Ash Wednesday is March 5
We mark the beginning of Lent on March 5 with Ash Wednesday services at Noon and 7pm. Services include the imposition of ashes and Holy Communion. Please note there will be no soup meal following this service.
Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after Epiphany – February 16, 2025
CLICK HERE for a worship video for February 16
Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after Epiphany – February 16, 2025
Luke 6:17-26
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Oftentimes in scripture the locations and landscapes are important. Sometimes they offer important context. Sometimes they even have a spiritual significance to them. And so when a gospel writer mentions a placename or a feature of the landscape, it is a good idea to pay attention. Often it is a clue pointing to the meaning of a given passage.
Today we hear St. Luke drop one such clue for us. He tells us that Jesus “stood on a level place.” Unlike the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, which has Jesus at a higher elevation to bring a word from God just like Moses did at Mount Sinai, here on a different occasion Luke specifically tells us Jesus stood on a level place as he healed and preached. The content of what is sometimes called the Sermon on the Plain is very similar to the Sermon on the Mount – Jesus surely repeated his message at different times – but in this setting he wasn’t any higher than anyone else. Now, of course Jesus is the Son of God, and so he has a higher authority than any of those he is addressing. He is literally their higher power! But even so, Jesus met his hearers on a level place.
It is an odd detail to include, unless it means something – and it certainly does! Luke loves to tell the story of Jesus in such a way that he is meeting us in the nitty gritty of human life. Luke tells us Jesus was laid in a feedbox for livestock as a newborn and visited by common shepherds. Now he tells us about how Jesus healed and preached while standing at a level place, meeting people at their level. He meets them where they are.
The crowds that had come out to see Jesus on this level place were a mixed group. There were people there from every walk of life. There were people from Judea and Jerusalem, who lived close enough to the Temple to participate regularly in its worship life. There were also people from the Gentile cities of Tyre and Sidon, way up north on the coast. People from all over were coming to see Jesus. It was “a great multitude,” St. Luke tells us. They were coming to hear him. They were coming to be healed of their diseases. They were coming to be delivered from unclean spirits.
Jesus meeting them all on a level place offers us a clue by which to interpret what comes next. Jesus then looked at his disciples and said, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate, exclude, revile, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.” Jesus was meeting his disciples, as well as the crowd that had come to see him, in their need. He met them in their places of suffering and struggle.
Jesus was meeting them in their poverty. This means economic poverty, to be sure, but this is not only a socio-economic category. The crowds were full of people who were poor in every other way too. They were poor in health, coming to Jesus for healing. They were experiencing a poverty of the soul, coming to Jesus to be freed from unclean spirits, from sin and despair and all the dark forces which were troubling them. Some there were poor in credentials. They were people who had no spiritual status whatsoever, no spiritual accomplishments to claim. Jesus was meeting those who were hungry, whether their stomachs were literally groaning for food, or their souls were groaning to be filled with hope. Jesus was meeting those who wept, those who were grieving or afraid or lonely or sad. Jesus was meeting those who would eventually be hated for following him, preemptively blessing them with the assurance of the reward in store for them.
The great multitude came from all human categories. The one thing they had in common was their need for Jesus. And Jesus, meeting them at their level, meeting them where they were, blessed them. He spoke to them with a first-person address: “Blessed are you, blessed are you, blessed are you.” This was not an abstract or hypothetical blessing, like: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Jesus wasn’t speaking in generalities. Not here, not on the plain. This was a blessing which was delivered to them personally by Jesus right then and there as he said, “Blessed are YOU, blessed are YOU.”
In announcing these blessings, Jesus was not glorifying poverty or pain. He was not giving them steps to climb in order to be blessed. He wasn’t giving them a to-do list. He was not saying, “You must make yourself poor or hungry or miserable in order to get into God’s Kingdom. Remember, Jesus spent much of his ministry alleviating misery! No, Jesus was simply meeting these hurting and broken people where they already were.
In Lutheran circles we call this the Theology of the Cross, which is a shorthand way of referring to the fact that it is in the places in our lives that are broken that God is found to be present and at work. It is in our poverty, our weakness, our vulnerability, our sin, that we come to see our need for Jesus, who is present in the crosses we bear to bless us with his saving love.
The inverse is true as well. The Theology of the Cross also teaches us that the places where we think we are strong, the things we often turn to in life for comfort or a sense of security, are the very things that are always passing away and coming up short. In some cases, they are the very things that are killing us. This is what the woes are about. This is why Jesus warns those who are presently rich and full and laughing and popular. It isn’t that they will be forever excluded from the kingdom. It isn’t that they won’t ever receive blessings from Jesus. It is just that when you are comfortable and in control and outwardly self-sufficient or comfortably numb, you just don’t see a need for Jesus. In fact, many resent the suggestion that they need his help! And so they remain closed off – at least until those things begin to fail them, which they always do.
I was thinking about all of this after we were discussing this gospel reading at our men’s lunch this week. After lunch I got to thinking about some of the pastoral visits I’ve made to men who were hurting. Maybe they were grieving, or afraid, or sick, or lonely. Maybe they were in the hospital or home after a major surgery. Maybe it was just a phone call. I can’t tell you how many times on those visits these men have gotten choked up or have broken down in tears simply because someone has noticed their need, someone has seen them, someone has met them where they are.
Middle-aged and older men are not on very many people’s radar as a vulnerable category – quite the contrary most of the time. It is more often the case in our culture today that they are ridiculed or vilified or ignored. They are not part of any of the currently preferred victim groups, and so they are often overlooked. Maybe it is assumed that they are strong, but they have fears and hurts and troubles like everyone else. Sometimes they stubbornly suffer in silence, no doubt about it, but just as often I can tell you that they feel invisible to others. When their supposed strength is kicked out from under them, they often feel unseen. Perhaps this is one reason middle aged and older men have the highest rates of suicide.
I bring this up not to get on a soap box, but to point out that the Lord Jesus sees all of us in our need, whoever we are. He doesn’t see the category; he sees the need. That’s what this part of the Sermon on the Plain is all about. The great multitude included all kinds of people, and what they all had in common was their need. Male or female, longtime worshipper or not, super spiritual or not, Gentile or Jew, young or old, Jesus came to all of them in their poverty, in their hunger of body and soul. He came to them in their tears, in their struggle against unclean spirits. He met all of them at their level. He met them where they were with a direct address, saying, “Blessed are you, blessed are you, blessed are you.”
If things are going well for you, give thanks to God and don’t go looking for trouble. That is not the point of Jesus’ sermon today. Don’t go seek out hardship in order to get these blessings. Jesus doesn’t want you to be poor or poor in spirt. He doesn’t want you to be hungry or hurting or hated.
But don’t put your trust in the status quo. Don’t seek your security in wealth or health or popularity. Hardship will find you eventually. And when it does, know that our Lord Jesus will meet you there. And when he does he won’t be looking down at you from on high, or from a distance, but will instead meet you at your level to bring you the blessings of his kingdom. He will meet you where you are to fill you up with hope and peace. He will bring you his promises right in the nitty gritty of this world of sin and death, assuring you that on the day of resurrection, you will laugh at everything that currently makes you weep.
Even now our Lord Jesus meets us where we are, giving us his promises. Even today he meets us at our level, giving us his Word, giving us his Body and Blood to heal our hurts and cast out the unclean spirits troubling us.
None of you are invisible to him. He sees your need, and it is through the broken places in our lives that he enters in, saying, “Blessed are you, blessed are you.”
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany – February 9, 2025
CLICK HERE for a worship video for February 9
Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany – February 9, 2025
Luke 5:1-11
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Simon Peter got skunked. He had spent all night working that lake and came up empty. Not a single fish. Not even a sardine to show for all his efforts.
When my oldest son was home last summer working his last summer job with the Port of Anacortes, the salmon started running and he wanted so badly to catch one. He would go out just about every evening after work and sit on the Stilly, pole in his hand. And despite all his efforts, despite the couple hundred bucks he spent on licenses and gear and gas, despite all the time he spent, he never caught a single fish. He loves being on the water, so I don’t think he regretted it, but you could hear the dejection in his voice when he came home night after night and said, “Skunked again.” You could see the disappointment on his face, especially as the summer came to an end and he still came up empty.
For Simon Peter the stakes were much higher. This was his livelihood. This was how he paid the bills. Getting skunked after a whole night was a real concern. Coming up empty was an even deeper disappointment.
