Manifestos and Mission statements give us an idea of the goals and workings of political organizations and social institutions.Various religions have their scriptures which proclaim the paths they suggest for coming closer to God.the reading from today's Gospel very tellingly proclaims the mission of Jesus and what he would accomplish through his life.
Like any other Jew of his time, Our Lord went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day.The synagogue service usually consists of reciting the Shema, a summary of the Lord's precepts,"the eighteen blessings", and a reading from the Law(Pentateuch) and from the prophets.The leader of the synagogue would invite the guest to read from the Scriptures and talk to them.Following that tradition, Jesus was invited to talk to them.He read the passage from Is.61:1-2 where the prophet announces to the people living in exile that a happy time would come with the arrival of the Savior and that they would experience total freedom from slavery and debts.That freedom will be ushered in by the arrival of the acceptable year of the Lord, referring to the proclamation of a jubilee year every fifty years when debts would be canceled and property would be restored to original owners as described in Leviticus Ch.25.
To those waiting eagerly to hear more about an immediate political liberation ,Jesus announces that he is the Messiah and that the prophecy is being fulfilled in him.he is the one who is going to give them freedom, forgiveness and restoration.They expect actually freedom from their slavery to the Roman empire and prosperity in a material sense. Jesus offers them on a spiritual plane.
It is very appropriate for us on this first Sunday of Denha, Manifestation of the Lord,to reflect on the words of the Prophet which Our Lord uses to proclaim the nature of his ministry.Jesus offers them the spiritual deliverance from their slavery to sin and restoration to the status of the children of God. The poor and the hungry would no more feel helpless but would find favor with God.
What does this mean for each one of us? Our faith should enable us to experience freedom and joy.It should make us aware that in our helplessness and poverty, we are not alone. God is with us.
For a Christian,every year should be a jubilee year.His sins get forgiven when he asks God for forgiveness and he is restored to God's favor.He should, then, be acting in the spirit of the Jubilee towards his neighbors. Hatred and vengeance have no place in a Christian's life. Forgiveness and unbounded charity are the expressions of true inner freedom.As Fulton J. Sheen has beautifully expressed: "It is one of the paradoxes of Christianity that the only things that are really our own when we die are what we gave away in His Name.What we leave in our wills is snatched from us by death; but what we give away is recorded by God to our eternal credit,for only our works follow us."
This is the moment for us to proclaim a spiritual jubilee in our personal lives.What are the sins,omissions and lapses in our lives that make our relationship with God as well as with neighbors broken and fragmented?If it is the lack of respect or of sensitivity to those who live with us or our violent attitudes that make our family life a burden to the members, we have to seek the mercy and forgiveness from the Lord to have the grace to mend these broken relationships.Then, we will experience the joy of the presence of the Lord in our lives.
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