Transcription

Well, good morning again everybody. It is good to be with you this morning. As I mentioned earlier, I'm Father Morgan Reed. I'm the vicar here at Corpus Christi Anglican Church.

We are in the season of Epiphany, which focuses our attention on the glory of God, which is moving to the nations and the neighborhoods around us. And today in St. Luke's Gospel, we are experiencing the glory of Jesus as it moves through the synagogues throughout Galilee. And here in the passage this morning, we have Jesus, whereas before when we focused on his baptism a few weeks ago, the Father is declaring the glory of Jesus over him for all to hear.

Now we have Jesus's self-reflection, his own declaration of his own glory, as he is anointed and understands his own anointing by the Holy Spirit in bringing about the Messianic Kingdom. And so as we look at our passages this morning from Nehemiah, the Psalms, 1st Corinthians, and our Gospel, let me pray for us. “In the name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be always acceptable in your sight. O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.”

Amen. Well, the ministry of Jesus in this passage is one of bringing about the New Age, the age that was to come that everyone was looking forward to, bringing about the kingdom of God through a community of people. And one of the implications from this passage is that the church becomes the society of the New Age.

It's a community where we experience the kingdom, where wrongs are to be made right, where the downcast are to be lifted up, where the wounded are to be healed, and where the poor and the marginalized are to be dignified and held in honor in community. And all of this is the continuation of the work of Jesus, revealing his glory to the nations through his works. This is what the church is called to.

And it's really important for the church, then, to view itself as a society of new creation. But in order to view itself as a society of new creation, we need constant recalibration. And by recalibration, I mean the daily process of repentance and conversion of heart, turning from all of our disordered and worldly attachments to turning towards the way of Jesus.

We need that daily to recalibrate ourselves to the way of Jesus. And I think our passage today calls us to join in those crowds who were sitting in the synagogue watching Jesus. They were fixed on him, as our passage said. We're to join those crowds in wondering attentively at the works of Jesus. And as we think about wondering attentively at the works of Jesus, we want to look at three things. First, Jesus's self-understanding from this passage.

Second is the ministry of the servant in Isaiah. And third, the resulting posture the church ought to take based on Jesus's self-understanding. So first, let's, I want to look a little bit both at the ministry of Jesus, but also the history of the synagogue, because I think that's helpful as we think about this passage.

Jesus and the Synagogue

We read something really interesting in the Old Testament. We read from the book of Nehemiah, where the exiles have returned from Babylon, and they're hearing the law of God being read to them for the first time in a long time. And there's only one problem, though. After 70 years of being in exile, most of the generations have forgotten Hebrew. And in fact, the younger generations may have never learned it, because in this time period, in the Persian period, Aramaic became the lingua franca. Everyone spoke, read Aramaic, not Hebrew. 

And so groups of men are going through, according to the passage that Father Steven read for us, as they're going through, they're interpreting the Hebrew for the crowds to understand. I can't remember what English word was used there, but the idea is probably something like translating, and maybe with a little bit of exposition in there, too. But the fact of the matter is, they're making it accessible for people by taking Hebrew, which nobody understood, translating it into Aramaic, and slowly explaining it as they went along.

And so scholars think that that, not that particular event, but the Persian period becomes the origin of what is later known as the synagogue. It wasn't anything formal back in that time, but groups of people are starting to share a common life together, and they're living out the covenant of the Torah in decentralized ways, and that will eventually grow up into a more robust system by the time of Jesus. That was a way over simplification of 400 years, but just so that you have an idea of kind of the trajectory of these things, there's no temple at this point, they're hearing the law read away from the temple, they have to figure out how do we live this out when the temple is not central to our lives? And so by the time you get to Jesus's day and age, Pharisaic Judaism and the synagogue is what gains the most traction for living out the the life of the covenant of Moses.

Pharisees being the ones who established the rules and the norms for the synagogue, which just means assembly, but it had boundaries to it. There was a liturgy that usually consisted of recitation of various prayers, a reading from Torah, a reading from the prophets, instructions in the readings, read Aramaic there, you know, translating into Aramaic, and then a benediction, which actually if you're familiar with the daily prayer life of the Anglican tradition, it's very similar, and there's a reason for that. The Jewish synagogue and the daily office will, there's a common thread there.

And so Jesus opens the scroll when he's in the synagogue, and it happens to be Isaiah 61. Now anybody remember two weeks ago, if you were here to celebrate the baptism of Jesus, what servant song did God proclaim over Jesus at his baptism? Anybody remember? Yeah, there you go, Isaiah 42, good memory. So God proclaims over Jesus the anointing of this servant, Jesus.

Now you have also the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. So Jesus is reading this passage, which is another servant song in the book of Isaiah. There are several of these. There's this question in Jesus's day, who do these apply to? Is it the prophet? Is it a messianic figure? Is it the people of Israel? Is it all of them? And Jesus is here understanding them as himself. And so he's saying the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and then what's going to follow is how Jesus understands the nature of his own messianic ministry. He's going to dictate the terms of what this is going to look like based on Isaiah 61.

