"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed (Greek crio) me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
-Luke 4:18-19
According to Luke, this prophecy was spoken and claimed by Jesus at the beginning of his ministry. Here, Jesus is claiming to be the one spoken about in the prophecy, the Lord's anointed one. Christ is the Greek word for "Anointed One." Jesus is claiming to be the Christ, to be God himself, and declares his foretold mission on earth. To preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor, to proclaim freedom for prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, and proclaim the Year of Jubilee (the year of the Lord's favor), in which all debts are canceled, land is restored, and slaves are set free. This incredible claim of Jesus is one of my favorite passages in the gospels because of the boldness and radical nature of such a claim.
Even more radical though, is that this anointing continues to be claimed. We, as Christians, bear the name of Christ, the anointed one.
We are the anointed ones.
We have been anointed by God himself to go and preach the Gospel, to bring freedom for prisoners, to heal the blind, and join in with the counter-cultural paradigm of the Kingdom of God that turns the values of the world on their head. We have been given the Spirit of the Lord. We have been given the gift of His anointing. Everything that Jesus did, we are called and empowered to do. You, as an anointed one of the Lord, have been given power to preach the Gospel, which is good news to a world starving for meaning.
Claim this anointing that is upon you. It's not a physical, material anointing, but a spiritual one, one that goes much deeper than the surface, down to our very core and purpose. Claim the power of the Spirit within you. Preach the Gospel. Free those bound by whatever it is that holds them prisoner. Bring sight to those who cannot see. Live radically, in the light of the Kingdom. You Christian, claim that name that you have the privilege of bearing. Claim the anointing of the Spirit, and the power to change the world.
Being anointed is a physical activity. Seeing as how we are physical beings for which a physical Christ and physical sacraments have been poured out for us, why can't our spirituality include that which is physical?
ReplyDeleteBut other than that stipulation which I enjoy, I think that your post is very necessary and it is something seldom heard as, ironically, the "spiritual" movement (permeating through all of Christianity) demphasizes the physical acts of Christianity: rituals, sacraments, etc. I wish to lift up both, spirituality and physicality, to Christ and His transformative power.
you are totally right, and that is something that i failed to include in this post. but i believe the outward signs of spirituality, although important, are not the main point in and of themselves, but rather point to the inner spiritual actions. thanks for pointing that out.
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