In today’s reading Jesus chooses to enter the synagogue on the Sabbath and read to from the Isaiah scroll where is says;
“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 favor.”
The present passage is the oldest known account of a synagogue service. We do not actually know what a synagogue service looked like at the time of Jesus. Reading back from later sources, it is likely that Luke describes only the central part of the service with the reading from the Prophets followed by a homily.
Regarding the ancient synagogue customs for reading, was Jesus the appointed reader? Was Isaiah 61 the expected reading? Again, Luke’s description leaves us guessing.
Luke tells us that after reading, Jesus rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant and sat down. Most teachers in the ancient world sat to teach.
This description of events sounds like the normal procedure for a synagogue reader, but Luke tells us “the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.” (Luke 4:20). There was clearly an air of great expectation. Was it because of the choice of reading? Alternatively, perhaps the crowd had already heard about Jesus. Luke tells us that Jesus routinely, “taught in their synagogues and was praised by all” (4:14).
Jesus then gives a one-line homily. “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing” (4:20). Now that is a short homily! What did the people in the synagogue make of this? How is Isaiah 61 “fulfilled in their hearing”?
There are several threads of Jewish expectation related to Isaiah 61. The spirit-filled messenger proclaims, “the year of the Lord’s favor.” This is a reference to the Year of Jubilee, which occurred every fifty years (Leviticus 25). During the Jubilee year, the fields were left fallow, persons returned to their ancestral homes, debts were forgiven and slaves set free. Notice that Jesus returns to his home in Nazareth in this passage.
While it is possible that this was literally a Year of Jubilee, there was also a common understanding of the Jubilee as a kind of prophetic promise of a future age of the Spirit when there would be a new age of salvation.
Connected to the coming age of the Spirit was a mysterious prophetic messenger, called the Suffering Servant.
Today when we hear the words poor, captives and oppressed we probably think about the practical social dimension of helping the less fortunate (soup kitchens, human rights, political freedom) and this is certainly Christian concern, but it is not the first thing Jesus does in Luke’s Gospel.
The poor Jesus refers to are, the “pious poor,” or the anawim of the Old Testament. The afflicted, or the “pious poor,” are always the ones who are the most responsive to God. In effect, they are the humble ones who respond to the good news of the Gospel.
As we continue to read Luke’s Gospel, the Holy Spirit brings release for those who are captive to sin and oppressed by the devil, and literally gives sight to the blind through divine healings.
Luke describes Jesus’ ministry as being in the power of the Holy Spirit and in the next four chapters, we see ‘power’ going out from Jesus to bring about literal healings.
Several chapters later in Luke, John the Baptist sends his disciples to Jesus to ask him, “Are you he who is to come. . .”? (Luke 7).
Jesus tells them,
Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them (Luke 7:22).
Each of these actions is the fulfillment of Isaiah 61. To put this in modern terms, Isaiah 61 is Jesus’ mission statement, and he measurably puts it into effect. This passage is a summary of his vision, and since we are his disciples, it is our vision statement as well. Jesus personally ministered in the power of the Spirit, but later at Pentecost, Luke tells us that the Spirit was “poured out” on “all flesh.” The presence of the Spirit is a universal quality for all Christians.
What can we take away from this?
First we can learn that we must not separate or compartmentalize our ministry from life in the Spirit and the good news of the Gospel. Yes, Jesus is concerned for the blind, the deaf, the lepers, and he feeds the hungry. The foundation of all ministries, however, is the fact that Jesus Christ came to save us from our sins by dying and rising again. He offers us first a Jubilee gift of total forgiveness, and then while doing this, He is concerned for all our needs.For each one of us, the only question is, are we willing to accept this gift of forgiveness? Luke tells us that Jesus came “to bring good news to the poor.” Again, it is the poor and the humble who open their hearts to Jesus. For each one of us, humility is the beginning of our life with God.
It is only through the Gospel that we experience release from the captivity to sin, and oppression by the devil. This takes place through the power of God. The same experience of the Spirit may also bring healing of both body and soul.
What about each one of us, right now? Do we need to be filled with the Spirit?
The Catechism says that the Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church. Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Eucharist (the Sacraments of initiation) are all about communion with Christ through the Holy Spirit. Yet the Bible cannot imagine this communion, if it is merely a doctrinal confession.Imagine the strange example of someone who is not practicing marriage but is merely intellectually assenting to the idea of marriage. This person might say, “Yes, I confess and believe that I am married, but I can’t really point to any experience in my life that proves I am married.” I think that we all understand that without a shared common life of intimacy, we are not really talking about marriage at all.
In the book of Acts, when St. Paul meets a group of people who have had a defective Christian initiation, he asks them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” He was not looking for a confessional answer, such as “Well yes, I believe intellectually I must have received the Holy Spirit.”
This is not to doubt the presence of the Spirit in the Sacraments, even when we do not immediately sense anything, but Paul is expecting that every believer would have a definite personal awareness of the Spirit in their life.
The essence of this awareness is to be conscious of God’s divine sonship or being aware that you are a child of God and part of his family. As Paul tells us in two places, the Spirit cries out “Abba, Father” in our hearts (Galatians 4:6 and Romans 8:15). Each one of us should have a tangible loving awareness of God in our prayer. It is through the Holy Spirit that we experience this interior awareness of family intimacy. This experience need not be dramatic, but it needs to be real.
As St. John Paul II reminds us,
“…the definitive aim of catechesis is to put people not only in touch, but in communion, in intimacy, with Jesus Christ” (Catechesi tradendae, 5; cf. GDC 2020, 75). The Catechism tells us that faith is not merely an assent to a truth, but also to a spirit-filled relationship with a person.
In perfect union with the Holy Spirit, the person of Jesus is preaching the good news to each one of us. Jesus Christ calls each one of us to conversion. Because of this, we should shamelessly pursue this conversion at all costs and at every opportunity. Conversion should also be an ongoing, continuous process in our life.
The desired response is a total “yes” to God involving our whole life.
As Jesus said, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him” (John 14:23).
No comments:
Post a Comment