preach it Jesus

 

Once upon a time Jesus gave a sermon.  In that sermon he quoted the prophet Isaiah.

 

“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,

     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

 

And then he said. "today this scripture is fulfilled"

And the people said "Preach it Jesus"

 

And then he said, this promise is for all,

And they tried to throw him over a cliff

 

The problem here was not that Jesus was excluding the people of Nazareth from the Blessings of God, from participation in the Good News.  No.  The problem was that he insisted that the blessing was for all, and that they, God’s people, were going to have to include, in functional, practical ways those whom they had always excluded.

 

They weren’t ready to do that, so they drove him to the cliff.

 

Are we ready to do that?

 

Are we ready to insist that the blessings of God are for all?

Are we ready to love our enemy?

Forgive those who persecute us?

Give radically, that the naked and hungry might be clothed and fed?

Are we ready to fight for justice for all?

To insist on the common good?

 

Every time we do those things, we effectively proclaim the good news

Every time we don’t, we carry Jesus to the cliff.

 

When we shame the poor

When we support people and policies that rob people of their right to vote.

When we accept convenient lies

When we limit our compassion to those who are like ourselves

When we engage in behaviors that threaten the health of others

 

We carry Jesus to the cliff.

 

If we think about the passage this way it can be kind of a downer.

 

But there actually is good news here.

We are post-Pentecost people.  We are people who carry the Spirit

We are people who, together, are the body of Christ

We are Christ’s ambassadors

 

We are those entrusted with the good news

“The Spirit of the Lord is on us,

    because he has anointed us to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent us to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

 

I'm reminded of an apt bit of wisdom most often attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi:  "Preach the gospel at all times," he said, "and when necessary, use words."

 

We are called, collectively as the church to be the voice, and hands and feet of Jesus.

 

We are called to speak forgiveness.

We are call to touch people with compassion.

We are called to go into the dark places of society,

The deeply dark places of the world,

And work for justice, and equity

 

In more concrete terms?

We are called to do what we can to stop this virus

We are called to do what we can to make sure everyone gets to vote

We are called to make sure no one goes to sleep hungry

We are called to make sure people have a place to sleep

We are called to make sure all are treated equally under the law

 

It is our job

For the Spirit of the Lord is upon US