Dear sisters and brothers,
For as long as I can remember, I have always been particularly touched by the words from the Gospel of Luke that we are hearing again during the Epiphany season. After the Christmas stories comes the story of Jesus' baptism by John, in which the Spirit descends on Jesus, symbolized by the dove, with the voice from heaven saying, “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Then the stories of temptation: The setting is the desert. Everything has to sink in. Who is stronger? The devil, who tries to find some kind of narcissism in Jesus that he can latch onto? Or the power of the Spirit?
The devil cannot gain power over Jesus. The power of the Spirit is stronger. And Jesus, it says, “came back to Galilee in the power of the Spirit; and news about him spread throughout all the surrounding country.”
Now his preaching and teaching and healing begins. And at the beginning we find the passage about Jesus' sermon in his hometown of Nazareth. In the Bible edition in which I first read and meditated on the passage from Luke intensively at a young age, there was a heading above it that I remembered: “The inaugural sermon of Jesus”. And the heading is apt. Jesus returns to Nazareth – back to his roots, in order to set out anew. The passage does indeed tell of this very special moment in his life, “his inaugural sermon”, and the words he spoke and that have been handed down to this day to us in the gospel of Luke.
Inaugural sermons or inaugural addresses are something special. They are programmatic. Those who take up a new office want to make it clear which direction it should now take. I myself still remember exactly my own inaugural sermon as bishop of the Lutheran Church of Bavaria on October 30, 2011 in Nuremberg. The sermon text was about Jesus casting out evil spirits. The kingdom of God, I said, forces the evil spirits of greed, selfishness, hard-heartedness and resentment to retreat. The freedom of a Christian spreads and begins to determine our whole life. And this thought has accompanied me throughout my entire time as bishop.
And you might still remember the words of Jerry Pillay in the chapel of the Ecumenical Centre on the Church at the Crossroads at the service of his installation as general secretary of the WCC on 17 February 2023, when he spoke on an ecumenical spring in a kenotic, self-emptying spirit of courage and faith to side with the poor, needy, vulnerable, hopeless, neglected and abused.
We know programmatic words in very special inaugural speeches of particularly prominent politicians. “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” These were the words of John F. Kennedy in his inaugural address as US President.
How different was the tone of the inaugural address that we heard Monday, today a week ago. Not the common good was the cantus firmus, but the exclusion of those who are especially vulnerable.
And then came a bishop – a bishop with a soft and friendly voice, but strong words. A bishop who spoke truth to power. Like the prophet Nathan when he confronted King David about the injustice he had done. Bishop Mariann Budde only expressed her appeal to follow what Jesus had said in his inaugural sermon: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
The bishop was not politicizing the gospel but – quite the opposite - infused some gospel into politics at an occasion where this was desperately needed. The president demanded her to apologize. She didn’t apologize. Nowhere in the world will we apologize for reading the bible and preaching the gospel! How Bishop Budde witnessed the gospel at this very special occasion was prophecy at its best!
What she said at this special occasion was something we need to hear again and again wherever we are: If you have lost your bearings, if you are looking for clear direction, if you are hoping for a new beginning, for a figure who stands for such a new beginning, if you want to know what they actually mean when they always talk about a Messiah who is supposed to bring healing and hope to the people, you get a clear answer here!
And it is different from what we hear so often from politics: “We will bring you more material prosperity. We will free you from the social and ecological shackles that hold down the gross national product. We can no longer afford the humanitarian commitment we have had up to now.” Internet algorithms do their part to get these messages onto as many cell phones as possible.
How different is the answer that Jesus gives when asked about the right way into the future: He puts the poor at the center. He says: When the poor are doing poorly, all of you are doing poorly, the whole community is doing poorly. Your own prosperity is measured by the just participation of the weakest.
He speaks of the prisoners. Of those whom we usually forget the fastest because they are behind bars and, by definition, excluded from society, even disappearing from it. Yes, you should think of them! If they are guilty, then remember that they remain God's creatures, created in God’s image, and seek ways for them to make a fresh start! And if they are unjustly imprisoned, then fight courageously for their freedom!
He draws attention to the blind. All those who are sick or handicapped. Those who cannot keep up and perhaps cannot contribute to the gross domestic product. They should feel that they are nevertheless valuable members of society. And sometimes they see more than we do, even without eyesight. Because they know human vulnerability so well. Sometimes they help us see. And understand that we ourselves could be in their place. And that a high social budget does not have to be a symptom of decay, but as an expression of lived humanity, expresses something of which we in our countries could be proud.
And Jesus sums it all up by speaking of the crushed who are to be released into freedom. Whatever the reasons are for someone being down, it should not stay that way. There should be a new beginning. Towards a society in which everyone can live in dignity.
“To proclaim the year of the Lord's favour” – everything that Jesus read from Isaiah leads up to this divine commission. It then becomes clear that this is not about pious inwardness, but about a tangible social measure to correct injustice. That is how specific the meaning of the year of jubilee is. Every 50th year the Israelites were to grant their subordinate fellow citizens a full remission of debt, give them back their ancestral land and abolish debt slavery, thus restoring the socio-economic equality of all as commanded by God. At least once a generation this is a fresh start for everyone.
And now comes the key sentence of the whole passage: “Today this word of Scripture is fulfilled in your ears,” says Jesus. And I see him pointing to himself. Of course, he is not saying: I am here. Now you can sit back and relax. Rather, he is saying: you no longer have to be afraid. You no longer have to despair of the world. You can walk the path with me in the firm certainty that what I have read from Isaiah will be the future. On the way there, you will also experience abysses with me. But in the end, it will be visible to everyone that the promise of Isaiah has been fulfilled. And I am with you every day until the end of the world. And all tears will be wiped away.
As for what this means for our earthly existence today, Jesus does not proclaim an election program. But he does set a clear direction, and in doing so, he does not endear himself to everyone. At the end of the passage about Jesus' words in the synagogue, Luke reports: “And all who were in the synagogue were filled with wrath when they heard this. And they stood up and pushed him out of the city and led him to the edge of the mountain on which their city was built, to throw him down.”
That was the version of the shitstorm back then. How something like this can lead to an abyss is something that many who have been exposed to it know very well.
I love how Jesus reacts to it. Luke speaks of it in just one sentence: “But he passed right through them.” How cool! He passed right through them! We are not Jesus. But the sentence does give us a hint as to how we can be his witnesses in today's social atmosphere, where it is not wisdom and love that are spreading, but rather anger and outrage.
“Walk right through them” – that could mean, with God's help, mustering the strength not to be provoked, to take a clear stand, but to remain in conversation with people who are outraged with the greatest possible love and patience – and to walk right through their outrage and let that outrage run into nothing. To repeatedly draw spiritual nourishment from prayer and meditation, to not let myself be drawn into the maelstrom of hatred, anger and outrage, but to radiate the spirit of strength, love and prudence.
I cannot imagine a better basis for a programmatic new beginning in our time than the words from Isaiah that Jesus himself chose for this new beginning. In a time of fear of loss, sacrifice and decline, they open up a positive vision of the good life that leaves no one behind, but shows everyone the way to freedom. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, to the imprisoned, that they may go free; and to those who are blind, that they may see; and to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
The question, dear sisters and brother, is not whether this vision will eventually permeate the world and become visible, but only when it will become visible. For: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, may guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.