Today's gospel passage places us at a moment in Jesus' life when he returned to Galilee ... and news of him spread throughout the region (Lk 4:14). We can imagine the excitement among the people of that region who had already heard about him and were eager to meet him and to hear him speak.
Furthermore, he came to Nazareth, where he had grown up (Lk 4:16), perhaps for the first time in many years, and in that place too, people who certainly knew Jesus as a child would have been eager to hear him speak. Their first opportunity came in the weekly gathering in the synagogue on the sabbath. He stood up to read and was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah (Lk 14:16-17). At first glance, it may have seemed that the choice of this scroll was a random act, but there are never random acts when God is involved. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where Isaiah prophesied about him (cf Lk 4:18-19).
Jesus is still present among us today. We cannot see him, touch him or hear his voice in the same way as those who were sitting in the synagogue that day did, but he is constantly travelling with us as we make our way through life. People who heard about him, about his words and about his good works were excited to meet him when he came home. What about us? Are we excited to encounter Jesus today?
Have a great day.
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