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Anointed and rejected

Let us focus our attention in the two points in the Gospel: first is the fulfillment of the prophecy

of Isaiah in Jesus, the Messiah. And secondly, the rejection in Nazareth, his native land.

At first, the listeners of the Lord admired His ways. They knew what Jesus has done inCapernaum. The miracles, the healing and his preaching. After reading the scripture, He said that

the prophecy was fulfilled. Natupad na nga ang propesiya ni Isaias sa kanya. Ang pagdating ng

manunubos ay nasabi na, na proklama na, na sya namang dapat ikatuwa ng mga taga Nazareth.

As Archbishop Tagle of Manila said, Anointing. In the Gospel we hear Jesus talking about He

Himself as the anointed one .The spirit of the Lord is upon me, therefore he has anointed me.

Anointing by the Spirit. This makes him truly the Messiah, truly the Christ, the anointed one,

anointed by the Spirit. And he says, at the end of His proclamation of this passage from Isaiah,

Today, this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing. This prophesy from Isaiah about the

coming of the Holy Spirit anointing the whole people is happening now, is fulfilled now.

Nagaganap ang sinabi sa Propeta Isaias ngayon. Saan at papaano magaganap sa kanya, kayHesus?So Jesus is speaking here not only as an individual, as the fulfillment of the prophecy in

Isaiah, he is personifying the whole of Israel, after all, in the prophecy of Isaiah, the anointing is

not being done only to an individual. It is the whole community that is anointed by the Holy

Spirit, and thus anointed they become a priestly people, a people that will minister to the Lord, a

people that will convince all the nations, God is here. We are truly blessed. A priestly people

anointed by the Spirit. And as a priestly people they will bring the glad tidings of joy to the poor.

They will tell the weary their time of sadness is over. They have found favour with God. It is a

time of rejoicing. The anointed priestly people are the bearers of joy. Please smile! Now you

look anointed.Isnt it, the words are very encouraging? Jesus is now sharing his mission to us.

Our mission is to bring Joy, not just for our friends but also for the poor. We became consecrated

people through Christ. So live that mission! We are not anointed to bring sadness, but joy! Joy

in the Lord. Joy in the nearness of God. And this joy is coupled with freedom, liberation,

liberation to captives, liberation to those who are enslaved by different forms of captivity.

Anointed by the Lord, by the spirit of the Lord, you bring joy, you bring freedom. That is the

whole point of your anointing.

Secondly, sadly, after the admiration, here comes the rejection. It is not okay to be rejected. It

hurts us. It kills us. Sabi nga nila, tagos hanggang buto. Especially when your own friends or

family rejected you. Masakit di ba? That was the same feeling when Jesus was rejected by his

townsmen. It hurts. It kills Jesus. But as Bo Bonet said, A rejection is nothing more than a

necessary step in the pursuit of success.Even if it hurts, Jesus continued his mission. He didnt

stop there, rather He continue His journey. And as the song, the journey said, Forwardalways

forward I go!.Let us not stop in rejection but making those experiences as turning points to find

for another place for our dreams. In the Gospel, Jesus leaved them because of their unbelief. If

you cant defeat them, dont join them but leave them! We too have our own moments of

rejection. We too have experience the unbelief of others. Dontbe sad. Smile, because we have a

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good Lord that has an experience like our own. Keep moving. They refused Christ because they

think they knew Him already. Yes, they knew his mother and father, his relatives and friends.

They presumed to know Jesus but the truth is they dont even know that he is the messiah

because of the lack of faith. Dontpresume and dontbecome so assuming. Let us leave some of

our question to the what we call FAITH. In the Gospel of Luke, this passage is just the

beginning of the ministry of the Lord. The start was welcomed by rejection. Let us learn from a

teacher. Rejection is not a reason to give up but a stepping stone to our new endeavor. Let us

only focus ourselves in the spirit of anointing not in the spirit of rejecting. Smile now, we are

being anointed not rejected. Smile my friends. The feeling of rejection is over. Let us be glad and

bring gladness to others. Amen.