It is hard to imagine a better Scripture passage to have early in a Year of Jubilee. Some would suggest this Gospel is seminal to the mission of Jesus along with the Beatitudes. This Gospel immediately places the ministry of Jesus as not about himself but that rather he is ‘filled with the power of the Spirit!’ The word is quickly spreading all through Galilee – there is a new prophet among the people and this prophet speaks with authority, is a person of integrity and is profoundly attuned to the messages of the Old Testament prophets – that we are each of us, called to the liminal space and in that space bring about the reign of God within our world.

Jesus knew the Scriptures well. After being handed the scroll, he quickly found the words of Isaiah that inspired him. The mission of Jesus, and hence our mission as his followers could not be more stark, more radical and more transformative of our society. We are to bring good news to the poor, proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind and let the oppressed go free.

Of course, the challenge for each of us is to interpret this for our times and not to allow these radical words to remain token nor pious platitudes but rather a compass point for our fired up bringing about the Reign of God wherever we find ourselves. Of course, in picking up our scroll for our day, we like Jesus, must be prepared for rejection and the cobbled stones of the Via Dolorosa.

by Br Damien Price cfc