On one balmy Sabbath, at the very beginning of his ministry, Jesus visited the synagogue in his home town of Nazareth, and when he was asked to read a passage from Holy Scripture, he turned to a part, written by the prophet Isaiah, where it says, and I paraphrase:

‘The Spirit of God has got hold of me,
And is urging me to take on a special task;
To share good news with the poor-
To free the prisoners,
To help the disabled and the disadvantaged,
And to smash the shackles of the oppressed …’ (see Luke 4:18)

Thus Jesus announced, in front of everyone he knew, the Spirit had inspired him to make this radical struggle for God’s love and justice, his manifesto, his mission in life.

The Spirit had awakened in Jesus a passionate concern for the welfare of his people, particularly those who no one else was particularly concerned for. He was passionately concerned about the plight of the ‘poor’, the victims of the imperial system. He was passionately concerned about the predicament of the prisoners, the ‘disabled’ and ‘disadvantaged’, excluded from all meaningful participation in society by bars of iron and bigotry. He was passionately concerned about the condition of the ‘lepers’, not only because of the pain of their ulcers, but also because of the pain of their untouchability.

However the Spirit had evoked in Jesus a passionate concern not only for the welfare of his people, but also for others who were not his people – like Naaman the pagan Syrian, who was healed of leprosy, when many pious Jews weren’t. (Luke 4.16-30)