Jesus unrolled the the scroll and found the passage where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord us upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” – Luke 4:18-21
In this passage, Jesus delivers his first recorded sermon in his hometown of Nazareth. He chooses a passage from Isaiah that talks about bringing glad tidings to the poor and says, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” When Christ is present, it means good news for the poor. As bearers of Christ’s name, our actions must be good news for the poor. As we grow as disciples, we learn to love and care for the poor by sacrificing some of our comforts and wants, so that we can bring good news to them by helping the meet their basic needs.
