"Jehovah God has anointed me to bring good news," Isaiah 61:1.
On a sabbath, centuries after this prophetic word, Jesus stood reading from this line aloud to the Nazareth congregation, through the line including: To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. He stopped there. He sat down. He said: Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Jesus defined his life's mission by that passage to herald good news to the poor, release for the captives, sight recovery for the blind, liberation for the oppressed, God's acceptable year. That sabbath day so long ago, Jesus did not read the next Isaiah line: God's day of vengeance. (But, no worries, that day's still coming, soon.) But Jesus comes now to embody grace and truth, to recruit for the kingdom of heaven.
With a brother or sister we hear Jesus' happy proclamations. We joy in the good news of the sky kingdom. Recruited, we extend grace, too. And, together, we give thanks.
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