Inauguration words

 This week saw the inauguration of a new US President but I want to think back some addresses from previous inaugurations this morning. John F Kennedy in his inaugural address famously said, ‘ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.’ 

Barack Obama opened his inaugural address with the words, ‘I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors’.

There are many famous quotes which can be taken from inaugural speeches, whether of Presidents or Prime Ministers, or people in many other capacities – but few give quite such a powerful inaugural address and such incredible inspiration as Jesus offered in our gospel this morning (Luke 4:14-21).

He went home to Nazareth to give the address. In the synagogue he was given a scroll from the prophet Isaiah to read, and he read, ‘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 favour.’ And then he rolled up the scroll and powerfully announced, ‘Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’

These were words which were set to challenge those in authority – Jesus was claiming to be the fulfilment of all that God had promised the Jewish people. And there are 3 crucial parts to what he said.

Firstly, he said, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me’… God has given to each of us the opportunity to receive the incredible gift of the Holy Spirit – it is the gift of God’s guidance, his wisdom, his strength and protection for us, his peace, and with that gift he asks us to go and continue his work.

Today the power of the Holy Spirit is often treated as a little bit superstitious or just a bit weird by some people, but the power of the Holy Spirit is the power of God to transform anything – the power of God to transform the world and to transform individuals. ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…’ 

The composer, Johann Sebastian Bach headed all of his compositions, ‘J J’, standing for ‘Jesus juva’ meaning ‘Jesus help me’, and he ended every composition ‘S D G’, standing for ‘soli Dei gratia’, which means ‘To God alone be praise’ – and it strikes me that those are wonderful phrases to begin and end each day – just reminding ourselves that we live in God’s world, and we do so with his protection, his care and his love, and we do so in need of the strengthening power of the Holy Spirit. ‘The Spirit of the Lord id upon me…’

And then onto the second part of the gospel reading which concentrates on the doing ! Jesus has come to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

The ministry of Jesus was to be a campaign for justice – it was to be a ministry that made no divisions on race or gender, or wealth or power… And that remains the heart of his ministry today.

When Jesus chose this passage to read, I don’t think he was doing it by chance. He was doing it because he recognised that to make the difference in the world that he wanted to make, he would have to do it by showing his character – and that wasn’t a character that would bully, or that would use force to win power. It wasn’t a character that would stand and argue for hours over the interpretation of the scriptures. 

It was a character who loved and loves, and who believed and believes in working to make life better for people here and now.

And that has to be a huge job of the Church, and of each one of us today. Around the world there are people who are victims of injustice, there are victims of war, victims of disasters… And those who are in desperate need are not just people living in far off countries either – there are people close to home who live in poor conditions, who suffer with issues that are too great for them to handle by themselves.

And too often it’s easy to dismiss them with excuses like ‘what can we do by ourselves ?’ or ‘the money we give will just be used badly anyway !’ or ‘a lot of these people have caused their own problems !’

There may well be an element of truth in any or all of these statements, but Jesus showed us a way of coming to those in need and beginning a relationship with them not by judging but by loving them and helping them.
And that is where the Church must be today – not as judgemental but as compassionate and loving as Jesus….

We must know the issues which need our prayer and action, we must be at the heart of giving lavishly as Jesus gave – giving in terms of compassion and money, but also giving in terms of commitment, hospitality, welcome and service.

And we must look at the Bible and study what Jesus did and said, because it is from him that we must seek our guidance and our inspiration.

And in all that we do, to quote Johann Sebastian Back again, ‘To God alone be praise’… Jesus never chose the easy way, he never chose a path which wouldn’t lead to some pain and suffering – he chose the way that showed his love, that showed his commitment, and that showed how far he was prepared to go to share his good news of salvation with everyone.

Today his Church must be bold in making a difference. Jesus said, ‘man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’.

We need to be identifying and addressing the things we need to be involved in.., but simply meeting physical needs is still not enough – we can give money to people who are starving, we can help people who are struggling to pay their mortgage, or who are having trouble with drink or drugs, but as well as giving them the ability to live, we also have to show them a reason to live.

And Jesus is that reason – the third part of what Jesus said is in some ways the most crucial, but equally the most basic… ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’… That means that Jesus has made the claim to be the one whom God has sent to do that work... It means that he is asking us to recognise him and to respond to him. And that is our challenge day by day. Do we recognise Jesus so that in our recognition a response is just natural? 

Have we recognised the invitation that he offers to live as he really wants us to live, enjoying a life that, whilst not always easy probably, will be fulfilled… Have we considered the sacrificial love that took him to the cross, to die not just for all of us, but for any one of us, because he loves us. Have we considered the power that is shown in the resurrection and the words that followed – not of revenge or even inquests into how even his closest friends ran away and hid, but love and the assurance of help and strength going forward…  

Three things we’ve thought about this morning. The first is that God gives us his Holy Spirit to guide us, strengthen us, offer us wisdom… Secondly that we are called to be people of action, not passive witnesses to the challenges the world gives, and finally we are to make a response in our lives to the invitation of Jesus to follow him day by day… 

And if we choose to respond positively to all we’re offered, then there is also a need to tell others, because the invitation and promises are for all…  News this good is too important to keep to ourselves. AMEN