Whether you fish or not, we all have experiences in life where no matter how hard we try, no matter how much effort we put into something, we come up short. We all have experiences where no matter how much we want something to happen and how hard we work towards making it happen, we get skunked. We find ourselves empty-handed. We all know this disappointment. We all know that discouraging feeling of coming up empty.
Maybe your efforts at work haven’t been noticed or rewarded. Maybe it is a relationship that you’ve put so much into, that you’ve invested yourself in so deeply, but it still feels like it’s slipping away. Maybe it’s a parenting situation, where you’ve been working on a kid and praying for a kid, and you just don’t seem to be seeing any results. Maybe it is a health condition that you’ve done everything within your power to remedy, but the test results just keep on going the wrong way. Maybe it is a financial situation, where you feel like no matter what you do you just can’t get ahead. It could be any number of problems or challenges where no matter how hard you work or how much you try, you just keep coming up empty.
We certainly experience this in the church. We experience it individually as Christians in our struggle against sin as we can’t seem to escape the old disobedient Adam or Eve in us who keeps tripping us up, despite our best efforts. We experience it collectively as a congregation when we work so hard to draw people in with an invitation or an event or an opportunity, with results that are sometimes disappointing and discouraging.
In this midst of Simon Peter’s deep disappointment, Jesus came to him. In the midst of his discouragement, Christ spoke to him. “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch,” Jesus said.
Now imagine you are a professional fisherman. You’ve been fishing for years. You know the lake like the back of your hand. You know the techniques. You know the strategies. It is your job, your area of expertise! And now a carpenter starts giving you fishing advice! Even worse, a preacher starts telling you how to fish! This had to have been hard for Peter to listen to. In fact, he does grumble a bit. He gets a little passive-aggressive, saying, “Well, we did just fish all night long and caught nothing – but if you say so!” But to Peter’s credit, he did listen to Jesus’ word. He did do what he said. He did follow his command. He trusted Jesus. He went out to the deep water and let down his nets. And as he did so, they were soon filled so full that they were beginning to break! They needed to bring in another boat to bring them all in!
You would think this would be cause for celebration. You’d think Peter would be high-fiving Jesus, thanking him for the tip. But instead, Peter falls down before Jesus. He says to Jesus, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” In the face of that power, that abundance, that miraculous love which has just delivered a motherlode of grace into his boat, he feels small and unworthy. And he is! But this is precisely why Jesus has come. He has come to bring good things to sinners. He has come to the unworthy to bring them something of tremendous worth. He has come to bring them forgiveness, life, and salvation. He has come to bring them a boatload of abundant grace.
“Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man,” Peter pleaded. But Jesus didn’t go away. He stayed right there with him. Jesus didn’t say, “Oh, you’re a sinner? I must have the wrong guy! Sorry!” No, he stayed with Peter. He already knew that about him. He already knew he was a sinner. Instead, Jesus said to Peter, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.”
It has been said that we become afraid when we believe that everything depends on us. I heard that recently and, to be honest, it convicted me. I think that’s exactly why I get anxious at times. We become afraid when we believe that everything depends on us. We have agency, to be sure. We have responsibilities to tend to, no doubt about it. Some things do depend on us. But there is so much fear that comes from thinking that everything depends on us.
Peter thought everything depended on him. He thought that his status as a sinner disqualified him from the blessings Jesus had come to bring, that he didn’t deserve it. Peter stood in the presence of pure, divine love, and it scared him. But the Lord Jesus said to him, “Do not be afraid.” Of course he didn’t deserve it. But it wasn’t up to him. This was Christ’s work. They were his abundant blessings to give. And with Christ’s blessings came Christ’s call: “From now on you will be catching people.”
We too are invited to trust in Christ’s word to us. When he says you are loved, believe it. When he says you are his, trust him. When he says you are forgiven, believe him. None of this depends on you. His abundant blessings are his to give, and he gives them to you by grace.
I can’t promise that trusting his word will solve every source of disappointment or discouragement in your life, but it will take some of the anxiety out of it. It will ease your fears because it will remind you that not everything depends on you. In fact, the most important thing about you – that you are a forgiven and beloved child of God – doesn’t depend on you at all. So do not be afraid. When it comes to all those other situations in life where you’re getting skunked, hand them over to him. In all those situations where it feels like you’re always coming up empty, lay them at his feet, and do not be afraid.
