Third Sunday of Year C [Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21]
23.01.2022
Jesus
Proclaims His
1. Theme in brief
Jesus’ mission of liberation
is our mission
2. Focus Statement
By baptism, we are
anointed with the power of the Holy Spirit and sent into the world with a
mission to proclaim liberation to the poor, the captives, the blind and the
oppressed.
3. Explanation of
the text
While Jesus’ public ministry began
with a miracle of changing water into wine at Cana according to John’s gospel
proclaimed on last Sunday, according to today’s gospel of Luke, it began with a
sermon in the synagogue of Nazareth on a Sabbath day (4:15-16). Luke placed
this passage immediately after the temptations of Jesus, to tell his readers that
after winning a victory over Satan, Jesus was further empowered with the Holy Spirit (4:14) to deliver his inaugural address in his own home
town. By stating that Jesus began his ministry after he was filled with the
power of the Holy Spirit and in Galilee (4:14), Luke wanted to emphasize two
things: (1) that Jesus’ public ministry was Spirit-powered; and (2) he had come
for a universal mission towards the gentiles and the marginalized. Galilee was a region with a mixed
population of Jews and Gentiles and was despised by the respectable Jews in
As a practising Jew, when Jesus went to worship in the synagogue on a
Sabbath day, he got a chance to read the Scripture. When the scroll of prophet
Isaiah was given to him, he unrolled the scroll and found the place where it
was written concerning the mission of God’s Anointed One (that is, Messiah). He modified
the text from Isaiah 61:1-2 a bit to announce his mission statement or his manifesto. He applied it to himself and made it clear who he was, what he would
do, and for whom or for what purpose he had come. By
doing so he implied: He was God’s anointed prophet and Messiah in a very
special sense, because he was anointed at his baptism, not by oil, as the kings
of Israel were, but by the Spirit of the Lord (4:18); he was sent on a
mission by the Father for the purpose of bringing good news to the poor, proclaiming release to the captives, restoring sight to the blind, freeing the oppressed (4:18), and proclaiming the year of God’s special
favour to this sort of people (4:19). In fact, he used this
text to summarize his whole ministry of preaching, teaching and healing that
ultimately led to his passion and crucifixion by declaring: “Today the
Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (4:21). Strikingly, he
omitted the words proclaiming "the day of vengeance of our God,"
(mentioned in Isaiah 61:2), because he had come to proclaim not judgement but
God’s boundless mercy and special favour to the poor and
the oppressed.
Who are the poor, the captives, the blind and the oppressed? The
"poor" are not merely those who are economically poor or penniless
(though they too are included) but also those who are spiritually poor – all
the vulnerable, powerless, underprivileged, afflicted and oppressed people in general. Jesus’ compassionate concern for such people
is indeed good news for them (4:18). Proclaiming
release to the captives naturally points to his ministry of releasing people
from the bondage of demons and death. Recovery of sight to the blind
refers to his saving deeds of restoring physical sight to the blind which are
signs of restoring spiritual vision as well. The year of the Lord’s favour is
an obvious reference to the Jubilee Year – also called the
Sabbatical Year – the Jews were required to observe every fiftieth year in the
Scripture (Lev 25:8-17). In the Jubilee Year, the Law required that they
let their land lie fallow, forgive or cancel debts and free slaves. Jesus implied that his ministry would give the experience of a Jubilee,
a divine favour to those who respond to his message.
4. Application to life
As per today’s gospel, Jesus announced his mission statement or manifesto in the synagogue of
In modern democracies many political parties
publish their manifestos before election. They contain a lot of promises and
hopes that are mostly forgotten after the election. Many secular organizations/
companies as well as religious institutes formulate and display their vision-mission statements in their brochures,
notice-boards, handbooks, constitutions or bye-laws, etc. Quite often they are
written/ displayed for the sake of institutional requirement and are hardly
followed up by individual members. Based on this and besides this common
vision-mission statement, if each one of us could formulate and develop a personal
vision-mission for ourselves for our particular state of life and work in the
line of Jesus’ vision, it could motive r influence us better. Every action/
innovation/ invention is first born in the mind
before it becomes a reality; hence, the more we fantasize
our vision of life in our minds the more it influences our actions.
A vision – also called a dream by some experts – is a mental image or picture of the ideal to be realized in future. It is a
conception of the future based on a wish or an aspiration. Whereas a vision is a
mental framework, a mission is the way or manner in which we would like to translate our vision into concrete action. Each one of us should
imagine: What are the guiding principles I would like to follow
in my personal life, in my personal conduct, in my family life/ religious life/
priestly ministry, in my work and in my social life? As Christians, each one of
us should ask: What is the vision of my life? Are we highly motivated by Jesus’ vision or his programme of action? When I ask students (all
of them Christians), “Why do you study,” they say that they study in order to
gain knowledge, to pass in examinations, to get a degree, to please their
parents, to get a job, to earn money and to gain higher position in society. Yes,
all these things are very important for life. But, if education is meant for
only these things, what about those who fail or do not get a job even if they
have passed an examination? Education is for life and not merely for these
things. We should tell them, as Christian disciples, for what else they should study.
If we (as parents and teachers) are influenced by the vision of
Christ, we should teach our children to create a dream for themselves, for
their family, society and country beyond this “purely” selfish and narrow boundary.
Similarly, when I ask the youth, “What is the purpose of your life,” most of them write: To study well, to pass in
examinations, to get a job, to marry a good boy/girl and to get settled in
life. When I ask those who attend Marriage Preparation Courses, “Why do you want to get married,” many of them say: To continue the family
line through procreation, to get a helper for work, to get social/economic
security, to get honour and respect in society, to work hard and take care of
their partners and children, etc. When I say, though these things are essential
for life, their marriage need not be a “Christian” marriage at all to
achieve these things, they begin to wonder! From their answers I learn that
Christian principles have not penetrated deep into us in spite of regular
church attendance and prayers. From the studies conducted by social analysts on
religious life and priesthood in developing countries, we come to know that the
motivation for priesthood or religious life in
the Catholic Church among a number of candidates is not based much on their
attraction to the vision of Christ and their willingness to dedicate their life
for his cause, but is influenced by their desire to gain social security, upgrade their standard of living, get a higher social status in society, to make a career, etc.
If so, today’s text is a reminder for us to ask ourselves whether the
same fire or zeal with which Jesus' heart was
burning to accomplish his Father’s liberating mission has caught us. If yes, we
need to ask: Is the vision of my life, of my marriage and family, of my
religious life/ priesthood, of my leadership, of my job or any other work that
I do influenced and motivated by the vision of Christ? If yes, for us marriage is
not meant only for sex and procreation; job is
not only for earning money; family is not only for working hard to feed
children or for financial/ social security; studies are not only for doing a
job and get settled in comfortable life; religious life/ priesthood is not only
for getting honour, status, position, economic/ social security; leadership is
not only for exercising power and for personal gain. As Christians we are here not
merely to make a living. As Christians we impoverish ourselves if we forget
that we are personally chosen, called and sent with a mission to make a
specific contribution to the cause of God and
humanity. We need to ask today: “What is the quality of my contribution
to the cause of humanity which is also the cause or mission of Christ? How can I make Christ’s
vision come true?” Only by the way we translate Christ’s vision into action for
those who are materially and spiritually poor, those in various bondages, are
blind and oppressed, we can fulfil the Scripture TODAY, as Jesus declared.
The first mission mentioned by Christ is to proclaim good news to the poor. Today we are so much used to hear
bad news or cruel news of so many horrible atrocities committed in various
parts of the world by terrorist/ extremist/ fanatic/ religious fundamentalist
outfits even, sometimes, in the name of God.
In the midst of this bad news, people long for good news. God
anointed Jesus with his Spirit to bring us his salvation or liberation, mercy,
pardon, peace and reconciliation. That is good news. Like Jesus, we too should
say today the Spirit of the Lord is upon me; today he calls and sends me
to bring good news to the poor, to liberate people from all types of bondage
and slavery.
The issues mentioned by Jesus in his manifesto, namely, poverty,
captivity, blindness and oppression have both physical and spiritual dimensions. Proclaiming good news to the poor could mean not only
sharing our resources with the economically deprived people but also loving the
unloved, caring for the uncared and serving the unwanted or the undeserving. Deliverance to the
captives could mean liberating people from the bonds of sin, addiction,
guilt, corruption and exploitation. We too sometimes live in slavery or
captivity when we become prisoners of sin, hatred, pride, prejudice, wealth, power,
luxury, addictions to bad habits, etc. Liberating ourselves before liberating
others from this prison is also an important mission. Recovering of sight to
the blind could also mean enlightening the minds of those who
sit in darkness of ignorance. Whenever and wherever
we do this mission of liberation we proclaim the jubilee year of God’s favour
to the poor and the oppressed, and thus fulfil the Scripture.
As Jesus outlined in the synagogue of Nazareth, we can
consciously undertake a mission to proclaim God's special favour
to the needy by doing the following deeds of mercy in small
ways: (1) Resisting sarcasm because it is the antithesis of mercy;
(2) sharing our things with the needy; (3) calling by phone now and then someone
who we know is lonely; (4) writing a letter of forgiveness to someone whom we
have hurt; (5) repeating this prayer often: “Dear Lord, bless [annoying
person’s name] and have mercy on me!” May God’s Kingdom proclaimed by Christ
come through our faithfulness to the works of mercy towards those who are in
poverty, captivity, blindness and oppression.
5. Response to God's Word
Who are the poor, the captives, the blind and the oppressed in my
situation today? What good news can I bring to them? What is my vision of life
in my state of life and work? In the recent past, have I gone out of myself to
help any one of the poor/ afflicted/ underprivileged people in any way that was
possible for me? Have I taken their side when they were oppressed or their
rights were trampled upon at least by words? Have I tried to free any of those
who were in captivity of bad habits or evil, give sight to those who were in
ignorance and spiritual blindness and liberate those who were oppressed by
physical and psychological burdens at least by a few words of comfort? In the
midst of so much bad news such as poverty, hunger, violence, terrorism,
injustice, etc., what good news can we proclaim to those affected by these
issues? How can we become sharers rather than hoarders, liberators rather than
perpetrators of socio-economic slavery?
6. A prayer
Send forth your Spirit on us O Lord that we may bring good news to the
poor and the vulnerable, proclaim liberty to the captives, work for recovery of
sight to the blind, bring freedom to the oppressed and proclaim the Sabbatical
Year of your divine mercy to all so that the Scripture may be fulfilled today.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment