Mercy

By Jared Warner

Willow Creek Friends Church

January 26, 2025

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Click to read in Swahili

Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili

Luke 4:14–21 (ESV)

¹⁴ And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. ¹⁵ And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. ¹⁶ And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. ¹⁷ And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, ¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, ¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” ²⁰ And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹ And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Over the past few years I have taught about the holy rhythm of Jesus. His lifestyle, or his discipline. I do not necessarily see this as being some amazing observation on my part, but it has made a great impact on my spiritual life, and I see it in our mission statement here at Willow Creek.

Our mission, or the type of people we strive to be as a community is to be a people Loving God, Embracing the Holy Spirit and Living the love of Christ with others.

I want us to re-examine that mission in light of the lifestyle of Jesus. Last year our Yearly Meeting encouraged the churches to take time to reflect on who they are and what they are called to be. We did not participate in that exercise too much as an entire meeting. I did not see the need at the time because everything they did during those exercises are the things we did when we devised our mission statement. But is this still who we are? Is this still what we want to be known for?

In our passage today we see Jesus’s rhythm of life. “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee.” We did not read what Luke is speaking about in that first statement but Jesus had just returned from the wilderness where he had been tempted by Satan for forty days. He was out in the wilderness fasting, and spending time in prayer.

These are powerful spiritual disciplines. Powerful, but often we miss applied. In many of our contemporary spiritual writings there is a huge push for a life of prayer. I was really excited about this because I am a contemplative person. I find the life of prayer as being the central or most important aspect of our spiritual life. I have read many books on the life of prayer. One of those books dealt with the boiler room movement. This movement was considered a neo-monastic movement. They would find a room in a building that they could rent and they would have people just meet to pray 24 hours a day. And as they prayed they would have another person with them that would be available to talk with whoever might come into the room.

I love the idea of this. To cover our community in prayer every moment of every day is something powerful. Just knowing that someone is praying for you can allow yourself to relax just a bit, to let go of what ever it is that we are worrying about, and rest in the assurance that God is with us. I read that book right before I came here to Willow Creek, and when I read that book I knew that it was important. I still remember the first meeting for business John Harkness and I attended, it was not our traditional meeting for business because we met at Kay and Charles’s house for some reason, but John and I both said before we do anything, before we make major changes, before we start any new ministry we as a church need to pray.

That first year we encouraged someone to come to the Meetinghouse to pray for at least and hour each day. We asked for volunteers to pick as day, and for nearly a year someone was praying everyday here in this room. I loved that. I loved meeting with Mark Fawcet every nearly every Monday to pray. I loved hearing the testimonies that others shared after they sat in prayer. And out of that time of prayer, we found our way forward as a church. For three month we would come to our meeting for business and discuss who we are, what our mission as a church was, and who we wanted to be known as. We discussed it, and we would return to pray.

Out of that we wrote our mission. We became united as a community and we penned our statement that is found on our sign, and printed in our bulletins. Willow Creek Friends Church: Loving God, Embracing the Holy Spirit, Living the love of Christ with others.

Prayer is important. It is powerful. Not because we can command God to do our bidding as we profess and proclaim in prayer. No, prayer is powerful because we are in conversation with God, we express our deepest sorrow, our concerns, our hopes and we then silently wait and listen for that sill small voice. We may or may not hear it. We may or may not notice anything, but when we pray God has a way to communicate with us. The more we pray, the more we sit in silence at his feet, the more we quiet our hearts and release our anxieties to our Lord, somehow it changes us. We receive direction, inspiration, peace and understanding. And we can move forward.

Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness in prayer. We often focus on the temptation, or the fasting. But the reality was that Jesus was praying. That is powerful.

Jesus was out in the wilderness, out in that isolated place in prayer. He was in such an intense prayer, that the thought of food left his mind. Prayer was the substance he needed. We focus on the temptation, the fasting, we often overlook the prayer. But what we definately overlook is why he was praying.

Jesus had spent thirty years living within a community. He grew up in Nazareth, spent his time playing with the other children, learning the scriptures along side everyone else, his brothers, cousins, and friends. He had listened to his relatives read from the scrolls. He had listened to the rabbis teach about the law, the prophets, the hope of their Messiah. He had lived just like us. At the age of thirteen, went to the temple with his parents, and he became a man. He entered the temple courts with a sacrifice for himself because he was seen by his community as an adult, no longer under the care of his father.

Something changed within him that day. He listened to the teachers that hung out on the temple grounds. He listened, and asked questions. And they asked him questions and he answered them. Everyone was amazed at what he was saying because he was so young. He was so engaged that his family left the city and for three days they looked for him, only to find him talking at the temple. And his mother, spoke out to him. We sometimes forget just how odd that was. Mary was not supposed to speak in that areas yet she did. And Jesus listened to his mother, even though he was of age to speak for himself.

