I don’t know about you, but I struggle a lot with those tasks that you do, only to have to re-do them very soon after. Some of the tasks I’m thinking of are washing dishes, doing laundry, taking out the trash, making a weekly menu and grocery shopping. If we took some time, I’m sure there are many other activities like this that we could name. And the challenging thing for me is that when we do these tasks, they are done, but they are not done done. We can check them off our to-do list, but then we have to almost immediately put them right back on the list. Why is that? Why can’t we just do the laundry once and be done forever? Why can’t we take out the trash and never have to do it again? The reason is because we keep making more trash. We keep dirtying more clothes. We can take care of the problem, but the result is only temporary if we continue engaging in the activities that made that task necessary in the first place.

In our text for this morning, Jesus enters the synagogue, the weekly gathering place of the Jews, as was his custom. This was something Jesus did religiously. He went to synagogue every week like a good Jew. This particular week, Jesus was called upon to read from the scroll of holy Scriptures, and he was given one of the scrolls of Isaiah. From that scroll, Jesus read: “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.” It was not unusual in the synagogue for someone to be assigned to read a passage like that and then to speak about it. What stands out to us is what Jesus says about this passage. Jesus stands up, and with all the eyes of the people fixed on him, he says, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus tells the people that this scripture that he just read has been fulfilled. What does he mean by that? The Greek word that is translated as fulfilled is pleróo (play-ra-oh). It is about filling something to its full capacity or bringing it to its conclusion. So, when Jesus says that he has brought this passage from Isaiah to its conclusion, how has he done that? If we look at what Isaiah says, there seem to be five actions listed: bringing good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, proclaim recovery of sight to the blind, set free those who are oppressed, and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Seems like a pretty tall order for one person to complete all of that. And to be honest, as I look at the current state of our nation and our world, I think most, if not all of these, are needed now more than ever. So, were these things completed in Jesus or are they still needing to be completed?

As I look at these things, bringing good news to the poor, proclaiming release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, setting the oppressed free, I can’t help but feel like all of those are still in deep need of completion. Two weeks ago I preached about Jesus baptizing with fire at a time when fires rage in California. And now I am tasked with preaching about good news for the poor and setting the oppressed free and giving sight to the blind at a time when it feels like the exact opposite is what we are experiencing in the world. How are we to believe that those things have come to completion in Jesus when the blind are still blind, the oppressed continue to be oppressed, the captives are still being held captive, the poor are still poor. If none of those things are gone, then what did Jesus complete?

One interpretation is that Jesus completed/fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy about the Messiah. Therefore, when Jesus said that the scripture had been fulfilled in the hearing of all the people, he was essentially telling them that he was the Messiah. This would somewhat explain the reaction of the people immediately after this. First, they are impressed by Jesus’ words. We are told that everyone was amazed by Jesus’ gracious words, especially since he was a carpenter’s son. But then Jesus does some more talking, about prophets not being accepted in their hometown. And he references the story of Elijah and the widow in Zarephath, when this foreigner welcomed a stranger. Then he also mentions Elisha and Naaman, the Syrian who was cleansed of leprosy. Jesus references these two foreigners and their faith in order to condemn the faith of the people of Israel. This enraged the people, and they tried to throw him from the cliff, but he got away.

What I think Jesus was trying to say to the people at the synagogue is that he is the fulfillment of who all of God’s people should be. He is the complete package, so to speak. He cares about the poor and the captive and the blind and the oppressed. And what Jesus is doing here is speaking truth to power. And I think that when Jesus speaks in the synagogue and uses Isaiah’s words that they people think Jesus is calling out the Roman Empire. Rome doesn’t care about the poor. In fact, they exploit the poor for their own gain. Rome would never release captives. They would rather enslave them or lock them up than allow them to go home. Rome prefers when people are blind to the truth, when they just follow the rules without question. They like it when people turn a blind eye to the atrocities the empire is committing because it maintains their control and doesn’t turn the masses against them. Rome cares only about themselves, and so they oppress others in order to build themselves up. The Jews would have loved to hear that. They didn’t like the Roman Empire and were waiting for God to come and wipe them off the face of the earth and return Israel to its former glory.

