TEXT: The Gospel according to St. Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21

Today, our text from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke comes in two parts that are intimately related.

The first part expresses the motive of Dr. Luke, the beloved physician and companion of St. Paul, that is, to lay out in order the historical account according to the witnesses who spoke to St. Luke the details of the life and works of our Lord Jesus Christ.  It was through the eyes, ears and mouths of holy witnesses, that God would produce the most faithful witness of the kerygma, the proclamation of the Truth, who is Jesus.

The second part is equally important for us, here, Luke describes and the Church connects the inauguration of the public ministry of our Lord Jesus, following the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River through the ministry of John the Baptist, the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness and the Power of God manifested in this Holy One, Immanuel, our Lord and Savior, Jesus, the Christ.

Let us listen carefully to what the Holy Spirit says in the account of St. Luke.  Perhaps, again, we hear the words of the Blessed Mother with other eyewitnesses who were ordained of our Father in heaven to be the source of the information that would someday become the canon of holy scriptures.

Luke 1:1-4

1 Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have been fulfilled among us,
2 just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning and ministers of the word have handed them down to us,
3 I too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write it down in an orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus,
4 so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received.

Many people had apparently compiled many documents that narrated the events surrounding the life of Jesus Christ.  We are not unfamiliar with many non-canonical, or, apocryphal books that purported to have something to say about Jesus, his Mother, Joseph and others who he ministered to during his life.  The Church was in need of a faithful witness.  The Church was founded by our Lord upon the Rock of Peter, following the Holy Spirit's descent upon the Church on the Day of Pentecost, after our risen Lord had showed himself alive to all and many witnesses had beheld his ascension into the heavens and the cloud(s).  There were numerous miraculous events that surrounded the Christ event, especially after the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead!

Yet, there needed to be a permanent witness, an account of what had happened, especially as the Church continued, waiting for the return of Her Beloved.

The canonical Gospels of St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke (the Synoptic Gospels), and, St. John's Gospel were finally decided upon by the Church.  This theological reflection will not explore the issue of Canon, other than express its fullest trust in the veracity of the holy scriptures, as declared by the Holy Apostolic Catholic Church, founded upon St. Peter by the Lord Jesus.

What is the awesome character of the Gospel of Luke before us is the opening lines of  Dr. Luke as he speaks to Theophilus, whose name means, "lover (friend) of God," or, "Love (Friend) of God."
This name evokes within me a sense of awareness that the gospel messages are for those who have already believed and trusted in Jesus, as notations that bring us closer to the First Love we have trusted in for Salvation.

My beloved in Christ, these were real-life,  "events that have been fulfilled among us,  just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning and ministers of the word have handed them down to us."  And, as a result of this reality for Luke, he says, "I too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write it down in an orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received."

Theophilus had received the "teachings," the "didache" of the Church.

Now, there was the Gospel message, as recorded by the inspired writers only the Church would determine.  By the fourth century, and certainly by the early fifth century, it should be noted, the Canon of Old and the New Testaments had been identified by the Church.

Dr. Luke, the most "scientific" mind of the day, a mind every bit as great as that of St. Paul (in my humble opinion), had thoroughly investigated everything, accurately anew, to write it down in an order sequence, so that Theophilus, who loved God, may realize the certainty of the teachings you received!

That should be our goal.

As proclaimers -- we need to have the heart of Luke.

As receivers, we should possess the Love of God to Love him more, as we fall in love with our First Love, Jesus.

Lest I forget, Blessed Mother, we thank you for helping to lead us to Jesus, your Son.  We need a heart likened unto your heart, Mother of God.

But, there is more, as the wisdom of the Church has included in the Liturgy of the Word this passage that follows.  They are connected intimately.  The setting of what follows is the return of Jesus from the Baptism he experienced with John in the Jordan, the wilderness temptations, his victory and the fulness of the Holy Spirit who had descended as a Dove at the unique Baptism of Jesus.

Luke 4:14-21

14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region.
15 He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all.
16 He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. He stood up to read
17 and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
19  and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord."
20 Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.
21 He said to them, "Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."

My beloved, this is one of the most profound passages in the holy scriptures!

This gives us, as I sense it, the mechanism, the hermeneutic, the principle of interpretation, we must follow when we read and study the holy scriptures.  It is this -- the scriptures point to our Lord Jesus and God's plan and purposes.

Now, let us consider this.  The Mother of Jesus is often said to be present with Jesus in this ministry.  However, she is always in the background, hidden, as it were from our eyes, so that, "Whatever he tell you to do, we should do," recalling the wedding at Cana of Galilee, the first miracle story.

His praise and honor go before him.

He is the talk of all the towns and villages.

He is becoming famous with the people.

