This past week, the Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde preached a powerful sermon at the Washington National Cathedral where she called on Trump to “have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” and to “honor the dignity of every human being”. Apparently, Trump who claims to be Christian and has religious advisor, was offended. It would seem Trump and Bishop Budde have different interpretations of what it means to be Christian.
(Jesus) stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: ‘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 favour.’
And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’
Today we are told after a bit of wandering, Jesus goes back to his hometown. Word had been spreading that he was saying and doing some incredible things. So, his family, friends, and neighbours gather in the synagogue to check him out. They are clearly excited and wondering: What’s he going to do for them?
When he reads from Isaiah and then tells them that this scripture is fulfilled in their hearing, they say ‘amen’. After all, they see themselves as the poor held captive under Roman rule, oppressed by the boots of occupation, longing for the freedom of the year of Jubilee. Clearly, Jesus has just proclaimed Good News for them, right? They are in agreement. This is all the faith they need. The scripture has been fulfilled in their hearing.
We end the text here this week. It leaves things open to interpretation. It gives us the space to celebrate and feel at home in the narrative much like Jesus’ family, friends, and neighbours initially did. We can get warm and comfortable, trusting this is Good News for us too. We too can agree with this interpretation if that works for us.
There is nothing wrong in finding Good News for ourselves in scripture. We need hope. We need to know God’s love for us sometimes too. It remains important, to also look beyond ourselves when contemplating the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We are not the only ones who are poor, oppressed, captive and in need of Jubilee. When we focus only on what God can do for us, we can become distracted, blinded. In these moments, we need to be reminded to have mercy on those who are scared and honour the dignity of every human being.
In fact, in the passages that follow this text, the part not included today, Jesus tells his family, friends, and neighbours that he wasn’t only referring to them in his sermon. There is another interpretation that is important to hear. He points to strangers, immigrants, refugees, and others, who God cares for and seeks to free. Indeed, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is filled with moments where he walks with and supports outcasts and sinners, the undesirables who challenge and make people uncomfortable. Jesus shows mercy and honours the dignity of every human being. There are no exceptions, no excuses, and no differentiation. For God so loved the world, period.
This is the example we are called to follow so that the scripture from Isaiah can continue to be fulfilled in our hearing. Time and time again, year after year, millennia after millennia, to all those who are scared right now, to those in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community who long for justice and to feel valid, to those struggling for housing who have been fighting to survive in the cold, to those who are unemployed and underemployed whose dignity is constantly questioned and undermined, to the BIPOC community who continues to struggle with racism, and women who struggle with misogyny and the many others around the world who are invisible because their lives are not seen as important enough to share their stories. The scripture needs to be fulfilled in their hearing too because God so loves the world.
Yes, we are blessed by what God does for us. But we must never lose sight of those who need to hear the blessing of scripture. And so, in the words of Bishop Budde: “May God grant us the strength and courage to honour the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love, and walk humbly with each other and our God, for the good of all people.” This we pray as we sing: We are one in the Spirit