Jesus' State of the Union Address

Sermon, February 5, 2012

Luke 4:14-21

Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He 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.’

I.   State of the Union Address

A.  Long history, rooted in the Constitution: Article II, Section. 3 of the Constitution: “(The president) shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient…”

II.   In many ways, today’s reading from Luke depicts Jesus giving what might be termed a combination Inaugural and State of the Union Address.

A.  Inaugural, because in the Gospel of Luke, this appearance in the synagogue in Nazareth marks the true beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.

B.   But it is also like a State of the Union address in that Jesus is both describing, in a fashion, the state of affairs in the world, and what his plan of action will be concerning these affairs. So let’s look at what he says once again.

III. Identifies with the message of Isaiah 61:1&2.

A.  Places himself within the prophetic tradition

            1.         Addressing corporate spirituality of the people of God

a.   Both corporate and individual at same time.

b.   Recall John Wesley: no Personal holiness without Social holiness, and no social holiness without personal holiness.

            2.         He proclaims that he is its fulfillment

B.   State of the world – look at four groups specifically addressed

            1.         Poor, captive, blind and oppressed

            2.         Must be careful about overly spiritualizing this – in both Isaiah and Luke they refer to identifiable social groups.  Not just the “poor in spirit,” not just those captive to sin, not just those who are spiritually blind, not just those oppressed spiritually.

            3.         “Both and.” Inner dimension and outer manifestation of same reality.

            4.         Later when the disciples of John the Baptist were uncertain as to whether Jesus was the Promised one or not, he said to them “go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is he who takes no offense at me.” (Luke 7:22-23)

            5.         Jesus was concerned with the very real, physical and social circumstances of people.

C.  Story of John Wesley’s ministry to the poor. Wesley was what we would call an entrepreneur. These were the social conditions of his time, and a few examples of his creative responses:

            1.      During his time, the poor and laborers were shut out of the churches.

            2.         Cheap alcohol, especially gin, was readily available, even encouraged by business owners, even for the children. No health care was available, no education, no social services of any kind. People were routinely thrown into debtor’s prison, which only served to make their situation worse, and tore apart families, insuring that people remained in poverty.

            3.         John Wesley recognized, like Jesus, that you could not address the spiritual needs of people without addressing their physical needs, and he likewise recognized that the gospel was not only personal, but also deeply social.

            4.         Wesley and the early Methodists  set up schools for the poor.  Wesley set up a special loan fund in which the poor could take out a loan to start a small business of their own. And no interest was charged. Helped set up health care clinics for the poor and indigent.

            5.         These things all helped to transform English society.  In fact, many people credit the work of John Wesley and the Methodist movement with preventing the French Revolution from happening in England as well.

IV. The leaders and committee members of our own church who gathered a couple weeks ago and came up with our purpose statement also met as committee groups to identify projects and goals to help us achieve and live out our purpose. These are all designed to help us build a caring community of Christians where we accept,renew and change lives by sharing God’s love in ways that make a difference in the world. For example:

A.  We have several small groups and Lenten studies forming. Cheries has details. We also have a group forming that will study Methodism. There is a small group studying 10% Giving and Living. The Senior High youth will be having a special study of the book the Shack, and they are inviting adults in the church to join them. All of these are opportunities for each of us to grow as followers of Jesus Christ.

B.   There are several ways you can be in service to people in the community. If you have not taken a turn serving at the Community Breakfast, they are always welcoming servants to come assist and serve our neighbors. Contact Scott Jepsen or sign up through the office. The annual Feeding the 5000 Families food drive is starting later this month, there is an especially great need to collect food for the food bank. We need some people to help spearhead our efforts in tis church to collect money and food for this. We are also staritng a congregational care group who will coordinate visitations to persons in the hospitals, nursing homes and other times of crisis. We will need members of the congregation to help us with this.

V.   Closing 

A.  If Jesus came today, what would he consider to be the State of Our Union?  What would he look at in our world, and see in need of change?  Where would he direct the power of God’s grace, mercy and love? And whom would he enlist to help him?

B.     I recently heard the story of a hospice chaplain, who befriended an eighty-year-old woman named Mary who was a hospice patient. He visited her many times, and he was impressed by her faith. One day, he got a call that she had taken a turn for the worse. He was told, if he wanted to see her alive, he’d better go that day. Larry went to visit his friend, and found her in a very deep sleep. The nurse said she really needed to sleep, she’d been in a lot of pain, so Larry didn’t wake her up. But just as he turned to go, she opened her eyes wide and stared right at him. She looked intently and then said to him, "O for a minute, I thought you were Jesus."  They laughed about it for a moment. Larry said to her, "Mary I want you to do something." "What’s that?" she asked. He said, "When you arrive at the gates of heaven and finally do see Jesus, I want you to look at him for a moment and say, "Oh, I thought you were Pastor Larry!" Mary smiled and said she would. Two hours later, she died, and she had that opportunity. I believe we all ought to be mistaken for Jesus, every once in a while. God has given you a mission, just as God gave a mission to Jesus. If you’re living it out, if you’re showing his unconditional love, if you’re treating other people with caring and compassion, if you’re bringing good news to the poor, and healing to the sick, and freedom to those whose lives are being torn apart—then maybe someone will look at your life and say—at least inside, "oh, for a minute I thought you were Jesus."       (Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, Sermon: “What God Gives”).