Thursday after Epiphany
God, give the king your justice; your righteousness to the royal son. He will judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice.
His name endures forever. His name continues as long as the sun. Men shall be blessed by him. All nations will call him blessed.
Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and news about him spread through all the surrounding area. He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. He entered, as was his custom, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He opened the book, and found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to deliver those who are crushed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."4:19 Isaiah 61:1-2
He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began to tell them, "Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
All testified about him and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth; and they said, "Isn't this Joseph's son?"
What strikes me most about this scene in Nazareth is how Jesus chooses to reveal himself not in some distant, exotic place, but right at home, among people who knew him as a child. There's something both beautiful and challenging about this. The hometown crowd is amazed by his words, yet they can't quite reconcile this profound teacher with "Joseph's son" – the boy they watched grow up.
We see this dynamic play out in our own lives all the time. Sometimes the people closest to us have the hardest time recognizing how we've grown or changed. Or perhaps we struggle to see the sacred in familiar places – our own parish, our family dinner table, the colleague we've worked alongside for years. We can become so accustomed to the ordinary that we miss the extraordinary breaking through.
Jesus proclaims that he's been anointed to bring good news to the poor, sight to the blind, freedom to the captive. What I find beautiful here is that this isn't just about dramatic, once-in-a-lifetime miracles. These words from Isaiah speak to all the ways God wants to heal and restore us in our everyday struggles – our spiritual poverty, our blindness to grace, the ways we feel trapped by fear or resentment.
The psalm reminds us that God's justice and righteousness endure forever, blessing all nations. This connects to Jesus's mission perfectly – he comes not just for the religious elite, but especially for those who are overlooked or struggling.
Notice how the people in the synagogue are captivated by Jesus's "gracious words." Grace has a way of drawing us in, even when we don't fully understand what we're experiencing.
Where might you be missing the sacred in familiar places today? How is God inviting you to see with fresh eyes? What would it mean to speak "gracious words" in your own conversations?