The first reading (from the Nehemiah Memoirs of the mid-fifth century) and the second reading, the Gospel of Luke, are both press conferences though without TV cameras and microphones. Today, whether it is the launch of a new Apple device or a disaster, we expect someone with a microphone to step forward and help us understand it.
In the first reading from Nehemiah, the people assemble in front of the Water Gate, just across from the Temple in Jerusalem. They have recently returned from their devastating Babylonian exile and are asking how will they become a confident nation once again? Just as Moses on Sinai relayed to the people the words God dictated to him, so Ezra the scribe reads what Moses had written, the Torah. There are two notable points: (1) Interpreters are there to help the people understand what they have heard; (2) People are told, “Do not be saddened this day for rejoicing in the Lord must be your strength.” The people respond to what Ezra read and interpreted from the Torah by saying “Amen, amen,” that is, yes, we will live by it.
In today’s gospel Jesus does what Ezra the scribe did, but interprets the scriptures to be about Himself! Commenting on Isaiah, Jesus says he is the one anointed by the Spirit to bring “glad tidings to the poor,” announcing the direction of his mission and proclaiming liberty to the enslaved. Jesus reaches out to those in need, who lack life’s basics, who are captive, blind, or oppressed.
Continuing to quote Isaiah, Jesus announces “a year acceptable to the Lord,” that is, a Jubilee year (Leviticus 25:13) when every 50 years in Israel debts were canceled, slaves set free, and lands returned to their original owners. People were given a chance to start anew. The Jubilee year may have been only aspirational in earlier times, but for Jesus it begins through his own words and actions. “Now” – not in some distant future, God’s promise is made flesh in Jesus and the Reign of God made present.
Jesus tells his hearers, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” Throughout Luke’s gospel the word “today” appears in key places. You can feel the charged atmosphere in the synagogue which accompanied Jesus’ words, “the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.” Still using Isaiah’s words, Jesus claims the anointing of the Spirit has come upon himself. Kings were anointed with oil, but Jesus’s anointing comes directly from the Spirit. He is claiming the office of Messiah, the one who will proclaim the arrival of the Reign of God. It’s a Jubilee announcement; the good news that all debts are canceled; past wrongs put aside. The one anointed with the Spirit enables us to be in right relationship with God and one another.
By Richard Clifford, S.J. former President of the Weston Jesuit School of Theology and Founding Dean of the Boston College Clough School of Theology and Ministry