This is especially true in our lives specifically as Christians. When we have those moments when we know we are sinners, that we keep coming up empty, we can just tell the truth. We can just admit it. We can confess it. And when we do so, Jesus doesn’t leave us. You think he doesn’t already know that about you? Why do you think he came? Why do you think he called you here? He doesn’t budge from our side. Instead, he says to us, “Do not be afraid.” Instead, he says, “Your sin is forgiven.” Instead, he blesses us with an abundance of grace. And with the blessing comes the call to go out and catch people, so that others, too, might be brought into the boat of his holy church and come to know his blessings.
This catching people business can become yet another source of disappointment and discouragement when it feels like we’re always getting skunked. But here too we are called to trust his word and leave the results to him.
I remember a few years ago our congregation made a big effort to cast a wide net and bring people in at Christmastime. We spent a few hundred dollars on a couple hundred copies of a little book explaining the meaning of Christmas in a simple, but intelligent way. We encouraged our members to read it, and then to give it away, along with an invitation to our church we printed up and tucked into the book which included our address and worship times. It was a big outreach effort. All the books were distributed. And do you know how many new members we received through that effort? Zero. Not one. We were skunked!
In 2024 we didn’t do anything specific as an outreach effort. Nothing! Do you know how many people we received into membership? Twenty-three! We had 8 baptisms and received 15 new adults!
Please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying here. I’m not saying that doing nothing should be our permanent evangelism strategy! I’m not saying we should never have a more formal outreach effort ever again. In fact, we haven’t exactly been doing nothing. Many of those people who came to us in 2024 did so because they were invited by other church members. There was still an effort involved. In most cases someone was putting down a net somewhere.
The point I’m trying to make is that just because our efforts don’t always produce results, just because we sometimes end up skunked, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t listen to Jesus and trust what he says to us. Not everything depends on us. Sometimes he brings in a haul we aren’t expecting. Sometimes he blesses us apart from our efforts. In fact, the blessing of our salvation has come in precisely this way.
So do not be discouraged, and do not be afraid. Not everything depends on you. Christ Jesus has spoken to you, and his word will not return to him empty. Our Lord Jesus has caught us up the abundant blessings of his grace – and with the blessings comes the call:
“Go out to the deep waters and let down your nets,” Jesus says. “Trust me.”
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
Sermon for the Presentation of our Lord – February 2, 2025
CLICK HERE for a worship video for February 2
Sermon for the Presentation of our Lord – February 2, 2025
Luke 2:22-40
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
We see it every Sunday: the elderly making their way into our sanctuary, some of them moving slow, some shuffling behind walkers, some holding onto the arms of friends. Their determination in being here always impresses me. There is a joke among clergy that when the weather is really bad in the winter, the only people who show up for worship are the aged and the infirm. That’s how it often is.
And maybe part of the reason for this determination week after week is that the aged know better than anybody else about the reality of death. Their aches and pains are a constant reminder that their bodies are wearing out and winding down. One of the great burdens of growing old is the steady drumbeat of loss as you stand over the graves of one friend or family member after another. I’ve heard more than one “chronologically advanced” member of our congregation lament that all they do now for their social life is go to funerals. And then of course there is that particularly devastating loss that comes with the death of a spouse. We don’t like to think about it, but this will inevitably happen in every single marriage, and it is a loss many of our members have already endured. The aged do not have the luxury of living in denial of death. Maybe that’s part of what drives them to claw their way into this sanctuary week after week. They come seeking solace, seeking comfort. They come needing to hear of the One who has conquered death. They come so that their tearful and fading eyes might see his salvation.
We have two elderly individuals in our gospel reading today: Simeon and Anna. We don’t know exactly how old Simeon was, but the context suggests and tradition holds that he was very old, near the end of his life. St. Luke tells us Anna was 84 years old, and mentions that she lived many of those years as a widow. It isn’t too difficult to imagine what their lives were like. Their demographic is well represented in our congregation. We can imagine Simeon moving slowly as he shuffled into the Temple, perhaps with his hand on his aching back. We hear that Anna lived at the Temple, which brings to mind the many beloved church ladies all of us have known who practically live at the church. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if dear, holy Anna made quilts in some back room of the Temple complex or taught Bible study in a women’s circle.
