He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Jesus was conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary when the Spirit overshadowed her (see Luke 1:35). We saw that same Spirit descend upon Jesus in visible form at his baptism (see Luke 3:22) and we know that he continued to guide the entire ministry of Jesus, for instance that it was by the Spirit that he was led into the desert to face temptation (see Mark 1:12), and by the Spirit that he cast out demons (see Matthew 12:28). The Spirit was the one who finally vindicated everything he said about himself when "was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead" (see Romans 1:4).
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
Jesus came to announce the good news, and it was this preaching of the gospel that defined his ministry (see Matthew 4:23). He addressed himself in a special way to those who were poor, those neglected or abandoned by society. The first of the beatitudes was a blessing on the poor (see Luke 6:20). This blessing was anticipated by Mary in her Magnificat when she sang that, "he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty" (see Luke 1:53).
As Jesus traveled from place to place those who were held captive by demons were set free, the blind were given there sight, and those weighed down by the oppression and suffering were healed and given freedom. Jesus would later return to this prophecy of Isaiah to reassure the disciples of John the Baptist that he was indeed the long expected Messiah.
Jesus said to them in reply, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me" (see Matthew 11:4-6).
We are not surprised at the addition of "blessed is the one who takes no offense at me" after what happened in Nazareth after he proclaimed this same message. Jesus came to proclaim a year of jubilee, a time of divine favor that was acceptable to the Lord. But even though he came to Nazareth precisely as a part of this mission to share this good news the response he received was not what he desired.
He said to them,
"Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."
And all spoke highly of him
and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.
They also asked, "Is this not the son of Joseph?"
They were moved briefly by his words. But they let what they knew about him from their limited human perspective prevent those words for reaching their hearts. How was the one who had grown up among them now making such grandiose claims? Certainly they had heard of the mighty deeds he had done in Capernaum, but they must have dismissed these as exaggerations, and the citizens of Capernaum as credulous. If Jesus did have such an anointing of the Spirit why had he done these things in Capernaum and not Nazareth? And would he not now at least prove himself in his native place?
He said to them, "Surely you will quote me this proverb,
'Physician, cure yourself,' and say, 'Do here in your native place
the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.'"
And he said,
"Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
Jesus knew he would not find much acceptance and faith amidst those who thought they knew him, who in fact took it for granted that he was merely one among their number like any other. He therefore went to begin his mission first among those who could see him with eyes unclouded by preconceptions. Then, because he did not desire to neglect Nazareth, he returned when it ought to have been clear that there was more to him than its citizens had suspected. They were then presented with a choice. They could experience Jesus reading the scroll of Isaiah as a fulfillment of that prophecy and come to realize that he was their Messiah. Or they could continue to know him only according to the flesh, and the deny that the Spirit could be at work in him, perhaps out of jealousy of others who had seen it first hand. He tried to explain their situation with examples from the Old Testament to describe the wide net he intended to cast in bringing about his kingdom jubilee. But they missed the message. They heard in it only that they had been excluded, and that he would not not prove himself according to the standards they set.
When the people in the synagogue heard this,
they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove him out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill
on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong.
Every time we hear the Scriptures proclaimed there is a sense in which they are fulfilled in our midst. They are actually living and effective, and have the power to bring us to deeper faith and align our lives more closely with the priorities of Jesus. Rather than looking to our past experiences to define the limit of God's powers, rather than comparing our present circumstances with those of others and dwelling on what we lack, we can instead experience finding our own place in God's story. By the power of his word we can come to celebrate our poverty as Mary did, and experience the freedom Jesus promised when he said, "if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (see John 8:36).
Unless this good news touches our hearts we will, "grieve like the rest, who have no hope". But if we allow his word to penetrate us our hearts we will be sustained by an unsurpassable hope.
Thus we shall always be with the Lord.
Therefore, console one another with these words.
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