THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS
A sermon preached on January 27, 2013, The Third Sunday after the Epiphany,
at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Bedford, New York, by the Rector, The Rev. Terence L. Elsberry.
I
David Brooks writing this past week in The New York Times ranks President
Obama’s recent inaugural address, his second, as “among the best of the past halfcentury.”
That started me thinking. I began to wonder which of all the presidential inaugural
speeches might be considered the best.
Which is the all-time BEST inaugural address?
Why care? You may well ask. Yet there’s something intriguing about inaugural
addresses, whether you voted for the president giving the address or not.
When a president stands on the steps of the capital building and makes his case
for his next four years in office, we can’t help wondering, What’s he going to say? Even
if you don’t agree with the speaker, there’s the element of hope that goes with every new
beginning. We’re curious. How will this president present his case? And how will what
he plans to do affect my life?
Historians and rhetoricians have their favorite inaugural addresses.
Many cite the first. In the beginning, when in 1789 our first president began his
first term, George Washington’s speech was marked by humility. He called being
president “one of the vicissitudes incident to life.” A far cry from the attitude of a lot of
candidates since who seem willing to do virtually anything to get elected. Washington
also began and ended his speech, not with the sometimes seemingly perfunctory “and
may God bless America.” At both the beginning and end of his talk, he made fervent
appeals to God. Washington was anxious. He recognized how improbable this new little
country was. He knew the internal dissent that threatened it. He knew the United States,
and its first president, needed God’s help.
So did Lincoln. In his second inaugural address, considered the greatest of all by
many historians, he spoke these now hallowed words to a nation still at war: “with malice
toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the
right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds . . .”
Historians generally agree that the greatest inaugural address since Lincoln’s was
FDR’s following his first election in the depths of the Great Depression: “We have
nothing to fear but fear itself.” JFK’s has been given high marks for rhetoric: “Ask not
what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.” And Ronald
Reagan, at his second inauguration, spoke movingly of what he called “the American
sound. It is hopeful, big-hearted, idealistic, daring, decent and fair. That’s our heritage;
that is our song.”
Yet in the final analysis the greatest of all inaugural addresses was not even given
by a U.S. president. The greatest was given by an uneducated Jewish carpenter. The
greatest inaugural address of all time was spoken by Jesus at the beginning of His
ministry. We’ve just heard it read.
2
In Luke’s Gospel, we see Jesus giving HIS inaugural address. We hear the words
with which He launches His ministry. Here He tells us why He’s here, and what He’s
going to do.
II
And what is that?
Jesus has just come back home from spiritual boot camp. Forty days and forty
nights without food--fasting and doing battle with Satan in the desert.
Just before that, He’s been filled with the Holy Spirit in baptism. That’s what we
believe also happens to US in baptism. Like Jesus, in our baptism a miracle occurs. We
can’t see it, we may not feel it, but by faith we receive it. God puts His own Spirit within
us. That’s what it means to be born again. So does the miracle happen again this morning
in the lives of tiny precious Juliette, Mackenzie and Brodie.
Jesus has a three-part preparation. Empowered by the Spirit. Proving His power
over evil. Now comes number three: His statement of purpose.
It the most important inaugural address ever given. It’s probably also the shortest,
considering the part of His talk that are actually Jesus’ own words. Because the lion’s
share of what He says today is a quote. It’s from the prophet Isaiah, and it goes like this:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring
good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and
recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the
Lord’s favor.”
Here it is, in this handful of words. It’s all here—the reason Jesus has come
to earth. These are the things the Father has commissioned Him to do. Here’s the
constitution of the Kingdom of God. It’s not a set of beliefs, it’s a mandate for
action. It’s not what Jesus believes. It’s what He’s going to do.
Then Jesus rolls up the scroll. He hands it back to the attendant. He returns
to His seat. He sits down. No big deal. Everyone in the place has heard those words
many times before. Most can recite them by heart. Thanks very much, Jesus. You
read well. Nice to have you back in town. Mary’s boy didn’t turn out all that badly
after all. Now you can go back to helping your Dad in the carpenter shop. Let’s get
on with the service.
