Luke 4:14-22
And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and a report concerning him went out through all the surrounding country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the sabbath day. And he stood up to read; and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.
And he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
And all spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth; and they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”
Homily:
Those familiar with you, use a familiar past as a measure of who you are and can be.
“Is not this Joseph’s son?”
Firstly, a carpenter’s son reading, was quite a rarity in those days. And then connecting “effortlessly” to scripture and proclaiming himself a fulfillment of the promise, was a real stunner.
Great trees have deep distributed roots for a reason – balance. No one sees how deep the roots run. While most marvel and praise the height of the tree, it never gets carried away and lets go of its roots.
Our roots run deeper than what can be seen by others. That they do not see it, must never make us neglect it, for it is the wellspring of nourishment and balance.