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 words 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, events took place right after Jesus' baptism by John the Baptist.  Luke's Gospel tells us, then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.  Jesus went through three temptations about His ministry. First, in His great hunger, He was told:  "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."  But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'"  Then Jesus was shown the kingdoms of the world, and told:  "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours."  But Jesus replied, "Get behind Me, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.' "  Then Jesus was taken to the pinnacle of the temple, and tempted to throw Himself down; Satan quoted Scripture to test Him about God's providence.  But Jesus told Him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.' "    The Gospel tells us that when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

 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.  Jesus is Galilean, so He's returning home for His ministry, and to gather disciples.  Early on, He meets with great success, and "glory."

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."  As is His custom, we are told, Jesus opens the scroll and it is the book of Isaiah.  He reads Isaiah's announcement of the coming of Messiah, His purpose, and His plan.  The Spirit of the Lord, my study bible points out, has anointed Jesus at His baptism.  "Jesus will bring blessings long awaited by the Jewish people," it notes, "thus fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah."  Jesus is speaking of Himself, to His hometown and the people gathered there in the synagogue.  He's not doing anything differently than He's done elsewhere so far in His ministry. 

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."  He announces His good news.

So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words 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."  He's announcing Himself as Christ, but they can't believe it.  They know Him as Joseph's son; what He has to reveal they are unable to perceive.  Jesus' words, then, refer to a kind of testing and proof-demanding.  Let Him do here in Nazareth what He's reputed to have done elsewhere.  Capernaum, where Peter's home is, forms a sort of headquarters for His ministry.

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."  Jesus warns them about the nature of God's grace and His ministry.  Kinship or group membership or ancestry isn't enough for this, to guarantee a sort of election.  He gives them examples from Israel's history, in which it was Gentiles who received the blessings of God's grace, to whom the Spirit went in God's mercy.  In Christian history, we will come to understand sonship as that of adoption, through relationship given in grace, participation in God's love.  My study bible says that Jesus "warns them that their heritage alone will not save 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.  Through His refusal to accommodate their demands, He engenders their wrath.  It is not yet His hour, that is quite a ways ahead.  He leaves the city unharmed.

What is it to leave behind old ties, to refuse to accommodate demands that compromise our own integrity and trust in God?  Sometimes demands may be placed upon all of us that have the effect of inviting a kind of betrayal of our relationship to God and our own integrity.  Those demands may come in the form of friendships and kinships and any sort of relationship or tie that presses us in a sentimental or other way, even from those whom we love deeply.  But the truth is that the ultimate arbiter of love and thereby righteous relationships is God.  We participate in God's loving energies so that we learn right relatedness to others.  Here in today's reading, Jesus proclaims the Good News, and it is the great good news of Isaiah:  that the Messiah is above all else a liberator, from all kinds of things:  He is here to preach the gospel to the poor, 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.  In all of these ways, He is here to set us free on so many levels.  But today's lesson teaches us what freedom is in love, and to love:  we are liberated from false demands that compromise our integrity of character and purpose, and especially the love that God would teach us.  There is no one who can claim our worship but God.  This is the one thing that can't really be compromised, because it's the place where we learn truly how to love others, and how to separate true love from a false sense of obligation, how to be true to the One who gives us true self so that we may in turn be true to others, and not simply a slave to false demands.  How do you practice that form of integrity?  Where does your love and understanding come from?  How does faith teach you what love truly is?  How does it lead you more deeply into its true relationships for you?  What does honor really mean to you?