Good News for Today

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Rev. Molly F. James, PhD

Chapel of the Lord, Episcopal Church Center

Micah 6:6–8; Psalm 43; Luke 4:14–21

May God’s Word be spoken. May God’s Word be heard. May that point us to the Living Word who is Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Good news to the poor. Release to the captives. Sight to the blind. The oppressed go free. A year of the Lord’s favor. The Good News of our Gospel lesson this morning is good news indeed. I find myself particularly grateful for it, on multiple levels. 

The news headlines have been pretty overwhelming lately. From the destruction of Hurricane Dorian to yet another mass shooting. And news headlines are not always distant and global. No doubt many of us know people in the predicted or in the actual path of Dorian’s destruction. Our family learned yesterday that a dear friend and her husband were among the victims in that boat fire in California. And no doubt we have headlines in our local news about violence and tragedy in our own communities. The nature of news today means that it rarely matters whether or not it is a global headline or a personal one. We hear intimate, personal stories of violence either way, and they are tragic and painful. The speed and agility of communication in the 21st century means that we hear about the poor, the captives, the blind, and the oppressed in our own neighborhoods and in neighborhoods on the other side of the world. The sheer magnitude of human suffering is overwhelming. 

This is why we need the Good News this morning. We need to be reminded that God is at work in the world. That this prophecy of Isaiah that is retold by Jesus, does not just apply to Ancient Israel nor to the Palestine of Jesus’ day. It applies to us too. We need to be reminded of the stories that so rarely make the headlines. Stories of the hundreds and thousands of men and women around the world who dedicate their lives to feeding the hungry and caring for the disabled. Of lawyers and activists who give their time to help the oppressed and captives go free.  

I also think this is a prophecy that matters on a deeper, more personal level. It is Good News that can have a real impact in our own hearts and in our own lives. If we take Jesus’ words on a more metaphorical level, how might they apply to us as individuals? Are there places in our lives where we feel depleted or run dry? Are we suffering from a poverty of spirit? Are we allowing ourselves to be held captive by fear? Do we feel oppressed in some way? Do we need to find a way to break free or at least to change how we are taking care of ourselves? 

What in our lives might be a stumbling block for us? What might be preventing us from more deeply engaging in relationship with God or with each other? How might we see today’s Gospel as an invitation to move into a different future? What burdens might it be time for us to lay down? Are there amends we need to make? Or do we need to do a better job of surrounding ourselves with people who recognize our gifts and who help us to thrive? 

No doubt each of us could use a little Good News, a little transformation, a little restoration and reconciliation somewhere in some part of our lives. I hope that today, we can hear the Good News of our Scripture. We can take comfort in Micah's reminder that God does not require us to make sacrifices of cattle or oil. What God desires from us is to live lives of humility that seek to promote justice in the world. I hope we can hear in that a call to be a part of creating a more just future for all people. 

And I hope that we can hear the generous invitations in Jesus’ prophecy. An invitation to live into a new and different future. An invitation to look for and to give thanks for the ways that this prophecy is being fulfilled on a local and a global level. And finally, I hope we can live into Jesus’ invitation to trust in God’s love. An invitation to trust in the hope and possibility of a new future. An invitation to let go of whatever burdens, whatever fears, whatever it is that might blind us to the depth of God’s love or hold us back from living into the fullness of who God has called us to be. 

I pray that each of us will have the courage, today, and every day, to step out in faith, into a new future, trusting that the Good News of God in Christ is real and meant for each one of us.
AMEN.