203. Rock Goes The Gospel - Bob Dylan "I Shall Be Released"

With its simple, evocative tale of a prisoner yearning for freedom, this rock hymn was part of a conscious effort by Dylan to move away from the sprawling imagery of his mid-Sixties masterpieces. "In '68 [Dylan told] . . . me how he was writing shorter lines, with every line meaning something," Allen Ginsberg once said. "And from that time came some of the stuff ... like 'I Shall Be Released'.... There was to be no wasted language, no wasted breath." The result was one of Dylan's best-loved songs, first cut during the 1967 Basement Tapes sessions with the Band. The rough church of the organ and guitar frame Dylan's urgent nasal prayer, until Richard Manuel's keening harmony illuminates the chorus, like sunlight pouring through a stained-glass window. Years later, in the mid-Eighties, David Crosby sang that chorus to himself — "Any day now, any day now/ I shall be released" — in his Texas prison cell, as he served nine months on drug and weapon charges. "I wrote it on the wall," he recalls. "It took me hours. But I did it. And I remember taking heart from it."

They say evrything can be replaced,
Yet every distance is not near.
So I remember every face
Of every man who put me here.
I see my light come shining
From the west onto the east.
Any day now, any day how,
I shall be released.

They say every man needs protection,
They say every man must fall.
Yet I swear I see my reflection
Some place so high above this wall.
I see my light come shining
From the west onto the east.
Any day now, any day how,
I shall be released.

Standing next to me in this lonely crowd,
Is a man who swears he's not to blame.
All day long I hear him shout so loud,
Crying out that he was framed.
I see my light come shining
From the west onto the east.
Any day now, any day how,
I shall be released.

The song "I shall be released" is a song of longing and hope. You can imagine with Dylan that you are incaserated in a prison cell and are awaiting release. Of course there are other ways to be imprisoned, not just in prison cells. Peole are imprised in regimes that are oppressive. There are those who are imprisoned in relationships that are violent. there are stories of peole who have health isses and are imprisoned in inhealth. the same is tue for adictions and so on. this song is a lament and at the same time a song of hope for release. The passage in Luke 4:14-21 that we will look at this morning is laced full of the same hope for release it's a longing to move from the days of promise to the time of happening? 

When Luke wrote the words we have read this morning, he recorded one of the most profound moments in the ministry of Jesus, and at the same time gave a powerful clarion call to the Church that would be born in the Spirit's power some three years later. Jesus had been in the Judean wilderness for forty days following His baptism in the Jordan River. He then returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, (Luke 4:14), and we are told that news had spread about Jesus all over the region. People were openly praising His teaching, but then He went home. Today's reading is the first time Jesus had been to Nazareth after He returned to Galilee from that wilderness experience. On the Sabbath Jesus went to worship in the local synagogue. Probably because of the stories they heard about Him the local leader handed Jesus the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah to read from. Jesus knew which passage He wanted to use and so he found the vrese we have just read.

Jesus next words were to get Him almost killed with what today we might dub as Sermon-rage! Jesus first said, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." That wasnt so bad, except the locals began to say, "But isn't this Josephs son?" In other words, He ís getting a bit uppity isn't he? We know this Yeshua; he's just the local carpenters boy. Who is He to take such a prophecy upon himself? Isaiah was not talking about a Nazarene! Then Jesus made it worse 

"Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum. I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his hometown. (Luke 4:23 24) 

Galilee, lying in the northern region of Israel, served as the major ministry center for Jesus. The headquarters of His ministry was actually in Capernaum, the city mentioned by Luke, and it was because of Jesus' powerful teaching that his fame began spreading throughout the whole region. What message could possibly have generated so much widespread interest? Today's passage reveals the claims Jesus made and provides some initial answers to this question.

One commentator said we could look at it this way 

"Have you ever waited a long time for something? As you see it draw near your anticipation rises. Do you remember the turning points in your life as you moved from dating your husband or wife to announcing your engagement? Do you recall your marriage or perhaps the anticipation of your graduation from University? What about a work promotion, or the purchase of a new house or car, or the birth of a child? The moment when it comes is full of joy. Our emotions rise at the realisation that what had been anticipated has now arrived."

God had promised salvation for His people for a long time. The Messiah was long-expected, although over 400 years had passed since Malachi spoke - the last of the Prophets. God had seemed to be silent for so long.

Then Jesus turned to people He'd grown up with, the men of His local village, and declared the day had come; the opportunity was present. God's anointing was upon Him. After almost two thousand years of promise, stretching all the way back to Abraham, Jesus claimed that the promises of God expressed through the prophets were now being decisively realised, and He used one of the greatest prophets of all, Isaiah, as His claim to messianic ministry. But, as in many great moments, questions arose. Was this really it?

The local men of Nazareth that Sabbath were asking, with some incredulous comments, Have we moved from the days of promise to the time of happening? Is God at work in this man, a man that we all know? Jesus' declaration in the synagogue of His hometown brought a moment of decision for those who heard His claims. A snapshot of His entire ministry flashed in this brief exchange. Jesus offered much, but the crowd questioned what was on offer. As one commentator put it. "Luke's original readers were left to choose sides. So are we today. What do you think? Is Jesus the Christ of God? Is He the Lord and Saviour? 

In the passage that immediately follows today's reading we read this. 

"Then Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people. They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority." Luke 4:31, 32 

Where people observed Him without the bias or filter of hometown background Jesus was able to do amazing things and heal many people who recognised the anointing of God upon Him. Across Galilee they gazed upon Jesus and saw the Messiah. In Nazareth, they gazed upon Jesus but saw Joseph's son.  Here in his home town Jesus declared the promise is fullfilled. the promise of release, the hope of dreams has come and life will never be the same again. Release is one of the big theological themes of the scriptures. It's a promise that is not only given but one that God fulfills in Jesus.

For the blind, for the broken hearted, for the prisoners, for those who are oppressed, for those who have no voice, for the last the least and the lost the time had come. Dylans song combined with the scripture passage for today provides for us hope. Hope that we all can trust in. Not a vain hope but hope in God's liberty, hope in God's kind of freedom.