“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
The question of when Jesus knew he was the Messiah has been debated since not long after he died and rose from the dead. In the beginning of his Gospel that St. Luke addresses to “most excellent Theophilus” [in Greek “friend of God”] he tells of Jesus standing up in the synagogue in His home town of Nazareth to read a passage from the Book of Isaiah that prophesies the coming of the Messiah. He rolls up the scroll and announces that “this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” The people who had known Jesus from His
youth, and knew Joseph and Mary even before He was born, responded with questions and then anger. But we have the benefit of Scripture in the New Testament and the witness of more than two thousands years of people who believed in Jesus as Messiah and Lord. We are challenged to demonstrate our belief in Jesus by getting to know him better, appreciating His love for us and imitating Him to the best of our ability for ourselves and others. We are challenged to be a “friend of Christ.”
