I write this post on the morning of January 20, 2025. There is a strange convergence of world events today:

• It is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We recognize this man for the work he did to ensure civil rights for all people in our country.
• There is a cease-fire in Gaza that will allow Israel and Hamas to exchange hostages. This comes after 15 months of war, 45,000+ deaths, and 90% destruction of Gaza.
• TikTok went dark on Saturday night, then went live again on Sunday, giving credit to Donald Trump. Hmmmm…
• Los Angeles continues to burn.
• COVID, Influenza, and RSV are surging again.
• It is inauguration day and Donald Trump will be sworn in as president.

My adult kids and I have joked over the weekend asking which dystopian novel we are living in right now.

I don’t post much about politics, because I don’t feel qualified to do so. My purpose at The Art Pastor is to help us to stay grounded in the deep love of God, through Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, for the sake of the world.

The Gospel Reading for this week in the Revised Common Lectionary is Luke 4:14-21. (see my commentaries here)

I think it is fascinating that the author of Luke begins Jesus’ public ministry with this story. Jesus is standing in his hometown, Nazareth, in the synagogue and reading this familiar text from Isaiah 61:1-2. This is one of the texts that the Jewish people had clinged to throughout centuries of brutal oppression. Some day, they hoped, God will deliver them and make things right.

Jesus declares to them, his hometown people,

Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

Here’s what I find interesting about Jesus’ reading. He leaves out the last line of verse 2,

…and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;

In Jesus’ version of this Messianic vision there is no vengeance. There is only liberation for the downtrodden and restoration for all people. It is the year of Jubilee (the year of the Lord’s favor) when everything is restored.

The story goes on to say that the people doubt Jesus. They don’t trust him. He then tells them that Gentiles have more trust in God than they do. This insults them and his people want to throw him off of a cliff. They don’t like that he left out vengeance. They don’t like that he includes the gentiles as equals.

His vision of God’s preferred and promised future is very different than theirs.

Jesus claims to be the Messiah who fulfills this vision. Yet, he doesn’t do it with vengeance. He doesn’t do it with violence. He doesn’t take down one oppressive system of domination only to replace it with another one.

No.

He does it through the love and grace of God.

He hangs out with the outcasts. He cares for the foreigner. He heals the Jews and Gentile alike. He lays down his own life rather than retaliate with violent vengeance.

He calls us to follow him.

“Do you trust me,” he asks.

My word for this year is TRUST. To trust something is to have more than an intellectual agreement with something’s truthfulness. TRUST is a whole-bodied activity.

I often use the story of Charles Blondin, the tightrope walker, who was able to walk a wheel barrel on a tight rope across the niagra falls. When he asked the crowd if they believed he could do it, they all raised their hands to say, “Yes.” When he asked for a volunteer to get in the wheel barrel and ride with him, all hands were down.

To trust something is to put your whole self into it and know they will get you to the other side.

Quite honestly, I don’t trust the government. I don’t trust the uber wealthy plutarchy that controls our world. I don’t trust the mob mentality that swarms the streets and floods social media. I don’t trust the inflammatory rhetoric that screams from both sides of the aisle.

Most days, I don’t trust myself because I know my weaknesses.

This year, I pray that God will help me TRUST in the deep, mysterious, infinite love of God made known to us through Jesus the Christ, made possilbe to flow through us in the power of the Holy Spirit so that it might overflow from us for the sake of ALL FLESH.

No one is excluded from this love.

Oh Lord, help me trust.

Enjoy this recording from my livestream on Friday when I dwelt in this word through drawing in the Procreate app on my iPad.

Most Fridays I go live at 4:00pm Central Time to spend about an hour working on an art project. This is my chance to invite you into my studio, talk about the fusion of art and theology, explore spirituality and scripture through visual art, nerd out about the Bible and Visual art, and just hang out with you.