But Jesus isn’t finished. Before anyone else can speak, He adds these words
of His own. Just nine words. Nine words that aren’t a quotation from the prophet.
Nine words that proclaim a new beginning for the human race. Nine words that are
among the most important that have ever been spoken. Nine words in which Jesus
makes the most audacious assertion in all history. Nine words in which He tells the
people He’s not just the carpenter’s kid from down the street who played kick ball
with their sons. He’s also the Son of God. He’s also the promised Messiah, He’s also
the hoped-for king.
Here’s how He does it. Here’s what He says: “Today this scripture has been
fulfilled in your hearing.”
In other words, He tells these home folks, I am the One. I am the fulfillment
of all your hopes, all your yearnings. I am the Savior.
3
III
The people’s reaction isn’t great. In fact, they’re outraged. Who does this local
kid think he is? He’s claiming to be the son of God. What a joker. He’s lost his mind.
But you and I know Jesus hasn’t lost His mind. We know the story. We have the
vantage point of generations of proof. Jesus is who He says He is. That’s why today’s
lesson from Luke is so important. Because here in these few words Jesus gives us His job
description. He outlines the ministry He’s come here to carry out.
None of it’s about Him. It’s all about other people.
Consider what he doesn’t say. He doesn’t claim military power. He doesn’t say
He’ll overthrow the Roman Empire. He doesn’t demand equal rights for his put upon
Judean brethren. He doesn’t try to enlist anyone’s help. He doesn’t ask for their support.
If He were starting out today, He wouldn’t talk about globalization, the economy,
Medicare, Social Security, or immigration.. He’d do what He did then. He’d talk about
transforming people’s lives.
And He will do it alone. He stands alone. He has no political party to support
Him, no war chest of campaign contributions, because He never campaigns. He won’t
muster up support. He won’t stand for office. He’ll just go forth in the power of the Spirit
and do these things.
Here’s what He tells us He’s going to do.
Bring good news to the poor. Jesus wants to help the poor, the down-trodden,
those who can’t help themselves. He wants to lighten the burden of the poor. But when he
says “poor” he doesn’t mean only the economically impoverished. He also means people
who are poor in spirit—cast down by grief or loss or sorrow. He means people who have
poor self images, and who have been beaten down by life some beginning in early
childhood.. He means those who for whatever reason have never really had a break. He’s
here to give all these people a break.
Proclaim release to the captives. Of course, he care for those who are in prison
behind physical bars. But there are a lot of ways we can be held captive. Captive to bad
attitudes, negative thinking. Anger, resentment, depression, despair. We can be captive to
a destructive relationship, to some habit we may have tried over and over to break but
can’t, because the habit—whatever it is—seems too strong. He’s here to set these people
free!
Recovery of sight to the blind. Jesus is going out of the synagogue this morning
and He’s going to heal the physically blind people who come to Him for help. But how
many emotionally or psychologically blind He will also help. He’ll open the eyes of their
hearts to see that God is alive. That He’s alive and present with them and for them in
their every day lives. He’s here to open the eyes of their minds to see reasons for
gratitude in unexpected places they’ve never thought of looking before.
Let the oppressed go free. There are lots of socially- or economically-oppressed
people—victims of a system that doesn’t do well by them. Jesus has come to minister to
them. But oppression comes in all manner of ways. Whatever holds us down and prevents
us from being the whole, radiantly flourishing person God wants us to be—that’s
oppression. With Jesus on the scene, oppression flees. Men and women who give their
lives to Him, who walk with Him and talk with Him grow straight and reach high and
make the most of the talents and time they’ve been given.
4
Proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. What is the Lord’s favor? It’s the love
of God in action. That’s what His Kingdom, what the reign of God, looks like: all
creation breathing the restoring, renewing, reviving, air of love. Against which no evil
can prevail.
And the remarkable thing about this inaugural address of our Lord’s is that
it wasn’t just for people who lived then and benefited from His hands’ on ministry.
It’s for you and me, too.