These two knew of the reality of death. At some point in his life it had been revealed to Simeon that he would not see death until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Some people have a bucket list – things they want to do or see before they die. Well, Simeon had a bucket list with one thing on it, put there by God. Before he died, he would see the Christ. He would see the long-promised Savior. This is what the Spirit revealed to him. Simeon is described as righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, so this would surely have been a welcome promise, but it is hard to avoid the morbidity of it too. This was also a reminder that he would die one day. He could not live in denial of this reality.
Anna couldn’t avoid the reality of death either. Considering the actuarial tables, especially in the ancient world, at 84 years old she had no doubt already outlived most, if not all, of the people she grew up with, including many of her family members. She had already said goodbye to the one dearest to her, her husband, the one to whom she had been joined together as one. She had already spent many years with that aching absence in her life. So she, too, knew the reality of death. There was no denying it for Anna. No escaping it.
One day when the two of them were at the Temple, a young family came to worship. The mother held a swaddled infant in her arms, only six weeks old. This family had come for the ritual purification of the mother, which was required forty days after giving birth. They had also come to present their first-born son to the Lord, as required by God’s law. They were a poor family by the looks of them. While the usual sacrifice given for a first-born was a lamb, there was a sliding-scale for those who couldn’t afford it. The poor could bring turtledoves or pigeons instead, which is what they did.
Simeon noticed this young family. It was the Spirit who guided Simeon into the Temple that day, and so it must have been the Spirit who helped him recognize who that baby was. Simeon went up to Mary and Joseph. No words between them are recorded, but Mary, perhaps herself prompted by the Spirit, entrusted her precious baby to Simeon’s arms. Simeon held the baby Jesus close. He knew who this baby was! He knew he was holding the long-promised Savior, the one God promised he would see! And so as he held Jesus close Simeon praised God, saying: “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”
At that very moment, Anna came in. She hobbled in closer to get a better look. She saw the baby in Simeon’s arms, and she too knew who that baby was! She knew that this baby was the fulfillment of God’s promise! She knew that the redemption of God’s people had come! Overcome with joy, she started telling anybody who would listen!
This baby brought peace. As soon as Simeon held that infant Savior in his arms, he was at peace. His waiting was over. His time had come. He could depart in peace.
This baby brought joy. Anna, even in the midst of all the pains of advanced age and the sorrows of widowhood, gave joyful testimony to the presence of the Lord’s Messiah.
Simeon’s words have become a part of the liturgy of the Christian church. His words are often sung after receiving Holy Communion: “Lord, now you let your servant go in peace. Your Word has been fulfilled.” Simeon’s words are an underused part of the liturgy, but they have a history of being sung in worship by Christians for centuries. Some of you will remember it was standard in the old LBW, the old green book. We’ll use that setting again soon during the season of Lent. We’ll sing a hymn-based setting of it as our sending hymn today.
But whether we sing it every Sunday or not, Simeon’s words should frame our understanding of what is happening every time we gather for worship, and especially every time we receive the Lord’s Supper. Because as we gather here for worship, Christ is present. He is presented to us. As we gather here, Jesus comes to us so that we can take hold of him. As he comes to us in bread and wine, we can literally hold him. God sends the Savior to us, that we might hold him close to our hearts, receiving the peace and joy he brings. This is what Simeon said this baby would do. He describes Jesus not only as the glory of God’s people Israel, but also as a revelation to the Gentiles – which means you and me, here and now.
No matter how young or old we are, whether we shuffle in here slowly or skip in on nimble feet, whether our hair is still brown or has turned white or is a little of both, or is all gone, we all – young or old or somewhere in the middle – we all come into this sanctuary from a world outside that is full of death. The older people usually know this better than the younger people do, but there are times when even younger people can’t deny the reality of death. We watch our parents get older. Our bodies start to give us hints that they have begun their inevitable decline. We learn from social media of former classmates battling grave illnesses or even dying. We hear of another jumper on the bridge or another overdose death. We hear of fatalities on the freeway. Thankfully we don’t hear about airline disasters very often, but we’ve heard of the terrible loss of life in Washington DC this week. We live in a world full of death. It is a reality we all must face. It is a reality we all will face.
