From the Daily Lectionary for Thursday in the Sixteenth Week after Pentecost
Luke 4:14-30
Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.
When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
“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.”
And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your home town the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
In this Gospel, Luke spends a lot of time speaking of the Spirit of God. Jesus doesn’t do anything in Luke’s narrative unless led by the Spirit. Some ancients said that God’s Spirit had abandoned Israel beginning with their captivity in Babylon, and similar talk emerged upon the occupation of Palestine by the Romans; but it is God’s Spirit, the “Shekinah” in Hebrew, that animates a people. The Spirit never withdraws; it only gives. It was the Spirit that led King David to victory in his battle against the Philistines. It was the Spirit that led Jesus into the Desert to be tested by the devil. The Psalmist describes the Spirit as breath, as wind, moving over creation as she did in the beginning. The Spirit is felt, not seen; encountered, not understood. We say the Holy Spirit is the “third (and equal) person” of the Trinity, but our prayers are only offered to God, to Jesus, rarely the Spirit.
So I thought I might share some of my thoughts on the Spirit, because given the day and age in which we live, we may well need her, and soon. I say “her” only because some folks use the feminine pronoun in describing the Spirit, because such usage neutralizes to a degree the masculine Father and Son… makes the Trinity more inclusive, they say. The figure of Queen Wisdom is often spoken of interchangeably with the Spirit in Hebrew scripture. That’s O.K. with me. I prefer no pronouns for God and the Spirit. We still grapple with gender bias in scripture, and in our liturgy… but I digress.
The Spirit is God’s “soul-force” in the world. In motion, ever-present, pervasive, persistent, resilient. The Spirit is what inspires us when we are in good company. The Spirit is the source of the ardor that we find in community. The Spirit is quick to rally to the cause of truth and justice. The Spirit is compassionate and merciful. The Spirit will shatter falsehood. Sometimes the Spirit is reckless, even dangerous, and may well lead us into “good trouble.” The Spirit delights in change. The Spirit engenders courage and commitment. The Spirit banishes fear. The Spirit is as present as breath. Love is the Spirit’s mother.
And know this: there are forces in our world that will oppose at all costs the Spirit. We see that before our very eyes. But know this also: the Spirit is armed with clarity, and truth, and love; and it will prevail in its own time and in its own ways, because there is nothing stronger in earth… or heaven, for that matter. At our baptisms we received the Spirit of God so that we may be empowered to bring about God’s just society in which all are equals. The Spirit is always on “the right side of history,” because it is the Spirit that makes history. Perhaps the thing for us at this moment is to wake up to what the Spirit is doing; be vulnerable to its call; act when there is need for action. Give yourself, your soul-force, to the good and the true… so says the Spirit. Who are we to do otherwise?
A Prayer at Baptism (BCP p. 309)
O God, we thank you that by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ you have overcome sin and brought us to yourself, and that by the sealing of your Holy Spirit you have bound us to your service. Renew in us your servants the covenant you made with us at our Baptism. Send us forth in the power of that Spirit to perform the service set before us; through Jesus Christ your Son our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
