Saturday, January 25, 2025
Sunday Reflection: From Luke 4
14Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. 15He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. 16When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read,17and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: 18“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, 19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
There is a lot going on here, of course. But the part that really hits me is this: "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..." Wow! I mean... right there, it lays out what we need to do if we want to walk with Jesus to fulfill his mission:
-- Help the poor
-- Release the captives
-- Heal the sick
-- Free the oppressed from their oppression
-- Proclaim the year of the Lord's favor (maybe a reference to the year of Jubilee, which occurs every 50 years and involves the forgiveness of debts-- and it is this year, 2025)
Not included:
-- Judging others
-- Comforting the rich
-- Seeking power
One thing I would note... people often read "free the captive" as being about freedom from sin rather than being about actual prisoners. I'm not so sure about that. After all, that reading would make "freeing the oppressed" redundant, for one thing. In addition, a reading that this is about actual prisoners seems to be supported by Jesus's express interest in the imprisoned (ie, "when you visit those in prison, you visit me").
You might think that maybe by adopting this reading, I'm just justifying my own work (I was in a prison yesterday, in fact). But that's backward-- I adopted that reading before I became an advocate and began to pursue that work because I think it is a biblical mandate. It's not a justification, it's a motivation.
And you know what? It is hard sometimes, as it should be (Jesus never promised easy). I had an attorney visit with a pro bono client, but it was regular visiting day, too. That meant the lobby and parking lot were full of wives, grandfathers, mothers, and especially lots and lots of kids waiting to see someone. There is a lot of crying, and yesterday a disturbance when someone was accused of bringing in contraband. When I got back to my car there was a woman my age sitting in the car next to me, her body curved over the steering wheel, sobbing. It was that kind of crying that inhabits a whole body, haunts it, fills every cell. I couldn't move. Such failures, we are.
Before that, I was walking out past one kid, and he looked up at me, and seemed to be wondering what I was doing there. Often I wonder the same thing, given the frequent futility of it all.
But, too, I had footsteps to follow. Even though I am so bad at it and so often fail, I still have to try....
