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From the film Jesus of Nazareth 



I always find that this part of the Gospel is one of the most dramatic that we hear and read. It was common practice that someone would go up and read the scriptures in the synagogue but what was so special about this was what Jesus was reading. He reads from the prophet Isaiah. This beautiful passage tells us something of both the nature of Jesus and also what St Luke wants to tell us about Jesus.

Let us look at what he says: It is a statement about who Jesus is. The anointed one the Messiah. The Jewish people were hoping that the Messiah was going to be one who would save them from the tyranny of the Roman occupation someone who would fight for them. How wrong they were. For the Messiah the Christ is someone who has come to bring the good news to the poor to be a voice for those who have no voice to proclaim the Lord favour for all people.
He then after reading the prophecy about himself gives it back to the assistant and says those dramatic words “This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.” And that’s all we get this weekend you have to come back next weekend to see what happens next.
Jesus in this passage declares his intent and his mission by using the prophet Isaiah

The Churches and indeed our mission is to be a witness of hope to proclaim Jesus among all people.

The words of Jesus should also be our words for we share in the mission of Jesus. We are his body here on earth we are the hands and feet that are to carry on the mission of Jesus. We all have a different and unique function but we make up one body the body of Christ his Church. In this saving work of Christ we need to discover who we are and what our function is. Last week I spoke about praying to the Holy Spirit so that we might discern what the Lord wants us to do and discover or rediscover those talents and how we can use them in the service of each other and of the Church.  Blessed John Henry Newman says that we are a link and a chain a bond of Connection. Our actions affect others.  This especially relevant today for two reasons today as a country we remember the events of the Second World War and especially the horrific crimes against humanity. We also in this remember the crimes that take place today in places all over the world.  We may feel that these events are either well in the past or that they are far away and do not concern us in Bognor. But, let us look at our own town where prejudice occurs on a daily basis, where we talk unkindly about another person or make rash sweeping generalizations. When we do this are we being the Body of Christ? Are we being Christ like? 

We need to be Christ to others:
St Theresa of Avila put this very eloquently in a prayer that I would like to share with you today.

 Christ has no body now, but yours.
No hands, no feet on earth, but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which
Christ looks compassion into the world.
Yours are the feet
with which Christ walks to do good.
Yours are the hands
with which Christ blesses the world." 

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