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EMBODYING OUR IDENTITY:
LIVING IN KINGDOM TIME

Luke 4:14-21

Introduction

The long, shrill blast echoed over the countryside, up into the hill country and down into the fertile valleys. One more time, a second long, shrill blast exploded into the silence of the vineyards and olive yards. Finally, a third shrill blast blew.

He had been waiting for 37 years now to hear that blast. He knew that before much longer he would once again embrace that adult son whom he had not seen since the boy was 11 years old. He would be reunited with his wife as well as his three daughters, all whom were grown now as well. Once again they would return to their plot of land and attempt to rebuild their lives together.

He reflected back on what had brought him to this moment. Life had been going well in the first 7 or 8 years of his marriage. The crops grew; the cattle produced. However, with the onset of draught everything began to change. The first year, he could not quite make payment to his overlord, but his overlord was benevolent and loaned him extra seed for the next year. However, when he became ill the next year, and 2 years of draught followed again, he became increasingly indebted to his overlord. Finally, he had no option but to loan his 11-year-old son, his pride and joy, to his overlord until the debt could be paid off. However, rather than an upturn, his indebtedness continued to grow. The next year, he had to sell his older daughter into debt slavery as well. Finally, when he could borrow no more, he became a debt slave himself.

For 37 years, he had been separated from his family. But he knew, only because he had heard from his parents and from his parents' parents, that there was to be a season when the loud, shrill ram's horn would blow. And in that season, all slaves would go free. All land would return to their original owners. And all debts would be canceled. He could hardly imagine--"All debts cancelled; everything that I owe, forgiven!" In this season, he knew that where separation had occurred, restoration would take place. Where brokenness was prevalent, healing would be found. And where obligations were unmet, forgiveness would be extended.

It was the season of jubilee. The season of grace. The season of forgiveness. However, the 27th year went by . . . but the horn never blew. Twenty-eight; 29; 30. Hope gave way to despair. Anticipation of a new tomorrow gave way to acceptance of a mundane today.

Move One--The Dilemma of the Text: The Settled Realities

The story could be repeated over and over and over again in the life of the people of God. They knew about this Kingdom time called jubilee; they even anticipated that some regime would actually be faithful and carry it out. However, Kingdom time, jubilee, would too easily upset the status quo. Those in power pretty well liked the way things were. The powerless had no say. Therefore, the poor remained poor, the imprisoned remained imprisoned, the blind remained blind, and the oppressed continued to be oppressed. From time to time, poets, prophets, would come along and would paint an imaginative picture through their words of what jubilee might look like: obligations canceled, debts forgiven, slaves released, blind eyes opened, oppressed freed.

However, in spite of the poet's language, Kingdom time seemed to never come.
The settled certainties of life--things like poverty, debts, sickness, death, blindness--just made sense to everyone. The system, the Kingdom, was established. Nothing could change the way things were run. There were always going to be debts owed, people with diseases, outcasts rejected. That's just the way life was. Jubilee--Kingdom time--it was a nice political-economic idea; it made for great poetry. But what powerful people would ever cancel debts? And what powerless people could do anything about it? Finally, you just come to accept that some things don't change: blind people stay blind; sick people stay sick; poor people stay poor; imprisoned people stay imprisoned; and sinners . . . stay sinners!

Move Two--The Answer in the Text: Kingdom Time Has Come

Suddenly, into the midst of the settled realities of life, just when brokenness, sin, debts, death, blindness, poverty became accepted as the rule of life, a word breaks into this maintenance world. The poem of Kingdom time--jubilee--is once more recited. Returning from the wilderness, Jesus proceeds to the synagogue where He publicly reads the poem of Kingdom time:

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.
(Luke 4:18-19)*

Oh, the poem had been read many times; it never seemed to change anything. It always had given a moment of hope that someday the status quo would be broken. But life always seemed to return to normal.

