"Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing". A Scripture scholar has suggested that these words of Jesus are the shortest sermon ever preached! Luke mentions "the appealing discourse" that Jesus went on to give, a discourse that elicited the admiration of the people in the synagogue. We may rightly suppose that Jesus' "appealing discourse" was a further commentary on His "short sermon".

Jesus deliberately chose the prophecy of Isaiah as the pattern of His life. Isaiah spoke of a suffering servant. Thus, Jesus set out to become God's suffering servant, and hence the suffering servant of all humanity: "the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mt 20:28).

As we contemplate the life of Jesus in the Gospels, we come to understand more deeply how the words of Isaiah were fulfilled in His life. We come to understand that true service of God and of humanity can only be done through faithful love and loving hope. As each Eucharist comes to a close, let us go out, strengthened by the word of God and the sacrament of the Eucharist, to love each other and so to serve the Lord.