Today’s lectionary reading from Luke’s Gospel speaks to the issues we face today as Christians. Reading from the prophet Isaiah, Jesus makes it clear that he is to bring good news to the oppressed, bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners. Like Isaiah, he declared the good news affects how people live within the power structures that would oppress them.
Jesus challenged the authorities of his time. Had he only healed the sick and blessed little children, he would not have been a threat. But the Word of the Lord is not just some namby-pamby feel-good dribble, but a call to transform the world. That’s what makes it such a threat to injustice perpetrated by corrupt power.
As Christians, we must speak out for people threatened by powers who would deny them their basic humanity, whether they are the immigrants who pick our crops, people who are gay, lesbian, or transgender, or the many poor who struggle just to survive. The Jesus we claim we follow demands nothing less.
Prayer for the Day
We hear your words, O God, but ask how do they apply to us,
For we serve the poor through food pantries and missions;
So much has changed since the early church bled with martyrs,
For we do not fear persecution but live in modern times.
Speak to us, Lord, so we may understand what we must do,
To truly be called your servants in our day and time.
In the name of the One who speaks your Word,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
For it is disgraceful that, when no Jew ever has to beg, and the impious Galileans support not only their own poor but ours as well, while those who belong to us look in vain for the help that we should render them.
Julian the Apostate, on Christians feeding the poor (331-363)
Be a nuisance where it counts; do your part to inform the public to join your action...Be depressed, discouraged and disappointed at failure and the disheartening effects of greed, corruption and bad politics. But never give up. Marjory Stoneman Douglas, environmentalist (1890-1998)
Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you. But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God.
Luke 11: 39-42