Epiphany 3, Year C

Who is Jesus?  That’s a question that is important throughout the gospels.  It is particularly prominent during this season after Epiphany, a season in which the focus is on Jesus showing us who he is.  

Today’s passage comes early on in the gospel of Luke, right at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry when he is first showing who he is.  The first two chapters of Luke have been about Jesus’ birth and childhood.  Luke chapter 3 is about John the Baptist and Jesus’ baptism.  Right after his baptism, Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit leads him to the wilderness where for forty days he is tempted by the devil.  Right after that, Jesus is filled with the power of the Spirit, and that’s where we pick up with today’s passage.  

As we explore who Jesus is, Luke points out to us that Jesus is someone whose Jewish roots run deep.  Luke has already pointed out to us how faithful and observant Jesus’ parents are in the previous chapters. Now that Jesus is an adult, (about thirty years old, Luke tells us [Luke 3:23]) Luke specifies that Jesus was in the synagogue on the sabbath day “as was his custom”. He is participating by reading the scroll.  

This passage is carefully structured.  Luke puts a three-tiered frame around the central part of this passage.  At the beginning, Luke tells us, Jesus #1 stands up, #2 is given the scroll, #3 unrolls the scroll.  At the end, Luke gives us the reverse of those three things: Jesus rolls up the scroll, gives it back, and sits down.  It gives me the feeling of each of these things happening in slow motion, as everyone in the room has the feeling that something significant is happening here.  Luke intensifies this sense of significance by saying, “The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.”  We don’t know how long the silence lasts.  Then Jesus speaks up and answers the question they are silently wondering.  He says, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

The purpose of a frame is to focus our attention on what’s inside it: what’s in the scripture Jesus reads.  When we ask who Jesus is, Jesus answers that he is the fulfillment of this scripture, and focuses our attention on what the scripture says about him.  Numerous Biblical scholars see this passage as the key to understanding who Jesus is, what his mission is, and what his priorities are.  Who does Jesus pay particular attention to?

The poor.

The captives.

The blind.

The oppressed.

The question “Who is Jesus?” is an important one.  The question “Who does Jesus pay particular attention to? Is also an important one. Both of them also lead us to a third question: Who is Jesus calling us to pay particular attention to?

The poor.

The captives.

The blind.

The oppressed.

We often try to wiggle out of Jesus’ priorities by trying to interpret them in a figurative or spiritual way.  It is important not to do that.  As commentator Brian Stoffregen points out, every single time Luke uses the word “poor” (and Luke talks about the poor a lot), it means the people who are literally poor.  Every time except one that Luke uses the word “blind” it means people who are literally blind.  The captives are literal captives; the oppressed are literally oppressed.

​Religion is sometimes used as a way of manipulating people for one’s own financial gain or political gain.  That is the exact opposite of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  ​

Jesus is not interested in flattering the rich or the powerful.  Jesus is interested in paying attention to the poor and those with the least power. 

I loved the sermon that Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde preached this week at her cathedral, Washington National Cathedral, in which she asked for mercy for the marginalized and most vulnerable people.  In the written version of my sermon I will include a link to the video of her 15-minute sermon:  her Jan. 21 sermon 

​It is also worth noting that the verse immediately after this passage says, “All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth” then right after that Jesus and his listeners get into a conversation about a prophet not being accepted in his hometown [Luke 4:24], and they try to throw Jesus off a cliff [Luke 4:29].  

​In this passage, Jesus announces his role as the Messiah.  The role of the Messiah is unique to Jesus, and there are some things Jesus can do that the rest of humanity cannot do.  We don’t need to try to take the Messiah’s job.  What Jesus does call us to do is our job, which is to care for the poor, the captives, the blind, the oppressed, with the gifts and talents we have.  This can take a variety of forms.  Generosity with money.  Volunteering to help the poor and marginalized.  Advocating for the needs of the most vulnerable in our society.  Building relationships and cultivating our understanding of other people’s lives and struggles and also the ways in which they are blessed and they are blessings to others.  

​These things are not separate from our faith; they are an integral part of it.  We want to be followers of Jesus, and that means we go in the direction Jesus is going, and caring for the poor and oppressed is the direction he’s going.

​Helping those who most need help is one of the ways we love Jesus.  As Matthew’s gospel tells us, what we do for those who are hungry or thirsty, the strangers in need of welcome or the naked in need of clothing, those who are sick or imprisoned, we do for Jesus [Matthew25:31-46].  

​We do not do this alone.  Luke tells us that Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit in the toughest times, when he is tempted in the wilderness [Luke 4:1], and he’s filled with the Holy Spirit here as he’s starting to teach and everyone speaks well of him [Luke 4:14-15].  We too are animated by the Holy Spirit both in the encouraging times and the tough times, as we do our part to love God and to love our neighbours who are poor, marginalized, and oppressed.  We follow this loving, liberating, life-giving Jesus: it is who he is, and by his grace, inspired by the Holy Spirit, it is who we are too.