According to the dictionary, empowerment is the increase "of the spiritual, political, social or economic strength of individuals and communities. It often involves the empowered developing confidence in their own capacities." Those who need empowerment may be whole communities or groups of people who have been excluded from the decision-making process over their lives.
So who are the disempowered? They may be the marginalized of society (discriminated against because of their particular race, tribe, age or gender), or they may be whole communities that have been ravaged by war or that live in chronic poverty. The powerful may have simply ignored or used them, or they may have tried to enslave or destroy them. Whatever the cause, the effect is the same: The disempowered believe they have little or no control over what happens in their lives, and that they can do nothing to effect change for the better.
Isaiah 61 can be a powerful source of faith, hope—and even empowerment—for the disempowered. This is the scripture that Jesus read in the synagogue when he first began his ministry:
"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach 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, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Luke stops there as he is telling the story of Jesus, but let's continue on. . .) "and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor."
Jesus read this scripture out and then sat down and said, "today this is fulfilled". He then spent the next 3 years living it out in the communities through which he passed. . .healing people, teaching them, giving them hope and joy, releasing them from captivity.
Jesus ministered to the common people of Palestine who had been disempowered by the Romans, and then by their own people—the politicians and religious leaders of the day. Everywhere they turned someone was demanding something from them: Herod, tax collectors, Roman soldiers, Pharisees or Sadducees. Someone else controlled their destiny and they were the poor, the prisoners living in darkness with no hope for their future.
The news Jesus brought was radical, exciting news to the disempowered of Jesus' day. But it didn't stop there. Let's go on in the passage:
"They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations."
Recently, in Eastern Congo (DRC) I read this Scripture to a group of pastors and development workers and then I asked them "who is 'they' in this Scripture?" I was given a lot of wild guesses, but no one came close to the answer. So I read it aloud to them again. Still, no one could tell me who "they" were. So I re-read it like this:
"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach 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, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort ALL WHO MOURN, and provide for THOSE WHO GRIEVE in Zion. THEY will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated."
Yes, it is the poor, the brokenhearted, the captives, the prisoners, those who mourn and grieve—the disempowered—who are now expected to rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated. It is us! In Congo, it is those Believers who are now trying to rebuild their communities destroyed by recent fighting, all the while hoping and praying the fighters do not return.
God is not going to do it for us. Jesus has already provided the means, through giving us the good news, healing and comforting broken hearts, and setting us free from sin and the power of evil. Now it is our place as healed, redeemed people to rebuild the ruined and devastated places around us.
If God expects us to do this, then He sure can be depended upon to help us do it as we step out in faith to begin rebuilding. There are many places around Africa that have been destroyed by war or greed, or the poverty is so overwhelming that hope has been completely forgotten, but I believe those are the very places God is talking about in this Scripture. He has not forgotten them and He has given the "disempowered," the power of His Spirit to do something about it. I don't know about you, but I think this is pretty exciting news!
At that same training in Congo, one of the participants came to me at the end of the seminar and said, "Before I came to this training, I thought development was for tomorrow—always somewhere out there in the vague future. But now I know development is for today. And what's more I know I am responsible before God to make it happen." Now that's an empowered person.
Copyright © 2009 Renee F. Schudel
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