“How Ministry Begins, Part 1: The Authority of the Spirit” by the Rev. Dr. Don Wahlig, January 26, 2025, Year C / Epiphany 3 - Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 / Psalm 19 / 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a / Luke 4:14-21

THEME:  Like Jesus, our mission is to serve the marginalized and our power is the Holy Spirit.
 

If someone asked you what is the finniest movie of all time, what would you say?  Ten years ago, Rolling Stone Magazine surveyed readers to see which movies they thought were the funniest of all time.  The top 6 were: Blazing Saddles, Airplane, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Animal House, Young Frankenstein, and Caddyshack.  Classics, every single one. But I was shocked that one of my all-time favorites did not even make the top 20. The Blues Brothers. You have probably seen it, but If you haven’t, here is the basic plot. Jon Belushi and Dan Akroyd play two brothers who reform their old band in order to save the Catholic orphanage where they were raised by nuns. Despite facing huge obstacles, they have a certainty about their mission that allows them to carry it through. That sense of certainty comes from the source of their mission. As they say again and again, we are on a mission from God.

Friends, I was reminded of that when I read this week’s passage from Luke. What a dramatic moment. Here is Jesus being invited to come forward during worship in his hometown synagogue. As he looks out over the congregation he sees familiar faces, faces he has known all his life, faces of family, friends, and neighbors. These are people who knew him when he was a child, playing games and doing silly things, pulling pranks and teasing the girls. No doubt, they are still telling the story of that time that 12-year old Jesus almost gave his parents a heart attack when he stayed behind in the Temple down in Jerusalem for three whole days after Passover. But that child is not this Jesus. This Jesus is all grown up. Beyond that, there is something different about him now. He has a certain look about him, a sureness, a certainty, an intensity. They can’t quite place it. He has an air of authority that comes, not from any position he holds or any title he wears, but from something deep inside of himself.

They do not know what it is, but you and I do. It is the authority of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit descended on him when his cousin John baptized him in the chilly waters of the Jordan. Then the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness so Satan could test him. And, when he passed every test, God’s Spirit picked him up again and nursed him back to health. And Jesus was never the same. From that moment on, Jesus was a man with a mission. And now the moment has come to proclaim that mission in public, in front of those who know him longest and best.  So, there he is in the front of the synagogue, with every eye in the house focused on him. He opens the scroll of Isaiah, Israel’s greatest prophet. Toward the end, he finds the passage he is looking for. 

He reads, "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 set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Now, there is a hush as he sits down and prepares to teach. Everyone in that room knows the passage he just read. It is the job description of the coming Messiah, the one for whom everyone is waiting and longing.  The one who will finally deliver Israel from suffering and bondage. Then, Jesus connects the dots for them. "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." The message is clear: the Messiah is here. The liberating force of God’s Holy Spirit is right in front of their very eyes, embodied in one of their very own. Now is the time to liberate prisoners of sin and oppression. Now is the time for forgiveness. Now is the time to peal the scales from the people’s eyes and see that God is in their midst.

It will be like a jubilee year. You may remember that the Jewish law required that every 50 years, Israel would undertake a socio-economic reset. Debts would be forgiven. Land would be returned. The poor would be made whole, and the oppressed would be given new life.  Everyone would get a new start. This is the good news that Jesus proclaimed. It is his mission. It is also a neat and tidy summary of the gospel of Luke. Luke is telling us who Jesus is.  He is the Messiah, the King, the Prophet, and the Healer – all of these rolled up in one person, Jesus of Nazareth, hometown boy who has returned with God’s good news.  Correction: the hometown boy who is God’s good news.

Next week we will see how his family, friends, and neighbors react to this stunning declaration. For today, Luke’s message is crystal clear.  Jesus is on a mission, and his mission is our mission.  It is what we are doing when we love and praise God, when we love and nurture our church family, and when we love and serve our neighbors. That is the mission of Silver Spring Presbyterian Church.  It is how we embody Jesus’ good news. 

In making plans for 2025, we asked all of our committees to dream bigger and reach further. We asked them to find new ways to share God’s love, not only within our congregation, but especially with the community outside. The result was an impressive list of new ministries. We began with our Meal with a Mission in November. It attracted 100 people, including members of the community from high school age to senior citizens. Together, we packed and delivered over 1,000 pounds of food for New Hope Ministries. Another new initiative is the redevelopment of our Young Adults program. That ministry now has new leadership, and new energy. It, too, is attracting participants from both inside and outside the congregation. Together, are experiencing Christian fellowship, Bible study, and mission efforts on behalf of those in our community who are in need.

A similar new ministry is forming right now for middle-aged folks. This group is for those whose kids may be a little older or even out of the house altogether.  They, too, will invite both church members and members of the community to participate in fellowship, study, and mission to the needy.  These are just some of the new ministries we proposed to the congregation during our Season of Commitment last fall. We asked you to support these programs with your hands and your wallets. As the year-end results have come in, I am pleased to report that, we have been utterly blessed by the outpouring of your financial and logistical support.  As a result, we are able to undertake these new ministries, and to expand our current ministries. We saw some of these last week on Mission Sunday.  Our Mission Committee did a fabulous job of highlighting the many ministries that we support. Thanks to you, we are in a position to increase that support this coming year.

Consider this a sneak preview of the annual report and budget that you will see at the congregational meeting two weeks from today. At the risk of stealing thunder from our Finance Committee, we will all be very grateful to God for his blessings, and grateful to each other for using them faithfully to glorify God’s name. All of this is possible because we take seriously Jesus’ mission to share God’s good news with those in need. We are making his mission our own. And like Jesus, as we undertake our mission, we have an unmistakable, undeniable authority. It comes from something higher than ourselves, and it resides deep within ourselves.  It is not a function of our own power, position or privilege – none of those things have this kind of power. 

It is the power of the Holy Spirit.  I think we have all felt it. There is nothing like it. Corrie Ten Boom certainly knew that. She is the author of the Hiding Place. She and her family spent months in a Nazi concentration camp for protecting Jews during the German occupation of Holland in WWII. Her faith carried her through. She survived and spent the remainder of her adult life following Christ as closely as she could. She famously said, “Trying to do the Lord's work in your own strength is the most confusing, exhausting, and tedious of all work.  But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, then the ministry of Jesus just flows out of you.”

Friends, that is what Jesus wants for you and me. So, let’s tap into the Spirit’s power as we share God’s love within our walls and beyond.  As we do, we will discover that we too have an irresistible and undeniable authority that comes from the Messiah whose mission we take as our own.  Friends, just like the Blues Brothers, you and I are on a mission from God.

May it be so.