Word to the Wise
Thursday, January 8, 2009 - Christmas Weekday
[1 John 4:19 - 5:4 and Luke 4:14-22A]The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
In a few days, the President-elect, Barack Obama, will take the oath of office at a public outdoor ceremony before an immense crowd with millions watching by various forms of electronic media around the world. Although it may be difficult for him to equal his now famous acceptance speech in Chicago on election night, many are hoping that he will say words that inspire and give direction to a nation sorely in need of hope. It is a moment that could have lasting and profound effects! However, another inaugural address that really went unnoticed beyond those in the audience at the synagogue in Nazareth on that particular Sabbath has had and will continue to have lasting, even eternal, effects. Today's gospel scripture tells us about it! For his "inaugural address" Jesus did not have a team of speech writers combing the famous speeches of national heroes such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson or Franklin Roosevelt (each of whom has a "temple" dedicated to him on the Mall of the Capital!) Jesus simply took a scroll of the Hebrew scriptures, found the passage from Isaiah that he was looking for, read it out loud (cf. above quote) and then uttered this simple statement that says everything the entire gospel is meant to say: Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing. One can only imagine the hush that followed in the room! Of course that "hush" was immediately followed by requests to perform various miracles, etc. etc. and then a near-lynching! Mr. Obama will soon enough experience the problem(s) of meeting the expectations created by his words on Inauguration Day (and his acceptance speech). Human hopes can contain the seeds of violent disappointment. Jesus' own experience is testimony to that. It is not my intention to make of Mr. Obama a "Christ-figure!" Secular saviors quickly become words on the pages of history books. Jesus' life transcends history! Inaugurations are moments of secular promise with the reality dependent largely on the two groups who sit in the chambers behind the platform where the swearing-in will occur. Jesus' inaugural speech in Nazareth was both promise and reality. I'm not on Mr. Obama's speech-writing team. But I don't think he could do much better than the passage that Jesus chose to read, or the comment that Jesus made on it. Imagine the hush in Washington! AMEN
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