Gospel According to…?

Passages: Is. 20:2-21:6; Gal. 4:3-18; Lk. 4:14-23
Ընթերցուածքներ՝ Եսայ. Ի 2- ԻԱ 6; Գաղ. Դ 3-18; Ղկ. Դ 14-23

In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

In the Gospel today we read that Christ was brought by the spirit, moved by the spirit and he returned to Galilee. What is this spirit? Yes, we know it is the Holy Spirit but what is the purpose of that spirit or relationship to God the Holy Spirit? Is it as we read the spirit that, being like wind it pushed Jesus into towards Galilee? In the same Gospel reading today we continue to read, that when Christ opened the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue, He began with these words, “the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor, he has sent me to heal, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”He is teaching us as we read from the Gospel that, He is the Messiah and that He is the one that has come to bring that liberty, bring that good news, to bring that healing upon others, for the Spirit of the Lord is upon Him. Well what about us?

It’s interesting, that the passage of Isaiah Christ is reading begins first, he has anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor. What is the Gospel? How many do we have? Four of them right? Wrong. We have ONE Gospel. When the priest or Deacon begins reading the Gospel, they say, “The Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.” There is only one Gospel, there is only one good news because the Gospel is the heralding, the news of a victorious king. I’ve said this before Gospel is not a religious term. In fact, we use it in secularism right? When we want to emphasize something that’s true, what do we say? It’s the gospel truth. Gospel is not a religious term and the word Gospel the evangelist used specifically for this point. That word comes to us from paganism and even before when war would happen, whatever the outcome of the war was, the herald would be sent to town, and he would begin telling everyone the victory of that battle and that the king has won. And for those who opposed the King it was a warning of the Judgement to come. It is for this reason that the evangelists use the word gospel because they are declaring victorious Christ has healed the broken hearted, freed the captives, gives sight to the blind and liberty to those who are oppressed and it is that spirit therefore my fears that is upon not just Jesus who the Christ but also us, who are baptized and anointed by the Spirit. Yes there is only one gospel of Jesus Christ according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, yet what about the Gospel according to you? Or me? Each and every one of us is called to live the gospel for that same Holy Spirit that is upon Jesus Christ, is upon us and moves us.

In 1863 Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves through that declaration from captivity in the United states, were all slaves free? No! And I’m not even talking about slaves in the North, South, East or West. Rather, why weren’t they free? Because they didn’t know about the Emancipation Proclamation. That is why Lincoln sent out people with the statement and declaration showing them that the president’s signature is on it that you are free. My dears the Holy Bible has the signature of God on it, we have the signature of Christ on us, and we are the message to the world, to each other that we are free from sin, that we are liberated, that our sight has been restored, that Christ is victorious. However, that means that we need to be moved by the Spirit, just like the sails on the boat move when the wind blows. If we the sail is damaged and has holes, it won’t move anywhere. That is why we’re in church. So that here, God will strengthen our faith, mend the holes and brokenness we have and in church, or for those watching online, we being renewed and strengthened, the spirit must move us, the one spirit, the Holy Spirit will move us to bring the message of the Holy Gospel of one Christ. So that we are in communion with the one God, as one church family, as one community, and the one Spirit is upon all of us to bring the Good News, the Gospel, to all.

If we want to see change, let us begin to change ourselves; we must begin to change ourselves by giving ourselves over to God to heal us and move us to become the change we want to see everywhere else. We see and we hear this proverbial saying but it is Christ that moves us, it is Christ that makes us a light in the darkened world. To be bring healing, love, compassion and mercy upon each other but also to the people on the street, because we are all declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ but according to each one of us through the way we live. Are we a contradiction or a living reflection of God? Are we still a slave to our sins, to darkness or have we heard the Good News and are being sent to bring the Good News to others? I pray that God gives us the wisdom, insight and reflection to open our hearts, be renewed and understand that when we walk in the paths of God when we ask, we learn, when we pray humbly seeking forgiveness, the Holy Spirit will move us from darkness to light, from death to life, from oppression to divine freedom, Amen!