Jesus stood up in the temple and read the following passage from Isaiah, “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.”
Jesus brings glad tidings to the poor by proclaiming the good news that God loves us and that when we put our faith in Him, anything is possible. The poor can include all of us who are lacking in spiritual wealth. He brings liberty to the captives through suffering and dying on the cross, thus opening the gates of Heaven to us who were previously held captive by original sin. Jesus also brings sight to the blind through all of His guidance for us. His teachings contain concepts that were and still are foreign to many people. He gives us a new way to look at things and a map to guide us to the narrow way. A year acceptable to the Lord refers to a Jubilee year which occurred every 50 years. During a Jubilee year people rested, slaves were set free, and debt was forgiven. Jesus, in a way, forgave a lot of debt and freed a lot of slaves during His lifetime.
The song Amazing Grace sums it up. “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see.” Jesus forgives us when we constantly go astray. We don’t deserve mercy, but He gives it to us anyway. We are blind without His light. When we try to go it alone, we end up either tripping and injuring ourselves or getting lost. When we put our faith in Jesus and live in His light, our paths will be illumined and we will easily find the narrow way.
Thank you God for sending Jesus as the Word and as the light to guide us through the darkness and uncertainty. Thank you Jesus for allowing us to reenter into the joy of Heaven through your great love for us and through your suffering and death. Please help us to always stay in the light and on the path to Heaven.