Jesus went home with his parents, and for the next seventeen years he worked along side his family in their business. They were carpenters or stone masons. The word used is one that points to construction. For approximately seventeen years Jesus worked as a builder. We often think of him in our cultural context. At the age of thirty we are just beginning to get our career started, Jesus had been working for seventeen years. He was an established master craftsman. He was likely training his younger relatives in the trade, and then he was compelled to go to the Jordan river to see his cousin.

Everything changed. He had a good life, he had a career, a name, a place within the community. But when he came out of the water beside his cousin, his life took on a different role.

Change is one of the things in life we cannot avoid. Like death and taxes. How do we handle change? Jesus shows us in his life. When he came out of the waters of the Jordan the spirit descended upon him like a dove and a voice came from heaven. Jesus knew things were changing. He could no longer be then man of Nazareth, he was no longer a builder, because he had a purpose that he needed to pursue. What does he do? Does he jump up from the water and immediately start healing people? No. He goes out to an isolated place to pray. We know that things are changing, we can feel it all around us, we can sense it. Maybe not a voice from heaven but it is here. We should pray.

For forty days Jesus prayed, he prepared himself for the task set before him. Then he returns in the power of the Spirit to Galilee. And he taught in their synagogues. This is important and I think we often miss it. Today we pray, we have ministries of prayer where we make proclamations to God and expect him to fall in line with our will. We pray and demand that God will listen to us as we call on his power to bring his kingdom and set us up in power over the earth. We pray. But are we praying for his will or our own? Jesus went out to pray, and then he did not come back casting out demons or healing the lame, he did not show signs of the spirit’s power, he came teaching in the synagogues.

We miss this, because we do not live in the same culture that Jesus lived. The synagogue was more than what we know as church. Yes it was a place of worship, but it was also a center of education, and culture. It was the place where everyone in the community would gather to discuss important things about life, faith, and just about everything. The synagogue was the center of their social and cultural life. They would go to the synagogue to pray as their day of work started, they would leave the young boys to learn their lessons, and they would return to pick them up and go home to eat together. Every day someone would be at the synagogue teaching, praying, listening. We do not have one central place like that in our culture today. But what we are missing is that Jesus went to the synagogue, he went to their synagogues he went out to meet with them.

He went out to talk with the men as they were preparing to go out to work that day. For me when I read this I am transported back to my childhood, when I would jump in the pickup with my grandpa and drive into the local coop to check on the price of wheat as he drank coffee with the guys. That is what Jesus is doing. He was lead by the Spirit to go to the local coop as the work day started, and he would talk with them.

“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogues on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read.” This is part of that holy rhythm of life that Jesus shows us. He made it his custom to go to the synagogue to worship on the Sabbath. He withdrew to isolated places to pray. And he ministers to the needs within the community.

We need prayer, and we need worship. This is the loving God and embracing the Holy Spirit portion of our mission statement. We need worship, not because God needs us to sing his praises. We need worship because in worship we realize that we are part of something more. We are not isolated and alone but we have a community of people standing with us, praying with us, and recognizing that we all need divine intervention. We need worship, and we need to make it our custom to worship.

This is something that my family taught me well. We were not legalistic in our worship, but we were disciplined. My dad would not, and still does not work on Sunday. He does this because it is so easy to get caught up in the worries and the stress of this world, and we need a break. The life on a farm is not easy. There is always something that needs to be done, and usually it is urgent. You could work twelve hours a day, seven days a week and still not have everything done. God knows this, so he made the Sabbath for us. He gave us a rhythm of life where you work hard and take a break, so that you remember who you truly are, and why you are here.

Jesus made it his custom to go to the synagogue to worship. We do not live in a culture that is mindful of this anymore. Our stores need to be open on Sunday, because that is sometimes the only day that people can do their shopping. Do no judge those that work too harshly, especially if you are standing in front of them, because you are the one that is requiring them to be there. Instead we need to encourage them to take time during their week to remember who they are. Encourage them to pray, worship, and relax. But do not judge, because we all have responsibilities and sometimes we do not have control over our schedules.

Jesus worshiped, and he withdrew to isolated place to pray. The last aspect of his holy rhythm is that he ministered to the needs of his community. We do not see that aspect within today’s passage but he does speak about it.

“The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He 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 proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.'”

This is ministry.

