A Fresh Perspective

The Gospel story today picks up right where last week’s left off. Jesus entered the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth and read from the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” After he concluded the reading, with all eyes in the synagogue fixed on him, he said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” As I said last week Jesus is telling them that this is what he is primarily about. This is his calling. This is his mission. This is his agenda. Now, all of this is fine and good, as long as Jesus focuses on the right kind of people. That’s why we read in v. 22 that the people of Nazareth “spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came out of his mouth.” They thought Jesus was talking about their kind of people. But aft...

In today’s Gospel passage Luke describes a scene set in the context of Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. Now, Mark’s Gospel, which Matthew’s Gospel follows, doesn’t have Jesus visiting Nazareth until later in his Galilean ministry. Luke has Jesus in Nazareth right away and describes the scene somewhat differently than what appears in Mark and Matthew. This reminds us once again that the Gospel stories are not historical reports. They are proclamations of spiritual truth centered in the life and teachings of Jesus. The reason Luke places this first in his account and has Jesus say and do what he says and does is because Luke, at the very beginning, wants his readers to know what Jesus is all about and what God has called Jesus to do. So as we look at Jesus’ calling today, perhaps we can learn something about our own calling. According to Luke’s arrangement we can conclude that Jesus’ sense of calling emerges out of his confidence – his trust and faith – in who he is. The scene follows ...