9 Sept 2024
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor he has sent me,to proclaim for the captives release and to the blind sight; to send forth the oppressed in release,to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’
This translation follows the greek ordering more closely, so you can see there is an emphasis on me and release. This is Jesus saying why he has come. And it’s a Gospel of liberation.
This moment is seen in Luke studies as pivotal to understanding the whole Gospel. Unlike the other Gospels, Luke has put this episode in Nazareth at the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. They are Jesus’ first words, and his first teaching. By referring to Isaiah he is claiming authority and legitimacy from Scripture; That ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’. It’s the only time in the New Testament that we have Jesus’ teaching in a synagogue. And it’s referred back to both later in the Gospel and in Acts as a summary of Jesus’ work.
But Jesus isn’t just quoting Isaiah. He’s interpreting him. So he finishes at “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour” Omitting the second half of the verse (Isaiah 61:2): “and the day of vengeance of our God”, And adding an additional line from a few chapters before in Isaiah: ‘to send forth the oppressed in release’, With the effect of emphasising the Gospel of liberation and minimising the theme of judgment.
Jubilee is an important theme in the Old Testament (though how often it was actually observed is anyone’s guess). The principle is that everything belongs to God so the year of jubilee is a year of release every 50 years, meaning that property reverts to is owners, and slavery and forms of bondage and debt are ended. The Student Loans Company adopted something similar. For Luke the words release and forgiveness are virtually synonymous, and, as is clear in his healings and exorcisms, also entail a release from the binding power of Satan. The healing in miracles in Luke are largely described as forms of bondage to the powers of darkness; And often understood metaphorically – sight to the blind concerns as much people’s spiritual vision in recognising Jesus and the activity of God, as literal blindness. It’s not a metaphor we would use today but for Luke it helps represent the totality of Jesus’ restoration of fractured humanity, body, mind and spirit. Because, as we saw last week, these various complaints also lead to social exclusion, for lepers, outsiders, tax collectors. So Jesus in Luke is someone who restores people completely. Release, forgiveness, healing, restoration all coincide as the mental, physical, spiritual and social are treated holistically. No wonder then, that in Luke almost every account of healing is followed by an act of praise.
Jesus is not treating symptoms, he is restoring the natural order of creation within creatures, between creatures, and with God. Syntactically, the force of the statement from Isaiah, is that Jesus is anointed to preach good news to the poor. The remaining infinitives, ‘to proclaim’ release for captives, sight for the blind, ‘to send forth the oppressed in release’, ‘to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour’, all elaborate the preaching of good news to the poor. Poor requires a little elaboration of our own here. The modern reader will immediately think just in cash terms here. We have grown accustomed to thinking economically and any suggestion that someone is of less worth because of their gender, ethnicity, age, job, injury or defect, would get you cancelled pretty quickly. But this is a time when minor defects would have you removed from being a priest, a solider, or just entering the congregation. These were not inclusive times. Status and purity were hugely important and the cause of exclusion everywhere. So when Luke uses poor he is thinking of all causes of exclusion. We see the word poor associated with physical complaints: the blind, lame, deaf, maimed; leper; Economic: The hungry, captive and oppressed, Social: Mournful and persecuted. Theological: Sinners.
And even those who were comparatively wealthy, our tax collectors like Zacchaeus – because he is not respectable, a social outcast, qualify as poor; Someone in need of restoration.
By preaching good news to the poor, Jesus is effectively welcoming the excluded, the dishonourable, the sinner, restoring people and relationships; Bringing everyone inside the tent. It is: “status reversal” Outsiders becoming insiders; Unexpected grace.
The corollary of this, though, is that insiders become outsiders. Status reversal works both ways. It is undeniable that the life of Jesus was a crucifix of conflict which split the Jewish people. If we look at the fate of anyone in political history who stands against authoritarian rule, we can expect the worst. By championing the outsiders, ‘the poor’, Jesus is challenging those on the inside. And there’s a clear undercutting of the authority of those in power. At the beginning of the Gospel Luke states the secular authorities – Herod, Octavian; In contrast to Jesus. You’ll remember from the Magnificat:‘he has scattered the proud’‘brought down the powerful from their thrones’‘sent the rich away empty’ And Simeon prophesied: ‘This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed’. Jesus brings conflict. And others will align themselves with the forces that gather against him, The Jewish leadership, Herod, Pilate, Judas; As one biblical scholar put it: ‘the gracious visitation of God does not occur without resistance’ (66).
That this conflict will lead to suffering is no surprise. For Luke suffering is integral to Jesus identity as the Son of God. From Jesus opening speech in the synagogue, we saw the importance of Isaiah as a lens by which Luke understands Jesus. Isaiah’s famous articulation of the ‘Suffering Servant’ speaks directly to the passion:
Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases;But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities;upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth;Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors;yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
This suffering is proof of the obedience of the Son. It also aligns him even more closely with ‘the poor’. And of course it’s here that we see the paradigmatic status reversal. A righteous man, declared innocent even by Rome is executed as those of the lowest status: crucifixion. (Even execution is status-bound in this world.) But raised up by God. He has lifted up the lowly. He has given light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.
So Jesus brings conflict. Those who are self-seeking; Those who are high-status; Will push the righteous man out of the world. But will be brought low.
The peace Jesus comes for is to the low status, the outside, the sinner, the dishonoured; These are raised up. This is the good news Jesus preaches, as the fulfilment of Isaiah. And the resurrection is the assurance, the call to faithfulness and perseverance. This is Luke’s Gospel as status-reversal.
How does this Gospel sit with us? Are we among the poor? Do we side-with the poor? Are we among those to be lifted up? or with the proud who will be brought low? Where is that we are seeking release? Forgiveness? Healing? Restoration? Do we have the faith to take hold of this Good News, Are we ready to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour?
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