So he's reading the servant song with an understanding that this is what the Lord has called him to do, and the last time we heard about the anointing of the Lord was at the baptism. And Jesus began his public ministry here after the baptism and after being tempted by the devil in the wilderness. We come to this part of the book of Luke where Jesus is going synagogue to synagogue in the northern region of Galilee.

That's where the ministry of bringing the kingdom seems to begin, and he's going throughout Galilee calling people to turn to the kingdom of God. He's the one who's going to bring this new age, this new covenant, and fulfill all these servant songs in the book of Isaiah that point towards the redemption of God's people, and this is exactly what they're looking for. They're looking for the judgment of injustice, the renewing of creation.

 And Jesus says, “I am the one who will bring this about.” We didn't read the later part of this passage, which will show that there are some who will reject the message of Jesus, his words and his works, in contempt and thinking about, well, we know we've known this kid since he was born, you know, how can this kid be the one who's going to bring all these things about when he preaches in Nazareth? But instead of joining those, I think this text calls us to join the crowds who are watching with attentiveness and waiting on the ministry of the Messiah to come, dignifying the image and honoring the image of Jesus and other people with compassion, following the way of Jesus. We begin by listening to who Jesus says he is. That's what this passage calls us to, to join the crowds and listen to what Jesus, who Jesus says he is.

The Ministry of Jesus in the Servant Song

So secondly, we got to pay attention to the ministry of Jesus. It's a society of new creation that Jesus is forming. That's what the church is, a society of new creation. Jesus says that his ministry is to proclaim good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to recover sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and then to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. And what this does is those who are in the synagogue now who are listening, this puts them in the place of being the poor that are mentioned in Isaiah 61.

And why the poor? Those who are economically impoverished, they know that they have need generally. And what we find in the Gospels is that those who are among the poor have a more positive response to the ministry of Jesus than those who don't think that they have need. And so the poor, economically, point us to the fact that we all have the need for the ministry of the Messiah.

 All of us, whether we're economically well-off or not, this is why we dignify the poor in community as a reminder that all of us are in need of the redemption that Jesus brings and the deliverance that Christ wants to bring in us. Jesus is bringing individual transformation through a society of new creation. So it's not just about one narrow sense of justice, it is about individual transformation, but it's also about both.

And I think there's a New Testament scholar named Darrell Bock, he brings these things together in a really helpful way. And I'll read the quote from him. He says, “…It's significant that the poor get singled out as a particularly appropriate audience for the gospel. The outsider often related to Jesus's message the best. The church is certainly called to minister to such people and to do so with a sensitivity to their plight and poverty, since a major ethical call for the church is that Christians are to meet one another's needs and to love their neighbors as the church expresses its love concretely to all.” I was, as I was thinking about this text today, one of the things I had thought about and think about how fast this church changes over.

Some of you may not remember a family that was in our church about three years ago. There was a family that visited our church back when we were at our old location. And during the passing of the peace, the father in this family came up to me and said, Sir, I want to be baptized. And then as I talked to him, he wanted the whole family to be baptized. It's the first and only time that's ever happened to me at the passing of the peace. It was an incredible moment.

And the family had come here from India and they were seeking political asylum because they had been threatened by death by their Hindu family. And so their request to be baptized led to one of the most deeply effective journeys for me, and I think in a lot of ways for the whole church, because you all walked with this family through their immigration process, providing needs, through the process of walking them through baptism and confirmation. You helped them with job hunting and medical expenses, provided them resources and even vehicles to help them get to their jobs and medical appointments.

And their ministry among us was incredible because there was a joy and a warmth with which they welcomed people. And some of you said on your, well, I'm thinking of somebody's testimony that this man welcomed them on their first day and they just felt incredibly welcomed, like his joy was palatable. And watching them grow in Jesus and understand more of the gospel and what Jesus can do for them was such a renewing experience for me. And if you knew them, I'm sure that was a renewing experience for you. And it made me so sad when they moved. I'm still sad about it.

But that season, when I think about it, you know, for the year and a half or so they were here, yeah, I was so proud to be a part of this church at that time because all of you worked together and you gave me a great example of what the holistic transformation of Jesus could look like in community, right? There was the spiritual need of new life, and there were also these other needs that the community came around them and served them in a holistic way, and it made me so proud to be a part of this church. And so Corpus Christi Anglican Church, when you think of this name, Corpus Christi meaning the body of Christ, it's inherently communal. And so it should always be a place where those who are other are brought into loving community and known and are knowing others, where they're honored and where they're dignified and they experience the redeeming love of Jesus in one another.

