The Word of God
Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.
When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
‘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 favour.’
And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’
Some thoughts on today's scripture
ActiveDefault- Jesus stood up to read from the prophet Isaiah. It was a passage about the coming Messiah. Here he is announcing himself as the Messiah as he applies the words to himself “the spirit of the Lord has been given to me”. What follows is what we might call a “mission statement” of his kingdom - bringing good news to the poor, liberty to captives, sight to the blind etc.
- Jesus is the servant king. We are called to be the same. In our giving and receiving as one Body, we enable each other to experience enrichment (overcoming poverty), vision (banishing our blindness), and freedom (removing oppression).
Some thoughts on today's scripture
ActiveDefault- This is the only Gospel with a Prologue (verses 1-4), where Luke starts with a statement of what he is about. He also dedicates the Acts of the Apostles to the same Theophilus (= “Beloved of God”), who may stand for all Christians or who may well have been a Roman citizen.
- I sit in the humble village synagogue of Nazareth, not anticipating that I am about to witness a turning-point in world history. Jesus, the sturdy young local craftsman, is home again, fresh from his baptism in the River Jordan, where he had been identified as the beloved Son of God.
- All our eyes are fixed on him as he rolls up the scroll and sits down. A brief claim to his divine identity leads to a statement of his mission for all time. The “good news” has rippled out further and further for the past 2000 years. How am I propagating it here and now?
Some thoughts on today's scripture
ActiveDefault- A ‘year of favour’ was a season when God would ‘visit his people’ - God would come and overturn a situation where his people had been at the mercy of enemies. He would relieve the oppressed, set free the imprisoned, cure the disabled and those who had succumbed to illness. It would be a whole new age - God would lift is people out of their distress.
- Jesus tells his hearers that, with his own coming, God is visiting his people right now. And he’s visiting every single one of his people, from that day to this.
Some thoughts on today's scripture
ActiveDefault- I must take personally what God says here. He says: ‘You are the one I choose today to bring good news to the poor and oppressed. The Holy Spirit is upon you. I am sending you!’ Jesus saw these statements as giving him his identity. Do they give me mine?
- Holy Spirit of God, you are the living force in the words of the Gospel we proclaim. You are the wind on which the message about Jesus is borne to others. Our agenda is to proclaim you. This is worth all the trouble that this life can bring.