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One of the things that we could see in the recent Miss Universe 2020 (done in 2021) is that the candidates had to share the causes that they support. Some are into urban gardening, some are into climate change initiatives, and many more.

In the first public appearance of Jesus in a synagogue, He already said what is the cause that He was into. Jesus was in Nazareth, the place where He grew up, when He read from the scroll of Isaiah. It is interesting to note that intentionally read the passage from Isaiah 61. The scroll of Isaiah was 17 sheets and 24 feet in length. So, this means that Jesus knew where to find it. This background is necessary to appreciate why Jesus deliberately read that passage.

Luke 4:18-19 says, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” After reading this, Jesus said that this Scripture has been fulfilled. Later on, the disciples of John the Baptist have confirmed that indeed what Jesus said, He put it into action.

What then is the message for us? The message is that we need to be part of the ministry of Jesus. We must make the cause of Jesus, our own cause. Jesus said that that if we want to be His disciple, we must follow Him.

The questions then for us are the following: Are we proclaiming good news to the poor? Are we proclaiming freedom to the prisoners? Are we involve in the ministry of recovering sight for the blind? Are we setting the oppressed free? Are we proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor? These are questions that we must personally answer. Our churches need to answer these difficult questions also.

There are no easy answers to these questions. What we can do is to make these questions as a guide to reflect and to evaluate what we are all doing.

May we all join in the cause of Jesus Christ!

Sincerely,