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Illustration: The Return of the Prodigal Son by Pompeo Baton (1708-1787)
Pope Francis General Audience
Paul VI Audience Hall Wednesday, 25 January 2023
Catechesis 3 on Evangelisation
The passion for evangelization: the apostolic zeal of the believer. 3.
“Jesus, master of proclamation”
Lk. 4:16-21
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the sabbath day.[a]
And he stood up to read; 17 and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah.
He opened the book and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
20 And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21
And he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Last Wednesday we reflected on Jesus, the model of proclamation, on his pastoral heart always reaching out to others. Today we look at Him as the teacher of proclamation.
Let us be guided by the episode of his preaching in the synagogue of his village, Nazareth. Jesus reads a passage from the prophet Isaiah (cf. 61:1-2) and then surprises everyone with a very short “sermon”, of one sentence, a single sentence. He said: “Today this Scripture that you heard was fulfilled. This was Jesus’ sermon: “ Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” This means that for Jesus this prophetic passage contains the essence of what He wants to say about himself. So whenever we talk about Jesus, we should go back to this first announcement of His. Then let us see what this first announcement consists of.
Five essential elements can be identified.
The first element is joy.
Jesus proclaims, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; […] He sent me to bring good news to the poor” (v. 18), that is, a proclamation of gladness, of joy. Glad tidings: one cannot speak of Jesus without joy, because faith is a wonderful love story to be shared. To witness to Jesus, to do something for others in His name, is to say between the lines of life that one has received such a beautiful gift that no words are enough to express it. On the contrary, if there is no joy, the Gospel does not get through, because it is — the word itself says so — good news, and the Gospel means good news, proclamation of joy. A sad Christian can talk of beautiful things but it is all in vain if the proclamation he gives is not happy.
One thinker said: “a sad Christian is a sad Christian”: do not forget this.
We come to the second element: liberation.
Jesus says that he was sent “to proclaim deliverance to the captives” (ibid.). This means that those who proclaim God cannot proselytize. No. They cannot put pressure on others, but enlighten them: They cannot impose burdens, but relieve them of them. They bring peace, not guilt. Certainly, following Jesus involves asceticism, it involves sacrifices. On the other hand, if every beautiful thing requires it, how much more the decisive reality of life!
But those who bear witness to Christ show the beauty of the goal, more than the fatigue of the journey. We may have told someone about a nice trip we made. For example, we will have talked about the beauty of the places, about what we saw and experienced, not about the time to get there and the queues at the airport, no! Thus every proclamation worthy of the Redeemer must communicate liberation. Like that of Jesus. Today there is joy, because I have come to liberate.
Third element: light.
Jesus says that he came to bring “sight to the blind” (ibid.). It is striking that in the whole Bible, before Christ, the healing of a blind man never appears, never. It was in fact a promised sign that it would come with the Messiah. But here it is not just a question of physical sight, but of a light that makes us see life in a new way. There is a “coming to light”, a rebirth that takes place only with Jesus. If we think about it, this is how the Christian life began for us: with Baptism, which in ancient times was called precisely “illumination”. And what light does Jesus give us? He brings us the light of sonship: he is the beloved Son of the Father, living forever; and with him we too are children of God loved forever, despite our mistakes and defects. T hen life is no longer a blind advance towards nothingness, no: it is not a matter of fate or luck. It is not something that depends on chance or the stars, nor on health or finances, no. Life depends on love, on the love of the Father, who takes care of us, his beloved children. How beautiful it is to share this light with others! Have you thought that the life of each one of us – my life, your life, our life – is a gesture of love? Is it an invitation to love? This is wonderful! But so often we forget this, in the face of difficulties, in the face of bad news, even in the face – and this is ugly – of worldliness, of the worldly way of life.
The fourth element of the proclamation: healing.
