Release to the captives

In tomorrow's Gospel reading Jesus returns to his hometown and reads the Prophet Isaiah in the synagogue worship saying,

'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."
For Luke this seems to be a summary of Jesus' ministry, almost like a modern mission statement for a corporation or church. Lindy Black offers the following way of looking at Jesus' promise to proclaim release to the captives

When the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in the midst of the Civil War, the slaves who lived within the realm of the Confederacy remained in bondage. Many did not know about the proclamation when it went into effect. Its authority was denied and nullified by local and regional power.

Yet Lincoln, in both his words and his claim to authority over the whole of the split and rebellious Union, contended that the proclamation was nonetheless true and real. And so this flawed and partial emancipation became the herald of a fuller freedom, a fulfillment yet unreached.

Jesus' proclamation...no different.

What holds people captive today? How might we continue to live into Jesus' goal to proclaim release to the captives?

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor