From: Luke 4:14-22
Jesus Fasts and is Tempted in the Wilderness (Continuation)
Jesus Preaches in Nazareth
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Commentary:
16-30. For the Jews the Sabbath was a day of rest and prayer, as God comman-
ded (Exodus 20:8-11). On that day they would gather together to be instructed in
Sacred Scripture. At the beginning of this meeting they all recited the “Shema”,
a summary of the precepts of the Lord, and the “eighteen blessings”. Then a pas-
sage was read from the Book of the Law — the Pentateuch — and another from
the Prophets. The president invited one of those present who was well versed in
the Scriptures to address the gathering. Sometimes someone would volunteer
and request the honor of being allowed to give this address — as must have hap-
pened on this occasion. Jesus avails Himself of this opportunity to instruct the
people (cf. Luke 4:16ff), as will His Apostles later on (cf. Acts 13:5, 14, 42, 44;
14:1; etc.). The Sabbath meeting concluded with the priestly blessing, recited
by the president or by a priest if there was one present, to which the people an-
swered “Amen” (cf. Numbers 6:22ff).
18-21. Jesus read the passage from Isaiah 61:1-2 where the prophet announces
the coming of the Lord, who will free His people of their afflictions. In Christ this
prophecy finds its fulfillment, for He is the Anointed, the Messiah whom God has
sent to His people in their tribulation. Jesus has been anointed by the Holy Spirit
for the mission the Father has entrusted to Him. “These phrases, according to
Luke (verses 18-19), are His first messianic declaration. They are followed by the
actions and words known through the Gospel. By these actions and words Christ
makes the Father present among men” (John Paul II, “Dives In Misericordia”, 3).
The promises proclaimed in verses 18 and 19 are the blessings God will send
His people through the Messiah. According to Old Testament tradition and Jesus’
own preaching (cf. note on Matthew 5:3), “the poor” refers not so much to a parti-
cular social condition as to a very religious attitude of indigence and humility to-
wards God, which is to be found in those who, instead of relying on their posses-
sions and merits, trust in God’s goodness and mercy. Thus, preaching good
news to the poor means bringing them the “good news” that God has taken pity
on them. Similarly, the Redemption, the release, the text mentions, is to be un-
derstood mainly in a spiritual, transcendental sense: Christ has come to free us
from the blindness and oppression of sin, which, in the last analysis, is slavery
imposed on us by the devil. “Captivity can be felt”, St. John Chrysostom teaches
in a commentary on Psalm 126, “when it proceeds from physical enemies, but
the spiritual captivity referred to here is worse; sin exerts a more severe tyranny,
evil takes control and blinds those who lend it obedience; from this spiritual pri-
son Jesus Christ rescued us” (”Catena Aurea”). However, this passage is also in
line with Jesus’ special concern for those most in need. “Similarly, the Church en-
compasses with her love all those who are afflicted by human misery and she re-
cognizes in those who are poor and who suffer the image of her poor and suffe-
ring Founder. She does all in her power to relieve their need and in them she
strives to serve Christ” (Vatican II, “Lumen Gentium”, 8).
18-19. The words of Isaiah which Christ read out on this occasion describe very
graphically the reason why God has sent His Son into the world — to redeem
men from sin, to liberate them from slavery to the devil and from eternal death. It
is true that in the course of His public ministry Christ, in His mercy, worked ma-
ny cures, cast out devils, etc. But He did not cure all the sick people in the world,
nor did He eliminate all forms of distress in this life, because pain, which entered
the world through sin, has a permanent redemptive value when associated with
the sufferings of Christ. Therefore, Christ worked miracles not so much to release
the people concerned from suffering, as to demonstrate that He had a God-given
mission to bring everyone to eternal salvation.
The Church carries on this mission of Christ: “Go therefore and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I
am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). These simple
and sublime words, which conclude the Gospel of St. Matthew, point out “the
obligation to preach the truths of faith, the need for sacramental life, the promise
of Christ’s continual assistance to His Church. You cannot be faithful to our Lord
if you neglect these supernatural demands — to receive instruction in Christian
faith and morality and to frequent the Sacraments. It is with this mandate that
Christ founded His Church [...]. And the Church can bring salvation to souls only
if she remains faithful to Christ in her constitution and teaching, both dogmatic
and moral.
“Let us reject, therefore, the suggestion that the Church, ignoring the Sermon on
the Mount, seeks a purely human happiness on earth, since we know that her
only task is to bring men to eternal glory in Heaven. Let us reject any purely na-
turalistic view that fails to value the supernatural role of divine grace. Let us reject
materialistic opinions that exclude spiritual values from human life. Let us equally
reject any secularizing theory which attempts to equate the aims of the Church
with those of earthly states, distorting its essence, institutions and activities into
something similar to those of temporal society” (St. J. Escriva, “In Love with the
Church”, 23 and 31).
18. The Fathers of the Church see in this verse a reference to the three persons
of the Holy Trinity: the Spirit (the Holy Spirit) of the Lord (the Father) is upon Me
(the Son); cf. Origen, “Homily 32”. The Holy Spirit dwelt in Christ’s soul from
the very moment of the Incarnation and descended visibly upon Him in the form
of a dove when He was baptized by John (cf. Luke 3:21-22).
