Devotion - Thursday, October 23

This morning's Gospel reading is from Luke 4.  This passage is oftentimes referred as Jesus' first sermon.  "Firsts" do mean something; either to those who do them first or to those who record them as the first act of one whom they have chosen to follow.

In this "first sermon," Jesus uses as his text the words of the prophet Isaiah:

‘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.’

When the world thinks of Jesus, and Christianity, it breaks my heart that this "first sermon" of Jesus' isn't what comes to mind.  The world does not think - FIRST - of Christians who make this proclamation.

I was in a conversation with an individual who has migrated to the US.  This person's status is in deferment, meaning they cannot be deported, but their claim to remaining in the US is under review.  They were surprised at my knowledge about such status issues, and overwhelmed when they learned that my daughter is working with the undocumented children coming across the US/Mexico border. "Why are you committed to this?"  I was asked.  And my heart broke.

I wanted to simply say, "Because I am a follower of Jesus."  And I did. But I had to get there by way of a bit of explaining.  

It seems that we have lost something, as Christians, when those less familiar with our faith tradition cannot immediately understand that we are doing good in the world because this is the thing of which Jesus first spoke.  We have allowed first things to no longer be first things.  And we have turned the way of Jesus into a thought or a pledge.