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.
Today’s text includes words spoken by Jesus after he did battle
with Satan for 40 days in the wilderness. He was quoting from Isaiah 61:1-2; Jesus read
the verses quoted above to the people assembled for worship at the synagogue in Nazareth.
In a literal sense, Isaiah was talking about the Year of the Jubilee,
first detailed in Leviticus 25. The Israelites were instructed that once every 50 years,
slaves were to be freed, debts cancelled, and ancestral property returned to the original
family.
But this passage from Isaiah, as quoted by Jesus, could also be read as
an Old Testament prophecy proclaiming the coming of Christ. That seems to be how Jesus was
interpreting it when he read that scripture in Nazareth and then went on to add,
"Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
Whether as a citation of the Year of Jubilee or as a Messianic
prophecy, it would seem this passage is telling us to forgive and forget, to let bygones
be bygones.
In the aftermath of September 11, it is difficult to take a Christian
attitude toward those who terrorize us. It appears that the Taliban and al-Qaeda have only
one objective – to subjugate all of society.
But we must not let a small group of individuals cause us to mistrust
the entire community of Islam. We must take safeguards not to lump this entire group of
people into the same category. There were probably fewer than 10,000 al-Qaeda/Taliban
involved in the fighting at the start of the war in Afghanistan, while the entire company
of Muslims numbers in the millions around the world. We must prevent ourselves from
condemning an entire religion because of the acts of but a few.
Lord, please guide us and teach us to accept people for what they
are and to be tolerant of our enemies. Amen.
Craig Stallwitz
