Tag Archives: Luke’s Gospel

The Urgency of Today

27 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by in Sermon portions

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When Jesus arrived in his hometown of Nazareth following his baptism by John, he went to the synagogue and was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Jesus selected a text from Isaiah 61 to read:

“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.” (Luke 4:18-19)

Upon finishing the reading, Jesus rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. What could have been just another relaxed Sabbath, with pot roast for dinner and an afternoon of televised football games, had Jesus only stopped there, became a moment of truth. With the eyes of everyone in the synagogue fixed upon him, Jesus said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (4:21).

Think about the implications of these words for followers of Christ. We don’t have the luxury of waiting for a future coming of Christ as so many think we do. Today is the day of Christ’s coming! We can’t waste our time debating whether Jesus comes to save some or save all. Today is the day of God’s salvation! We aren’t in a position to form a task force to look into the possibilities for realizing God’s reign on earth. Today is the day God’s Realm comes near!

2693316186_afde395310-300x225Jesus’ inaugural message is one of liberation. His words reflect a call to justice, and a concern for the tangible needs of real people. Those who have been cast aside by society are brought into the center of God’s concern through Jesus’ appropriation of Isaiah’s words. As Dorothy Day once said, “The Gospels record that Jesus preached good news to the poor, and an essential part of that good news was that they were to be poor no longer.”

It is as though Jesus is saying that today God’s justice has won out. Today I am proclaiming release to the captives – whether it is captivity to cycles of poverty that hold people down or captivity to the sins of greed and selfishness. Today I am saying that the blind can see – whether it is those blinded by poor diet and health or those blinded to the grace of God in the world. Today I am telling the oppressed to go free – whether that oppression takes the form of prejudice or of despair.

The urgency of Jesus’ message is spoken to us. The immediacy of Jesus’ mission is ours to take up. “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 

There is no time to waste! Today is the day to renew your commitment to Christ. Today is the day to bring a message of grace and hope to the world. Today God’s Spirit anoints you with the power of love to offer good news for all of creation.

Words (c) 2013 Mark Lloyd Richardson

I Did This For You

22 Sunday Apr 2012

Posted by in Peace with justice, Sermon portions

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"Peace"In the 24th chapter of the gospel of Luke, the disciples are gathered in Jerusalem and are talking about the empty tomb, and about the encounter two of them had on a road to Emmaus with someone they only recognized as Jesus after he took bread, blessed and broke it. As they are talking, Jesus himself stands among them and says to them, “Peace be with you.”

The risen Jesus offers the frightened disciples peace. He also offers them his hands and feet, so that they might touch and see. Perhaps on this night as Jesus stands among them, the disciples understand what the scriptures say about him for the first time.

It is to us, as much as to these early disciples, that the risen Jesus utters the words: “Peace be with you.” As recipients of the peace of Christ, we are called to take up a new identity and a new calling. Having received the gift of peace we are to become peacemakers.

It is no easy thing to be a peacemaker, especially in a world that seems constantly to pit people against one another, to highlight our differences over our shared humanity. It is no easy thing to be a peacemaker in a world dominated by self-interest, power struggles, and a disregard for the environment.

"world peace"To put it simply, being peacemakers means valuing others for who they are – children of God – and not looking upon anyone else as less than human just because they have views or values contrary to your own. Being peacemakers also means taking care of the earth, simplifying our lifestyles so as to use no more natural resources than we need, and protecting the ecosystems on which all life depends. All of this is making peace with the home God provides us.

We are all artists. Someone has explained this truth by saying that life is the medium and we are the canvas. Our task is to creatively work at making our lives a thing of beauty, molding and shaping the person we are becoming in the sight of God. That is our work, our calling as peacemakers.

Aimee, like other children of preschool age, would often come home with a drawing or other piece of art. Next to her own name she’d scrawl the name of someone she loved – usually Mommy or Daddy, sometimes baby brother Ben. As she presented her picture, she’d say proudly, “I did this for you.”

"Children's art"What if we were to take seriously the apostle Paul’s admonition, “Whatever you do … do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Col. 3:17)?

What if our lives bore the marks of the Prince of Peace?

What if, as we went about our daily lives, the words of the Beatitudes played quietly in the background: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, the gentle ones, the merciful, the pure in heart, the ones who work for peace?”

What if, at the end of the day, we were able to present our lives to God and say, “I did this for you?”

Perhaps then our lives would be worthy of the artist in each of us. Our lives would truly be things of beauty, a source of joy in the heart of God!

(This is a portion of today’s sermon, “Witnesses to Peace,” preached at the First United Methodist Church of Santa Maria, California.)