Good news to the poor. Have you ever really thought about this? What is good news to the poor? In our culture, in our economy we have an understanding about the poor that skew our understanding of what scripture intends. It skews it but it does not completely hinder us. Who are the poor? In Jesus’s culture the poor are those that work for others. They do not have their own land or their own business. They live day by day hoping to earn enough for their daily bread. We have a skewed understanding of the poor, because we do not like to be included under that moniker. We like to believe that we are self sufficient, we have pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps and can survive on our own. But have we thought about what that means? We cannot pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, because our complete weight is in our boots and if we were to lift ourselves up we would immediately fall down.

The poor are those that live under the authority of others. They must do what their boss tells them or they will be out of a job, and unable to eat. This is why we should not judge, because we are poor too. Each of us answer to someone or something. We might own a business but we have customers and clients we must answer too. We might work for someone else, and we must provide service according to their needs. We are all poor because we are just one bad month away from total ruin.

Jesus came to proclaim good news to the poor. What does this mean? It means we are more than cogs in a machine. We have a name and purpose. We are image bearers of the Most High. The good news is that we can live in that image and honor that image we bear. We are not animals but human beings, with passions, dreams, goals, and futures. You can be, and are more than the work you do.

Jesus was sent to proclaim liberty to the captives. Liberty is something we love in this nation. We have a statue that proclaims it in the New York Harbor. But do we know biblical liberty? The word means release or pardon. It means mercy. People are being held for various reasons, they are bound by debt, bound by poor choices, or being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Jesus came to proclaim mercy, or pardon to people that are bound.

We might now like this idea. Captives are captive for a reason. They put themselves in that situation. And they must pay for what they did. That might be true. But they are poor just like us. We do not know the whole story. We do not know what was going on in their lives to bring them to that captivity, and we do not even know if it was of their own free will. We need mercy, because they too are image bearers.

Liberty for the captives and recovering of sight to the blind. This can be seen in a couple of different ways. There is the literal healing of the blind which Jesus does do. But we can also look at this in a figurative manner too. Sight and blindness can be metaphors for wisdom and understanding. I would venture to say that in this passage the metaphorical understanding should be considered because this is the only disability mentioned in this passage. We are to be instruments of understanding. People illuminating areas that were once dwelling in the shadows. Encouraging people to look at things from a different perspective, so that maybe they might see more clearly.

And then Jesus came to set at liberty those who are oppressed. This is why i think in this case the blind is metaphor. We have poor, captives, blind, and oppressed. The oppressed are those that are being persecuted. They are systematically placed at a disadvantage and have no way to alleviate their situation. Jesus told the disciples that the poor will always be among us. This means that yes there will always be poor people, but it also means that there will always be the ruling class and those that are ruled over. The rich and the poor. Those that have the wealth and power will use their wealth and power to ensure they remain wealthy and powerful. Leaving those that do not have wealth and power oppressed, weak, and vulnerable. Jesus came to give mercy, pardon, and hope to the oppressed.

By now you probably are annoyed with this woke sermon. And that is alright with me. But I want you to think about it. Consider it. Jesus made it his custom to worship on the Sabbath in the synagogue. He withdrew often to pray in isolated places, and he did these things. He proclaims good news to the poor, he was sent to speak mercy to the captives, to enlighten those that do not have understanding and to heal those with physical ailments. And to set at liberty those who have been purposefully put in a disadvantaged situation. That is ministry. That is his holy rhythm and the life that those that are called by his name should take on.

I want us to re-evaluate our own lives. We come here to this place, this community of Friends who say that we are a people loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit, and living the love of Christ with others. This is what we say that we are, but are we? Are we are people that remember who we are in the eyes of God in worship? Are we people that will withdraw to pray? Are we ministering or living the lifestyle Jesus came to proclaim? Are we who we say that we are? Are we mindful and merciful? Are we willing to listen and see things from a different perspective? Are we willing to stand up for those that are unable to stand on their own?

Jesus rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. Every eye in his hometown synagogue was fixed on him. They stared, they glared, they looked at him in awe. And he gave one sentence in commentary. “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

These are things Jesus came for. This is what Jesus lived and died for. And this is what he rose again to give power over. The world is against it. Even those from Jesus’s home town rejected it. This will never work, who are you to say this they claimed. But this was the words of the prophet, and the words of Christ. It is the year of the Lord’s favor, this does not mean we will get what we want because that is of the world, but it means this is what we should strive for. This is our mission and our purpose. To make sure everyone we meet throughout this week knows that they are loved by God, and show them through our words and actions. Are we willing?

Previous Messages:

Broken Dreams Restored

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By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church March 29, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 3: Do you attend regularly the services of your church and participate in them actively? Do you prayerfully endeavor to minister, under the guidance of the Holy…

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Walk as Children of Light

By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church March 15, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Ephesians 5:8–14 (ESV) 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit…

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