Jesus says that he came “ to set at liberty those who are oppressed“. The oppressed is those who in life feel crushed by something that happens: sickness, work, burdens on the heart, guilt, mistakes, vices, sins … Are we ppressed by these? Let’s think, for example, of feelings of guilt. How many of us have suffered this? Let’s think a bit about a sense of guilt of that, of the other… What oppresses us most is the evil that evil no medicine or human remedy can cure: sin. And when we feel guilty about something we have done, and it feels bad…
But the good news is that with Jesus this ancient evil, sin, which seems invincible, no longer has the last word. I can sin because I am weak. Each of us can do it, but this is not the last word. The last word is the outstretched hand of Jesus that raises you up from sin. And Father, when do you do this? Once? No. Two? No. Three? No. All the time. Whenever you feel bad, the Lord always has his hand outstretched.
You just have to hold on and let yourself be carried away.
The good news is that with Jesus this ancient evil no longer has the last word: the last word is the outstretched hand of Jesus that leads you forward. Jesus always heals us from sin. A
nd how much do I have to pay for healing? Nothing. He heals us always and freely.
He invites those who are “weary and heavy laden”, as he says in the Gospel, to come to him (cf. Mt 11:28 – Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest).
And so to accompany someone to the encounter with Jesus is to take to the doctor of the heart, who raises life. It is saying: “Brother, sister, I have no answers to many of your problems, but Jesus knows you, Jesus loves you, He can heal you and soothe your heart”. Those who carry burdens need a caress on the past. So Many times we hear: “But I need to heal my past… I need a caress on that past that weighs so heavily on me…”
He needs forgiveness. And those who believe in Jesus have exactly that to give to others: the power of forgiveness, that frees the soul from all debt.
Brothers, sisters, do not forget: God forgets everything. How come? Yes, He forgets all our sins. He has no memory of them. God forgives everything because He forgets our sins. All we have to do is turn to the Lord and He will forgive us everything.
Think of something of the Gospel, of what began to speak: “Lord, I have sinned!”
That son… And Dad puts his hand in his mouth. “No, okay, nothing…” He doesn’t let him finish… And that’s nice. Jesus is waiting for us to forgive us, to heal us. And how much? Once? Twice? No. All the time. “But father, I do the same things all the time…”
And he too will always do his own things: forgive you, embrace you.
Please, we have no mistrust in this. This is how the Lord is loved. Those who carry burdens and need a caress on the past, need forgiveness, know that Jesus does it.
And this is what Jesus gives: to free the soul from all debt.
The Bible speaks of a year in which one was freed from the burden of debt: the Jubilee, the year of grace. As if it were the last point of the announcement.
The fifth element is the wonder of grace.
In fact, Jesus says that he came “ to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Lk 4:19).
It was not a planned jubilee, like the ones we are doing now, that everything is planned and we think about how to do it as well as not to do … No. But with Christ the grace that makes life new always comes and amazes. Christ is the Jubilee of every day, of every hour, which draws near to you, to caress you, to forgive you. And the proclamation of Jesus must always bring the wonder of grace. This amazement… “I can’t believe, I’ve been forgiven, I’ve been forgiven”. But so great is our God! Because it is not we who do great things, but it is the grace of the Lord who, also through us, accomplishes unpredictable things. And these are God’s surprises. God is a master of surprises. He is always surprising us, always waiting for us. We arrive, and He is waiting. All the time. The Gospel is accompanied by a sense of wonder and newness that has a name: Jesus.
May he help us to proclaim him as he wishes, communicating joy, liberation, light, healing and wonder. This is how Jesus communicates himself.
One last thing: this good news, which the Gospel says, is addressed “to the poor” (v. 18). We often forget them, yet they are the recipients explicitly mentioned, because they are God’s beloved.
Let us remember them and remember that, in order to welcome the Lord, each one of us must become “poor within”. With that poverty that makes people say…”Lord, I need forgiveness, I need help, I need strength”. This poverty that we all have: to become poor from within.
It is a matter of overcoming every pretense of self-sufficiency in order to understand that we are in need of grace, and always in need of Him.
If someone says to me: ‘Father, what is the shortest way to encounter Jesus?’ Get in need!. Make yourself in need of grace, in need of forgiveness, in need of joy.
And He will come near to you.
