Luke 4:13-21
Note: This is part 1 of a six-week series using the movements of creativity from Troy Bronsink’s book Drawn In: A Creative Process for Artists, Activists, and Jesus Followers.
In some Bibles, the words that Jesus said are printed in red to set them apart, to make them stand out. I don’t have a Bible like that. But, this past week, on a whim, I highlighted the words in quotation marks and changed them to red. Because what he said here was pretty huge.
Of course, he didn’t make it up. He was reading from the prophet Isaiah, Chapter 61:
The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn.
These are the words the prophet Isaiah said, and Jesus read. But then he ad-libbed. He put aside the scroll and he said to the gathering, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled just as you heard it.” Which is a huge thing to say. Incredible, actually.
And those who were listening to Jesus, they only had to look around them to doubt that. To know those words did not describe their current reality. They only had to think about what they had left behind at home that morning when they walked to the synagogue: the conversations with their wives over breakfast about the household finances, about this child’s health problems or that neighbor’s crop failure. They only had to remember the tension they felt in their bodies when they walked past the Roman guards. They thought about blind Bartimaeus, whom they passed by this morning, and knew for a fact that he was still blind. The Roman crosses still stood out on the hill nearby. No, the world just didn’t seem as though this scripture had been fulfilled.
So if the people seemed in any way resistant to Jesus’ words, they had good reason.
We stand in the same place. Listen to his words again and wonder how well they reflect our reality.
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 today this scripture has been fulfilled just as you heard it.
Has the scripture been fulfilled? We know too much of war and random acts of violence, unfettered hate and corruption for us to believe that the kingdom of God has arrived. And yet –
We read these words that Jesus said. We print them in red letters, which means they are true. We want them to be true. But can they be true?
Let’s see where we are at.
Jesus, baptized by the Holy Spirit, was led into the wilderness where he was tempted and tormented by the devil for 40 days. Filled with the power of this same Spirit, he swept through the countryside and villages, speaking in the synagogues. And on this day, he stood up and chose these words from the prophet Isaiah, making the prophet’s words his own. He has been anointed to proclaim good news.
The good news that there is a different way, a better way of seeing the world and living in the world; that there is a different direction in which we may move the world. Jesus is showing the people of Galilee – and us – an alternative way of seeing –
where those who were previously invisible become visible. Those who were unimportant, beneath notice – like the poor, the oppressed, the imprisoned – are now being lifted up. And while this is not the way the world sees, Jesus says this is the way God sees.
The scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing – right here, right now.
Even though we cannot yet see it, it is being fulfilled in your hearing. Within you and within me.
The Spirit of God, which filled Jesus as he swept out of the wilderness and through the villages and countryside, poured out of him when he spoke. The Spirit of God within him placed this vision in him and on him. And as he proclaimed it, he made it grow by sharing the vision with others.
You see, the kingdom of God comes within us, as the tiniest seed, by the power of the Spirit working in us and through us, long before it ever comes into view. By the power of the Spirit, we may envision God’s kingdom, dream God’s kingdom, before we ever see God’s kingdom. But it will never come into view if we don’t first dream it.
God created the world by such an act of imagination. God conceived it and then spoke it into existence. Let there be light. Let the waters and the earth bring forth creatures of every kind. And let us make humankind in our image – the image of God.
And so we are co-creators of this world, with God. It is our birthright – to imagine and create. The red-letter words of scripture urge us to imagine the same possibilities that Jesus imagines. Imagine a world where the poor are cherished and lifted up, where the prisoners are released, the oppressed are freed, and all who are blind can see.
This is not merely an idle daydream. Why should it be? When we read these red-letter words in scripture we may hear them giving us permission to dream along with him and to take our dreams seriously.
To dream and create. That is what God made us for.
You may not think of yourself as being creative, but of course you have that capacity in you. Our ability to imagine something different than what we see? That distinguishes us as human beings. This creative capacity is the image of God, and letting it flourish is how we live into our humanity.
We too often think that dreaming, imagining, and creating is for children. When we were young we loved to draw pictures, and build imaginary buildings and towns with our blocks. We created imaginary worlds with our dollhouses or molded new creatures into existence with our Play-Doh.
But then we grew up and put away our crayons and clay and blocks, we moved on to more serious pursuits. Important things – as though the work of imagination is not important.
I suggest to you that not only is it important, it is essential. Because if we forget how to imagine, we forget our true identity. When we allow ourselves to create, we are drawn in to our creator – God.
Now this doesn’t mean that every one of us has a world-class painter or novelist inside waiting to bust out. Creativity can take many, many forms. In fact, your creativity can be any kind of thing you want it to be. Anything that stirs your soul.
We may have to do a little dreaming to uncover that. Go ahead. Try it.
Let your imagination roam over what you love to make – it can be something tangible, like a cake or a vase you put on a shelf. Or it could be something intangible, like laughter or comfort. What do you make in the world?
What moves your soul, what brings you deep joy? What is it for you? Whatever you do with that, whatever you make out of that thing that brings you joy, is your gift to the world. However that passion moves you, this is the way you become a part of God’s creative team.
You might already know what it is. You might not. You might have one or two things you like to do, but still wonder if there are other, as yet undiscovered, creative outlets for you.
All that discovery, it is here for you, waiting for you. The next six weeks will offer opportunities and invitations to try new things.
To imagine, to dream, to create is to dwell in God’s love. It is where you are being called. Jesus is
standing at the threshold of this new possibility, beckoning us forward. Come, let us be drawn in.
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Photo Credit: Laura Ockel (lauraockel.com)
