage penitence – hence, penitentiaries – so the criminal would cease committing crime.
But until we have those reforms, I suppose keeping criminals away from the innocent public is the best we can do, and such a practice is just. And yet, imprisoning the innocent is not just. While presidential pardons have been provocatively issued this week, there has been much rejoicing that many innocent people – including those who simply prayed in front of abortion clinics – were freed via a pardon.
Is there also spiritual meaning? Of course! “All who sin are slaves to sin.” Being forgiven of our sin is becoming a free man or woman. So long as our sins accuse us, we are captive to them. But when we trust that Jesus has freed us, we are free indeed.
3) “to proclaim recovery of sight to the blind.” Of all the miracles Jesus performed, his opening the eyes of the blind were second only to the raising of Lazarus. To the extent that these physical miracles point to the ultimate power and confounding glory of Jesus, nothing tops the many times Jesus restores sight to the blind. Also, there is surely a symbolic meaning to the spiritually dead and dark who cannot see God’s truth, who need their spiritual eyes opened by the power of God.
One of the reasons I am not too keen to reduce proof of God to mere “evidences” is that I know the spiritually blind can see all the evidences they could ever want. But they can’t see them. The evidence for God is everywhere, and now available online, in thousands of books, endless podcasts and YouTube channels, etc. But the preaching of Jesus is what actually recovers the sight of the blind. Denial of God is not a sight problem; it’s a heart problem. The path to the eyes is through the heart.
4) “To let the oppressed go free.” As I am now going quite long, I won’t dwell on this teaching, which is quite similar to the others. Jesus liberates man from his sin. But in his own day, he may very well have been freeing men from false teachers that oppressed their students with lies. The truth of Jesus has literally freed millions from false teaching.
And finally, “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Now, this is, in Isaiah, certainly a reference to the Levitical Jubilee year, a 50-year freeing of all debts, an act that was tied to the promised land, and was most definitely an encouragement to leave the promised land and take dominion of the whole earth. But for the Christian, every year is a Jubilee year.
I see, for example, that the Pope declared 2025 a Jubilee year and offered indulgences – yes, those indulgences – if you go to Rome and walk through any number of doors. Jesus proclaimed the jubilee in his ministry and he proclaimed it most of all from the cross. If you believe that, then you know this year is most assuredly also the year of the Lord’s favor.
Yes, Jesus no doubt wowed at his inaugural speech. He announced his victory. He laid out the plan. And then over a course of about three years, he executed perfectly on that plan. To all who trust in Jesus, their eyes are open, their hearts are pure, they are free from their sins, and they are building a better world. Thanks be to God. Amen.
In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
©Evan McClanahan
First Lutheran Church
Houston, Texas, USA