01222022 – Luke 4. 14-21
“All” – very simply means – “all.”
Jesus came for “all.” (period)
Yes, he came for the poor, Luke tells us that, tonight/this morning, in our gospel text.
But he also came for those shut up in their gated communities, their pass-code protected-driveways, their multi-million dollar-McMansions and their tinted-windowed-Mercedes.
He came for the lost, the lonely, the alone, the hungry, the poor, the imprisoned, the lame…
But he also came for the self-seeking, the self-assured, the self-satisfied, and the self-centered.
He came for those with nothing and he came for those with everything. He quite literally came for “all people.”
“All means all.”
We do not get to pick and choose. We never did!
Now in those days, a “rich person” was someone who could afford “two sets [or more] of everyday clothing.”
A “commoner,” a “poor man,” only had the clothes he wore on his back and a cloak to wrap himself in at night.
(That’s why – it was against the law to hold “a cloak held in surety” overnight).
It actually became his blanket, his sleeping bag, his comforter, his bed clothes, his bed roll. IT IS, what kept a person warm. In some cases, it may have been “ALL that he had.”
If you were lucky you had something “good to wear” for special occasions, but only if you were “VERY LUCKY.”
OH, how times HAVE CHANGED.
Look into YOUR closets…(often times, we are talking more than one!)
You know the stuff you don’t and won’t wear…but it still sits there – hogging up precious storage space…Its probably time to get rid of it.
You are probably not going to fit into some of that clothes, no matter “how many” NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS, you make.
The poor of “THAT DAY” were poor not only “materially” but also in terms of “RIGHTS” and every part of life, both “PHYSICAL and SPIRITUAL.”
They were the” downtrodden,” the “oppressed,” the “uneducated,” the “unemployed,” the “unskilled,” the “sick,” the “imprisoned,” the “luck-less ones.”
They were those “who life” HAD NOT smiled on, in fact, many believed that life had FROWNED UPON THEM.
Not much different than today, is it?
Some were destitute, some are not.
There is a story that I read a long time ago, I am going to attempt to retell …
When Mother Theresa was making one of her tours looking for donations on behalf of the poor of Calcutta..
She was assigned a Roman Catholic Friar to accompany her in a local region.
He hoped and he prayed that he would have an opportunity to talk with and speak to “this sainted woman of the church.” But, no opportunity ever presented itself.
Finally, as she was readying herself to go on to her next speaking engagement, he rather bluntly asked her outright, “If he could accompany her on the next leg of her journey. He would offer to pay his own way.”
He just wanted to “learn from her” and “to hear firsthand about some of her experiences working with the poor.”
“You can afford the airfair she asked him?” “Of course,” he answered, “no problem!”
“Go, and give that money to the poor and you will know all you really need to know!” Why should YOU have “SO MUCH,” when “others” have so little?
The scriptures are brutally honest at this point. Jesus came for the poor. Yes, he came for all people.
His “MISSION STATEMENT” as layed out by the Prophet Isaiah was “spot on.”
The Spirit of the Lord is upon ME, and therefore, at the same time, it is also upon YOU. The Spirit of the Lord is upon ALL. But then, YOU KNEW that and KNOW that, you SENSED that!
Because he has anointed US, each of us, ALL OF US, to bring GOOD NEWS to the poor.
He has sent US (again, that would be all-of-us) no one being excluded here…to proclaim release to the captives.
He has sent US to proclaim recovery of sight to the blind; He has sent US to let the oppressed go free; He has sent US to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
This is not a ONE-MAN-SHOW. This is not a ONE-MAN-ACT. Nor was it ever meant to be. It is on-going. It is continual.
TODAY, not back then, not in the future, but TODAY “this PROMISE” has been fulfilled in YOUR hearing—
But ONLY IF YOU will extend YOURSELF to others and stop thinking only of YOURSELF and YOUR immediate situation. We are ALL in this together.
And, ALL still means “ALL.” Now about that closet of yours… Amen.