“Because He has anointed Me”: this is a reference to the anointing Jesus
received at the moment of His Incarnation, principally through the grace of the
hypostatic union. “This anointing of Jesus Christ was not an anointing of the bo-
dy as in the case of the ancient kings, priests and prophets; rather it was entire-
ly spiritual and divine, because the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him sub-
stantially” (”St. Pius X Catechism”, 77). From this hypostatic union the fullness
of all graces derives. To show this, Jesus Christ is said to have been anointed
by the Holy Spirit Himself — not just to have received the graces and gifts of the
Spirit, like the saints.
19. “The acceptable year”: this is a reference to the jubilee year of the Jews,
which the Law of God (Leviticus 25:8) lays down as occurring every fifty years,
symbolizing the era of redemption and liberation which the Messiah would usher
in. The era inaugurated by Christ, the era of the New Law extending to the end
of the world, is “the acceptable year”, the time of mercy and redemption, which
will be obtained definitively in Heaven.
The Catholic Church’s custom of the “Holy Year” is also designed to proclaim
and remind people of the redemption brought by Christ, and of the full form it
will take in the future life.
20-22. Christ’s words in verse 21 show us the authenticity with which He
preached and explained the Scriptures: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled
in your hearing.” Jesus teaches that this prophecy, like the other main prophe-
cies in the Old Testament, refers to Him and finds its fulfillment in Him (cf. Luke
24:44ff). Thus, the Old Testament can be rightly understood only in the light of
the New — as the risen Christ showed the Apostles when He opened their minds
to understand the Scriptures (cf. Luke 24:45), an understanding which the Holy
Spirit perfected on the day of Pentecost (cf. Acts 2:4).
22-29. At first the people of Nazareth listened readily to the wisdom of Jesus’
words. But they were very superficial; in their narrow-minded pride they felt hurt
that Jesus, their fellow-townsman, had not worked in Nazareth the wonders He
had worked elsewhere. They presume they have a special entitlement and they
insolently demand that He perform miracles to satisfy their vanity, not to change
their hearts. In view of their attitude, Jesus performs no miracle (His normal res-
ponse to lack of faith: cf., for example, His meeting with Herod in Luke 23:7-11);
He actually reproaches them, using two examples taken from the Old Testament
(cf. 1 Kings 17:9 and 2 Kings 5:14), which show that one needs to be well-dis-
posed if miracles are to lead to faith. His attitude so wounds their pride that they
are ready to kill Him. This whole episode is a good lesson about understanding
Jesus. We can understand Him only if we are humble and are genuinely resolved
to make ourselves available to Him.
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
|
First reading |
1 John 4:7-10 © |
My dear people,
let us love one another
since love comes from God
and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.
Anyone who fails to love can never have known God,
because God is love.
God’s love for us was revealed
when God sent into the world his only Son
so that we could have life through him;
this is the love I mean:
not our love for God,
but God’s love for us when he sent his Son
to be the sacrifice that takes our sins away.
|
Psalm |
|
Psalm 71:1-4,7-8 © |
All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.
O God, give your judgement to the king,
to a king’s son your justice,
that he may judge your people in justice
and your poor in right judgement.
All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.
May the mountains bring forth peace for the people
and the hills, justice.
May he defend the poor of the people
and save the children of the needy.
All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.
In his days justice shall flourish
and peace till the moon fails.
He shall rule from sea to sea,
from the Great River to earth’s bounds.
All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.
|
Gospel Acclamation |
cf.Mt4:23 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Jesus proclaimed the Good News of the kingdom
and cured all kinds of diseases among the people.
Alleluia!
|
Or |
Lk4:17 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives.
Alleluia!
|
Or |
Lk7:16 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
A great prophet has appeared among us;
God has visited his people.
Alleluia!
|
Or |
cf.1Tim3:16 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Glory to you, O Christ,
proclaimed to the pagans;
glory to you, O Christ,
believed in by the world.
Alleluia!
|
Or |
Mt4:16 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
The people that lived in darkness
has seen a great light;
on those who dwell in the land and shadow of death
a light has dawned.
Alleluia!
|
Gospel |
Mark 6:34-44 © |
As Jesus stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length. By now it was getting very late, and his disciples came up to him and said, ‘This is a lonely place and it is getting very late, So send them away, and they can go to the farms and villages round about, to buy themselves something to eat.’ He replied, ‘Give them something to eat yourselves.’ They answered, ‘Are we to go and spend two hundred denarii on bread for them to eat?’ How many loaves have you?’ he asked ‘Go and see.’ And when they had found out they said, ‘Five, and two fish.’ Then he ordered them to get all the people together in groups on the green grass, and they sat down on the ground in squares of hundreds and fifties. Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing; then he broke the loaves and handed them to his disciples to distribute among the people. He also shared out the two fish among them all. They all ate as much as they wanted. They collected twelve basketfuls of scraps of bread and pieces of fish. Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.