Mayoral Candidates and Issues Forum
Theological Reflection
People of faith believe in the inauguration of God’s reign in the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Not only does God reign in eternal life beyond this life, we believe God’s reign is in the world today. Jesus Christ, the Son of Man became fully human so that God may experience everything that is human, for life on earth is worthwhile to God.
When Jesus began his ministry, he recited from Isaiah 61 as it is recorded in Luke 4,
“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.” (4:18-19)
God knows that while the earth always belongs to God and that the only privilege that we have is to trade the produce of the land, we end up owning debts to each other, becoming indentured servants or slaves, and laying waste to the land. Some of us here still feel that we are caught in the struggles of making a good living or feel that after laboring for long hours we still end up being poor.
God wants us to periodically examine the political structures and economic systems that we create and to make everything even and fair and just once again. People of faith believe that even if it never happened in history, a time of Jubilee. Jubilee is when everyone’s debts are forgiven, everyone gets to own land again, and everyone starts with a new beginning.
The religious voice in the Chinatown community made up of churches, parishes, cathedrals and schools is like the prophet Isaiah today. Today we are heralding a call to our political hopefuls and the governmental systems that we stand for bringing good news to the poor, proclaim liberty to the captives, recover the sight to the blind, and let the oppressed among us go free.
Just like in Jesus’ days, the presence of Rome weighed heavily on the people. Just like in Jesus’ days, that weight was borne especially by the poor of the land. Just like in Jesus’ days, the weight of sickness and disability plagued the people seeking for wholeness and healing.
Today we hope and pray that as the result of this forum, we would fulfill our mission to follow the ways of our Lord Jesus Christ who through his life, ministry, death, and resurrection proclaimed the year of the Lord’s favor.