In the second reading today
St Paul says to the Thessalonians:
For all things give thanks to God, …
For all things give thanks to God,
We are to be a thankful people –
Whenever we gather, as we are now,
for this central action of our Christian life together,
we gather to give thanks to God.
The name ‘Eucharist’,
from the Greek for ‘thanksgiving’
reflects this.
Our first reading was a beautiful text from the prophet Isaiah.
The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me…
He has sent me to bring good news to the poor,
To bind up hearts that are broken
Near the start of Luke’s gospel (Lk 4:16-22)
Jesus reads this text in the synagogue –
and then Jesus says to those there (and to us).
This text is being fulfilled even as you listen.
Jesus himself is filled with the Spirit of the Lord
and brings salvation to the poor
to the broken hearted, to the enslaved.
It is through the Holy Spirit that Jesus brings good news to the poor.
It is through the Holy Spirit Jesus heals broken hearts.
It is the Holy Spirit who empowers –
who anoints – Jesus in his time on earth.
Jesus is the Lord’s anointed one,
the Messiah, the Christ,
(three ways of saying the same thing)
precisely because everything he does as man
is fully aligned to the prompting and the power of the Holy Spirit.
John bear witness to this:
He is able to say:
there stands among you,
unknown to you,
the one who is coming after me
and I am not fit to undo his sandal-straps
John the Baptist knows he is not the Lord’s anointed;
he is not the Christ;
presumably he knows this in himself
but he also knows it because he knows Jesus
– he can see the full force of the Spirit in Jesus.
John knows who he is talking about;
he recognises Jesus the man
as the Lord’s anointed,
filled with the Spirit of the Lord.
Through God’s guidance,
John can see
what those around him cannot.
We, through the gift of faith,
see what others cannot.
We, like John the Baptist,
are to recognise the effects of the Holy Spirit –
the Spirit John saw powering what Jesus did.
We are to recognise
Jesus’ advent, Jesus’ coming,
Jesus made present,
through the work of the Spirit,
here and now,
in this time and place,
in the circumstances of our own lives.
We are to look around us, and,
with the eyes of faith,
see the Spirit of God at work.
We should not look far away,
we should look in our family,
we should look in our neighbours and colleagues,
we should look in our parish,
we should look in ourselves.
Wherever we see people reaching out,
helping others,
calming fears,
seeking peace,
offering forgiveness,
working for reconciliation,
we should see the Spirit of God at work,
we should see God’s blessing in our lives.
This is not some kind of human self-congratulation,
it is acknowledging the wonderful work God does
through real ordinary people.
Mary, Jesus’ mother, is our model here –
we used her prayer as our response to the first reading.
She rejoices in the Lord
who looks on her lowliness
and works marvels for her.
As we become aware of the work of God
we are moved to join whole heartedly with Mary’s words
my soul glorifies the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour
Let us, like John the Baptist,
recognise the Spirit at work,
let us, like Mary,
allow our hearts to respond
with rejoicing,
and, let us, as Paul instructs,
give heartfelt thanks to God,
in this Eucharist.