THIS IS THE YEAR OF GOD’S FAVOUR

III SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Lk 4:14-21

At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus went to the synagogue in Nazareth (Nazara), as he used to do, and was called upon to read the biblical passage of the day - from Isaiah 61:1-2. 

“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 favor”.

Jesus took this passage as a proclamation of his own programme, claiming that he came to carry it out. 

In a way, we may say that the whole programme is summarised in the last sentence: “to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour” - that is the year of the Jubilee.

Pope Francis has proclaimed for the Catholic Church this year as a year of Jubilee, and it is the Jubilee of God’s mercy. According to Leviticus 25, every fifty years, there should be a year totally dedicated to the Lord, in which people put their reliance on the Lord, being totally dependent on him.

The year of the jubilee was initiated with a solemn proclamation done by the sounding of the trumpets.

The law of the jubilee can be found in Leviticus, chapter 25. In it, we hear the following words repeated like a refrain: 

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, to be your God. (Lev 25:38).

And then, following from that statement, the main thrust of the jubilee is set forward:

You shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants - Lev 25:10

God has set us free, so we must live as free people. We must manifest in our private and public lives the freedom that God has bestowed on us. And this freedom has to be present in the political, economic and social spheres of life.  The year of jubilee was a year to experience in a very special way God’s love and mercy for his people, that is for each one of us. That’s why slavery and servitude cannot have a place in our midst. The oppressed must go free and the captives must be released. The blind must recover their sight and the poor must hear the good news that finally they are going to find respite from their hardships and sufferings.

The law of the jubilee, in Leviticus 25, shows clearly that the laws must protect the poor. In fact, God is on the side of the poor, because he is a God full of compassion, who hears the cries and the groaning of those who are crushed down by oppression and suffering.

In proclaiming the year of jubilee as a year of mercy, Pope Francis wants all of us become aware of God’s love and compassion and open our hearts to experience it. Only when we experience God’s mercy, will we be able to show mercy to others.

The refrain of the jubilee - I am the Lord - Yahweh - your God, who has set you free is repeated time and again in the words that Jesus has left us: 

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (Lk 6:36).