The Real Truth About You

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Luke 4: 14-21 (last part of Sunday's Gospel)
Then 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 favor.’
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.’

It’s sometimes easy to just skim over the Gospel readings because they are so familiar. Like this one. You might have read it and perhaps had a few fleeting thoughts about how much courage it took for Jesus to announce to those listening that he was the one who was the fulfillment of that scripture reading. Perhaps you briefly pondered on how dangerous it was for him to make such a statement because he was openly inviting judgment. It may have struck you that he was making himself totally vulnerable to people who had known him all his life and he was giving them the opportunity to either condemn him for being incredibly arrogant or accept him completely as one who was telling the truth. 

I don’t know if you realize it or not, but each time you read this scripture you are also called to make a judgment as to whether Jesus was arrogantly deluded or if he was revealing the truth. You can either reject what he said or you can accept it. Most likely, right now you are saying, “Of course I accept it.” Good. Now, I want you to go back to the above scripture and read verses 18 and 19 again (in italics) only this time I want you to imagine that instead of Jesus reading the scroll, you are. Every time the word “me” occurs, it means you personally. 

Do you accept that or do you reject it? If you imagine yourself in that scene and you are the one claiming an anointing, would you feel you are being arrogant and delusional – or would you be stating the truth? How comfortable would you be about stating that truth in public? The truth was that Jesus definitely had been anointed by God to bring good news to the poor and to proclaim release to the captives etc. If, for the sake of being humble, he had proclaimed anything less than what he did or if he had said anything that would indicate that he didn’t feel he should assume that this was a role meant for him, he would have been practicing false humility. Christ’s claim to be the fulfillment of Isaiah’s scripture passage was true humility: full acceptance of who he really was and full acceptance of what he had been anointed to do. No more, no less. 

Up to the beginning of his ministry, Jesus had spent his life listening to the Father speak his name and coming to terms with his true identity. To us, the name ‘Jesus’ is synonymous with his Messiah identity but in actual fact, the name ‘Jesus’ was an extremely common name in those days. Jesus heard far more than just his given name being spoken by the Father. He heard Names that spoke of his true identity and he had to accept his true identity. This acceptance was not based in arrogance but in humility. In fully accepting all he was called to be, he was doing what his Father required of him: walking humbly with his God. (Micah 6:8)

There is an inclination in all of us to allow ourselves to be less than who we really are. We think that everything Jesus did and said was more possible for him than it is for us because he was God incarnate. We feel he was filled with all these graces and blessings that we don’t have access to so we can’t hope to be completely one with his identity, his mission and his ministry. 

Scripture says differently. In Philippians 2:5, Paul said, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” In John 14:12, Jesus said, “I tell you most solemnly, whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself; he will perform even greater works, because I am going to the Father.” The Mass, too, acknowledges that we have access to all the same graces Jesus had access to: “Almighty God, we pray that your angel may take this sacrifice to your altar in heaven. Then as we receive from this altar the sacred body and blood of your Son, may we be filled with every grace and blessing.” Or how about: “By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity.”

We know scripture says that Jesus experienced all the temptations that we do. He would definitely have been faced with the temptation to downplay his own importance, his relationship to the Father and what he felt the Father was calling him to be and do. He would have been tempted to practice false humility. “Who do I think I am? I’m nothing special. I’m just a carpenter from a poor village. My mother thinks I’m special but all mothers think their sons are special. It's true, I keep having these inner yearnings toward people around me and I feel such love and compassion for everyone I meet. I ache to be able to lift up their hearts and give them hope because they are all so amazingly precious. But I can’t just claim the authority to go around blessing and healing or speaking about how wonderful the Father is. I’m just plain old Jesus from Nazareth and they know it. They would think I’m trying to make myself more important than I really am.”

Jesus had to deal with this temptation. He had probably heard and read that particular scripture from Isaiah many times and perhaps each time he heard it a huge desire would stir within him, and perhaps each time it was a little stronger than the time before. Eventually he had to pay attention. He had to go to the Father and ask, “Does this mean me?” He had to decide if he was going to believe it and accept it and if he did decide to accept it, what then? He would have had to tell the Father, "I believe you are calling me and I will trust you to take me where I must go and to lead me moment by moment."

Through baptism and confirmation, you, too, have been anointed. The Holy Spirit was given to you and continues to be sent to stir, anoint and move you just as he came to Jesus to stir, anoint and move him. Ignoring or downplaying this aspect of your spiritual life might feel to you like you are being humble. There is a huge temptation in the spiritual journey to pay more attention to one’s sinfulness than to the freedom and calling we have received through Christ’s sacrifice. There is a mistaken sense that if we pay a lot of attention to how bad we are, the Lord will be pleased because we aren’t being proud and arrogant about ourselves. 

False humility.

It is absolutely true that you are broken, that you make mistakes and that you often have need of God’s forgiveness and reconciliation. However, if you ignore the stirring of God’s Spirit within you and lack the courage to acknowledge that you are beloved of the Father, that you have been called to the Royal Priesthood, that you have been clothed in Christ, that you can actually access the same mind Christ had, that you are filled with the exact same dignity and authority of Christ and that you have a Name and a unique calling no one else can fulfill then you are being tempted to define your worth through false humility as well as false voices in your head. 

We all need to continually ponder these questions:
1. By Name he has called me. What is my Name? Who am I?
2. What was I chosen, anointed and sent to do and be?
3. Do I really accept and believe this? (Am I prepared to practice true humility?)

Several years ago there was a hymn that became very popular and to me it was very significant that this song seemed to touch everyone in a very deep place.

"Here I am, Lord, is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart." (Dan Schutte, 1981)

Revisit all the lyrics of this song and recall how it seemed to stir something within you whenever it was sung. Contemplate the message and the meaning and try to grasp that God really is calling you in the night, longing for you to recognize his voice and hear the name he chose especially for you. Pray for the grace to be able to accept that it is definitely you he is calling and that you, truthfully and in all humility, are allowed to say,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me. He has sent me...”