In today’s gospel Jesus is reading in his local synagogue. He reads from the prophet Isaiah:
“The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, and to the blind new sight, to set the downtrodden free, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour.”
They describe the the fulfilment of God’s promise that will be heralded by the coming of the Messiah, the source of hope for generations of Israelites, even when it felt like there was nothing left to hope for. I was struck both by the hope they offer and by how hard it can be to keep hope alive in the midst of difficult lives.
Jesus’ first audience in the synagogue must have known that truth from their own experience just as we do in ours. In his quiet, humble way Jesus points out a different reality. He reminds his hearers that the promise Isaiah speaks of has not been rescinded or forgotten, but is being fulfilled before their eyes:
‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’
Looking around them at the state of their world those first listeners must have struggled to accept his message. That’s equally true for us in our own troubling and challenging times. It can be hard to be hopeful, when life is tough it can even seem naïve or foolish.
It can feel like everything we read and everything we hear points us towards hopelessness. Jesus points in another direction. He tells us we are called to be people of hope whatever we face. It is the hope, that St Paul reminds us, cannot deceive us however troublesome the times.
As we face challenging and uncertain times what helps to keep hope alive in your life?