Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.
When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
‘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.’ Luke 4:14-22
I have always loved and been endlessly inspired by this Gospel passage from Luke. It was also the favorite of Fr. Abe, whose birthday is tomorrow. He called it the mission statement of Jesus and used it as the starting point of his work and writings on liberation theology. Indeed, there is so much brokenness in the world longing to be made whole. There is so much injustice and oppression waiting to be denounced and addressed. There are so many needing help and attention crying for relief from their pains and suffering. I long to see Christ’s face and feel his presence. I have not. But the words he left us tell me to seek him in the face of those crying in pain and suffering, in the victims of injustice and oppression, in those living broken and shattered lives. He is present to me in the people and events of my everyday life. All I have to do is to put on my glasses of faith.
Faith is nurturing a loving relationship with Christ in discipleship. I want to see him more clearly in the signs of his presence he has put into my life. I want to follow him more nearly by doing as he would do in the ordinariness of my everyday life. I want to love him more dearly in the loved ones he has gifted me with and in the people I meet everyday.
Oh but there is one catch. There is no record of a town called Nazareth during the time of Jesus. Would I let such minor thing destroy my faith? I recall a conversation I once had with Fr. Abe. He asked: “Would it make a difference to you if some day some archaeologists were to find some bones and determine these to be those of one named Jesus the Christ?” I remember replying then that I have too much already invested in Christ to let some bones destroy my faith in him. His words, his message and his deeds have been so much a part of me, I can’t begin to imagine my life otherwise. Wise or otherwise, I have decided to follow Jesus.