The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight, to set the downtrodden free, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour. Luke 4:18-19
This morning’s Gospel reading from Luke 4:14-21 speaks very powerfully about all Jesus is about and all his church is meant to be about. Just think of that awesome scene at the start of Our Lord’s public ministry - the Synagogue at Nazareth Our Lord’s first Sermon. In reading this Gospel we do so mindful that Jesus is invisibly present this morning. This ministry of the word is his ministry. Jesus speaks and there is no word of God without power!
The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me.
Our Lord applies Isaiah’s prophecy to himself. Yet his anointing as Christ and Messiah is not just for him - it is to be shared with us. Jesus is anointed by the Holy Spirit as Christ so that we might share in his anointing! A Christian is one who shares in the anointing of the Anointed One.
We can only do what the church must do if we welcome and own that anointing which is our own through baptism. What we say and do flows from what we are. Only as we welcome and own the presence of Christ deep within us can our words and deeds have any spiritual force.
When you bump into someone something of them spills over you. When you bump into a Christian something of Jesus should come across.
The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor – returning to Our Lord’s great sermon he goes on in v18 to speak of the purpose of his anointing: God has anointed me to bring good news to the poor..
In the Greek there is no definite article before the word ‘ptochos’ - poor, which means it refers to a quality of life rather than particular poor persons. Jesus will be good news to those who are otherwise powerless to enrich themselves.
As Gospel people we are on the lookout for the poor, seeking to serve them and to be served by them. Those saddled with debt through faulty stewardship or who live in isolation desperate to belong. Those overwhelmed by the circumstances of their life, desperate for forgiveness, for guidance, for a purpose for living or a reason for dying.
They include ourselves – if we are to bring good news to the poor our own sense of poverty before God and trust in his provision counts over all else.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives ...Our Lord continues to set the downtrodden free
What a difference Christianity can make to lives and communities! The good news of Jesus Christ is about the liberation of lives and communities and St Richard’s is a catalyst of this in the way we invest in Haywards Heath serving as a proud beacon of the light of the Lord.
Some years back in London our drains began to overflow. We had to send for Dyno-Rod. In the end they had to send a small camera on a tube down the sewers. They gave us a 20 minute video of our drains. It’s quite a fascinating 20 minutes, especially the rat that appears half way through! The cameras showed what human eye could never view. The neighbour’s tree roots had blocked our drains. They needed cutting out and the drain needed a resin soaked felt lining.
Inside each one of us and indeed our communities there are bonds that oppress us and restrict our health and life and God sees these far more surely than a Dyno-Rod camera. What is more he is able to show us just where we are held captive and then help us enter a new freedom. The ministry of our priests is a bonus in facing up to this as is that of the PCC in helping discern and address the needs of both church and community under God.
He has sent me to proclaim... to the blind new sight Our Lord continues.
When it comes to mission it is the opening of ‘inner eyes’ that matters most. In the story of Lourdes the key figure is the peasant girl, Bernadette, the shepherdess who in 1854 received a number of visions, allegedly of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In one of these visions Our Lady asked her to lift up some stones so that a spring was uncovered, a spring that flows to this day, a healing stream visited by millions every year.
How important discernment is! What healing streams can flow from one little insight! We have a mission at St Richard’s but where do we get our enthusiasm to do so? The word means literally ‘in God’. It comes from an ever-fresh welcoming of the anointing of the Anointed One, a readiness to be shown where the flow of his grace is getting blocked within us. As Our Lord says in John’s Gospel: Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive John 7:37-9
How the church needs to take this invitation to heart! How else can we generate new enthusiasm about Jesus other than through some heart-searching for the things that weigh down and block the Spirit in our lives and in our Christian community? As we do so – and lift the stones – we recover a sense of God’s goodness and become his effective instruments, Gospel people – real good news people! Come, Holy Spirit!
He has sent me to proclaim… liberty to captives and to the blind new sight, to set the downtrodden free…
This is our task – our task together, priests and people. We need a fresh ‘anointing from the Anointed One’ to effect a new spirit of collaboration. As a church growth expert writes: The task of the ordained ministry is not simply to minister to the congregation but to create and direct a ministering congregation through the detection, development and deployment of God-given resources (Eddie Gibbs).
The last phrase Our Lord uses in his address at Nazareth refers to ‘the Lord’s favour’.
He has sent me to proclaim ... the Lord’s year of favour
The growth of the church is growth in faith, love and numbers. It is also growth in ‘the Lord’s favour’.
How can we find favour with God and man as Jesus did? In such favour lies our lasting peace and wholeness - but how do we find it? The letter to the Hebrews gives us the answer: Without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Hebrews 11:6
To find favour as we approach Christ we need faith, we need to believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Our mission at St Richard’s should go forward not in a forced or artificial way but in a trusting and natural way, a way that trusts in the Lord’s own favour and empowering.
Listen once again to what Jesus is saying to each one of us individually this morning
The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me - let me share my anointing with you this morning...
He has anointed me to bring the good news to the poor - empty yourself so I can fill you!
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives... to set the downtrodden free - show me the bonds that bind you and St Richard’s and let me loosen them.
He has sent me to proclaim ... to the blind new sight - see and welcome my possibilities which exceed your imagining - and so place yourself more fully in my favour.
Come, Holy Spirit!
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