Editor’s note: This is part of a series of meditations based on passages in the lectionary used by many mainline churches, intended as a prompt for preachers and an ongoing project of reading unexpected passages with abolitionist eyes.
4:13 He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali,
4:14 so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
4:15 “Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles
4:16 the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.”
4:17 From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
This week’s lectionary readings present the great and familiar promise of Isaiah, “the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.” While the gospel lesson quotes only a portion of the passage—a promise of hope and redemption to those in the darkness of prisons and jails, to be sure—the Old Testament reading presents the full passage from Isaiah and makes its promise of freedom to prisoners even more explicit:
9:2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness on them light has shined.
9:3 You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder.
9:4 For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.
The yoke, the bar, the rod—all symbols of captivity and oppression—are broken. In the kingdom of God, prisoners are set free.
Last week’s reading presented to us the question of where Jesus was “staying;” of where he was abiding in our world—leading us to think of his presence with those most marginalized including the incarcerated.
This week’s passage, from the beginning of a different gospel, begins in the same place—here is where Jesus “made his home”—and then makes explicit that his dwelling or staying with those who are oppressed is not only for their comfort but for their freedom, by showing that his “making his home in the territory of Zebulun and Naphthali” is precisely fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy of their freedom from captivity.
It is from the position of solidarity, dwelling with those who sit in darkness, and towards the liberation of all the captives, that Jesus proclaims the nearness of the kingdom of God, and calls us all to repent of our support for structures of oppression, including those we cling to in the name of false “justice.” Jesus dwells in darkness to set the prisoners free.