Lumaya at Magpalaya Veks

Bumalik si Jesus sa Galilea sa kapangyarihan ng Espiritu at sa buong lupain ay kumalat ang balita tungkol sa kanya. Nagturo siya sa kanilang mga sinagoga taglay ang papuri ng lahat.

Dumating siya sa Nazareth na kanyang nilakhan. Gaya ng kanyang nakaugalian, pumasok siya sa sinagoga nang araw ng Sabbath at tumindig upang magbasa. Iniabot sa kanya ang aklat ng propetang si Isaias at pagkabukas dito ay natunghayan niya ang dako kung saan nasusulat, “Sumasaakin ang Espiritu ng Panginoon, sapagkat hinirang niya ako upang ipangaral ang mabuting balita sa mga dukha. Isinugo niya ako upang ipahayag sa mga bihag ang paglaya at sa mga bulag na sila’y makakita upang bigyang-laya ang mga inaapi, at ipahayag ang pinapagpalang taon ng Panginoon.”

Inirolyo ni Jesus at isinauli ang aklat sa tagapaglingkod, at siya’y naupo. At ang mga mata ng lahat ng sinagoga ay nakatitig sa kanya.
Pagbasa
Lucas 4:14-20 (FSV)

One of the great beliefs and practices of MCC is the so called “priesthood of all believers” which says that spiritual and liturgical power is not concentrated in the person of an ordained pastor. All baptized Christians can lead, serve, and bless all the sacraments, rites, and other liturgical practices of the church community, indeed making us spiritually equal and democratic, and I feel the closest to the intentions of Jesus and later by Paul on how communities of faith should be. I am out sick today because of the multiple meetings I had last Tuesday and Wednesday, with a 5AM global MCC board meeting Wednesday morning. I’m doing better but not yet totally and so I decided to rest this Sunday. Salamat sa lahat ng gagampan sa worship today. The Holy Spirit is with you all, moving and working with, in, and through each one of you to sustain our safe space, to proclaim God’s love, and to do advocacy work, all of them sa pamamagitan ng ating worship service.

This will not be a full sermon as I usually do because you will have arts and crafts for the duration of the preaching part of the worship.

Marcus Borg considers our scripture reading today as the inauguration of Jesus as per the writer of the gospel of Luke. This inauguration also sets what was, in Luke’s eyes, the central purpose and goal of the ministry and mission of Jesus. Remember that Luke’s gospel frame is about Metanoia – Transformation. But how? Through the prophetic tradition, and here specifically, the one declared in Isaiah.

For the author of Luke, the mission of Jesus is centered in this prophetic proclamation from the scroll of Isaiah, na bibigyan ko ng sarili kong rendering:

Ibahagi ang mabuting balita sa mga mahihirap, paglaya sa mga nakagapos,

Ipahayag ang pagkamulat o pagkakita sa mga bulag at nabubulagan, Palayain ang lahat ng mga inaapi at pinagmamalupitan, at ideklara ang pinagpalang Taon ng Panginoon.

Para sa manunulat ng Lukan Gospel, the mission of Jesus is to transform society through the Isaiah passage – Goodnews to the poor. What is goodnews to the poor? That they will no longer be poor, hungry, and homesless. Release to the captives – paglaya literally and figuratively: Paglaya ng mga political prisoners at iba pang mga prisoners na inosente pero kinulong. Release sa mga nakakulong na ang tanging kasalanan ay dahil mahirap sila. Release mula sa pagkagapos sa mga toxic at mapang-aping mga paniniwala kasama na ang paglaya mula sa mga toxic ng mga religions and religious groups. At minsan paglaya rin mula sa mga pamilyang mapanakit. Madalas ibig sabihin rin nito ay paglaya mula sa sarili nating mga kaisipan na tayo ay hindi karapat-dapat. Paglaya mula sa kaisipan o paniniwala na tayo ay walang puwang sa simbahan at Lipunan. Sa kaisipan na hindi ka maganda o kamahal-mahal. Sight to the blind – pagkamulat sa maraming mga katotohanan na dati hindi nakikita o naiisip man lang. Pagkamulat sa katotohanan ng pag-ibig ng Diyos para sa lahat ano man ang iyong pagkatao, pinanggalingan, at maski kasarian or SOGIESC.

Maging mulat na hindi porket straight ka, hindi ka na api. Makita mo na may kaapihan ka rin sa iyong kasarian bilang cis-hetero person.

Jesus wishes to transform society through Isaiah’s call to bring freedom to the oppressed – Kalayaan at buhay na ganap sa mga inaapi at pinagmamalupitan; Freedom and fullness of life for the oppressed, discriminated, and exploited. Na sa ating LGBTQIA+ sector, isang malinaw na paraan dito ay ang pagsasabatas nung SOGIE Equality Bill. A true transformed society is mark by the declaration of the great jubilee year of the Lord, which biblically means – Lahat ng utang ay cancelled na and forgiven. If you do not know, our capitalist world is built and sustained by debt. And oppression and poverty is based on systemic continuation of indebtedness – Pagkakautang. The biblical Jubilee wish to abolish this and set people free from pagkakautang. Jubilee also means, ang mga lupang sinanla at binenta, maski ang mga ninakaw at kinamkam ay ibabalik sa mga una at tunay nitong mga may-ari. May paglaya, pagkakapantay-pantay, katarungan, at buhay na ganap para sa lahat. Eto ang tunay at biblical na Jubilee year that many so called “bible-believing” Christians fail not only to live-up to but even to consider in their lives and in their churches.

If you are really a follower of Jesus, his mission is also our mission both individually and as a community. We have the same prophetic mission from Isaiah. We are not only ap priesthood of all believers, we’re also prophets of all believers. Bawat isa sa atin ay propeta rin by virtue of our baptism. As we continue to commemorate Pride Month by by honoring our queer ancestors and the 30^th year of the first pride march, and as we move closer to this year’s Pride March events, let us carry into our hearts and minds the prophetic mission of Jesus as Queer Christians. Let us march proclaiming Goodnews to the poor. Proclaiming release to captives. Proclaiming freedom and rights not only for LGBTQIA+ people but also for the people of Palestine. Let us proclaim the fullness of Life and God’s love for LGBTQIA+ Filipinos. Let our prophetic proclamation also become our protest against the oppressors and oppressive systems of church and society.