Jesus Fulfills Isaiah's Prohecy

Let us contemplate the words of Luke
As he tell us of the quiet beginning of Jesus ministry.

Jesus returns home to Nazareth on the Sabbath

And reads from Isaiah's scroll
A prophecy of one chosen by God
To proclaim the good news to the poor.
Jesus closes the scroll
And announces his destiny.
He fulfills the prophecy.
He is the anointed of God,
As proclaimed on the banks of the Jordan
By a descending dove,

In Nazareth

A small village huddled

In the shadow of a great city.

Sepphoris, the ornament of Galilee,
Where Mary's parents lived
When she was born.
Where Joseph plied his trade
With the help of his eldest son,
Jesus.
A city more Roman than Jewish.
Sepphoris,
Never mentioned in the Bible
But where Jesus walked to maturity.
In Nazareth, 
Jesus reads Isaiah for his mother
While the streets of Sepphoris echo in his mind.
 
   

Good Friday

Jesus walked to Golgotha,
The place of the skull,
To be crucified.
He would die on the cross
Unable to breathe.
His mother and other women
Stood at the foot of the cross.
Where was God?
On the cross.
In heaven weeping.
With the world
In this darkest hour.
The sacrifice was complete.
As Jesus said,
"It is finished,"
The miracle had just begun.

Photo by David Paul Ohmer