It is a moment of ordinary routine that we hear Jesus’ great proclamation of good news in today’s Gospel. He is attending the synagouge on the sabbath, “as He usually did.†As He looks out at that familiar community, He knows the message that must be proclaimed: a prophetic message, of liberty to prisoners and of healing. It is joyful news, spoken into the places of poverty and burden.
As Christians we are bound to Christ as one body – this is the great insight of St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. As members of one body, we not only share each other’s gifts and burdens, we also delight in each other’s blessings. What is good for one, is good for all – even when it may seem personally costly to other members of the body.
Everyday living will always have its ups and downs; and seasons of the year, seasons of life and the heart, are ordinary parts of this. As followers of Jesus we are called, in all this light and shade, to go on witnessing to his good news. We can’t always be jolly, or even happy; there are properly sad things to feel sad about. But maybe we can become better witnesses to the joy of being a Christian disciple.