A Word From Joel - January 28

[Jesus] unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

“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 set free those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Luke 4:17-19

We will be in Luke’s Gospel for most of this year where Jesus begins his ministry by
reading from in the prophet Isaiah. Jesus wants us to know right up front what he is all
about. If we were to summarize it in a single word, I think you’d be hard pressed to find
a better word than “liberation.” Liberation is what Jesus is all about, and he doesn’t
settle for liberation upon death. Jesus proclaims freedom now, just like Dr. King did. For
Jesus, freedom is for the whole person—body, mind, and soul. Our minds can held
captive by all kinds of systemic oppression, like those who undervalue women and
diminish the lives of transgender people or migrants or other easy targets. Jesus wants
to free us from those powers, but he wants to free our bodies as well. Jesus’ ministry is
to the whole person. He heals bodies and souls. He fills empty belies and minds with
goodness.

While we were in Costa Rica, we met with Carol Ma, who is the founder of Casa Mint,
an NGO that accompanies extremely vulnerable women in San Jose. Casa Mint helps
women out of sex work and drug addiction into lives of self-sufficiency and mutual
support. They provide medical, psychological, social and spiritual care to the women in
the program. It reminded us of CATCH Court and Sanctuary Night here in Columbus.
Carol introduced us to Gretel and Marta who have been through the program. Gretel
told us that she lived on the streets for 40 years before she met Carol who told her that
God loves her exactly as she is. Gretel responded, “How could that be true? How could
God possibly love me as I am? That’s when I received Jesus as my savior, and now I
want everyone to have to opportunity to know salvation.” Salvation is for the whole
person, body, mind, and soul, and wherever we see people being freed, we can be
assured that is the work of God.

Sometimes it appears the world is spinning out of control, and that evil is winning. But
God is still at work in the world all around us, in Cota Rica and here in Columbus, Ohio
liberating whole persons through the simple but profound truth that God loves you just
as you are and is calling you to live for the liberation of all people.