A reading from the first letter of saint John (4:19-5:4)
Let us love
because he first loved us.
Anyone who says ‘I love God’
and hates a brother or sister
is a liar,
since whoever does not love the brother or sister whom he has seen
cannot love God whom he has not seen.
This is the commandment we have received from him,
that whoever loves God loves also brother and sister.
Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ
is a child of God,
and whoever loves the father
loves the son.
In this we know that we love God’s children,
whenever we love God and keep his commandments,
for this is what the love of God is:
keeping his commandments;
and his commandments are not burdensome,
because whatever is born of God
conquers the world,
and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.
Once more the writer states that it is God who is the first to love (4:10 4:19). Hatred of a brother or sister is incompatible with love of God. The commandment we have received is that those who love God must also love brother and sister. All who believe that Jesus is the Christ are children of God, loving both the Father and the Son. We have won a victory (nikan) over the world (kosmos) by our faith, a faith lived out in love.
Psalm 72 (71) The Messiah will free the poor from oppression.
A reading from the holy gospel according to Luke (4:14-22)
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and his reputation spread throughout the countryside. He kept teaching in their synagogues and was glorified by everyone.
He came to Nazara, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath as was his custom. He stood up to read, and he was given the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written:
The spirit of the Lord is upon me,
for he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to captives,
sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim a year of the Lord’s favour.
He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak to them, ‘Today this text has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ And all bore witness to him, and were astonished by the words of grace that came from his lips.
The ministry of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, unlike the other gospels, after a short summary statement (4:14-15), begins with the visit to the synagogue in Nazareth. Luke shows Jesus reading from the book of Isaiah and proclaiming a text from the Third Isaiah: ‘The spirit of the Lord is upon me.’ In this way Luke has Jesus announce his purpose, ‘to bring good news to the poor’. This gospel text is very appropriate during the last days of Christmas, as Jesus emerges from ordinary life and takes on his role as a prophet who will face both acclaim and rejection.
Why is preaching in synagogues so important to Jesus?
This account of Jesus in the Nazareth synagogue precedes the calling of the disciples.