THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR C

GOSPEL READING: LUKE 1:1-4; 4:14-21

TODAY THIS SCIPTURE PASSAGE IS FULFILLED

Rev. Linh N. Nguyen

INTRODUCTION:

Luke opens his Gospel with the explanation that, though he was not himself an eyewitness of Jesus’ ministry, he wanted the eyewitness accounts to be preserved accurately and the foundations of Christian belief transmitted intact to the next generations. Throughout his Gospel, Luke pointed out that Jesus was submitting to the leading of God’s Spirit. Even so, Jesus’ cruel rejection by the people of his hometown in Nazareth is highlighted to characterize Jesus’ initial teaching ministry in Galilee.

GOSPEL BACKGROUND:

Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have been fulfilled among us. (1:1)

Luke tells Jesus’ story from his unique perspective of a Gentile, a physician, and the first historian of the early church. Luke wrote to Gentiles, presenting Jesus Christ as the perfect human and Savior of all people.

Just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning and ministers of the word have handed them down to us. (1:2)

Luke took the facts of Jesus’ life gained from writings and eyewitness reports and prepared this document for his friend.

I too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write it down in an orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received. (1:3-4)

Theophilus may have been Luke’s patron who helped to finance the book’s writing. More likely, Theophilus had learned some of the facts about the gospel via oral teaching, but he desired further clarification in writing. Luke set out to explain the entire gospel story to Theophilus, from the story of the birth of John the Baptist until the ascension of Christ. In Acts, Luke continued the story of the spread of the gospel until Paul brought it to Rome.

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. (4:14-15)

Up to this point, Luke did not yet mention anything that Jesus did in his ministry, but the other Gospels reveal much that had happened in the interim. Jesus already had his followers, he had turned water into wine, and he cleared the temple. He had ministered in Samaria, and had returned to Galilee. Jesus, traveling from town to town, teaching, preaching, and doing miracles, would be a popular person to invite into a town’s synagogue. Everyone praised this new rabbi.

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. (4:16)

Jesus went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath. Even though he was the perfect Son of God, Jesus attended services every week. As a visiting rabbi, Jesus was invited to read the Scriptures. Because there were no permanent rabbis, visiting teachers would often be invited to preach.

…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.” (4:17-19)

Jesus read from Isa 61:1-2. Isaiah’s words pictured the deliverance of Israel from exile in Babylon as a Year of Jubilee when all debts were to be canceled, all slaves freed, and all property returned to original owners. But the release from Babylonian exile had not brought the fulfillment that the people had expected; they were still a conquered and oppressed people. Isaiah was prophesying a future messianic age, a time when one would come in the Spirit of the Lord, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. This passage offered great expectations to an oppressed people.

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.” (4:20-21)

When Jesus spoke these words, he was proclaiming himself as the one who would bring this good news to pass. He was the “Anointed” One, a king in the line of David, the King through whom the promises to David would be fulfilled. Jesus had come to evangelize the poor, proclaim freedom, give sight to the blind, and release the oppressed. Jesus fulfilled every prophecy about him. He was a conqueror who would free the people from sin and restore them to wholeness.

CONCLUSION:

The response of the people to Jesus’ claim deteriorated from being impressed to being offended to demanding proof. Many are impressed with Jesus Christ at first, but when they are presented with his claims and the cross, they become offended and demand proof. God has given the most important sight of his unconditional love for humankind: the death of his only beloved Son on the cross. There is no need of other sight.