Daily Gospel Reflection for January 9, 2025

Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.

Today's Gospel: Luke 4:14-22

Jesus challenges me in today’s Gospel, challenges all of us. In this scene, Luke describes Jesus as filled with the Spirit. Jesus returns to Galilee experienced in teaching, and gaining, if not popularity, then certainly some notoriety.

Jesus reads from the book of the prophet Isaiah, and Luke’s Gospel reads like a story within a story. I have always taken this passage of scripture to be His assertion of His place in the prophecy. In fact, if you read further, the congregation takes it that way, too, and rejects Him. But today, we only read as far as the prophecy, and the lauds for preaching well. 

Jesus lays out His mission in that reading from Isaiah: to preach to the poor, release captives, and liberate the oppressed. Jesus proclaims His mission, which means that as His followers, it is our mission, too.

Often, I am daunted by the idea of being a missionary and going into the world to spread the Gospel, but the truth is that my mission field is not the entire world. It is within the circle of influence that I have, within my associations at work, within my circle of friends and acquaintances, but most importantly, as a wife, mother, and grandmother, within the intimate circle of my family. When I frame it that way, Christ’s mission is all the more intimate and do-able, but also, essential.

Ponder:

Can you identify a moment in your day when you can carry the Gospels to those around you?

Pray:

Lord, give me the courage to be a missionary for You in whatever mission field I find myself. 

Copyright 2025 Maria Morera Johnson