The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (4:16-22)

Today’s reading is given to us for the Feast of Indiction, the church new year. “The term Indiction comes from a Latin word meaning, “to impose.” It was originally applied to the imposition of taxes in Egypt. The first worldwide Indiction was in 312 when the Emperor Constantine (May 21) saw a miraculous vision of the Cross in the sky.”-oca.org

The Church tradition tells us that Jesus entered into the synagogue and read the text from the Prophet Isaiah on this day. On that day Our Lord read these words in the midst of the people in the synagogue: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor and to heal the broken hearted. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

As our Lord finishes reading and moves back to His seat among the congregation, He then says to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Wow. It is hard to imagine how one might have felt if they were there that day and happened to see these events unfolding before their very eyes. These events also coincided with the very beginning of the Lord’s earthly ministry according to St. Luke. It is as if Our Lord was giving us a primer, preparing us for what He was about to do, preparing us for His ministry. Narrating the coming years.

What is our Lord’s life all about, what is the point of it? This: “to preach good news to the poor and to heal the broken hearted. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

He speaks of healing the broken hearted and releasing the captives and giving sight to the blind and granting liberty to the oppressed and when we read these things we might be tempted to read them superficially, a surface level reading. But in fact, it goes so much deeper than that. Our Lord is speaking of spiritual realities that dictate and steer the whole of creation and mankind, the pinnacle of God’s creation. He is speaking of healing all of humanity and it’s brokenness. He is speaking of freeing humanity from enslavement. He is speaking of releasing us from oppression. He is speaking of granting us sight, and relief from our blindness. He is giving good news to those who are poor in spirit.

We became poor in spirit because of sin. We became broken hearted due to our failings and the failings of Adam and Eve because we along with them, have been exiled from paradise, from life in the presence of God. We became prisoners, due to our life of rebellion, choosing sin instead of righteousness. We became blind when we turned our eyes away from the Creator and turned instead to the multitude of idols we had allowed to take our focus. We saw and we worshipped the creation and not the Creator. We became oppressed when we fell into the same habitual sins over and over in a vicious cycle. When we wanted to do good, but instead did evil. St. Paul speaks about this in the letter to the Romans when he writes in chapter 7,

“For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

That is the conundrum that humanity has dealt with. It is our imprisonment and oppression. It is the enemy that leads to our spiritual death. These are the inclinations of the heart, our passions, as they are called by the holy fathers. Through these passions we became like dead people.

Yet the Lord gives each of us this good news. He has come to redeem your life. He has come that you might know Him intimately and truly. He has come that you might not wallow in the mud of sins but bask in the light of His glory. He has come to breathe new life into each of us through baptism, Chrismation, Eucharist and all of the rest of the Church’s mysteries. In short, He has come to allow us to participate in the Holy Spirit.

And St. Paul continues on this line of thinking in chapter 8 of Romans as he writes,

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”

So in addition to understanding the words of our Lord in a very straightforward and direct way, we see this deeper and much more profound meaning at work. The Lord has healed us, freed us and empowered us to really become His children, to live in His presence, to dwell in the light, to know the truth. More than this, He has give us the ability to become partakers of the divine nature. The opportunity to take hold of our potential, to become like Him. The obstacles are removed if only we will turn our eyes and our heart back to Christ. Nothing will stop you from becoming holy. Nothing will stop you from becoming a saint. Nothing will stop you if this is truly your hearts desire because it is also His desire for each of you. As we now celebrate the beginning of the Church new year, to proclaim the year of the Lord, let us pursue Him with all our minds, souls, hearts and strength that Christ alone would become our hearts only desire.

I want to leave you with these lovely words that we heard during Matins this morning,

“O Word of the Father from before the ages, Who, being in the form of God, broughtest creation into being out of nothing; Thou Who hast put the times and seasons in Thine own power: Bless the crown of the year with Thy goodness; give peace unto Thy churches, victory unto Thy faithful hierarchs, fruitfulness unto the earth, and Great Mercy unto us.” + Matins of the Ecclesiastical New Year, Tone 3 AMEN.

Source: Sermons