Luke 4:16-21

Today’s Gospel finds Jesus in his home town at the synagogue. The first thing to note about this is that Luke’s Gospel is very carefully staged. Luke has an enormously long run in to the point where Jesus begins his public ministry. The birth and childhood narratives, John the Baptist, Jesus own baptism and the temptation in the Wilderness, all of these leading to this beginning.

And where does Jesus start – with people and with people who have a rough deal from the world. Not surprising that this is the Gospel on the day when we commemorate William Wilberforce.

The reaction was anger – first of all that Jesus would equate himself in any way with the one who was to come, Emmanuel, but also that he would start by proclaiming Jubilee, the year of the Lord’s favour.

We are probably familiar with the idea of Jubilee in the Bible – that fiftieth year when things were returned to zero, when debts were cancelled, slaves were freed and fields were rested, all in thanksgiving to God.

The danger with Jesus claiming to be Emmanuel was big enough on its own, but then to proclaim something which would require giving on the part of those listening. The chapters which surround Isaiah 61 are all about restoring Jerusalem, they can be read as highly political, national pride, national prominence – not a self-giving, a giving up, but a handing over.

No wonder then, those gathered were furious. Not political action, not Roman overthrow – that was not what they wanted to hear. But, of course, Jubilee is actually highly political. jubilee is daring and risky. William Wilberforce knew the cost of the piece of jubilee which he held, and did not live to see it completed.

In our own day our Archbishop is waging war on economic slavery, the spiral of debt and hopelessness which captures so many people. And then it turns out that the Church of England was indirectly investing in Wonga – this is not surprising, we probably should not roll our eyes too quickly because pay day lending companies will have, no doubt,  been flying below the radar of ethical investment portfolio criteria. I confess, I do not even know what the bank which holds my savings invests in and, were I try to find out, I might have trouble as parent companies hide subsidiary monster babies.

Jubilee is certainly about the big ticket items like slavery, like penal reform, like giving people a chance not to fall from cradle into criminal justice system by giving them hope. But it is also about the less glamorous and more costly side of our own lives. It is about our purchasing and our investing, it is about our lifestyle and our giving – and not just money but ourselves. Jubilee is about holding attitudes which restore, not break down. About aligning our vision with that of a God who holds all humanity with a clear balance.

Luke sets us a challenge, something to chew on as he writes about Jesus beginning to heal and teach. The kingdom is a kingdom of restoration, of hope, of Jubilee – how do we live in it?