Anointed

Luke 4:14-21

January 27, 2019

            The first time I was ever asked to preach was when I was in seminary. That may sound like an obvious time and place to be asked to preach for the first time, but many of my classmates and friends had preached before they ever came to seminary. For some it was the act of preaching that opened them up to the possibility of being called into the ministry. But that was not my story.

            I was walking across campus, moving from one class to another, talking with a friend of mine. I spotted my home church pastor also walking across campus and called hello to him. Home church has a different meaning for me than some. I consider my home church to be the church I joined in Richmond, Virginia when I was an adult. I grew up in another denomination, and I would describe that church as the church I grew up in. But I don’t think of it as my “home church.” Since I was in seminary in Richmond and my home church was in Richmond, it was not unusual that I would see my pastor.

            We stopped and talked for a few minutes. Then he asked me if I would be back in Richmond for the Sunday after Christmas. I told him, “yes.” And then he asked me the big question…will you preach for me on that Sunday?

            Will I?!!! You bet I’ll preach for you!

            It was only after we parted company, and I got back to my apartment later that day, that the reality of what I had just agreed to hit me. I am going to preach. I am going to preach the Sunday after Christmas. I am going to preach in my home church the Sunday after Christmas.

            I was both excited and terrified. A friend and I sat and read through the lectionary texts for that day, so I could consider what text I might choose. My dad kept calling me with suggestions for texts. His choice was that I should preach the resurrection story from John’s gospel, focusing on Mary proclaiming that she had seen the Lord. Then I could also proclaim that more women were needed and necessary to proclaim God’s good news to the world. I told him that while I appreciated his advice, that wasn’t particularly helpful for my first sermon. Although now, I kind of wish I had preached that.

            I spent most of my time at home studying and reading and trying to think about what I would write. Finally, a few days before I left I wrote out the sermon. It was still a rough draft, but I thought I pretty much had it down. My father read it and got choked up. My mother read it and outright cried. Oh and just as an aside, in the midst of all of this, I had been in a terrible car accident a few days before Christmas. My mother’s car was totaled. I had been taken to the hospital in an ambulance. I hurt my knee, but I was fine. Yet I suspect my parents were emotional not just for the sermon, but also because I was alive to write it.

            Finally, I got back to Richmond. It was the Sunday after Christmas. I was dressed professionally in a new skirt and blouse. I stood in the pulpit and read the lesson I had chosen from the gospel of Luke. Then I began to preach. I was so nervous, I just kept my head down at first, afraid to look up at the congregation. My hands were flat against the pulpit, pushing the pages of my sermon down as if I were afraid they would suddenly fly away. But by about the second page, I had started to warm to all of this a little. I got a little more relaxed. I was making more eye contact. I was even ready to use my hands, make some gestures, become more animated. So I raised my right hand to make a point, and as my hand lifted up from the pulpit so did the page from my sermon that it was resting on. My hands were so sweaty from nerves, that the page was stuck to my hand. I quickly batted it back down to the pulpit, and carried on.

            That was my first sermon. And the sermon we read in Luke’s gospel was Jesus’first. It actually may not have been Jesus’ first sermon. But it was his first public act of ministry, and it took place in the synagogue where he grew up, in his hometown of Nazareth. Matthew, Mark and Luke all record this story of Jesus preaching to his home “church,” but only Luke places it in this particular time frame. As I said last week, each gospel writer’s choice of what they record Jesus doing first is significant. It is significant because it not only sets the stage, as it were, for Jesus’ ministry in that gospel, it also gives us another indication of what Jesus was about; what he cared about, what his focus and purpose was, and what God wanted to reveal through him.

            The wedding at Cana in John’s gospel was a sign that pointed to the abundance of God. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus preaches a sermon in his hometown. And while the verses in this week’s part of the story stop at a good place, or at least a calmer place, next week we’ll read further on and see just how ugly things turn when a hometown boy reveals he is far, far more than what the people expected.

            But for now, we end with Jesus’ words, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

            If the wedding at Cana pointed to God’s abundance, what is being revealed in this passage? What was Luke’s purpose in situating this hometown sermon by Jesus in the prominent position of his first act of public ministry? Perhaps the word “purpose” is our clue and our key.

            Jesus was filled with the power of the Spirit. When he was handed the scroll, he chose these particular words, this particular passage from Isaiah to 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.”

            Filled with the power of the Spirit, Jesus stood up and read this passage from Isaiah, then sat down and said essentially, “And guess what? This isn’t just a random passage about some other person. This is a passage about me. Today the scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

            What was Luke’s purpose placing this story here in the gospel? It seems to me that it was to make clear Jesus’ purpose. In using these verses from Isaiah, Jesus was making it clear not only who he was – the expected, long awaited Messiah; he was also proclaiming to the people of his hometown what his purpose was and with whom he aligned. He was anointed. The literal definition of anointed as a verb is “to be smeared with oil.” But the religious, theological definition is one who is set apart, one who has divinity conferred upon him or her.

            Jesus stood before the people who knew him since he was a boy and said I am the anointed one. I have been set apart by God. And as the anointed one, here is who I align with; here is who I have come for: the poor, the oppressed, the blind. I have come to be with those who have no voice. I have come to be with those who have no power. This is who I am and this is my purpose.

            When I stood and preached that first sermon to my home church, I was not declaring that I was the anointed one. But I was stating – without even realizing it – that not only did I sense a calling from God, but that calling may just bring me to a pulpit to proclaim the good news of the gospel. That is not only my call, but it is also my purpose.

            Jesus stood before his hometown crowd and declared his purpose. And the rest of the gospel of Luke, and Acts, turns on that purpose: to bring good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed go free.

            We too have been called. We too have been anointed, set apart, with a purpose from God. Does our purpose align with the purpose Jesus stated in this sermon? In a few minutes we will hold our annual meeting, and we will walk our way through the packet of reports and minutes and statistics. My challenge to me, to you, to all of us is to hold what we do up to what Jesus’ purpose was and is. Are we in alignment? Are we following in his footsteps? Are we bringing good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind and jubilee to those who are oppressed? We have to do this, not only today but again and again, because our purpose should always be Jesus’ purpose. He was anointed, set apart, and we are called to follow the path he chose. What is our purpose – as individual Christians, as the church? Our purpose is Jesus’ purpose.

            Thanks be to God. Amen.