Reflection
1 John 4:19 to 5:4
Psalm 72
Luke 4:14-22
And off we go! In today’s gospel, Jesus has returned to Nazareth and is invited to read scripture in the synagogue. The fact that He was invited to read from scripture meant He must have had a solid and well respected reputation before he returned to Nazareth. Not just anyone was allowed to read.
After Jesus read, filled with the Holy Spirit He sat down to teach. We read the people were amazed at His intellect and how his words were able to move them. His teachings obviously were around what the words He read that day – “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, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” That is, take care of each other as he will take care of us.
Some of them probably understood, but most did not. Consider he was going home, going to the place where people saw Him grow up working as a carpenter. And now He is claiming to be the one for whom the Jews had been awaiting for thousands of years. This guy?
Well, yes, this guy. He has made us a promise and he will never go back on that promise. As we head into the new year, it is a great time to reinvigorate your participation in the sacraments…and invite someone along who has not been there in a while. Involved in a ministry? We have a bunch of really great ones at the parish!
It is a beautiful day! Go smile at God today!