We live in a dying world, but we have a living Lord – and it is here that he comes to us. It is here that we take hold of the Savior God has sent to conquer death for us. It is here that we can take hold of the promised Redeemer, who brings us forgiveness, life, and salvation. It is here that Christ Jesus is laid in our arms, that we would hold him close to our hearts and know the peace and joy he brings.
This child, Simeon reminds us, will be opposed by many, so it won’t always be easy being one of his followers. Just as Simeon foresaw that a sword would pierce Mary’s soul, so too will our souls be pierced with heartache at times. There will still be sorrow, and pain, and loss. There will still be death.
But this child also brings peace, and even joy. He comes to you in love as a fulfillment of God’s promise to bless all the peoples of the earth, as a fulfillment of God’s promise to break the curse of sin and death which hangs over all of humankind. Just as Christ Jesus entered the Temple, so too is he presented to you here in our sanctuary.
And so today we can sing with Simeon and celebrate with Anna. We too can depart in peace as we leave this place, no matter what our dying world has in store for us beyond these walls – whether it is a new ache or pain, another funeral, or even death itself. For our dying world has been visited by our living Lord, who is placed into our arms today, so that we too would see his salvation.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
Sermon for the Third Sunday after Epiphany – January 26, 2025
CLICK HERE for a worship video for January 26
Sermon for the Third Sunday after Epiphany – January 26, 2025
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10, Psalm 19, Luke 4:14-21
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
We often discount the power of words. We often say things like “talk is cheap.” Sometimes, of course, talk is cheap – but that doesn’t mean it always is! It doesn’t mean that words – whether written or spoken – aren’t powerful! Words have the power to create a new reality. They have the power to bring an entirely new life. Words have the power to heal and renew. They have the power to set people free.
Think of words like “I love you.” Those words are life changing! They pack a punch! Think of the words a couple exchange when they are married. Those vows establish a new reality, relationally, spiritually, and legally. Think of the words a judge declares when a child is adopted. With those words a new family is established. Think of words like, “I’m here for you.” These words have the power to bring comfort and peace in the most desperate and dire circumstances. Think of words like “I’m sorry,” and “I forgive you.” These words have the power to open up a new future. They have the power to set people free.
Many of you remember that I saw a Christian counselor for a time after my mother died. I came to this counselor with an overwhelming sense of grief and guilt, and some of the things she said to me continue to ring in my ears to this day. Her words brought perspective and healing and freedom from burdens I’d been carrying for decades.
Yes, words are incredibly powerful.
Words are powerful, and we have a God who uses them! We have a God who uses words! And if our human words are powerful, if our human words have the power to bring life, to create new realities, to set people free, how much more powerful are the words of our Almighty God! This is what most of our readings for today are about.
Our first reading from Nehemiah describes a dramatic scene in Jerusalem. The people of God had returned from exile. It had been a long and difficult time of rebuilding, full of disappointments and frustrations. They had finally rebuilt the temple, and now, at long last, their worship life was about to resume. The people of God gathered in the square. Ezra the priest brought the book of the law of Moses, the Torah, also known as “the teaching.” Ezra opened the book and read from it. He read the words of God from early morning until midday – and the people listened! “Amen, amen!” they said, lifting up their hands. They worshipped the Lord, weeping as they did so. These words convicted them. They grieved for their sins, for their disobedience. They repented for the ways they had failed to keep the covenant.
But Ezra wouldn’t let them wallow in their tears. He told them it was a holy day. It was a day of celebration. It was a day to not only be convicted of sin by the Word, but a day of remembering God’s faithfulness, God’s steadfast love, God’s deliverance, which was also recorded in the words of the Torah. It was a day of joy, he told them, for the Lord was their strength! And as Ezra spoke God’s words to them, their mourning gave way to rejoicing. A new reality was established. A new future opened up before them. They were free!
In our psalm for today, Psalm 19, we hear that the law of the Lord is perfect. We hear that it refreshes the soul and brings joy! Warnings are in the Lord’s words, it says, but also his promised reward. This psalm teaches us that God speaks to us in both law and gospel, with commands and promises. It teaches us that God’s Word cuts us down to size, but that in the same breath it raises us to new life. It refreshes the soul and brings joy. That’s the power of the Word!
