JESUS’ PROGRAM BECOMES OUR PROGRAM
Who
is He? After listening to evangelists Matthew and Mark — what they have
to say about who the Incarnate Son of God is and why He became man —
the Church presents us today with a reading from the Lucan Gospel. Jesus
is back in Nazareth, where He grew up. He attends the Sabbath service
in the synagogue and is asked to read one of the readings. Was it
accidental or intentional that, of all the 66 long chapters of Isaiah,
He read these verses? The very first sentence of the quotation tells us
that it was not accidental: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” Jesus
was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit appeared upon Him
during baptism. He was so
Spirit-filled that nothing was accidental in His life.
And so He reads the program of His ministry. In His life and ministry
He fulfills what the prophet wrote centuries ago. Thus, Luke answers our
question about Jesus’ identity clearly: He is the fulfillment of the
prophecies of old. The prophets actually spoke about their time and
their imminent future; they did not think of Jesus Christ yet. But they
were inspired by God’s Spirit so that the oracles they uttered for their
time turned out to have a much more profound meaning and would be fully
fulfilled only in Christ.
The program for Jesus’ ministry is clearly outlined in Isaiah’s words.
Here we have the answer to our second question: Why did the Son of God
become man? Jesus came to proclaim the Good News, to free us from the
captivity of sin, to open the eyes of the blind. Whatever Jesus did
after this proclamation, He saw to it that people would be reminded of
Isaiah’s prophecy and recognize in Him the One humankind was waiting
for.
But what about after He ascended into heaven? The answer is simple:
Where He left off, we are called to continue. His program becomes our
program. We have received the Holy Spirit in baptism and confirmation.
We can say that the Spirit is also upon us. This enables us to continue
the great work of Jesus. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD
REFLECTION
QUESTIONS: Are you aware that you are called to make Christ’s program
your program in life? How can you do this effectively?
Lord, You have given us a great task, the task to continue Your work on Earth. With the Holy Spirit in us, we can do this.
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