“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon 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.” ~ Isaiah 61:1
In this reading from Isaiah, the prophet describes the coming Servant of Yahweh. It is precisely this quote that Jesus first uses to announce the exact nature of his own ministry (Luke 4:18-19). In each case Jesus describes his work as moving outside of polite and proper limits and boundaries to reunite things that have been marginalized or excluded by society: the poor, the imprisoned, the blind, the downtrodden.
Jesus’ ministry is not to gather the so-called good into a private country club, but to reach out to those on the edge and on the bottom—to tell those who are “last” that they might just be first! That is almost the very job description of the Holy Spirit, and therefore of Jesus. Today some call it God’s unique kind of justice or “restorative justice.” God present with us and in us, Emmanuel, justifies things by restoring them to their true and full identity in Himself, as opposed to “retributive justice” which seeks only reward and punishment.
~Adapted from Richard Rohr, Preparing for Christmas: Daily Meditations for Advent
“The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.” ~ John 5:36
The Scriptures very clearly teach what we call today a “bias toward action.” It is not just belief systems or dogmas and doctrines, as we have often made it. The Word of God is telling us very clearly that if you do not do it, you, in fact, do not believe it and have not heard it.
The only way that we become convinced of our own sense of power, dignity, and the power of God is by actually doing it—by crossing a line, a line that has a certain degree of nonsensicalness and unprovability to it—and that’s why we call it faith. In the crossing of that line, and acting in a new way, then and only then, can we really believe what we say we believe in the first place. We do not think ourselves into a new way of living as much as we live ourselves into new ways of thinking. Lifestyle issues ask much more of us than mere belief systems.
~Adapted from Richard Rohr, Preparing for Christmas: Daily Meditations for Advent
One of the major problems in the spiritual life is our attachment to our own self-image—either positively or negatively created. We confuse this idea of ourselves with who we actually are in God. Our ideas about things are not the things in themselves. Concepts of themselves are not immediate contact with reality.
Who we are, and forever will be, in God, is a much more enduring and solid foundation. As Paul says, in my paraphrase, I no longer live as a mere “I,” but Christ lives in me and I live in Christ (Galatians 2:20). God always sees his son, Jesus, in me, and cannot not love him (see John 17:22-23). What the Gospel promises us is that we are objectively and inherently children of God (see 1 John 3:2).
This is not a moral worthiness that we attain; it is ontological, metaphysical, and substantial worthiness, and cannot be gained or lost. When this given God-image becomes our self-image, we are home free, and the Gospel is just about the best good news that we can hope for!
~Adapted from Richard Rohr, Preparing for Christmas: Daily Meditations for Advent
