Epiphany 3

Nehemiah 8: 1-3, 5-6, 8-10; 1 Corinthians 12: 12-31a; Luke 4:14-21

Salvation means restoration, but too often that restoration is postponed. Thus, other voices rise to "proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." This is the problem with spiritualizing religion, of making salvation a matter of the heart only. It can ignore the real poor, the actual captives, the physically blind, and the systematically oppressed.

By fulfilling the prophetic words of Isaiah in the hearing of the congregation in Nazareth, Jesus not only identifies with Isaiah in the work of the same Spirit that inspired them both, but He also makes it clear that the Holy Spirit’s work is real work, that the Spirit works in real time, with powerful applications to be made in the here and now.

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