Luke 4:14-21

The Third Sunday after the Epiphany, 21 January 2007
Luke 4:14-21 , Walter W. Harms

WITH JESUS, TIMES HAVE CHANGED: HAVE YOU?

I  like to ask people what is the oldest “thing” in their home.  While recognizing that everything in the home has always been, since the creation, I am looking for that which has some recognizable form which happened after the creation.

I  have some fossils which my son found on his adventures up many streams in this area.  I don’t know how old they are.  Perhaps several million?  Well, who knows.  One thing for sure they really don’t have much influence on me.

I have a smoking set consisting of a hand hammered metal bowl used to contain a few live coals used to light the pipe of a person who was smoking tobacco. That was given to me by a friend when I was in Japan. It’s supposed to be 300 years old, which is about 70 years before our Declaration of Independence, which really has meaning for us.

But I would like to think that the oldest object which still grips me, holds me, disturbs me, and challenges me, at times, is God’s Word in the OT.  Today’s reading from the life  of Jesus recorded by this man, Luke, has Jesus quoting words from the book in the OT called Isaiah. Now Isaiah lived about 700 years before Jesus, and that means he lived some 2,700 year ago.

Now that is old! Really old!  That 700 year old stuff got Jesus so excited that he was bold to say: “Today what this man said all those years ago is coming to fruition right now!”  What Isaiah talked about at Jesus’ time was being fulfilled.  It was happening, taking place, going on.

Isaiah had said that the Spirit of the Lord would be upon a person who had been anointed, dedicated, set aside to, (listen to this!) bring good news to the poor, proclaim that the captives are released, the blind would be able to see again, and the oppressed would go free. This special person filled with God’s Spirit would bring in the year, the time, the age that God would regard as special.

Jesus to that says,  “Yep, that’s what I am here for and it is happening, folks!”

Now that statement of Jesus is old, really old, older than anyone here (I think!).  We, that is Christians say, that what Jesus says is important, contains the only truth that is truth, and it is to be followed by us, believed by us, applied to us, each of us.  His words are for you and for me.

Does the adjective, poor apply to you and me?  Have we ever experienced the need to be released because we were tied up, couldn’t escape from something?  Have we ever been blind?  Well, maybe not physically, but simply unable to see what we should do and the path we should follow?

How about needing to be free?  Sure we celebrated Martin Lutheran King, Jr.’s day last Monday, and his words echo of his famous speech “I have a Dream” ring in my mind, „Free at last! free  at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!“  And he spoke at a time when he did not yet see freedom for all people in America. Do we still need to be free.

And with all that is going on in your life, do you sense that you are living in God’s favored time?  I mean, do you have  a basic belief that the Lord’s with you, favors you and is guiding you because of his love for you?

Some of this ancient stuff seems weird when we think about our world today.  We seem to be like a character in one of those movies where suddenly a huge ball is rolling toward you and you are not sure you can get out of the way before it smashes you.

But I would like to tell you today that because this person Jesus showed up on the scene in Palestine, times have changed.  Have you kept up with the times?  Or are we living in some old calendar year, a time when Jesus was not, Calvary wasn’t known, Bethlehem and Nazareth were what? And we keep dragging along the chains of our captivity, unable to see what lies ahead, poor excuses for human beings, unable to shed all that oppresses us.

Because of Jesus, we who have so often failed to live up to our potential, have excused our behavior for reasons that in the light of day are made of non-existent material, and blame our behavior either on bad genes or bad up bringing.  We, yes, we, that includes you, and it certainly includes me are released.  We are rich with God’s favor.

God looks at you and is delighted because you, yes, you are his perfect person. But ah, yes, we don’t see that do we.  We believe reality is our bickering, our stuck-in-a-rut ways of doing things that result in anger, disgust, bitterness, and nauseating dull routines.

Jesus has made it possible for you to change, to venture out into a world of compassion, love, forgiveness, hope and peace.  He has wiped away the cataracts of our corrupt reasoning that distorts our vision of the heavenly Father, who loved enough, loved you enough, to have Jesus go through death and the grave for you.

So many of the persons who were slaves when the Emancipation Proclamation was made didn’t know what to do with their freedom.  They were not prepared to make decisions because they had been under their taskmasters.

In this new age in which we are living, we need to be bold in our faith.  We need to trust this Jesus, filled with the Spirit whom he gives to us in Baptism and the Blessed Sacrament.  We need to live free from old enslaving habits because Jesus gives you the freedom to live that way.  We need to trust that this world which wants to oppress us and thus depress us with its beliefs and practices is powerless, useless, in his new age.

Times are a-changing.  It is the year, the time when God’s favors are yours.  Don’t live in the past, but let the promises given in the past give your freedom, release, insights and riches, as you enjoy the world of your heavenly Father.  Amen

Walter W. Harms, retired pastor
Austin, TX  USA
Comments: waltpast@aol.com