Yet, he remains the Jewish Person that he is. . .this was "his custom" on the Sabbath Day, the Jewish Sabbath.  The original language says, "Sabbaths," indicating he did this on the Sabbaths, meaning he was regular at the synagogue at Nazareth.

This has a message for all of us!

Do you and I want the power of God in us through the Holy Spirit of God?  Then, we need to be in Church and filled with the Spirit of God with the same Jesus who was oft in the synagogue in obedience to the Father.

Jesus goes back to Nazareth into the synagogue.  Today he lectors.  He reads from the scroll of Isaiah.  He focuses upon the reading with all the Authority of the Cosmos.

Dr. Luke has just declared that Jesus returned to the Galilee "in the power of the Spirit," (en te dynamei tou pneumatos), verse 14.  The word for power is the same word we derive our word for "dynamite."

Let us reflect:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor."

The Spirit of Yahweh is upon Jesus, because God has anointed Jesus, ("Messiah'ed me", if you please) to bring good news to the poor.  He, God, "anointed me" to "evangelize" the poor.  Who are the poor?

All of us.  We are the poor of spirit.  We are the ones that need our Blessed Savior.

Behold, my beloved, even our Blessed Mother, conceived without original sin and perpetually holy and blameless, our Sanctissima herself, needed Jesus her Savior.  For it was Jesus in the Holy Trinity that brought her into heaven and coronated her the Queen of Heaven, a picture of things to come for the Church she is Mother of in Christ!

Yes, my beloved,

18 ". . .He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
19  and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord."

Let me make this more literal for us --

Glad tidings to the poor. . .to heal the broken in heart. . .to proclaim (kerygma) to captives deliverance and to the blind recovery of sight, to send forth the crushed in deliverance, to proclaim (kerygma) the year of the Lord acceptable !

What a message !  That is the good news !

All who labor and that are heavily down trodden under Egyptian bondage may now receive the real Passover, our Unleavened Bread of Life, and Newness of Life through our First Fruits One, Jesus Christ, through the Eucharist, his Body and the Blood.

Praise God !

Now, suddenly, he interrupts the whole text of Isaiah the prophet (whose name is similar to the Name of Jesus).  Jesus stops in mid sentence!

Verses 20 and 21 tell of the event set in order as re-studied by Luke, perhaps it was Mary who relates this to Dr. Luke, "Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him."

What did this mean ?  They waited, and received, the shortest homily on record.  So, breaking the long silence, Jesus said to them,

"Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."

You talk about "dynamite" !

That was like a "bomb" going off  in the midst of the Jews present in that small synagogue.  Everyone knew that this related the prophetic utterance of the Messiah !  Why, everybody knew who Jesus was, right?   -- He was supposed to be the son of Joseph and Mary, "After all, that is how we all came into the world.  Jesus is no different than us !"  they thought, perhaps.

But, Mary had pondered all of these things in her heart.

Now, do we see why it was so important that Mary pondered all these things in her heart?  She would relate the uniqueness of Jesus, our Immanuel, to Luke, to Matthew, to Mark, to John !  Her message was the most reliable one, because it was to her these things were so evident, among all the witnesses available of the time.

The Blessed Mother was always there in the background -- showing to us her Son, Jesus.

Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.  Blessed are you among women, and, blessed is the Fruit of your womb, JESUS.  Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.

Show us the Fruit of your womb, blessed Mary, Mother of God.

Hail, Holy Queen. . ..

My beloved in Christ, the God - Man was there in that synagogue.  That Holy One in Holy Flesh was there reading from the book he had through the Holy Spirit spoken through Isaiah the prophet about himself.  Remember Luke 24, when Luke finishes his account of the message of Jesus to the two disciples about the intent of the holy scriptures about himself ?

Everyone listened and wondered over his words.

Is it not interesting that many in the crowd tried, then, to kill Jesus, as a false prophet ?

Like a crown of thorns he would wear in his Passion, the crowd pushed at Jesus, as the thorns that came from the bushes of the earth that would plague Adam.  The Second Adam was plagued by the unbelief of his Nazarenes at Nazareth.

May we not be like these of old.

This is definitely not the reaction of the faithful.

Nevertheless, he passed through them all, and, became the Savior of all who would call upon his Name.

We call upon the Name of Jesus.

Beloved in Christ, it is always TODAY, when we look at the scriptures to see the picture of our Lord and Savior, Jesus, the eyewitnesses of the Church bring to us.  These witnesses have set in order the life of the Way, Truth, and Life, through the pillar and ground of truth, (1 Timothy 3:14-16).  We come to the Father through Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit.

"Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."

It is "today" that we behold him in this text.

What devotion and worship should we have in Jesus, as those who also bear within their hearts the blessed name, "Theophilus" ?

Deus et Sanctissima