Jesus clarifies himself when he comes out of the synagogue though. And what he says is NOT what the Jews want to hear. Jesus basically says, Rome is not the only one oppressing people and not caring for the poor and leaving people in their blindness, all for their own advantage. It’s not just Rome. Jesus says that the Jews aren’t getting things right either. In fact, there are foreigners who get it better than the Jews. And that is insulting to his Jewish audience…for a couple of reasons. First, they believe that their God is the only true God and that God’s favor rests solely on God’s chosen people, which is the Jews. Anyone outside of that is a pagan and a bad person. But Jesus says, “You’re wrong. Many of these foreigners who you think are criminals and pagans are actually living out God’s law better than you.” Second, Jesus is also saying that they are rejecting the words of Isaiah, and therefore they are acting just like Rome. Maybe you can see why that angered the Jews at the synagogue that day.

In our society today, Christians have turned to Scripture as a weapon against their enemies. We are so obsessed with being RIGHT that we’ve forgotten how to be humble and kind and compassionate and patient. We read in Scripture about the Word of God as the sword of the Spirit, and we use that to justify wielding the Bible as a weapon against other people. That’s not what the church has been called to. The church has not been called to self-aggrandizement or arrogance. The church has been called to compassion and grace and mercy and peace. So, how can we live that out in our divided and angry and dangerous world?

Are you familiar with the term “trailblazer?” A trail blazer is someone who marks off a trail for the first time so others can follow in that same path. I remember when Jakob and I attended Boy Scout camp, and Jakob had signed up for some sort of navigational merit badge course. One of the activities was to go around through the woods as a small group (looking for something, I think). The groups were given some bright orange nylon strips and were told to tie one on a tree or branch or fence or something every so often along the way so that we could get back to the starting point. Then, if I remember correctly each team had to navigate through one of the other team’s trails. The scouts were learning how to blaze a trail.

The words Jesus quotes from Isaiah 61 are like the markers along the trail. They are there as a guide so we can follow in Jesus’ footprints. Jesus walked the path. He completed the journey. When he reached the end, the trail was done. It was completed. It had reached its fullness. But it wasn’t exactly DONE done. The trail has been blazed, but we still need to walk down it. Jesus was right when he said that the scripture had been fulfilled. He had blazed that trail and shown us how to live in relationship to God and to others. But we’ve been called to follow down that path.

We’ve been called to bring good news to the poor. That doesn’t simply mean telling people it will be okay and walking away. Our words aren’t “good” unless we back them up with actions that actually help the poor. We’ve been called to proclaim release to the captives. That doesn’t mean just sharing a post on Facebook about the unjust imprisonment or enslavement of people who’ve been taken captive. It means working with local organizations who deal with those problems and see how we can partner. It means actually stepping in and working for justice and change. We’ve been called to proclaim recovery of sight to the blind. This is one that I think feels, at first glance, like a remnant of the belief in faith healing that existed in Jesus’ day. But I think it actually speaks rather loudly into our current society in a couple of different ways. The first is medically. Someone who has lost sight can sometimes be cured of that medically, but so many people can’t afford the medical care they need. Proclaiming recovery must start with access to the things that bring healing. Secondly, we look at it more metaphorically. We all have our blindspots and those blindspots often get in the way of forming relationships or they cause us to not see the truth right in front of our faces. And then we cause harm to others. But we are called to proclaim recovery from that. And the only answer for that is patience and love. We’re also called to set free those who are oppressed. We have a lot of oppressed people and setting them free will take time and a considerable amount of effort, not just from us as individuals, but from us as a whole.

I think that only when we are working toward these ends, following the trail Jesus’ set out for us, can we begin to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Jesus came to complete the work given him…to be the firstfruits of salvation, the trailblazer to show us the way to God. And he did his work. He blazed the trail. The work is done. But it is not DONE done, because we are called to follow in Jesus’ trail. And sometimes the leaders of the hike won’t be the heroes of our faith. In fact, it may very well be people of a different faith or of no faith at all who show us the true way to follow Jesus. Jesus’ work is done. But it is not DONE done because we still have to follow. Amen.