Good News for Imperfect People by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Patti Lusher)

Last week we heard about the beginning of Jesus’ ministry from the Gospel of John’s perspective. John told the story of Jesus turning the water into wine as a sign of God’s extravagant love. This week we turn to Luke’s Gospel. Luke has a different story about how Jesus’ ministry began. And isn’t that how it is in a family? Everyone always remembers the story a bit differently. One person remembers one story and another remembers another.

In Luke’s Gospel we get Jesus’ first sermon. Some call it his inaugural address. I had the privilege of hearing President Obama give his second inaugural address in person, along with hundreds of thousands of other people on the capital lawn. In the address, Obama laid out his plans and his dreams for our country. His vision was big and bold. He was filled with big ideas that day – no worry about Congress and whether or not they would cooperate. When you are giving an inaugural address it is all about hope and the future and how we’re going to get there together.

Jesus gave the same kind of inaugural address, but all he had to do was read scripture. It was the Sabbath. He was in his hometown of Nazareth and so he went to the meeting place, the local synagogue. He was asked to read the scripture for the day, much like Kristen often reads our scripture for the day. It was an appointed text; he did not choose it. The text was from Isaiah. It was filled with promise, and hope and a bright future for all the people, just like President Obama’s inaugural address. Jesus read this:

God’s Spirit is on me;
    God’s chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor,
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and
    recovery of sight to the blind,
To set the burdened and battered free,
    to announce, “This is God’s year to act!”

Now this was a reading from Isaiah, remember, but then when Jesus closed the scroll, he did an amazing thing. He said: “You’ve just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place.” What! What did he say? He said that HE was the one who would do these things. He said he was God’s servant, sent to turn the world upside down. That must have caused quite a stir.

So let’s unpack what he said just a bit. He came to preach good news to the poor, to announce pardon to the prisoners, and recovery of sight to the blind, and to set the burdened and battered free. This is the year for God to act. David Lose writes: “What is striking, if you listen closely, is that this good news is only good if you are willing to admit what is hard in your life, what is lacking, what has been most difficult. It is not “good news” in general, but rather good news for the poor. It is not just release, but release to those who are captive, sight to those who are blind, freedom to those who are oppressed.”  (Source: David Lose, http://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=1771.)

So in order for us to receive these blessings from Jesus, we have to admit that we are not perfect. We are in need of blessing. This is hard for us to do because we live in a culture that calls us to pretend that we have it all together, right? Television, the internet, advertisements, all tell us we are supposed to be thin and beautiful, and fit. We’re supposed to eat healthily and raise perfect children. We’re supposed to have the perfect job and work hard at it and get promotions and raises so then we can buy the perfect house and live in the perfect neighborhood and have perfect friends. Wow! What an illusion. Who can live up to that!

Jesus came to remind us that we are all imperfect. We are all broken and in need of the grace of God. So in his inaugural sermon he talked about those things. He said, “If you are blind to certain things, I will give you sight.” What are you blind to? What do you need to see more clearly? Is it a relationship that is not right? A job situation where you need to stand up for yourself? Are you blind to an injustice that you participate in? Do you have a blind spot that prevents you from seeing something right in front of you that everyone around you is trying to help you see? Jesus said, “I come to give sight to the blind.” So he will give us sight in our blind spots. Jesus will help us see those hard things within ourselves and around us that we don’t want to see. If we just ask, Jesus will show us what he wants us to see.

Next, Jesus came to bring good news to the poor. How are you poor? You might be financially poor. If so, Jesus wants to come and bring you hope. Like Obama who in his inaugural address gave a vision for how we can lift people out of poverty in our country, Jesus does not want people to live in poverty. He wants us to have a fair living wage, health care for all the people, and job training so everyone can provide for their own family. He wants us to help one another so that no one has to live in poverty in this world.

But there are so many other ways to be poor. Are you poor in spirit? Are you beaten down by life? Jesus wants to lift you up. Jesus came to bring us the good news that we belong to God and God loves us.

Are you poor because you are without hope and you are discouraged? Jesus wants to bring you good news. You are not alone. God is with you. God has a dream for your life. God has a purpose for your life, a reason why God put you on this earth. Your job is to discover that purpose and live it out. That is the good news. If you are feeling poor in spirit remember that you are not poor because you belong to God.

Jesus also came to announce pardon to the prisoners. Do you feel like you are living in a prison? What does that prison feel like? Is your prison guilt for something you have done? Or something you have failed to do?    Remember we are all imperfect people. We have all made mistakes. Jesus came to tell us that we are forgiven. This is a big one, my friends. So many of us walk around with guilt and shame. We are prisoners to our guilt and shame. Jesus says to us: You are forgiven. In the name of God, you are forgiven. Leave it behind. Whatever you did, or failed to do, it cannot separate you from the love of God. Let it go. God forgives you. It’s time to forgive yourself.

Finally, Jesus came to set the battered and the burdened free. Do you feel battered by the world? Are you weighed down by your burdens? This is a tough one too. Life is hard. The longer we live, the more time we have to collect burdens. It’s like we have this big sack we are dragging around behind us with all our worries and our woes. Jesus came to take that sack away from us and to set us free. Take a deep breath. Imagine what it would feel like to give your burdens over to Jesus. Just let them go and let him have them. He wants to take them. He does not want us to be beaten down by them any longer. Jesus wants to set us free. So take him at his word. Be free.

Jesus made this inaugural sermon and then he sat down. We don’t know if the people took it to heart. We don’t know the stories of the people who heard it and how they lived their individual lives from that day forward. But we know how we live our lives. The sermon reminds us that we have to own up to our imperfections. We need to stop hiding behind the idea that we can be perfect. God knows we’re not. What a relief. We can let down our guard and allow Jesus to care for us. So that is our gift today. Jesus sets us free from our imperfections.

In the Christian church we have a tradition of confession. In prayer, we confess our sins to God, our shortcomings, and our failings. It helps to cleanse the soul when we name our sins to God. Of course God already knows, but it helps us to come clean with God. When we confess our sins we remember that Jesus came not for the perfect but for the imperfect, he came not for the healed but for the broken, he came not for the righteous but for the unrighteous, and he came not for the saint but for the sinner.

When we confess our sins, we always end our prayers with what we call the absolution. This is the reminder that we are forgiven. Because you see, God always forgives us. God loves us and it is God’s nature to forgive.

So we’re going to respond to the message today with a prayer of confession. I invite you to pray with me. The prayer is on the screen.

Holy God,

We confess that we are imperfect people. We have done things we wish we had not done, and we have failed to do things we wish we had done. We are poor in spirit; we fail to draw near to you. We are blind to the injustice in our community and our world. We are prisoners to our own poor choices. We carry our burdens like a badge of honor rather than giving them over to you so we might live as free people. And now O God we confess our private sins to you in silence.

(PAUSE.)

Pastor: In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.

People: In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. Amen.