Luke features the Holy Spirit prominently in today�s Gospel passage. This is a continuation of his theme from earlier in his Gospel when we hear that the power of the Holy Spirit was present both in John the Baptist and Jesus at their birth and empowering their ministries. Later in the Gospel we hear how the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus at his Baptism and how Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit during his temptation in the wilderness and in his initial ministry. Our story begins in the Synagogue which was very similar to our service and included an Old Testament Reading, the Psalms and the Prophets. The main difference was that they didn�t have bibles at that time and that readings were written on a scroll. They would often invite a guest teacher to read a passage from the Prophets and on this occasion it was Jesus who was asked to come forward and read - his reputation had begun to spread since the beginning of his ministry and he had became a very popular teacher at that time. That was fine until he came to his home town Nazareth and attended the Synagogue as he was accustomed to doing. Luke then goes on to tell us that Jesus unrolled the scroll and read the passage from Isaiah included in today�s Gospel reading:- �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� Jesus seemed to have put a lot of thought into which parts of Isaiah he was going to include in his message and he deliberately seems to stop short at the phrase �the day of vengeance of our God.� In doing so he wanted the people which symbolically includes us, to focus more on the positive rather than the negative � on grace rather than vengeance. His choice of passage also shows his ministry as being one of healing in bringing good news to the poor, giving freedom to captives and giving sight to the blind. But what does he mean when he says �to proclaim the Lord�s year of favour� � well every fifty years the Jews would celebrate the �Year of the Jubilee� at which time three things occurred:- 1. The land of Canaan reverted to the original tribes allowing even the poor to own land. 2. The land itself would have a year of rest 3. All those who had been sold into slavery due to poverty or debt would be released. In fact Jesus was proclaiming that He was the anointed one mentioned in the passage and in claiming this He was promising healing and wholeness for the poor, the captive, the blind and the downtrodden. This still applies today and Jesus promises healing and wholeness to each of us. Another word for salvation is healing and in this context healing is not only of the body but of the soul � the two go together hand in hand. Luke tells us that following Jesus reading the passage, he rolled up the scroll gave it back to the assistant and sat down. Following this all eyes were fixed on him. He could have taken this opportunity to bring glory to himself and even make himself famous by performing miracle after miracle but instead he chose the course of action that he knew was expected of him by His Father in Heaven and told the people that the text was being fulfilled that day even as they listened. The people were looking forward to the coming of the Messiah, their Saviour, to do all these things but they did not realise at that time that Jesus was that Messiah and a feeling of shock would probably best describe their reaction when Jesus claimed that he was the fulfilment of the text he had just read that very day. The people found this very hard to accept that this was who they had known for many years and was maybe the Messiah, the Saviour they were waiting for. As Christ is no longer physically in the world he is looking to us to be his hands, feet and voice to act on his behalf until he returns. We are reminded of this in the following words from the fourteenth century, St. Teresa of Avila:- �He has no hands but our hands to do his work today He has no feet but our feet to lead men in his way He has no voice but our voice to tell men how he died He has no help but our help to lead them to his side� As Christians today the eyes of the world are now focused on us as we intercede on behalf of Jesus in the absence of his physical body on earth. How will we react and what will we say to them to convince them to turn to Christ? Our words alone will not be enough. Our own strength will certainly not be enough. However we do have a power much stronger - that power being the Spirit of the Lord that has come upon us as he has anointed us as Christians to bring the good news to the world. In order to spread the news we all need to work together and as is mentioned from the passage in Corinthians we are, as Christians, all part of the Body of Christ as members of the church who have accepted Christ into our lives. Today, Jesus is calling each one of us to follow as his disciples in today�s world, to use our hands, our feet and our voice to the glory of God. Individually these may not be very powerful but with the added power of the Holy Spirit we can all achieve so much more. The question is will we allow the Spirit of the Lord to work within us today in order that we can carry on Jesus� work to bring good news into our own community including the poor, the sick and the oppressed � to proclaim that the year of the Lord�s favour is here today in this Parish. So as we remember Jesus bringing in the Kingdom, the Good News of the Gospel, that is, the words of salvation, mentioned in our psalm today, we can like the writer of the Hebrews say. �we come with confidence to the throne of God� In this Communion Service we receive the presence of the One who brings the good news to us�����..he makes us whole he brings salvation and healing to our lives. Are we then willing to do what Jesus says in the Gospel? After opening the scroll Jesus says, �This has been fulfilled in your hearing.� That�s the promise���all we need to do is have faith in that promise, that he, Jesus; brings salvation and healing to us in his Body and Blood. �This has been fulfilled in your hearing�, Jesus says; and this promise is for all of us here today, as we receive both communion and the laying on of hands and anointing. Let us pray�.. Heavenly Father, We thank you for your presence here with us today and we pray that we will all experience your healing power today through your Body and Blood. As members of your Body help us Lord to be more active in your church so that others will be able to share in our faith. Give us the opportunities Lord to accomplish these things to your glory. Amen. |
| Sermon Based on Luke 1 vs 1-4 ; 4 vs 14-21 - Fulfillment of Scriptures through us as the Body of Christ21 |