Truth That Saves

A Reflection on the Gospel for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time:
January 26, 2025

---

Luke
1:1-4; 4:14-21

Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.

Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom.

He stood up to read, and the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “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.”

And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.

Then he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

I love seeing evidence of the Father’s fingerprints in everything, a testament to His ultimate sovereignty over the universe. Of all the scrolls that could have been handed to Jesus on this day, it was this one – a moment rich with Divine intention. And what a significant time for Jesus to return home, where His reputation as a great Teacher preceded Him in Nazareth.

A current of curiosity must have rippled through the crowd as they gathered to witness Jesus’ homecoming. Perhaps they felt a sense of pride in claiming Him as one of their own – a testament that indeed, something good had come out of Nazareth (Jn 1:46).

What did it feel like to be in the synagogue on that day, then? To sit in that uncomfortable silence after Jesus did His usual Jesus thing—rocking the boat by speaking truth. How heavy the air in that room must have felt, thick with shock, incredulity, outrage, wonder, joy, and everything in between.

I imagine they might have been thinking something like this: “This Jesus! Claiming to be our Saviour? The one we watched grow up? He’s just like the rest of us. How could He possibly be who He says He is?” 

A perfectly reasonable line of questioning. Perhaps some hearts turned toward hope, mulling over what they heard Jesus say and feeling God’s ever-gentle whisper of confirmation in the quiet of their soul. But we know from the events that followed that many others doubled down on their limited perception of reality. Pride filled their hearts, rendering them deaf to the truth.

Jesus shook the status quo, and this work still goes on today in our own lives too. How many hard truths He has revealed to us, and how many more He will continue to reveal, about our lives and our character; and yet, how reluctant we often are to receive them. Accepting truth demands the painful work of dismantling the falsehoods we’ve clung to so tightly, but it is through this discomfort that transformation begins.

Let us pray: Make me know Your Ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You I wait all the day. (Ps. 25:4-5)




Vanessa Noujaim

---