The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:18-21
Just out of 40 days in the desert and in the place of preaching at his home synagogue in Nazareth, the scroll of the book of Isaiah was handed to Jesus. He read from the prophet about liberation and then he centered this proclamation of liberation around himself. He looked into the eyes of those gathered and said, “I proclaim this liberation to you NOW!”
What does liberation look like to you? In this scripture, it looks like recovery of sight, freedom from oppression, and relief from poverty. In our culture and time, persons of color could use some liberation from bias and disempowerment. From the oppression of harassment and disenfranchisement, liberation could be spoken to trans youth and those who live in food and housing insecurity.
And sometimes oppression isn’t a force from the outside. How often do we box ourselves into spaces where we cannot make room to love or be loved? When do we limit ourselves of possibility and growth? In what ways do we blind ourselves to the realities of others’ pain, numbing our feelings and not begin the work of liberating others?
Black theologian and writer Cole Arthur Riley writes this in her book This Hear Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us:
Liberation is not a finality or an end point; it is an unending awakening. It is something we can both meet and walk away from within the same hour. Our responsibility to ourselves is to become so familiarized with it, so attuned to its sound, that when it calls out to us, we will know which way the table is.
To answer the question of how one becomes attuned to liberation, I think we must ask ourselves: What sounds are drowning it out?
Let us pray. A prayer from the website Religion and Race.
Heavenly Creator, come to us, for the need is great.May empty stomachs be filled with justice and lonely pockets burst with peace.
May freedom come to all prisoners. Those imprisoned by sin, addiction, fear, war, and walls, both physical and metaphoric.
Open our eyes so we may see your Creation in all its wonderment. May we no longer stumble in our self-imposed darkness, but rather, let us walk in your light.
By Christ’s death and resurrection, I am reborn with the Holy Spirit. Help me to lead, to guide, and to protect but most importantly, teach me to follow, and show me the way that I should go.
May my eyes remain affixed on Jesus, in Whose name I pray, Amen.
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