Someone said, good news to
the hungry is not preaching but food! Sounds about right, doesn't it. The whole
social gospel was built on that principle. The social gospel also refers to the
words of James. "If someone comes to you hungry, what good is it to pray for
them and tell them to go trusting God. Give them something to eat!"
But who are
the poor?
A young man came to church one day, sat through the whole service and
worshiped God as everyone else was. After the service, he went to fellowship
hour. He was a happy, charismatic chap. Chatting with everyone, spreading a
positivity and joy for having been in church. People were drawn to him. Some
thought "I wish we had more young men like this. Maybe even or especially in our
church." So they asked him for his contact details. It turned out that he had
not home address. He was a transient person, just going from place to place. All
his worldly possessions were in his small backpack. Yet he was content. He was
also so happy to be in church, to hear God's word, to praise God and bring joy
to and within the family of Christ."
Was this young man poor?
When Jesus opened
the scriptures in the temple, he read, “The Spirit of God is upon me because He
has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.” The Greek word used for poor
here is also the word Jesus uses in the sermon on the plain, which we see two
chapters later in Luke, “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of
heaven.”
Poor refers to those who, as Matthew says, “are poor in Spirit”. The
word was used broadly for anybody with a lack, anyone who was on the outside,
marginalized. Jesus was talking about those who do not have salvation, those who
may have everything material but are spiritually poor. The good news to the poor
is that this is the year of the jubilee, the time of God’s favor. Now Jubilee
was a known practice in the Jewish Old Testament times. It was a time where
debts were forgiven, land was restored by not planting on it so that it
replenished itself. Slaves were set free. All Isaiah wrote about. So why was
Jesus making a big deal about proclaiming the Jubilee? This practice had become
latent. Why? Not because of exile and conquest, but because they had strayed
from the true God.
Jesus was saying, “You all have no Jubilee and have had no
Jubilee for a while. Therefore, I came as God incarnate to show you the way."
Who is that way? Jesus is.
What is the message of the Jubilee, this new Jubilee?
- The poor in Spirit are going to be set free by the Gospel of Jesus Christ
- Those in prison, the prison of their religion, will be set free
- Those who are blind, blinded to the error of their ways and beliefs and cannot see the Truth, they will see.
- Those captive to the past, will be set free and all things made new.
- Those who are struggling with acceptance of themselves and feel outside, or made to feel like an outsider will be freed.
I was tempted when I was a young man, to just “do justice, do good,
love mercy and walk humbly with God” as we often say in church quoting Micah
6:8. Once again, yes, we are called to live that way in Christ, but we are also
to preach the Gospel. But God opened my eyes to see that the physically freed, and the materially satisfied, still need the Savior, the Messiah of their souls.
Proclaiming the Gospel, teaching about Jesus as the Way, Truth and source of
Life - eternal Life is what I have to do. It's what we all have to do as disciples of
Christ. It is the Good News. Let’s not keep it to ourselves. Let’s live the
Jubilee. We are free to live that jubilee in Christ and to proclaim it.
Then... we
radiate the joy and inner peace and fulfillment as the young man had and did.
Amen
