Good News to the Poor (Luke 4:14-21)

I mentioned last week that the wedding in Cana represented for Jesus a sort of “coming-out” party, when he (somewhat reluctantly) revealed himself to be someone set apart by God.  His mother, Mary, came to him and said, “this is your moment!” and Jesus said, “No, my moment has not yet come;” and Mary, ignoring him, turned to the servants and told them to do whatever Jesus was about to tell them, and then Jesus rolled his eyes and said, “Mom!”

And yet, realizing that his mother Mary came to him speaking words of wisdom … and knowing that she was right … he set about changing water into wine, the first of his many acts of ministry according to the gospel of John.

Well, according to Luke’s gospel, Jesus’ coming out party was a little different.

According to the gospel of Luke, it wasn’t Mary, but the Spirit, that prodded Jesus to begin his ministry.  Filled with the Spirit, Jesus began teaching and preaching in the region of Galilee, and eventually he came to Nazareth, his own hometown, the town where he grew up.

Next week, I’ll tell you about the challenges of preaching to your own hometown, to the people who have known you all your life.  It’s not easy.  Next week, we’ll focus on the reaction to his message.  Today, we focus on the message itself.

Entering the synagogue, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.  He took the scroll, unrolled it, and stood up to read; and we’ve already heard what it said:  “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, sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed; and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

He carefully rolled the scroll back up, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down.  In those days, teachers and preachers did their thing sitting down; that was the teaching position.  They didn’t stand in a pulpit.  So when Jesus sat down, all eyes were on him.  Every person was waiting to hear what this new preacher, this hometown boy, had to say concerning these words of the prophet.

Jesus said, “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

This caused quite a reaction, which – as I mentioned – will be the focus of next week’s worship service.  Today, we stop right here, with these words, that “today, the scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

At this point, my first question is, “How? How was this scripture fulfilled on the day Jesus made this proclamation?”  What did Jesus mean when he said these words to those in the synagogue on that day some 2,000 years ago?

It is an important question.  However, religious teachers throughout history – scribes, rabbis, preachers and theologians – understand that scripture is not a dead document, but a living, breathing Word of God that speaks to us today. 

Therefore it is appropriate to not only ask, “How was this scripture fulfilled on the day Jesus made his proclamation,” but to also ask, “How is this scripture fulfilled on this day, our day, the present day?  How is this scripture, this prophetic vision, fulfilled in our time and in our lives? 

What does it mean, today, to bring good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed?  What does it mean today to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor?  What does it mean today to continue the work for freedom and equality for all of God’s children?”

In his 2^nd Inaugural Address last week, President Obama gave an answer to this question when he said that, in our nation’s history, we had to learn that “no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave and half-free…”  Learning this, he said, “guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall… it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.”

Then President Obama gave an answer as to what it means, today, to continue the work for freedom and equality for all of God’s children.  He said:

“Our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law — for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country. Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm.”

Good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed.

For the past three years I have served on the board of directors for the South Coast Interfaith Council.  One of the issues that has been at the forefront of our conversations recently is the working conditions of hotel workers here in Long Beach. 

Last year, the South Coast Interfaith Council successfully convinced the California Council for Economic Justice to move its annual breakfast from a hotel where workers were treated poorly and unjustly, even though the move was a great inconvenience to the breakfast organizers.  The Interfaith Council advocated strongly for the passage of Measure N, which requires hotels to pay their workers a living wage.  And now that Measure N has passed, the Council is working to ensure that hotels follow the law in ways that are just and fair.

Because the truth is that many hotels are still not treating their workers in ways that are just and fair.  They are firing workers without cause; they are increasing their workload unreasonably, just as Pharaoh increased the workload of the Israelites; they are adding charges to their workers, for things like parking; and they are withholding tips. 

In recent decades, Long Beach has spent nearly a billion dollars of taxpayer money into developing the city’s tourism industry.  However, Long Beach also gained one of the highest rates of poverty among low-wage hotel workers, many of whom, despite working full-time, must rely on food stamps and other forms of government aid.

Some argue that increasing wages would hurt the economy.  I’m not an economic expert, but I do know that in communities where living wage laws have been successfully enforced, where workers are able to spend their own wages, locally, on things like food and housing – instead of spending money received from the government – the economy is strengthened.  This has been proven in places where effective living wage laws have been passed.

Hotels along Century Boulevard near LAX were recently required by law to start paying their workers a living wage.  Many of the hotel owners were against this, but Peter Dumon, who owns and operates the Radisson Hotel at LAX, had this to say:

“Hotel owners are really the ones who stand to gain the most from dropping their illogical opposition to the law. A vigorous, well-trained labor market benefits our bottom line. Dedicated and fairly compensated workers committed to a career in the industry will help us increase our guest-satisfaction levels while reducing employee turnover. In short, the living wage is a profit-enhancing idea.

“Oddly, some businesses, including some of my peers on Century Boulevard, view their employees as costs to be contained rather than resources to be nurtured. Are we really so presumptuous as to assume that these men and women who operate our hotels, clean our guest rooms and cook and serve our meals should not benefit from the success they helped produce?”  [“Stop fighting the 'living wage'” June 11, 2008, LA Times]

Some hotel owners here in Long Beach agree.  The Hotel Maya and the Queen Mary Hotel in particular have made great strides in treating their workers in ways that are fair and just.  However, many other hotels in Long Beach are contriving ways to get around the new law. For this reason, religious leaders, members of the Interfaith Council, and other community people are planning to attend the February 5 Long Beach City Council meeting, in the hopes of convincing the mayor and council to work to ensure that hotels follow the law and treat their workers in ways that are fair and just.  They want to do their part to bring good news to the poor and freedom to the oppressed.

Is this the type of thing Jesus was talking about?  I think so.  Those words from the prophet Isaiah – which became a sort of mission statement for Jesus – were lived out in his ministry.  Jesus demonstrated a determined disposition toward those who were poor, mistreated, and oppressed.  He identified with peasant fishermen, poor widows, despised tax collectors, and others who were oppressed under the economic and social systems of the time.

Another social justice issue of our time is the issue of abortion.  This past Tuesday marked the 40^th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, and in the years since, our nation has been divided into two camps, two parties, on this issue. 

On one side we have those who call themselves “pro-life,” who believe that abortion should, in all or almost all cases, be outlawed.  On the other side are those who call themselves “pro-choice,” who believe every woman should have easy access to abortion, if that is her choice.

To me, it seems that when one considers this controversial issue, one must take into account the rights of the unborn child and the rights of the woman.  Unfortunately, neither of the two options presented to us considers what’s best for both the woman and the child.  The pro-life camp puts the rights of the unborn child ahead of the rights of the pregnant woman, while the pro-choice side puts the rights of the pregnant woman ahead of the rights of the unborn child.

In seeking to bring good news to the poor – and women who choose abortion are, in fact, poor more often than not – Jesus would seek a solution that considers both the woman and her unborn child.  Jesus would seek out a “win-win” solution.

Most women who choose to have an abortion do so for economic reasons:  they cannot afford to have a child and raise it.  Laws that make abortion illegal ignore this, and, in fact, some of the world’s highest abortion rates are in countries where abortion is illegal.

On the other hand, countries with the lowest abortion rates are countries that make it economically possible for a poor woman to raise a child.  These are countries that see the welfare of its children as a community responsibility, countries whose citizens have agreed to work together to ensure that everyone has access to health care, day care, and other forms of assistance.  In most of these countries, abortion is allowed; in fact, abortion is covered under universal health care.  Yet because there is little economic need for a woman to have an abortion, these countries also have the lowest abortion rates in the world.

In light of this, people on both sides of the abortion debate need to ask themselves:  what is it that we really want?  Do we really want to lower the number of abortions?  Do we really want a win-win situation, that makes for a better life for both mother and child? 

Or is it more important for us to stand our political ground and use abortion as a way of defining “us” against “them,” while hundreds of thousands of poor women struggle with the difficult choices forced on them by society?

Which solution will help the body of Christ today fulfill the vision of the prophet, to bring good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed?

In undertaking his mission, Jesus was guided by the Spirit, the Spirit that guided him in the wilderness, filled him with power, and anointed him … to bring good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed … and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. 

May that same Spirit be our guide today.