One of the truly striking features of the Gospels is that they are focused on Jesus himself. Jesus is the Good News! That is nowhere more so than in today’s Gospel – Luke 24:35-48. When describing the reactions of the disciples, Luke uses words like, “startled” and “terrified” and “frightened”. However, perhaps the most interesting of his descriptions is, “in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering”.
Near the beginning of Luke’s Gospel, we have heard the prophesy of John the Baptist: “‘He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire’” (3:16).
The prophesy is being brought to fulfilment. In today’s text – near the ending of Luke’s Gospel – we see people who are undergoing a monumental transformation of their minds, imaginations and memories, their expectations, assumptions and emotions. These folk will never be the same again. It is all because of him. They have really encountered him – as if for the first time. A new energy has been unleashed in them. They will be “witnesses”. A fire has been lit in their hearts. Soon they will receive the Holy Spirit empowering them to continue his presence throughout the world until the end of time.
In our Catholic Tradition, we place great store by prayer and liturgy – especially the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup; we promote silence and reflection, contemplation and study of the Word; we endeavor to build communities in which these activities imbue hospitality, care for the poor and love for each other. Why? Because it is our belief that such a way of living opens us and, through us, our world, to the presence of the Risen Lord. If we listen to the Word with the ear of the heart, if we look with compassion on the world, if we wait upon every person, event or thing with the conviction that he is here, then we too will encounter him. No amount of data, information, theological knowledge, pious devotion or asceticism can replace the daily living that seeks him – and expects him – in every moment everywhere.
How shall we discern his presence – in us personally and in our communities? Listen to Jesus himself in the synagogue at Nazareth as he reads from the Prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (4:18-19).
This is almost a complete quotation from Isaiah 61:1-2. There are two changes, however. Jesus draws in the phrase from Isaiah 58:6: “to let the oppressed go free” and he omits reference to “the day of vengeance of our God”.
He is the source of the freedom we all crave. Freedom from sin and sinful behaviour is what is on offer through him, with him and in him. Jesus’ proclamation, reading the Prophet Isaiah in the synagogue at Nazareth that day, sets a structure and vision for his life – and ours.
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