Gospel (Lk 4:16-30)

And Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the sabbath day. And he stood up to read; and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth; and they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself; what we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here also in your own country.’” And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land; and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and put him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong. But passing through the midst of them he went away.

Commentary

For centuries, Israel has waited for the Messiah who would deliver the people from their afflictions. And now, in the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus, who everyone knows as the craftsman, the son of Joseph and Mary, claims that this prophecy has been fulfilled in him.

Jesus comes to “evangelize,” to share the good news that God has had compassion on mankind, news that is received with joy by the poor, that is, by those who do not trust in their own possessions and merits, but in God’s goodness and mercy.

He comes to free us from the slavery of sin and eternal death, to which the devil had subjected us; to open our blind eyes so that we can know the truth; to give us a clean heart, with which we can love God and other men and women.

He comes to proclaim “the year of the Lord’s favor,” the time of mercy and redemption, which He inaugurates and which will last until the end of the world.

The people in the Nazareth synagogue have before their eyes the long-awaited Savior, but they are unable to believe it. They demand that he confirm his words by performing a miracle, as he has done in other nearby towns. But Jesus refuses to do so. So, filled with anger, they lead him to a nearby cliff to throw him off.

Today we are the ones who receive this astounding news: God loves us so much that He has sent his Only-Begotten Son to redeem us, to save us from sin. He gives us the possibility of becoming children of God through his grace and has opened the doors of heaven to us.

Perhaps we ourselves have heard this announcement many times, and we think that, if we saw some miracle, some extraordinary sign, we would take the good news, “the gospel,” more seriously and turn our lives into thanksgiving to God, into service to our neighbor. And we would make known to others, to the entire world, the Christian faith, the secret of happiness on earth and in heaven.

The Holy Spirit who anointed Jesus wants to give us the fire of his love. We don't need a new miracle. All we need is to open our heart with humility so that He can transform us with his grace.