God's promissory note

You would have to be living under a rock not to have noticed our current political chaos, cost of living crisis and societal upheaval. In just a few months we have seen the resignation of two prime ministers, the death of a monarch and the rapid decline of the nation’s economy.

Each day – even each hour – seems to bring a fresh crisis in the news bulletins and we currently are hearing calls for Boris Johnson, who has only just left office, to return to 10 Downing Street to fulfil the political mandate he was given in 2019. The Conservative government were voted into power based on their manifesto promises and people are calling for them to fulfil the promises they voted for.

A political manifesto is like a promissory note – a written promise of a payment at some point in the future. That promissory note or manifesto stands as something that can be referred to at a later date and “cashed in” by the people it was promised to.

In this time of political chaos, perhaps we would be excused for being cynical of our politicians and the promises they made in their manifesto but there is still an expectation that what is promised should be put into place.

I thought about promises being fulfilled as I read today’s Gospel. In the passage we see Jesus stand up to read from the Torah at his synagogue. The scroll is opened to the writings of the Prophet Isaiah and Jesus reads a scripture that was written many hundreds of years before that day. The passage explains that God has anointed him to share a powerful message that will transform the lives of desperate people.

When the reading is finished, Jesus says: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

The people in the synagogue listening as Jesus read this, lived in occupied Israel. Controlled by the Romans, the people were poor and oppressed. They were captive to their imperial rulers as well as to their own sins that they had to constantly make sacrifices to cover over. Their religious rulers and the imperial rulers were spiritually blind, not seeing clearly what God was doing.

And that day Jesus startled the people who listened to him. He tells them that in the midst of this Roman occupation, in the midst of their spiritual and physical poverty, God had good news for them. The promised hope spoken of by the Prophets had arrived. Today God’s promissory note – God’s Kingdom manifesto – was being fulfilled; the promised Messiah had arrived.

When Jesus spoke these words of promised hope and declared that this hope was now available, the people were amazed. The peoples’ eyes were fixed on him. These desperate people were looking for hope, for freedom from human tyranny and freedom from their own captivity to sin that daily oppressed their lives. When they heard the words of Isaiah they were encouraged. Despite their circumstances and struggles, they had seen a vision of hope in Jesus Christ and they could not take their eyes off it.

As hearers today, we know the rest of the story that those listening to Jesus did not. We, in 2022, know that after Jesus made this statement he began his ministry, doing all of the things promised in the passage, bringing good news to the poor, healing and setting people free from spiritual oppression, physical and mental illness, and opening the physical and spiritual eyes of people unable to see the truth of who He was and the hope for the world he fulfilled.

As hearers today, we know that Jesus went on to be falsely accused and unjustly sentenced to death on the cross. And we also know that his resurrection from the dead was the ultimate fulfilment of God’s promised Good News for all of humanity. God had declared His manifesto to the Prophet Isaiah, and hundreds of years later He fulfilled His promise through Jesus Christ. Truly, as Jesus said to his congregation “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Today is Bible Sunday, a day on which churches celebrate the continuing impact the Bible has on individuals and communities. Working in over 200 countries, the Bible Society is a charity on a global mission to bring the Bible to life for every man, woman and child. They believe that, when people engage with the Bible, lives can change – for good.

The Bible is full of promises. Promises that have already been fulfilled and promises that will be fulfilled in the present and future. These promises are fulfilled when God’s servants speak them and people hear them.

God wants us to speak His words, declare His promissory notes, and agree with His manifesto.

Today, this Bible Sunday, as we live in such turbulent and troubled times, we must strive to read, speak and believe the promises written in our Bible. St Paul tells the Roman church and us that: 'Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.'

When we hear God’s promises we can be encouraged that, whatever we may be going through, we can have an expectation of Good News, of rescue, and of healing.

We live in a post-Christian nation. Many people are familiar with Jesus as a school assembly hymn, a Christmas story, the backdrop of Easter egg celebrations. But many are so familiar with this background picture of Jesus and yet do not know His divinity. Just like those living in Jesus’ home town who were familiar with Him as a boy, a son, a man and could not see his divinity. They knew of him as “Joseph’s boy” but they didn’t know the Good News that He brings, the redemption, forgiveness and healing he offers to all who will receive Him as saviour.

As God’s servants and messengers, anointed by the Holy Spirit at our Baptism, we carry this great commission to share the Faith with others. To speak the scripture, the promises written in it, in the hearing of other people. Because “Faith comes by hearing…the Word of God.”

Those people in the Gospel passage who heard Jesus’ words needed hope that – despite how dark and hopeless their situation was in occupied Israel – God had sent a redeemer, a saviour, someone to save them from their circumstances and situation. The people needed hope.

As we head into winter faced with political chaos, financial uncertainty, divisions in society, fear. Increasing numbers of people reliant on food banks. Interest rates rising. Mortgages rising, heating bills rising, rolling blackouts promised/prophesied. Misery prophesied.

In the middle of this dark and frightening time we need more than ever to remember that we have the light of God’s Word to guide us, to encourage us and to give us hope.

I don’t know what you are facing in your life right now. Maybe its the loss or illness of a loved one, problems in your family, difficulties with your partner or children, financial worries, health concerns.

It can feel relentless. We might be feeling oppressed and weighed down by our circumstances. Maybe we can’t see a way out right now. But if we turn away from the despair and turn to God’s Word, He has promised us that we will find hope and that His words will be fulfilled in our hearing.

God has promised to set the oppressed free: To give us peace in the midst of the storm.

He has promised to give us sight when we can’t see our way out of our situation. He has promised to give us vision and insight, wisdom and Grace to get through the issues we face.

God has anointed us to share good news with the poor. To share the Gospel. To tell people that the Lord God has already done it. He has already redeemed us. He has swept away all of our sins like the morning mist. He calls us to return to Him. His promissory note has been fulfilled in our hearing. Each time God’s Word is spoken and heard it is a reminder of this promise. Of this truth. That there is hope for our lives, for the lives of our neighbours, our communities, our nation and our world.

But it is our duty to speak the Word so that it will be heard and fulfilled. God promises to carry out the words of his servants – when we are speaking His words, speaking His will – it will be fulfilled. The Words that came out of God’s mouth will not return to Him void but will fulfil whatever he has sent it out to do. Jesus, the living Word, returned to the Father when he had fulfilled the Words prophesied about him through Isaiah and the other prophets. God wants us, while we are travellers on this earth, to be his good and faithful servants and to speak His words, share His good news with others. So He will fulfil his word when we speak it.

So we can declare today, as Jesus did on that day: "The Spirit of God is upon us because He has anointed us to bring good news to the poor. He has sent us to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour. There is hope in this dark world. And today, in Jesus’ name, this scripture is fulfilled in our hearing."