Five Minute Friday :: Favor

• Five Minute Friday :: Favor Linkup

Luke 4:14-21

Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee. … He stood up to read in synagogue, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

"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."

Then he said to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

• The year of the Lord's Favor!

Jesus was 30 years old and had been attending synagogue for a long time. He knew the texts of scripture well, so after the attendant handed him the Isaiah scroll, Jesus would have been able to pick and choose the passage he wanted to read that comes from the third section of the long book of Isaiah. But it's possible they had a set reading schedule, the way many churches follow the revised common lectionary.

Jesus combines Isaiah 61:1-2a
"The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."

And Isaiah 58:6
"To loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?" (Jesus leaves out words about vengeance.)

• The year of the Lord's Favor!

This is Luke's version of Jesus public ministerial debut. Just as for John who opens Jesus' public ministry with a party (on the third day, because?), it's also in his Galileean hometown, a working class place full of thieves, robbers, petty criminals, and gentiles! This passage highlights Luke's themes of Holy Spirit, the marginalized, the underprivileged.

• The year of the Lord's Favor!

Jesus tells his listeners right now, today, this Isaiah text has been fulfilled. Jesus mentions the year of the Lord's favor, the Jubilee 50th year – 7 years times 7 – from Leviticus 25: debts cancelled, captives released; although the land kept sabbath every seven years, during the jubilee that's not only holy to the Lord, but "holy to you" (that's us, the Lord's people), no pruning or extra harvesting. Plus, although all the land belongs to God, in the jubilee year fields will return to their original stakeholders.

And why? Leviticus 25:38 explains, "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, to be your God."

During Advent we hear Mary's Magnificat, also from Luke's gospel where Jesus' mother announces great leveling and immense reversals of have-nots gaining essentials for life, with those who have-a-lot in a material sense losing some of their wealth in a massive re-distribution.

• The year of the Lord's Favor!

During Advent and at other times we sing Canticle of the Turning that paraphrases Mary's words. Jesus' announcement of himself as God's justice and restoration embodied picks up on Mary's themes of distributive justice and equality. Mary would have known Hannah's song from 1 Samuel 2:1-10 so well she could riff on it.

• The year of the Lord's Favor!

The year of the Lord's favor! A life that still would include usual stressors of family, work, decisions, disappointments, but it would be so much lighter because everyone would have enough money, no debts, enough good food and housing, reliable health care. Wouldn't the Lord's favor be a reason for a jubilee celebration?!

How does this gospel text call and claim us? To announce and enact the year of the Lord's favor?!

The Spirit of the Lord is upon us…

• The year of the Lord's Favor! Jubilee!

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