filled with the power of the Spirit, 
the prophet
found the place where it was written:

good news to the poor, 

release to the captives,
and recovery of sight to the blind,

The Spirit of the Lord 
has
let the oppressed go free  

 –  as was his custom,
and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country.

Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

Today’s #preparingforSundaywithpoetry uses not my own words (what words do I own, anyway?), but only those found in Sundays’ Gospel. What is left – if most of the words of the prophet, that Jesus sought and found and read aloud, are omitted – those words are pasted below. The title is not found in this week’s Gospel but throughout our salvation history – God’s history of mercy upon us – and echoes from the pulpit occupied by Bp Mariann Budde earlier this week.

Jesus,
returned to Galilee.
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,
He stood up to read, and the scroll of
Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and:

“is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring. 

He
sent me to proclaim 
to 

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, “

Luke 4:14-21