2022.01.22/23
From the Pastor’s Desk:Rev. Simon Lee
Dear brothers and sisters of RCAC,
This year’s theme is “Christ (the Messiah) the King” and this quarter we are focusing on Christ is our saviour. But what is His message and how is He our saviour?
At the beginning of His ministry in Galilee after His temptation, Jesus was back in Nazareth teaching in the synagogue. The passage He was given to preach on was a messianic passage, Isaiah 61:1-2. Luke’s gospel reads, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19) Christ went on and declared “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” and alluded to Himself, thus claiming He was the Messiah, to the shock of His listeners. (Luke 4:21) He was the one who was “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
The reference here is to the “Year of Jubilee” described in Lev 25:7. For the Jewish people, every seventh year was a “sabbatical year” for the nation, when the land was allowed to rest and be replenished. Then every fiftieth year (after seven sabbaticals), a year was set apart as the “Year of Jubilee” in helping to balance the economic system: for example, slaves were set free, property was reverted back to the original owners, and all debts were canceled… and the people celebrated. In effect, Jesus’ words plainly stated that the offer of the Jubilee year of the Lord (the gospel of the kingdom) was being offered to them the listeners through Him. (21) Jesus applied all of this to His own ministry, not in socio-political-economic terms, but in a physical and spiritual sense. He was bringing salvation to sinners, healing to the broken-hearted and marginal people, healing for the sick, and deliverance for those bound by demons. Yes, this is the good news from Christ our Saviour.
This week in our staff devotion, one of our pastors brought our attention to the original Isaiah passage (Is 61:1-7). What Jesus preached as recorded in the Lukan passage was the first two verse of Isaiah 61, focusing on His ministry in the First Advent, and not the judgement of God, in the Second Advent, that is found in the rest of the verses. What strikes me is the reference of the people celebrating their freedom in the Year of Jubilee as “the priests of the Lord” and “ministers of our Lord.” (Is 61:6a). There will also be “double blessings” (like the firstborn has double blessing) and with “everlasting joy” instead of “double shame” (Is 61:7).
As Christians (“little Christ), the followers of Christ (the Messiah), as we have put our faith in Christ our Saviour, we are therefore living in a spiritual “Year of Jubilee” (Wiersbe). We are to proclaim the good news like Christ did in His first advent. That means, hope for the poor, freedom to the enslaved, healing for the sick, and liberty for the oppressed, both physically and spiritually. We proclaim Christ as our saviour, sanctifier, healer and coming King. As we believe in the priesthood of all believers, let us all remember the honour we have to be the “ministers of our Lord” and let’s bring double blessings and joy to those around us, those in the fear and anxiety of the Covid pandemic, especially those who live under the cloud of the fast-spreading Omicron virus. Yes, let’s be proclaimers of the good news.
Your servant in Christ,
Rev. Simon Lee