Church of the Incarnation

Jesus has been teaching in synagogues all over Galilee, and word about him is spreading. In the course of his travels, he makes his way to his own hometown of Nazareth. And on the sabbath, he goes to the synagogue just as he's done in countless other towns. In those times a small town synagogue would probably only have a scroll or two of scripture, each containing a book or a portion of a book of today's Bible. So Jesus, the visiting preacher, stands to read from scripture and is handed the scroll this synagogue happens to have, the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Jesus winds the scroll thoughtfully until he finds just the right passage, and he begins to read: "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."

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me." The word "anointed" in Greek is Christos or Christ, the name used for the long-awaited Messiah, the one God would anoint and fill, who would finally set the people free. But it's also through Christos or anointing that God has always chosen leaders for the people. Aaron and his descendants were anointed as priests to serve the people. Saul and David were anointed as kings to rule the people for God. And the prophets were anointed to speak God's word to the people. To be anointed is to be chosen by God and filled with God's spirit, empowered for a special ministry of service to God's people. Those anointed aren't always the obvious choice - the great King David was just a little shepherd boy when God anointed him. And those anointed rarely see in themselves the abilities and the faith that God sees in them. But the anointed are able to accomplish amazing things because God has chosen them and equipped them and supports them through their ministry.

"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" .

Jewish time was marked in sevens. A week was seven days long, with the seventh day being the Sabbath, a day of rest, a day set aside. Years, too, were marked in sevens. There would be six years, and then the seventh was a sabbatical year, a year in which the land rested, a year in which no crops were grown. The Lord would provide by granting such a bountiful harvest in the sixth year that the people would have plenty to eat through the sabbatical year as well.1 After seven of these groups of seven years, the fiftieth year was called the Year of Jubilee, or the year of the Lord's favor, as Isaiah puts it. This was a year of liberty for all. If during the previous forty-nine years a family had had to sell their family property to make ends meet, in the Year of Jubilee they received their property back again.2 Those sold into slavery during the forty-nine years were set free in the Year of Jubilee3. The Year of Jubilee was a little taste of the Kingdom of God, a morsel of complete justice and equity, a year in which no one profited from their neighbor's misfortune and everyone was equal again. The poor were lifted back up and the rich were brought back down so that all had just enough and everyone was cared for. The promise of the year of Jubilee to come gave hope to those who were downtrodden and reminded the people that God would never leave them in despair forever.

Jesus says, "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."

And Jesus says, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. I am the anointed one, the one sent by God to bring about the Year of Jubilee for all people, the one chosen and empowered by God to set free those who are oppressed and to make sure that all have enough." These are audacious words.

And I say to you now, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled again in your hearing." Because I am the anointed one, the one sent by God to bring about the Year of Jubilee for all people, the one chosen and empowered by God to set free those who are oppressed and to make sure that all have enough. And so are you. You are the anointed one. And you. And you. Jesus was anointed to bring our ultimate salvation. But each of us is anointed to bring about the Year of Jubilee, the little glimpse of perfect justice and equity. We're anointed to set the oppressed free, to lift up the poor and bring down the rich so that all have enough, to be for God's people tangible proof that God will not leave them in despair forever.

I've been haunted by the stories coming out of Haiti, stories of dead bodies festering in the roads because there's no one to dispose of them, stories of amputations performed without anesthesia or antibiotics because there aren't the most basic medical supplies, stories of the thousands and thousands of homeless squatting under makeshift tents with nowhere to go and nothing to eat and no hope in sight.

We are the anointed ones, chosen and equipped by God to lift up the people of Haiti, to make sure they have enough and to be sure they know, really know that God will not leave them in despair forever. Today the scripture has been fulfilled again in our hearing. We are the anointed ones. Not our government, not our relief agencies, but us, you and me. I don't know what this means exactly. Do we organize a fundraiser that mobilizes our entire community to help? Do we plan a mission trip for this summer, working with the Episcopal diocese in Haiti to rebuild homes or churches or vaccinate children or feed the hungry? I don't know. That's for us to discern together. I just know that we can't sit idly by while our brothers and sisters are in such dire need. Because we are the anointed ones, chosen and equipped to bring about the year of the Lord's favor.

Amen.

References:

1. Leviticus 25:1-7.
2. Leviticus 25:13.
3. Leviticus 25:40-42.