Nehemiah 8:1-3,5-6,8-10; Luke 4:14-30
3rd Sunday after Epiphany
St Barbara’s Church 26.01.2025
Rev Tulo Raistrick
When famous sports people return to their home towns they are often mobbed by excited youngsters and patted on the back and joked with by elder members of the community. They are awarded the freedom of the city, as Andy Murray was after winning Wimbledon by his home town of Dunblayne. People are pleased to see them. Their fame and success rubs off well on them. They feel they have some part in their success – there is a connection deeper than just being a fan or a supporter. They have had something to do with what this person has become.
Its not just in sports. When Barack Obama visited Kenya a few years back, his family roots with that country meant he was received with an excitement and pride that far exceeded any other visit, whether of prime ministers, presidents or royalty.
So its not hard for us to imagine the excitement, the buzz, around Nazareth when Jesus, the local boy, returned home. As Luke tells us in his gospel, already the whole of the area of Galilee was alive with stories of Jesus – what he was teaching, what he was doing. “Everyone praised him”, Luke tells us. So when Jesus stands up in the synagogue in Nazareth, one can imagine that he is not standing up to address the normal Sabbath-day crowd. No one would have failed to get out of bed that morning, no one would have felt a little under the weather. The synagogue would have been packed, filled to the seams, with people eager to catch a glimpse of Jesus, eager to hear what he would say. After all, if he had already been doing such amazing things elsewhere, just imagine what he would do for his own people!
So the crowd hushes down. Everything is set for Jesus to deliver a barn-storming oration. The hero has returned. What is he going to say?
Well, Jesus’ sermon in the synagogue at Nazareth is often called the “Nazareth manifesto”. It is seen as setting out his vision and purpose for ministry. Here in his home town, surrounded by the family and friends he grew up with, by the people proud of the “local boy done good”, here he is, proclaiming his purpose, what he is gong to do. Its an exciting moment.
Like with our reading from the book of Nehemiah, the scene begins with a dramatic reading from the Scriptures. Back in Nehemiah’s time it was a reading from one of the five books of the Law – a reading that prompts its listeners to not just confess their sins, but also to ensure that the poor among them had food and drink to join in the celebrations. Here, with Jesus, it is a reading from the great prophet Isaiah. And it is not just any reading. It is a reading that is charged with meaning and anticipation for Jesus’ listeners – a reading that speaks of the coming of a messiah, a saviour, a liberator, who will come to release the captives and bring good news for the poor. When Jesus finishes the reading, he rolls up the scroll, and simply says: “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luke doesn’t tell us anything more Jesus may have said – he doesn’t need to. For those words alone would have been enough to take expectations and hopes to sky-high levels. Jesus is identifying with the Messiah.
His quotation from Isaiah would have resonated with many. Israel was a land of vast inequalities. It is estimated that 80% of the land was owned by just two obscenely wealthy families based in Jerusalem. For many, life was about subsistence, just finding enough food to eat each day, and nothing more. And that would lead many to selling their few possessions, and ultimately their freedom, in order to survive.
There are many in today’s world who can also identify with that situation. Whether its those desperately short of food or access to basic sanitation in countries such as Afghanistan, Sudan or Gaza, or whether its those least able to cope with the price of heating their homes or feeding their families in our own country.
Jesus’ words would have spoken directly to the poor and oppressed. At the beginning of his ministry it is they who he addresses – he has come to preach good news to the poor, he has come to release those enslaved by poverty, he has come to heal the sick. This is who he has come for. And its to them that he proclaims the year of the Lord’s favour.
In ancient Israel, the year of the Lord’s favour was also known as the year of Jubilee. The Old Testament law stated that every 50 years land should be returned to its original owners. That those who had been forced to sell their homes or their land due to poverty would receive it back. That those who had ended up selling themselves into slavery to pay their debts would be set free. It was a way of re-setting the clock, of preventing endemic poverty being passed down from one generation to the next, of the rich always getting richer and the poor poorer. It was a law that spoke of God’s desire for all people to live with enough, for all people to live free from the scourge of absolute poverty and exploitation.
There is not much evidence to suggest the law was ever implemented in Old Testament times, but here is Jesus reminding people of this great message. His purpose, as God’s chosen Messiah, is to live out the desire of God: to bring healing, restoration and renewal, to enable people to live life to the full, not crippled by debt or hunger or disease.
As followers of Christ, that is our calling too, that is our purpose for living. To be part of God’s mission to bring healing, restoration and renewal; to be people of justice and fairness; to be making a difference in the lives of those who need it most. Its the reason why as a church we support the five partners that we do – CAP, and their work to help set people free from debt here in Coventry; Good Neighbours, helping people to break the chains of social isolation; St John the Divine, Willenhall, working with people facing severe economic needs; St Paul’s theological college in Kenya, training up Christians to bring healing and hope to poor rural communities; and Tearfund, working in the poorest countries of the world to overcome injustice and poverty. And I would encourage you to engage with the process of recommending who you would like our church mission fund to support this year.
But what we do through our partners is just a part of what we do. How are we personally following in Jesus’ footsteps, how are we working to address injustice, lift people out of poverty, bring healing and hope? Think about our workplaces, our families, our communities. Where are there needs for liberation, for healing, for renewal? Whether those needs are economic or social or mental or spiritual, how can we respond? Its the purpose to which God calls each one of us.
Jesus began his public ministry with words of hope to the struggling and challenge to the comfortable. He saw that in a world of such desperate inequalities the world needed to be re-balanced. As we will see next week, as the implications of his message began to sink in, his popularity in his home town began to plummet. But he remained true to his calling. May God help each one of us live out his calling too: to be people of justice and fairness, to bring compassion, healing and restoration to a world in need.
