Origen · a new plain-English translation from the Greek and Latin
First, "Jesus returned from the Jordan full of the Holy Spirit and was led by the Spirit in the desert for forty days," when he was being tempted by the devil, and since he was still to contend against him, "spirit" is set down once and then a second time, without any addition. But when he had overcome by fighting the three temptations that scripture records, see how pointedly and carefully it now speaks of the Spirit.
"Jesus," it says, "returned in the power of the Spirit." It is "power" because he had trampled the dragon and had defeated the tempter hand to hand. "So in the Spirit's power Jesus went back into Galilee, and word of him spread through the whole surrounding country. And he himself was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone glorified him." When you read, "he was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone gave him glory,"
was glorified by all," beware of judging only those people blessed and supposing yourself deprived of the teaching. If what is written is true, the Lord speaks not only then, in the assemblies of the Jews, but also today in this assembly; and not only in this one, but also in every other gathering and throughout the whole world Jesus teaches, seeking instruments through which
he may teach. Pray that he may find me too tuned and fit for singing! For just as almighty God seeks out prophets at the time when mortals need prophecy, and finds them—Isaiah, for instance, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel—so Jesus seeks instruments through which he may teach his word, or instruct the peoples in the synagogues, "and be glorified by all." Now he is glorified by all even more
than at the time when he was known in only one province. Then, "he arrived at Nazareth, the place of his upbringing, and, as was his custom, went into the synagogue on the sabbath and rose to read; and the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him; and unrolling the book, he found the place where it was written: 'Upon me rests the Spirit of the Lord, because of which he has anointed me.'" It was not by chance that he unrolled the book and found the passage about himself
in the reading, but this too was by God's providence. For as it is written, "not a sparrow falls into a snare without the will of the Father," and "all the hairs of the head" of the apostles are numbered—perhaps this too was providence: that the book of Isaiah in particular was the one found, and no other reading but this one, which spoke of the mystery of Christ: "Upon me rests the Spirit of the Lord; for this reason
he has anointed me." For it is Christ who calls these things to mind—one must not suppose that this happened randomly and by chance, but by the providence and arrangement of God. Let us then consider what it was that was spoken in the prophet and that he afterward proclaimed of himself in the synagogue. "To evangelize," "he has sent me to the poor." It signifies the nations; for these were "the poor," having nothing at all,
neither God, nor the law, nor the prophets, nor righteousness nor the remaining virtues. For this reason God sent him, to announce to the poor: "to preach release to captives." We were the ones whom Satan had bound for so many years, holding us captive and subject to himself. Jesus came "to preach to captives," and to the blind, "that they might see"; for by his word and teaching the blind do see. Let "preaching," then, be understood not
...not only over captives, but also over the blind. "To send forth the broken in freedom." In what way was that man broken and crushed, who was released and healed by Jesus? "To proclaim the acceptable [year] of the Lord." According to the simple understanding, they say that the Savior preached the gospel in Judea for a year, and that this is what is meant by the words: "to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day" — unless perhaps something
of a mystery is signified by the divine word in the proclamation of the year of the Lord. For there will be other days, not such as we now see in this world, and other months, and a different order of the calendar. Just as those other things will be different, then, so too the year of the Lord to come will be pleasing. But all these things were foretold, so that after sight from blindness, after freedom from chains, after healing from
various wounds, we might come to "the acceptable year of the Lord." When Jesus had read these things, rolling up "the book, he handed it to the attendant, sat down, and every eye in the synagogue was fixed upon him." And if you wish, in this synagogue and assembly too your eyes can be fixed upon the Savior. For when you have directed the chief gaze of your heart toward wisdom and truth and toward contemplating the Only-Begotten of God, your eyes behold
Jesus. Blessed is the congregation of which scripture testifies that "the eyes of all were fixed upon him." I would wish this assembly to have a like testimony, that the eyes of all — of catechumens and of the faithful, of women and of men and of little children, not the eyes of the body, but of the soul — might behold Jesus! For when you have looked toward him, your faces will grow brighter from his light and gaze, and
you will be able to say: "The light of your face, Lord, has been sealed upon us" — to whom is glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.