Signposts On The Way

Luke the Evangelist says often that Jesus was animated (my word) by the Holy Spirit. “[T]he Holy Spirit descended upon” Jesus after his baptism (3:22); “Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan” (4:1a). Jesus “was led by the Spirit into the desert” (4:1b) to begin his 40-day fast and encounter the devil. Afterwards, “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit” (4:14). So it’s no surprise when Luke has Jesus stand up in the synagogue to read his mission statement, as it were, that it begins: “’The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me…’” (4:18a, from Is 61:1).

In his two volumes written precisely for this purpose, Luke parallels Jesus’ Spirit-animation with that of the Church’s. But who is this Spirit that Luke is so interested in? Well, Jesus’ veritable mission statement ends with the charge “to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord” (4:19; Is 61:2). This harkens back to the Old Testament Jubilee Year (Lv 25), when God’s original intention for creation is reestablished, where harmony, balance, and righteousness is restored. In turn, this sends us back to the beginning, to Genesis, where the Holy Spirit is present and co-creates with God. Through the Spirit, God brings about God’s loving intention for creation. What Luke has Jesus proclaim in his mission statement is that through the power of that same Spirit, Jesus is, through his ministry and his very body, his presence (see 4:21), bringing this jubilee restoration about. So, when John’s disciples come to find out for their master if Jesus is the Awaited One, he responds: “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them” (7:22). Jesus’ ministry concretely restores God’s reign.

Luke’s parallel part 2 to his Gospel is the Acts of the Apostles, a book that continues to be written today. That is why the liturgical season that follows Pentecost is Ordinary Time. After celebrating the extraordinary times of Incarnation at Christmas and Resurrection at Easter, we live in the Ordinary Time of the Spirit continuing to accompany and to empower the Church—Christ really present in the faithful—to make God’s Reign concretely present here and now. The only real question for us is, how are we doing? How open are we to the Spirit’s power to restore God’s original, loving intention for creation through our actions? What convincing response would we have for John’s disciples today?