Aneel Aranha's video: January 7 2021 - Half a Prophecy - A Reflection on Luke 4:14-22

We sometimes fail to realize that some prophecies about Jesus are about us too. Consequently, we miss out on an important half. https://youtu.be/eMAUxwd2v38 Scripture Reading: Luke 4:14-22 Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “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 favour.” And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” Reflection: Did you notice that the gospel passage that we just read is so similar to the passage that Jesus read more than two thousand years ago? Luke begins this passage by writing “Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit…”. And the Scripture that Jesus reads begins with “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me”. They’re both talking about a person powerfully anointed by the Spirit of God. And the rest of what Luke writes continues to ‘mirror’ what Jesus reads that day in the synagogue. In the verses that Jesus read, the prophet Isaiah wrote about bringing “good news to the poor”, and in the verses that we just read, Luke writes that a “report" — in other words, “news”! — about Jesus had begun to spread. Do you see the parallel? One of the reasons that Luke was doing this was to point out that part of the scripture that Jesus was about to read was already taking place – that a part of the prophesy had already been fulfilled! And, when we know that half of a prophesy has already come true, we’re more likely to believe in the other half, aren't we? Imagine a fortune teller tells you you’re going to find some money in the afternoon and meet the love of your life in the night. If you do find some cash lying on the street that day, isn’t the rest of your day going to be spent in expectation that you're gonna meet the love of your life that night? And you’re probably going to dress accordingly too! So why was the second half of this prophesy so important that we needed to believe that the first half of it had already been fulfilled? Jesus said, “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”, and he’s talking about the second part – the part about proclaiming release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind and freedom to the oppressed.This part of the scripture was being fulfilled not only by Jesus, who had just “proclaimed” these things, but also by the people present, to whom these things were being proclaimed: his Jewish listeners. Of course, the people listening in the synagogue that day didn’t recognise Jesus — or themselves — in the prophesy. All they could see in front of them was a carpenter's son. If they had looked beyond that and recognised HIM, they might have recognised that THEY were the ones being referred to as “poor”, “blind”, oppressed” and “captives”! Luke didn't want US to make the same mistake they did. We are meant to pay careful attention not only to the fact that Jesus was the appointed one with a mission, but also that WE were the mission. If it hadn't been for Jesus’s sacrifice, we too would’ve been blind, oppressed, captive, or all of these –– blind to the truth, oppressed by the evil one, and captive to sin. And so, to NOT look for ourselves in the scriptures would be a terrible, terrible mistake – like listening to only half a prophesy. Kinda like leaving the theatre at the intermission, don’t you think?