Jesus in Nazareth

Today's Reflections  

                       

Jesus in Nazareth 

http://graceandspace.org

Lk 4:14-22

¹⁴Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. ¹⁵He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all.

¹⁶He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read ¹⁷and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:/ ¹⁸“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,/ because he has anointed me/ to bring glad tidings to the poor./ He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives/ and recovery of sight to the blind,/ to let the oppressed go free,/ ¹⁹and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”/ ²⁰Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. ²¹He said to them, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” ²²And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Jesus proclaims as his own the mission of the prophet Isaiah and of the people of Israel. He declares that he is anointed by the Spirit to bring good news to the poor, liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed.

As Christians, we have been anointed by the Spirit to carry on Jesus’ mission. The Spirit gives us confidence to declare to others the marvels God works in us. How do we do this? Like Jesus, we are to serve others: bringing glad tidings to the poor, proclaiming liberty to captives, giving sight to the blind, setting the oppressed free, and proclaiming a year acceptable to the Lord. These may not be the only things to be done these days, but we are sure that we, like Jesus, must be good news to others. In our deeds, God’s wonderful and loving deeds must be felt.

“We love because he first loved us.

…whoever loves God must also love his brother”

(1 Jn 4:19, 21).