In our gospel reading for today we heard how Jesus was the guest preacher in his home congregation. He took the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, found his place, and then read:
“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 favor.”
Jesus read from a portion of Isaiah which was originally addressed to the people of Israel as they were being released from their captivity in Babylon. These were words which announced good news to these Israelites who had lost everything. These words announced that they were being set free from their captivity, that they would be able to see again after this period of darkness in their lives, that the burdens oppressing them would be lifted. A new year was beginning for them, a new season, a year of the Lord’s favor.
This is the immediate context of these words, but these words also pointed beyond their immediate circumstances to a day when the Messiah, the Anointed One, would come to bring a deeper restoration, a deeper healing. These words pointed to the coming of a Savior who would bring a new life, a new reality, a new relationship with God.
Jesus read these words. Then he rolled up the scroll and sat down. (Preachers sat down to preach in Jesus’ time.) The eyes of all were fixed on him, St. Luke tells us. And then Jesus gave a short, one-sentence sermon. It was a sermon only Jesus could give. He said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
This might be the shortest sermon in history. It was only nine words – but they were powerful. The Anointed One, the promised Messiah, was now present and ready to fulfill those promises. Jesus was the one who had come to do all the things Isaiah said the Messiah would ultimately do. This was good news back then, and it is good news today too!
We gather for worship just as the people in Nehemiah’s day did. We come with our own disappointments and our frustrations. We come with the dust of our own disasters clinging to us. We come with our guilt. We come with our own sins and our struggles.
We gather for worship just as the people in the synagogue in Jesus’ time did too. We gather in the presence of the same Jesus they did. We hear the same words they did. Only now, they are addressed to us. The work Isaiah describes is sometimes thought of as a to-do list for us or for someone else to accomplish, but that’s not what it is. These words are a description of what the Messiah has come to do for us. It is a description of what the Anointed One has come to do for you!
Citing Isaiah, Jesus tells us he has come to bring good news to the poor. This certainly means those who are economically poor. It means the hungry and homeless. It means those on the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder. Jesus has come to lift them up. He has come to fill them up through the generosity of his followers. He has come to assure them that God loves them and that their lives have dignity.
But this good news is for people who are poor in other ways as well. This isn’t something you have to qualify for by proving a low income. This isn’t like Medicaid or Pell grants for college. It isn’t something that is doled out on a sliding scale. Jesus has also come to bring good news for the poor in spirit, for those who are in despair, for those who hunger and thirst for God’s love. Jesus has come to fill up every human heart which is empty and groaning for the presence and peace of God. Every heart, including yours.
Jesus has come to proclaim release to the captives. Just as God brought his people back home after being in captivity in Babylon, so too now God is working through his Son to bring all people out of every captivity – our captivity to death, our captivity to the devil, our captivity to our sinful selves, our captivity to fear and despair and to every force beyond our control. Jesus has come to deliver us out of our captivity so that we might be free and fearless as we make our way home to God.
Jesus has come to give sight to the blind. Jesus helps us to see what was hidden from us before. He has come to give us eyes of faith that can perceive God’s work in our lives, so that we can see God’s gifts given to us in Word and Sacrament, so that we can see the truth of who God is. Jesus has come so that we can all sing with joy, “I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.”
Jesus has come to let the oppressed go free, to release us from the weight of sin and guilt, to release us from past trauma or failings, to lift the burdens we’ve been carrying on our shoulders and our hearts.
Jesus has come to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, a new season of hope and healing, a new season of forgiveness and new life.
Jesus doesn’t do all of this by words alone. He backed up his words with actions. He lived out his words by taking our sins upon himself on the cross. He has established a new reality for us by dying our death for us. He has opened up a new future for us by being bodily raised by the Father in a new and eternal life that he promises to share with us.
But our Lord Jesus delivers his saving work to us here and now through words. Listen to the verbs: He brings good news. He proclaims. Jesus speaks to us through the written words of the holy scriptures. He speaks to us through the scripture-soaked words of the liturgy. He speaks to us through the borrowed voice of a preacher. And today his precious, powerful words are fulfilled in your hearing.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church