Fulfillment is a central theme in today’s Gospel. Reference to fulfillment appears twice in this passage from Saint Luke’s Gospel. Early in this passage, Saint Luke explains that “many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have been fulfilled among us.” The Gospel reading concludes with Our Lord’s own words: “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
The Scripture passage to which Our Lord refers is found in the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord” (Is 61).
Jesus Christ is the “anointed one”—the “Messiah.” And this prophetic passage from Isaiah explains the nature and the purpose of his divine anointing. Our Lord came to earth to aid those in need. Indeed, Jesus came to save those in desperate need of he himself.
Christians delight in studying the thematic resonances found within the Sacred Scripture. The Bible is a unified work. It was composed over the course of hundreds and hundreds of years under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Nonetheless, the Bible is made up of many books, not just one. The very English title “Bible” comes from the Greek word for “books.” And part of the splendor of the written word of God is the fact that the various books of the Bible all enjoy—in their discrete parts—a profound coherence.
Although it has many parts, the Bible is essentially one.
God is the reason for the Bible’s essential unity. The Bible is a unified work because the Bible originates from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit’s divine authorship is reflected in the unity of the saving message of the Bible. Although many human authors contributed to the books of the Bible, there is only one Holy Spirit. And because there is only one Holy Spirit, the sacred message of the Bible is fundamentally one. Sacred Scripture has one fundamental meaning—one ultimate fulfillment. Jesus.
Jesus is the fulfillment of the Bible.
Therefore, the proper way to read the Bible—which is to say, the way that the Holy Spirit intended the Bible to be read—is in reference to Our Lord. This means that the Christian is never satisfied with a merely “literary study” of the sacred text. Jesus is not a mere narratival figure restricted to the pages of the Bible. Rather, he is the living Savior—a Savior who is truly Our Savior even now.
Jesus really came to earth “for us men and for our salvation,” as we profess in the Creed at Mass. He truly ascended into Heaven after his saving work on this earth was brought to completion. And he continues to come to us here on earth, from Heaven, through the seven sacraments of the Church—the instruments through which Our Lord continues his work of our salvation in us. Here and now.
Jesus is the fulfillment of the Bible. And Jesus exists as Our Savior here and now. And, thus, all of the words of Sacred Scripture are fulfilled here and now—when we find Jesus.
The concluding sentence of today’s Gospel is just as true now as it was when Jesus said it: “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” All of those who unite themselves to Jesus experience the saving fulfillment of Sacred Scripture.
And this saving fulfillment—Jesus!—is available to all of us… today and everyday.
