Date: Thursday, March 19th 
Scripture: Isaiah 61:1
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.”
By Sandy Strauss, Director of Advocacy, PA Council of Churches
References to people in captivity often play a central role when it comes to what God’s people are called to do. Jesus echoes the words of Isaiah in this passage from Luke; Isaiah says he has been anointed “to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners” (61:1). Throughout scripture, God is often revealed as liberator. A well known story is of the Exodus, the deliverance of the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt. Jesus appears to have been sent to play a role similar to Moses. With these words from Luke, Jesus reveals himself to have been sent by God to help the Jewish people under Roman control to find freedom from the oppression that almost certainly felt like captivity for those who experienced it. Like Moses, and then Jesus, Isaiah makes it clear that we also have a responsibility to serve as co-laborers with God in the work of liberating the captives.
While Jesus is referring to himself in this passage, his words and deeds suggest that this is to be the work of all of his followers—indeed, all human beings. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount helps to spell this out, particularly when he says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” He calls us to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves—and these two commandments cannot stand separately. He tells us to treat others as we would wish to be treated. Presumably, we would not want to be imprisoned without the chance of redemption. Lent is a time for holding all who are in captivity in our hearts—whether it is the physical captivity of incarceration, the mental or emotional captivity of depression, anger, pain, or addiction, or the societal captivity of poverty or labeling our neighbors as other. It is a time to reflect on how we are anointed by God to follow in the footsteps of Jesus by sharing the good news of liberation with our neighbors.
Prayer: Lord, grant us the courage, the creativity and the perseverance to persist in the “power of the Spirit” which “sets at liberty those who are oppressed.”
Fact: Persons housed in solitary confinement can be subjected to sensory deprivation, constant light and noise, threats of violence, extremely hot or cold temperatures, hog tying and physical restraint, stun guns, tear gas, and pepper spray.
Action: Read this report from the Prison Policy Initiative in order to gain a better understanding of mass incarceration in the United States:
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2019.html
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