Reading 1, 1 John 4:19—5:4

19 Let us love, then, because he first loved us.

20 Anyone who says ‘I love God’ and hates his brother, is a liar, since whoever does not love the brother whom he can see cannot love God whom he has not seen.

21 Indeed this is the commandment we have received from him, that whoever loves God, must also love his brother.

Gospel, Luke 4:14-22a

14 Jesus, with the power of the Spirit in him, returned to Galilee; and his reputation spread throughout the countryside.

15 He taught in their synagogues and everyone glorified him.

16 He came to Nazara, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day as he usually did. He stood up to read,

17 and they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written:

18 The spirit of the Lord is on me, for he has anointed me to bring the good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives, sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,

19 to proclaim a year of favour from the Lord.

20 He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. And all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him.

21 Then he began to speak to them, ‘This text is being fulfilled today even while you are listening.’

22 And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips. They said, ‘This is Joseph’s son, surely?’

These passages illustrate the need for interpretation of the scriptures.

 In 1 John 4:20, who is my brother?

 In Luke 4: 19, what is “a year of favour from the Lord”?

 Most commentators assume that “brother” means “fellow Christian.” i.e. he is the one to whom I have a “family” relationship and obligation. “Who are my mother and brothers?” Jesus asked, on being told his family wanted to see him, and he answered, “Those who do God’s will,” looking at those who were following him. In the tradition of that answer, the group of disciples displaces the natural family as the disciple’s first responsibility. Perhaps this tradition was valued most by those whose families did not share their faith. Usually however, Greek writers used the verb philein to describe love for family whereas John (along with the rest of New Testament writers) uses agapein, which stands for an undiscriminating, inclusive, kind of love. So I think it would be legitimate to say that “love for brother” in John’s letter means first of all members of the Christian family, but extends to non-members also. A Christian should not have two standards of behaviour, one for fellow Christians and another for everyone else: the one standard of brotherly love is sufficient.

 John assumes that test of love is its reality. The brother is real, all too real, sometimes. If we cannot love this real, particular person, how can we love the real God? Those who claim this is possible are called “liars”, because the God they claim to love is just a figment of their imagination.

 A “year of favour” has for some time, been seen by scholars in the light of the laws for the “year of Jubilee” in Leviticus 25, namely,  a time when lands were to be restored to original owners, debts cancelled, slaves freed. It’s not clear that these laws were ever implemented in Israel. Jesus’ sermon clearly refers to the kind of people the laws were designed to protect, poor, imprisoned, oppressed. He indicates that in his mission God is bringing a new Jubilee year, by creating a community in which the age-old divisions of power and wealth will not exist.  This view of Jesus’ mission is strongly expressed in Luke’s Gospel, and in the Book of Acts, of which Luke is the likely author. The Christian community, especially in rich countries, has yet to respond to the challenge of these texts. The issue is not so different from the one highlighted in the letter of John: if we cannot love the poor or oppressed person whom we have seen, how can we love the God who we have not seen?

The brother (and sister) whom we have seen...