Third Sunday after the Epiphany 2025

St. Luke 4:14-21

Rev. Neli Miranda

 

On the third Sunday after the Epiphany, we travel to Nazareth in Galilee, Jesus’ hometown. According to Luke, after the temptations ended, Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee. His fame had spread among the Galileans and he began teaching in their synagogues.

In Nazareth, as was his custom, Jesus attended the synagogue on the Sabbath Day and participated in the liturgy by reading a passage from the book of the prophet Isaiah.  There he found a powerful message: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4,18-19).

This powerful message had been proclaimed by the prophet Isaiah in the sixth century B.C., amidst the earliest returnees from the Babylonian exile.  For the returnees, the circumstances were far from what they had envisioned; the land was devastated, and the people faced multiple issues and challenges; what pervaded was an atmosphere of hopelessness.   It is in the midst of this desolation and hopelessness that Isaiah brought his message. He was the anointed by God to proclaim the Lord’s favorable year, the jubilee time for the people. The “year of the Lord’s favor” proclaimed by Isaiah refers to the Jubilee year, the fiftieth year, (Lev. 25:8-17) which allowed the continual restoration of economic equity among the people of Israel.  In the Jubilee year, all lands were returned to their original owners, slaves were set free, and debts canceled.  This was a divine counterproposal against systems that perpetuated human domination over other humans, accumulation of property, and oppression. Isaiah, therefore, reminded the hopeless people that the year of the Lord’s favor had arrived among them.  

Continuing the prophetic tradition and following Isaiah’s proclamation, Jesus declares his mission to the Nazarenes, his people.  He identifies himself as the anointed one, the Messiah, proclaiming the Gospel for those in distress. Jesus’ message reflects the critical situation of the Galilean population in the first century, living under the cruel domination of the Roman Empire which led to widespread impoverishment and extreme hardships such as hunger, unemployment, and multiple diseases. So, Jesus’ good news, the Gospel, is aimed at those suffering under the prevailing system: the poor, the captives, the sick, the oppressed.  His Gospel is connected to human needs; his good news is good news for it addresses the people’s hardships and struggles.

Through Jesus’ intentional selection of Isaiah’s liberating message, we know that those who are in need, are always the priority in God’s eyes.  They were the ones living in socio-economic disadvantage, those considered of low status, those excluded by the societal structures of the first century. They are the intended recipients of Jesus’ message, to whom Jesus proclaims the arrival of the “Year of the Lord’s favor”.  In a subversive act against the dominant Roman Empire, Jesus proclaims social and economic justice for the impoverished and oppressed.  Recently, we heard Bishop Marianne Budde embodying Jesus’ message during her sermon at the Washington National Cathedral, where she advocated and pleaded for compassion and mercy for the needy, the oppressed, and the vulnerable.

Jesus concludes his proclamation stating: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” By this statement, Jesus is not only identifying himself as the expected Messiah but also proclaiming the beginning of a new age of restoration through his ministry. Thus, the fulfilling of God’s promises is not distant but unfolding in the present moment as Jesus speaks and the people hear his liberating message. He is inviting them to actively engage with and respond to the arrival of the “Year of the Lord’s favor”. 

Are we hearing today Jesus’ proclamation? Has this scripture found fulfillment in our hearing today?

Sisters and brothers, on this third Sunday after the Epiphany, we receive God’s manifestation through Jesus’ liberating message which calls us to embrace the jubilee time that Jesus proclaims. It reminds us that the needy are important in God’s eyes; it calls us to  proclaim social justice; it encourages us to live a dignified life; and it invites us to break our chains and recover our lives.

The “Year of the Lord’s favor” is present among us now! Amen.