But this time was different. The one reading it did not simply place it back in the scroll case. With all eyes in the synagogue fixed on Jesus, He continued with these words: "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (v. 21). With these words, Jesus sets up the great contrast between His kingdom and the dominant culture of the day. In a culture where indebtedness was the rule of life, this declaration turned everything upside down. In a society where people owe both gods and humans, Jesus announces a season where the status quo life of obligation and debt has been overturned. In a culture where the blind have always remained blind, the dead have always remained dead, and sinners have always remained sinners, light has come, resurrection has taken place, forgiveness has been granted.

With Jesus' declaration, the long-anticipated ram's horn has sounded. The debts have all been canceled. What could never have been paid back is no longer owed. Kingdom time is no longer on the horizon; it is now. Therefore, Kingdom people will know what it means to ask, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."

Move Three--The Challenge of the Text: Living in Kingdom Time

But the ram's horn did not just blow then. The ram's horn is blasting its shrill announcement today. Much like those who came before us, we live in a world of settled answers and comfortable maintenance. Because the oppressed are too weak to overcome, they remained oppressed. Because the poor are too impoverished to buy their way out of the gutter, they remain poor. Because the imprisoned are too bound to unlock their chains, they remain imprisoned. And because sinners are too sinful to be accepted, they remain sinners.

We get comfortable with the way things are and conclude that this is the way things will always be. But the ram's horn has blown. The message of the Kingdom is pronounced today, right here in our church, right here in our neighborhood, right here in our city: "Your debts are canceled. What you could not ever begin to pay back, you no longer owe."

Kingdom time--jubilee--is not about oppressed people who become powerful enough to overcome. Nor is it about poor people who become rich enough to buy their way out of poverty. Nor is it about prisoners who become strong enough to unlock their chains. Nor is it about sinners who become good enough to be forgiven. Instead, Kingdom time is about people who, while we were still dead in our trespasses and sins, oppressed, poor, blind, imprisoned, sinful, have been forgiven.

Conclusion

Imagine for a few moments with me, if you would, what Kingdom time in this place, in this neighborhood, in this city, in our homes, in our schools, and in our workplaces would look like. In Kingdom time, God creates a community of forgiveness: people who are forgiven and people who forgive! A community is created where life is no longer lived or earned by performance, achievement, or manipulation. Life is given and life is received by grace. A community is created of parents and children, husbands and wives, employees and employers, friends and neighbors, teachers and students, where we no longer live our lives waiting for others to "pay up." We no longer conduct our relationships by keeping a tally of wrongs done. Rather, forgiveness becomes the fabric of our relationships in the church, the home, the school, the workplace, and the community. And grace becomes the thread that holds this fabric together.

What does it mean for us to be the people of God? What is our identity? We are people who have heard the ram's horn blow. We are people who have heard the good news that the time has been fulfilled. We are people who live in Kingdom time. This is the season of forgiveness. This is the season when all of the brokenness, the disease, the death, the bondage, the sin that we have simply accepted as the rule of life has been overturned. Indeed, this is good news to those of us who could never repay our debt. Those who are in bondage, hear the news: "The doors have been opened." Those who are broken, hear the news: "Be made whole." Those who are hungry and thirst, hear the news: "Eat and drink to your fill." Those who have sinned, hear the news: "Your sins are forgiven."

It's Kingdom time! May our lives together in this place and may our lives outside this place embody the reality that we are living in Kingdom time. We have heard the ram's horn; this is the season of the Lord's favor. The kingdom of God is upon us. And we are citizens of that Kingdom, that political system, and that calendar--we are citizens of the kingdom of God.

In recent days, the celebration of this Kingdom has been expressed in these words:

Jesus, God's righteousness revealed, the Son of Man, the Son of God--His kingdom comes.
Jesus, redemption's Sacrifice, now glorified, now justified, His kingdom come.
And this kingdom will know no end, and its glory shall know no bound;
For majesty and power of this kingdom's King has come.
And this kingdom's reign and this kingdom's rule and this kingdom's power and authority;
Jesus, God's righteousness revealed.

Throughout our history as the Body of Christ, we have expressed our participation in "Kingdom time" through the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples to pray. Let us join our voices as we pray that prayer together:

Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever. Amen (Matthew 6:9-13, KJV).
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*Unidentified Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture marked KJV is from the King James Version.