¹⁴Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. ¹⁵He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

¹⁸“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free,

¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Reflection

Some of us have gone to school with people who later went on to become celebrities. There is a sense that we know them better than others do and we may even feel a sense of kinship. Here we see Jesus returning to his home town and his reputation is going ahead of him. His public ministry is just starting and there is an excitement to hear what this rising celebrity has to say. There were probably many familiar faces in the crowd when he got up to speak and maybe even people he spent considerable time with growing up. But how well did they really know him? The magnitude of what Jesus said to them is huge. This was the beginning of a brand new era. The time was ripe for God’s great rescue of the poor and the oppressed. Salvation was standing right in front of them uniquely in the person of Jesus. Anyone who just wanted to see Jesus in old familiar ways missed this. Anyone who was satisfied with hearing some good teachings or seeing some miracles didn’t understand. But for those who embraced this message and embraced Jesus as he was presenting himself, this was a great moment of hope.

Responding to the Transmission

At times we can be like the crowds, familiar with Jesus but content to just hear about him or watch from a distance. But today, let’s proclaim this gospel message of why Jesus came. Let’s proclaim that this is the year of the Lord’s favor. And as we proclaim this, let’s place our whole life before Jesus and pray that this message would resonate with our being and that we would live in and out of this hope.