Scripture Readings for January 9, 2025

1 John 4:19-5:4, Psalm 72:1-2, 14, 15bc, 17, Luke 4:14-22

I think for 1 John it’s safe to say that to love God we need to love our neighbor. To be authentic Christians means we have to take care of each other. Which is exactly what Jesus is talking about in Luke’s Gospel today. When he reads Isaiah to his neighbors in his home town he is not only claiming to be the Messiah to bring about God’s promises, he is identifying what those promises are. From the time of Isaiah God’s salvation has meant: good news to the poor, liberty to captives, sight for the blind, freedom for the oppressed and a year acceptable to the Lord.

I’m not sure there is much that can be added to that message. The challenge to us is will we do what Jesus says is the fulfillment of God’s promises. It’s apparent that so far in the history of Christendom we haven’t succeeded. Jesus literally embodied God’s fulfillment since he did all those things. The message being, this is the time for salvation from all that oppresses us. I believe each of us must embrace each moment, each decision, each choice we have with love for our neighbor. John says God have loved us first, now if we are to love God in return there is only one thing we can do. Extend love to everyone else.

It may be worth noting that this reading in the synagogue in Nazareth is the very beginning of Jesus’ work. Jesus starts at home. He doesn’t go off to some distant land or to people he doesn’t know. Jesus begins with the people who know him best. Maybe we should worry less about world poverty and care more and pay more attention to the people we grew up with. How are those relationships? Are there needs among our friends that are going unmet? Is there someone we know who needs to be set free from what oppresses them? Offering love to those closest to us may be personally challenging but it may also reveal exactly what we need to see as well. It may be the beginning of taking our faith seriously. That what we believe requires certain behavior.

Maybe if we could begin with those closest to us, if we could take each decision and choose based on the love of others we would accomplish what John’s letter claims, “the victory that conquers the world is our faith.”