And what this reminds us of, and as I think about this for myself, as we think about the ministry of Jesus and the servant song of Isaiah, all of us then are the blind. Like, we are all unaware at times of our spiritual need. We are all the poor who are spiritually lacking and we need the abundant life of Christ in the kingdom of God. We are all held captive to disordered affections and attachments of the world, and we all need freedom from them. We are all the downtrodden, we are all the oppressed who need liberation from the outside forces that are all warring against our souls. And so as we experience the work of Jesus in community, we're filled to the brim with mercy and compassion for all of our neighbors who find themselves in the same place spiritually and socioeconomically.

Think of your neighbors, who lives next to you, who lives a few doors down, right? Think of that person. And this is how the glory of Jesus, the dominion, the loving rule and reign of Jesus, and his fame and reputation as king go into the world through our neighborhoods. That's what I love the season of Epiphany, because it focuses us on how Jesus's glory goes to the nations and in the embodiedness of nations.

I'm always reminded that the nations are in my neighborhood, and this is true for you as well. And so the glory of Jesus goes to those that we know and that we love and to those that we don't know, but we shovel their sidewalk during a snowstorm. This is, you know, the potential of the glory of Jesus going to the nations and where Jesus is made famous as king.

The Disposition of the Church

And it goes forward in a community that's bound by the love of Christ, who, like the crowds today, are looking attentively at the works of Jesus, who are dignifying and honoring the image of Jesus in one another, who then are continuing this work of raising the downcast, bringing freedom from bondage, bringing the truth of God to light with nuance and with compassion in a world that's shrouded in the darkness of lies and half-truths. And so we've seen Jesus's self-understanding of his anointed ministry, how that work of Jesus is carried out in new creation society, and finally, because you and I are anointed to carry on this ministry, we ought to have a disposition as a church of wonder and attentiveness at the work of Jesus. When Jesus died for us and when he rose again, he ascended to reign on high, and he took captivity captive, and he gave his spirit to the church, which has anointed you and I to carry on the work of new creation in New Covenant community.

So we're a society of new creation. And so imagine with me that Corpus Christi Anglican Church now is an embassy of God's kingdom where people find community and they find the healing that Jesus promised in our passage today in loving community. And so to continue this work, I think that we need to join, as I've said before, the disposition of those crowds and the faithful disciples of Jesus.

There are going to be those who reject Jesus, but we want to be among those who have our gaze fixed on Jesus, saying, teach me more, I want to understand this. There's a wonder, there's a curiosity about the works and the words of Jesus. And it's that disposition of wonder that I think recalibrates us.

It's kind of what repentance is, saying, Jesus, what is it I ought to be doing? And where are the disordered attachments that I've given myself to? And help me turn to you, I need your grace. This is the recalibration. So in your formation groups, as you guys meet together during the week with each other, you know, asking and wondering with one another about where you see Jesus in each other's lives.

And if you're not in a formation group or beyond the formation group, as you go and you get coffee together and you sit, or if you don't like coffee, tea, or something else, when you go hang out together, you know, asking yourself, what is the Spirit saying through the life and the ministry of this person, this image of God that I am sitting across the table from? And most challenging, in your child's tantrums and joys and delights, you know, in all of those moments, as you look at your child, looking and listening for blessing those good desires that God has placed into your child's heart, where do you see the image of God? Where are you learning of the image of God in your child, in the joys and in the sorrows? And making a habit of looking for that. Those short prayers are really helpful. I don't know if you've heard of breath prayers, but “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner,” is a really helpful prayer in the midst of a tantrum, as you're trying to look for the image of God.

That's a freebie. And so, yeah, so we want to look for and listen for the ministry of Jesus in daily prayer, in the Scriptures and in your conversations with those who bear God's image, always holding them up with profound dignity and honor, because you're anticipating to find something of Jesus in that person. And, you know, I'll be the first to admit that there are some times where some people are quite undignified, if not offensive and hurtful, but even seeking the image of God in those people allows us to have a healthy amount of separation and compassion for who they are longing to be, and a longing for their freedom from their disordered attachments in this world, while remaining healthy and separated from those things.

 Conclusion

But our gospel today, in conclusion, it invites us to join with those who are hearing the teachings of Jesus, who are recognizing our bondage and our spiritual poverty, as we long for Jesus to redeem and restore our brokenness by his power. And so this passage calls us to continue on the ministry of Jesus, to continue on the kingdom of God by dignifying the poor, the downcast, the stranger, those who are in bondage and who seek for Jesus to bring them new life in New Covenant community, even before they know they are longing for it. And finally, this passage today calls us to listen attentively to the voice of Jesus, and to carry on with this disposition of wonder about what Jesus is about, and what he's doing in you, in this community, and through this community.

And so as we close, I want to close with a prayer for us that shows up a couple times in our liturgical year. It's a prayer for the Universal Church from our occasional prayers, but I want to pray it for us this morning. Oh God of unchangeable power and eternal light, look favorably on your whole church, that wonderful and sacred mystery.

By the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation. Let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.

 Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Edited by the author.