January 24, Third Sunday after the Epiphany: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31; Luke 4:14-21
If Jesus brings a sense of entitlement into the synagogue in this week’s Gospel reading, this is the least of the concerns the people of Nazareth have. Prophets are never accepted in their hometown, as he reminds them later. But more astonishing than the hometown boy reading the scroll like a man is Jesus’ claim that he is the fulfillment of the scripture he reads. Indeed, many are praising his teaching until the moment he crosses that line.
It is difficult for 21st-century Western Christians to grasp just how shocking Jesus’ announcement is to this first-century synagogue. When a teacher unfurled a scroll to read the sacred text aloud, Jews expected interpretation. They awaited fresh insight from their teachers—but not this. This goes beyond the pale.
The passage that Jesus reads, Isaiah 61:1–2, describes the year of Jubilee, when it is promised that crushing debts will be forgiven and captives will be set free, injustices turned back and equity reset. Furthermore, in some communities Isaiah 61:1–2 was understood as a reference to the Teacher of Righteousness—the Messiah—who was to come. Jesus’ proclamation that “today this scripture has been fulfilled” identifies him as the one they have been expecting for centuries.
