Luke 4:14-22

Luke 4:14-22

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit,

and news of him spread throughout the whole region. 

He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all.

He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up,

and went according to his custom

into the synagogue on the sabbath day. 

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,

    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.

Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down,

and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.

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.

Opening Prayer: Lord God, you have prepared your people to experience your merciful love. Your Son, the Messiah, inaugurated the perpetual Jubilee of mercy and grace. I love you and thank you for all that you have done to bring me into your family and save me from the slavery of sin and curse of eternal death.

Encountering the Word of God

1. The Inauguration of the Great Jubilee by the Messiah: When Jesus read from Isaiah 61 in the synagogue at Nazareth, he proclaimed that he was the Messiah and was inaugurating the Jubilee Year of favor. He likened himself to the prophets Elijah and Elisha. After his preaching, Jesus does things that evidence he is the long-awaited Messiah and priestly king like Melchizedek. Not only does Jesus proclaim liberty and announce the year of the Lord’s favor, but he also releases people from their debt of sin, delivers them from the power of the devil, and atones for sin through his sacrificial death on the cross (see Bergsma, Jesus and the Jubilee, 75-76). We experience the perpetual jubilee inaugurated by Jesus every single day in the Sacraments of the Church. “All the goals of the jubilee are fulfilled by the gift of the Spirit. The Spirit forgives our sins, grants us freedom from the tyranny of Satan, institutes us as children of God and members of his family, and initiates us into the fullness of God so that we become ‘partakers of the divine nature’ (2 Peter 1:4)” (Bergsma, Jesus and the Jubilee, 111).

2. The Royal and Prophetic Messiah: The prophets of Israel realized that the Jubilee year would truly be observed only when the Messiah or “anointed one” came (Bergsma, Jesus and the Jubilee, 55). Isaiah 61, which Jesus read in today’s Gospel, looked forward to the day when God’s anointed servant would proclaim liberty to the captives and a great Jubilee year of God’s favor. The other prophets, like Daniel and Ezekiel, both looked forward to the great Jubilee that the Messiah would inaugurate. But what kind of Messiah were the people of Judah waiting for? In Jesus’ day, the long-awaited Messiah was understood to be both a royal descendant of David and a prophet anointed by the Spirit of God. As the king, the Messiah would restore David’s kingdom and gather the twelve tribes. As the prophet, the Messiah would bring the “Good News” to the poor and communicate God’s Word to his people.

3. The Priestly and Divine Messiah: There were two other dimensions of the Messiah. Several people expected the Messiah to be a priest. Since the Messiah had to come from the line of David and, therefore, the tribe of Judah, the Messiah was associated not with the priesthood of the tribe of Levi, but with the priesthood of the ancient king of Salem, Melchisedek. Psalm 110, for example, declares that David’s royal sons share in the ancient priesthood of Melchisedek: “You are a priest forever, in the line of Melchisedek.” Jesus is not just a royal Messiah, a prophetic Messiah, and a priestly Messiah; he is also the Divine Messiah. Through his epiphany miracles, riddles, and scriptural claims (like Psalm 110), he presented himself and revealed himself as more than human. He is true God and true man, and comes to save us!

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I have heard your preaching in Nazareth and fully welcome the Jubilee you have inaugurated. Help me, during this year of Jubilee, to be freed from the slavery of sin and enter into my heavenly home.

Living the Word of God: This week, what fruit has come from our contemplative gaze of Jesus as king, prophet, divine, and Messiah? Is my contemplative prayer transforming me? After reading what the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches about contemplative prayer in nn. 2709-2719 and 2724, what am I inspired to change in my prayer life?