‘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 favour.’
- Luke 4:18-19
Those are the words of promise with which Jesus sparked the beginning of his ministry. To one crowd they were words of promise. To another they were threat. And all throughout Jesus’ ministry he would encounter these two groups of people - one group who found, in him, a hope and an expectation like none other, and another group whose power and position seemed to be at risk by his mere presence.
And that characteristic divide continues to define how each of us relate to the stories of Jesus in our own time. Hope and promise on the one hand; threat and loss on the other. Jesus had a way of making people’s hearts clear to themselves and the world around them: Think, for example, of the father of the ill child who cries out, “I believe… help my unbelief," or the woman who defies social convention and touches the hem of Jesus’ robe to be healed, or the rich young man who seeks affirmation from Jesus but goes away sad and empty. Each of these people thought that they knew themselves, but they didn’t - not fully at least. But in encountering Jesus a new level of self-knowledge was discovered.
Our hearts are made known as well.
Every day we live in relationship with God and one another. As these relationships strengthen we grow to know ourselves more. As these relationship are strained we become blind to ourselves.
I would encourage you to begin your day, each day, with the prayer: “Lord help me today to know you and to know myself.”
Because it is in knowing God that we are humbled to truly know ourselves. And it is in the humility of self-knowledge that Jesus’ words become promise. And it is in living out the promise of Jesus’ words that compassion for neighbour grows. And it is somewhere, in the mix of all of this, that God’s favour is known.
Live in the blessing of the one on whom God’s spirit rests.
