Word to the Wise
Thursday, January 10, 2008 - Christmas Weekday
[1 John 4:19-5:4 and Luke 4:14-22A]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.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2008 CHRISTMAS WEEKDAY [1 John 4:19-5:4 and Luke 4:14-22A] 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. It seems clear that Jesus went to his hometown synagogue with a purpose in mind! We are told he deliberately looked for the passage that he read! Then he had the audacity to declare that HE, the reader, is not only the fulfillment of the prophecy, but that Nazareth is not going to get any preferential treatment! (That part of the incident is not included in today's reading!) At least today we are treated to the claim: "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." That's a big claim! In many ways, it's Jesus' platform and he is creating some big expectations! When the village expressed some of those expectations (read the whole passage), Jesus told them to get their act together faith-wise and not just claim to be first because they're his hometown folks! When I was ordained to the priesthood, I had some cards printed as "souvenirs" of the occasion and one of the cards had the quote above on it. I can't make the same claim to fame that Jesus did, but I was inspired by the words from Isaiah. I also felt that it would be my task as a priest to "put skin on" the quote. It's a daunting challenge, but it's not just for priests or religious. We are all baptized into the "prophetic" ministry of Jesus and by that fact we are challenged to bring the prophecy of Isaiah to fulfillment. We must not let the skeptics, hometown or otherwise, discourage us. It is all God's work! AMEN