do what you hear

 

Reflections on Luke 4.14-21, the Gospel text set for this coming Sunday.

‘The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour,

[and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to provide for those who mourn in Zion—to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory. They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.]’

Isaiah 61.1-2a [2b-4]

‘Then [Jesus] began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”’

Luke 4.21

‘Having read from the prophet Isaiah [Luke includes Isaiah 61.1-2a which may summarise a longer excerpt] Jesus began his interpretation of the text by saying, “This ancient holy text is made complete in the present day by your hearing and understanding, as you listen and obey.”’

Luke 4.21, my own paraphrase of the Greek text.

This is what it means to be formed by the communal hearing and responding to scripture, to the Law (divine instruction on the formation and continual renewing of a just and merciful society) and the Prophets (commentary on what it looks like to fulfil, or make manifest, the Law, in practice; and what it looks like when we fail to do so).

We hear. We do. We return. We confess, lament, dream, rejoice. We are sent.

This is what our baptism brought us into.

This is how we rebuild cities that have been devastated and in ruins for generations. How we rebuild a society that believes not only that Christianity doesn’t work (what would working look like, and upon whom?) but that nothing else works either.

Not imposing rules on others, rules we reject for ourselves, as Christian nationalism—a totalitarian bastardisation of faith, utterly anti-Christ—is attempting to do in various parts of the world; but committing ourselves to good news for the oppressed (whatever that looks like, from systemic attitudes to personal shame) those who are marginalised (within any sphere). And this not by being their saviour but testifying to the salvation that is already at work in the world.

We hear. We do. We return. We confess, lament, dream, rejoice. We are sent.

“This ancient holy text is made complete in the present day by your hearing and understanding, as you listen and obey.”