WHAT IS DISCIPLESHIP ANYWAY?
‘”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 and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
‘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,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.’
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.
He said to them,
‘Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.’” Luke 4:16-21
In his book The Life of Christ by Fulton J. Sheen, the Archbishop explains what this Gospel reveals about what Jesus’ was anointed by the “Spirit of the Lord” to do:
- not to bring food or clothing or money to the poor, but to bring the poor “glad tidings”, i.e., the “good news”, the Gospel of their (and our) connection, relationship, with our ever-with-us God and Father,
- not to “free” captives, but to proclaim that they still have “freedom” even while they are captives.
Bishop Sheen sees in this Gospel a reminder that our actions must flow from our call to discipleship.
So, like Jesus in this Gospel, let us start our new year of discipleship humbly promising that, with the help of God’s grace, we seek
- to bring God’s “glad tidings into the world of today,
- to proclaim liberty to captives,
- to proclaim the recovery of sight to the blind,
- to let those who are oppressed go free and
- to proclaim this as a year acceptable to the Lord.
“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in our hearing.”
Sister Loretta
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From The Life of Christ by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, Chapter Five:
“In the synagogue, He was given the Book of Isaias. The particular prophecy which He read dealt with the Suffering Servant of God.
“This passage was familiar to the Jews. It was an Old Testament prophecy concerning the release of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity. But He did something unusual; He took this text woven out of the Exile, and wrapped it around Himself. He changed the meaning of the ‘poor,’ the ‘enslaved,’ and the ‘blind.’
The ‘poor’ were those who had no grace and lacked union with God;
the ‘blind’ were those who had not yet seen the Light;
the ‘enslaved’ (the oppressed) were those who had not yet purchased true freedom from sin.
He then proclaimed that all these centered in Himself.
But above all, He declared the Jubilee.1
The Jubilee year was to Him a symbol of His Messianic appearance which He proclaimed because He had been anointed with the Spirit to do so. There were to be new spiritual riches, a new spiritual light, a new spiritual liberty, all centering in Him-the Evangelist, the Healer, the Emancipator. All who were in the synagogue had their eyes fixed on Him. Then came the startling, explosive words:
‘Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.’ Luke 4:21
“He knew they were expecting a political king who would throw off Roman domination.”
- The Mosaic code made provision for every fiftieth year to be one of special grace and restoration. All debts were remitted; family inheritances which had, by the pressure of time, been alienated, were restored to their original owners; those who had mortgaged their liberty were restored to freedom. It was a Divine safeguard against monopolies; and it kept family life intact.