a l i v e & a w a k e

Just had a meeting with a core group of our community last night with a gentleman named Joseph D’sousa. God has raised him up to be the one who seeks the welfare of city in India-specifically a group called the Dalit’s. In India, the caste system is very alive and well and the Dalit’s are the lowest in that, in fact they are not even included in the caste system. Dalit means broken, cripple, untouchable. So 250 000 000 people are in this category and no one has been fighting for their freedom until lately. We need to watch for what will come about in this great work of God’s compassion for the people.

I always enjoy hearing about God’s work in these situations, but there was something more in this talk for me and I believe for our group. Joseph uses as his main passage Luke 4:18 to highlight the work of God in India, which says ;

18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors,
19 and that the time of the Lord's favor has come."
20 He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. Everyone in the synagogue stared at him intently.
21 Then he said, "This Scripture has come true today before your very eyes!"
Luke 4:18-21 (NLT)

This is the passage that I believe was carefully chosen by Jesus to read that day at the Synagogue. I believe it was the last time he was able to speak in that context and He got Himself in pretty big trouble by reading it. I happen to believe He was not only trying to proclaim His work to the people, but God’s work to this world. He is citing Is 61, to this group which all the listeners would know not just the passage that Jesus read, but the whole chapter. This is the rest of that chapter;

2 He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord's favor has come, and with it, the day of God's anger against their enemies.
3 To all who mourn in Israel, he will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the LORD has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory.
4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins, repairing cities long ago destroyed. They will revive them, though they have been empty for many generations.
5 Foreigners will be your servants. They will feed your flocks and plow your fields and tend your vineyards.
6 You will be called priests of the LORD, ministers of our God. You will be fed with the treasures of the nations and will boast in their riches.
7 Instead of shame and dishonor, you will inherit a double portion of prosperity and everlasting joy.
8 "For I, the LORD, love justice. I hate robbery and wrongdoing. I will faithfully reward my people for their suffering and make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their descendants will be known and honored among the nations. Everyone will realize that they are a people the LORD has blessed."
10 I am overwhelmed with joy in the LORD my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels.
11 The Sovereign LORD will show his justice to the nations of the world. Everyone will praise him! His righteousness will be like a garden in early spring, filled with young plants springing up everywhere.
Isaiah 61:2-11 (NLT)

The reason I have the whole chapter highlighted here, is because I believe it is the core of God’s mission to the world, personified in Christ (which is why He read it), and now embodied in His people (known as the church). For the last few years I have come back to this passage almost on a daily basis. God continues to speak to me through this passage in a fresh living way. This chapter for me sums up in one neat sentence which Jesus says in John 10:10—‘I have come to bring life and life to the fullest’ ( I believe the main mission statement of Christ). It is our role as well.

I may write more on this (because it is a whole chapter) but my first initial thought was the emphasis of the poor.
“The Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the ‘poor’, bind up the broken hearted, liberty to the captives, and freedom to the bound”
The word ‘poor’ in the Old Testament is more accurately translated as ‘poors’ which includes; oppressed, bound, hurt, sorrowful, crippled, without, imprisoned. The fact that it is plural really informs us to where we can find the living Christ today who comes ‘not for the healthy, but the sick’(poors).

It doesn’t just stopped at changing their condition but goes on to say ‘they’ will:
-Raise up the former devastations
-repair the ancient ruins
-pastor your flocks
-tend to your vineyards
-be oaks of righteousness

I always notice that it is not an investment into myself so that I will do all this work, it is someone else---the poors.
So how do we start bringing this gospel to the world?
Joseph did a great job of saying
-we need to ‘be’ in the community where we are at
-we need to find the ‘fault lines’ (example the area that is volatile and showing instability) and begin to meet that need
-we need to be interactive with that need and not approach it from a distance (community)
-bring the message of freedom that empowers them to live differently as they rely on God.

I am profoundly challenged and excited about the poors around me changing this world with Christ and the poors in myself being empower to change as well.