I’m struggling with how to be present as a pastor in this moment of life in the United States in light of certain executive orders that have been issued.

Many of the people with whom I work and serve are terrified right now because their lives, and their children, are in jeopardy.

I am studying and teaching through the Gospel of Luke right now. It is an interesting contrast to study Luke during this moment. Luke, of all the Gospels, paints a portrait of Jesus as a liberator of the poor and oppressed. His story stands in stark contrast to the tyranny of Rome and the corruption of the illegitimate Kings and rulers of Israel in his day.

This week the texts for the Revised Common Lectionary take us to Nehemiah 8:1-10, Psalm 19:1-14, 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, and Luke 4:1-21 (next week is the rest of the story). Click on the image below to dive into these texts.

In Nehemiah, the Priest, Ezra, stood up before all the people to read the book of the Law. These were the people who had just been returned to Jerusalem after the 70 years of exile. They were beaten down, afraid, and standing in the rubble of their city that had been destroyed by the Babylonians. The Torah of God gave them comfort and hope.

In Psalm 19, David is being oppressed by an insolent tyrant who wants to have dominion over him. David appeals to the heavens and to the Torah to find his comfort and strength. He asks God to cleanse his own heart and to help him find strength in God alone.

In 1 Corinthians 12 the Apostle Paul reminds the Church in Corinth that the body of Christ is a complex unity of radical diversity. The Church in Corinth was being torn apart by warring factions. Paul reminds them that they are unified by the Holy Spirit of God and that ALL parts of the body have a part to play and matter equally.

In Luke 4, we see Jesus stand up in his hometown synagogue and read Isaiah 61:1-2. The Messiah will

• bring good news to the poor
• proclaim release to captives
• offer sight to the blind
• let the oppressed go free
• proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Jubilee)

and, he intentionally left out the line in Isaiah 61:2 that talks about God taking vengeance on his enemies.

Jesus says that today, through him, this is fulfilled.

Then he tells his Jewish hometown people that God cares about the gentiles as much as God cares about them. In fact, the gentiles have more faith than they do.

The people are so angry at this portrait of God that they want to throw Jesus off a cliff.

These texts paint a vision of God’s preferred and promised future for the world.

During the season of Epiphany it is our goal to observe the life and teaching of Jesus. We stand at the beginning of a new year and watch and listen to how he stood in solidarity with the weak, the poor, the outcast, the “losers” of society. We watch how he called out the proud, the rich, the powerful, the insolent tyrants who sought self-exaltation and self-protection, and complicity with Rome and reminded them of God’s mandate for true leadership. A true leader is one who puts the needs of the many and the mutual flourishing of all people as the highest priority.

We, as disciples of Jesus living in the USA, need to hear these words today.

As a pastor, working with terrified people, wondering what God is doing right now, I cling to David’s words at the end of Psalm 19:

Psalm 19:13–14

13 Keep back your servant also from the insolent; do not let them have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.