Part 3 of the Faith+Justice+Lent Series on Luke 4:18-19 is written by Rev. Chenda Innis Lee, Program Manager for the FaithJustice Foundation and Associate Pastor at Annandale Church. Click here for the full series.
Part 3 – Release to the Captives
“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.”
– Luke 4:18-19
The liberation of God’s people is a central theme in the biblical witness. Grounded in the Exodus narrative, God’s deliverance of the Hebrew people from Egyptian captivity, the biblical writers repeatedly emphasize God’s desire for all of God’s people to live in the freedom and abundance of God’s grace. Yet, the world as we know and experience it is filled with human institutions and systems that continue to hinder God’s people from fully living into the liberating promise of God’s love.
“The world as we know and experience it is filled with human institutions and systems that continue to hinder God’s people from fully living into the liberating promise of God’s love.”
In Jesus’ time, the institutions and systems holding God’s people in captivity, blinding them from the glory of God’s redeeming love, manifested themselves through the workings of the Roman Empire. For Jesus to quote from the prophetic tradition in his inaugural sermon is to put the Roman Empire on notice—to state emphatically that the Empire, or any other powers and principalities of this world, does not have claim over God’s people. Jesus, the new Moses, God in flesh, has entered the world to release God’s people from the bondage of the empire’s oppressive practices so that they can in turn be free to see and experience the in-breaking power of God’s kin-dom in their midst.
ACT Now Rally on the National Mall, Washington, DC
Even though we are over two thousand years removed from the context of our faith ancestors, we as God’s people, in this time, still find ourselves under the governance of a reincarnated Roman Empire doing everything in its powers to keep us in captivity, blinding us from the truth of God’s love. Yet, these ancient words from Luke’s gospel transcends into our time, penetrating the walls of our modern empires, putting them on notice and restoring our vision to see that God has not abandoned or forsaken us. God’s liberating power is still active, even in our time when it seems that the empire is in total control.
Luke reminds us that through the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God’s people no longer have to live as captives to the empire, but as free citizens of God’s kin-dom.
Luke reminds us that through the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God’s people no longer have to live as captives to the empire, but as free citizens of God’s kin-dom. By the power of God’s liberating Spirit, Christ bestows a sense of belonging upon all who have felt alienated and reassures us that we do not have to prove ourselves to earn God’s love. By the power of God’s liberating Spirit, Jesus frees us to see who we really are, to again glimpse the image of God in ourselves and others. By the power of God’s liberating Spirit, we are empowered, even in the death threatening grips of the empires of our time, to continue the work of Christ for the sake of our neighbor.
Lenten Blessings,
Rev. Chenda Innis Lee
Program Manager
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