The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me

Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

"The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,

Because He has anointed Me

To preach the gospel to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set at liberty those who are oppressed;

To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."

Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious word which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, "Is this not Joseph's son?" He said to them, "You will surely say this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.'" Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.

- Luke 4:14-30

In yesterday's reading, Jesus was "led by the Spirit into the wilderness" after His baptism by John the Baptist. For forty days he was "tempted by the devil." Afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry - and we read of the temptations He faced at that time. Jesus makes the distinction of always putting God first - it is in the service to and union with God the Father that He will use his power and make His choices.

Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. In Jesus' first public ministry days of preaching, He receives widespread recognition and admiration. This is the beginning of his ministry and public works, which began with baptism and forty days in the wilderness.

So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." My study bible notes that "Isaiah speaks of the anointing of Christ by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of the LORD descended upon Jesus at baptism (3:22). Jesus will bring blessings long awaited by the Jewish people, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah."

Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious word which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, "Is this not Joseph's son?" My study bible writes, "They marveled at His words, but could not believe that Jesus, a fellow villager, could be the Messiah." Why is it so hard to believe that one from among our own midst could be filled with marvelous gifts? The gifts of the Spirit - the anointing referred to in the quotation from Isaiah (as my study bible notes) proceed from Jesus, so much so that "the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him." They "marveled at the gracious word which proceeded out of His mouth." But then, their own expectations and understanding set in. "Is this not Joseph's son?" God's transforming power may have tremendous effects in our midst. Can we accept them - or will our own sense of reality and projection of our own expectations set in to refute what we see and hear?

He said to them, "You will surely say this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.'" He is predicting that they will ask for proofs and signs.

Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." A note reads, "Jesus exposes their unbelief. Through examples of God's mercy to Gentiles, He warns them that their heritage alone will not save them." Jesus accepts that He will be rejected in his home country - and refuses to provide signs or proofs to persuade them to change their minds. He's warning them very strongly, and telling them of precedents, in which Jewish heritage wasn't sufficient for the grace and action of God in their midst, but faith was sufficient. In the cases of the prophets Elijah and Elisha which Jesus offers, it was Gentiles who received the grace that came through them.

So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way. My study bible writes, "They seek to destroy Him but He miraculously passes through the midst of them unharmed." They are incensed, it seems to me, that their own sense of entitlement has been violated, and they respond with violence and outrage. The words we read here are similar to the ones we read several times in John's Gospel (which we have just explored in the lectionary readings). As Jesus appeared at the various festivals throughout the three years marked in that Gospel, the authorities sought to lay their hands on Him, and arrest Him. But until it was "His hour" (that is, the time for His Passion), He would "pass through the midst of them."

In the past three readings, we have a quick summing up of the early days of Jesus' ministry. First He is baptized. Then He is sent by the Spirit to be tempted for forty days. Finally, He begins His public speaking and preaching. He is welcome in Galilee, and even "glorified by all." But Galilee is a land of Gentiles, a place that is not "pure" in the sense that it is a cosmopolitan mix of many peoples, languages, and much trade. In His home country of Nazareth, He is rejected. They cannot get past their own expectations, and envy. It is envy that is at the heart of this rejection in today's story: the inability to accept the gifts that can be bestowed upon another, the action of the Spirit which anoints and gives its gifts and "life, more abundantly." Envy is at the heart of the stories we read in the bible in some sense. In the beginning of this Gospel, John the Baptist comes preaching a preparation of repentance and baptism for the One who is to come. He speaks strongly of Judgment. Soon after His baptism, Jesus is sent to the wilderness to face the temptations of Satan. The archetypal sin of the "prince" or "ruler of this world" (as Satan is repeatedly called by Christ) is that of envy. He rules where He can rule rather than serve the Christ who puts the Father first. And I think that for our own sake it is important that we understand just how much evil and difficulties and heartache and disaster is caused by envy.

Jesus teaches in the synagogue the words of Isaiah, that He is here to "preach the gospel to the poor;" He is sent "to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind," and "to set at liberty those who are oppressed." In the historical acts of war in the grand scale of the world powers that result from envy - from wanting what others have - we may easily find the results in the "poor, the brokenhearted, the captives, the blind, those who are oppressed." In actions we take in our personal lives out of envy, we too, may create harm even in the most intimate of family settings - causing others to be poor, or brokenhearted, to leave them captive in some sense, blind and oppressed. Let us consider, then, envy, and how it works to project onto others the limitations we would have for them. The gift of Christ is that of life, more abundantly. Let us receive the good news of this gospel with the generosity characteristic of its mercy and grace - and gifts in abundance. It is only in this spirit that those gifts will be at work in our own midst.