THIRD SUNDAY OF THE YEAR C

THIRD SUNDAY OF THE YEAR – C (Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10; 1Cor 12:12-30; Luke 1:1-4, 4:14-21) Theme: Today, The Word of God “finds” its Fulfillment IN US Reflection: Jesus is both the Messenger and the Liberator - Structure of the Gospel passage: We are entering into the third Sunday of the Ordinary Time of the Year. The readings of today lead us to the celebration of the Liturgy of the Word. Even prior to the reflection, there is an important aspect that we need to make a note of: the structure of today’s gospel passage. We find a strange combination in it. It consists of two parts: the first part is the first four verses of the beginning of the Gospel of Luke and second part is immediately refers to the fourth chapter. Why is this structure? It is neither for the confusion nor without the reason. The simple logic is this: the Church introduces us into the Gospel of Luke. Though two weeks have been passed, there was no possibility of begin the Luke’s Gospel in this Liturgical Year C. The year started with the Baptism of the Lord and then last week we have been offered with the reflection of the wedding of Cana. It is for this reasoning the Church proposes the beginning of the Gospel (1: 1-4) to make us participate into the mind and heart of the evangelist. In fact, here in the beginning verses, Luke declares his desire to write the events of Jesus placing them in the order so that there will be fullness of sense and meaning for those who read it. After inserting us into the Gospel of Luke, the Church immediately enlightens us with the ministry of Jesus (4:14-21). The centrality of the passage is the person of Jesus himself who takes into himself the Old Promise and synthesizes it in him and gives it the fullness of realization. It is for this Jesus proclaims: “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled as you listen it” (Luke 4:21). - Message of Liberation: Jesus enters into Nazareth. He goes into the synagogue for the celebration of the Sabbath. It is his turn to read the scriptures and explain it to the people. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah is given to him. Jesus opens it and finds the message: God’s plan of sending the anointed for the liberation of every human being. The message is all about the redemption of the people where are under various modes of slavery: some are blind, more than physically, spiritually; some are imprisoned, more than being chained in the jails, in the clutches of the evil spirit; some are oppressed, with more than material burdens, with the loss of hope and salvation; in one way or the other, importantly, all have become poor, deprived of care, concern and love. God proclaims the plan of his love for all these people. The message is manifested through the prophet Isaiah: God announces the definite liberation of all those who were in the deportation and as the result found themselves in the condition of poverty and oppression. Each and every word of the passage contains the aspect of liberation. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. For this he has consecrated me with the anointing; he has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim the liberation to the prisoners and the good vision to the blind and to announce the year of the Lord’s grace” (4:18-19). The context of the message is the slavery of the people of Israel. Yet, its ultimate realization takes place in Jesus as he himself proclaims it. Jesus reads the passage from Isaiah. He sits down. All look at him for the explanation of what is just read. Jesus silently assimilates the message into himself. He does not give long sermon. He does not make number of comments on it. He just utters one phrase: “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled as you listen it” (Luke 4:21). - Jesus is the Liberator: The message does not any more remain just a promise of the Old Testament. It is not any more a mere proclamation of hope. The time of its concrete realization is arrived. The promise and the hope of the entire Law of the first covenant are embodied in the person of Jesus. By accepting to read the passage from the Old Testament, he enters into the promise of His Father and into the Hope of Israel. He takes them into himself and finds its fulfillment in himself. He is aware of his mission: being sent by the Father to bring back the fallen human being into the divine relationship. Other times, when the same situation of reading has come, Jesus might have explained the scriptures. But this time when the message finds both its messenger and its fulfillment, there is no more any need for a detailed commentary. Jesus is conscious that each word of prophecy is about himself. He acknowledges his mission of taking upon the action of liberation. He is setting out with the message to bring it to its fulfillment. He sets out as the Liberator: he carries with him and within him the good news of God’s salvation. His proclamation becomes an action: an act of liberation. The liberation proclaimed by Jesus is a total liberation. It touches man in all his dimensions. It is not one particular part that man needs to be liberation. The liberation is not limited to one aspect of his life. It is entire human being that is to be liberated. Man is hungry, not of the bread alone, but he has hunger of ideologies, of justice, of sense of life, of meaning for living. He is forgetting of his identity as human being and often he is deprived of “being human” by the various fascinating and deceiving images of living. The totality of liberation consists in man’s return to his original condition of being really “human and divine”. Jesus appears as Liberator in bringing man back to the condition of God’s sons. Readings God’s Word proclaimed needs to be received and lived - God’s Word needs Human Amen (First Reading): The first reading of today presents to us the liturgy of the word that takes place in the assembly of the people of God. Ezra, the priest brings the law before the gathering of the people, reads it to them so that they would intend it. People extend their ears to the book of the law. He, the priest and the scribe, stands in the high place, and while he opens the book of the law, all the people stand in feet. He blesses the Lord for the word he has given and the people respond with the raised hands “Amen, amen”. Then the Levites read the law of God with the different passages and explains to the people with its sense and meaning. This is the structure of the liturgy of the word that is found in the book of Nehemiah. This is what we find here in our assembly of gathering too. The readings take place. At the end, the lector will say: “this is the word of God” and we respond: “thanks be to God”. The same thing happens after the priest completes reading the gospel: “this is the gospel of the Lord” and we respond: praise be to you O Lord. In other words: the word of God is proclaimed. All those who intend it with the attentive ears will respond: Amen, amen. What do it mean? The word is offered, and it is received and embraced by those who listeners. It’s hearers has a double task with their amen: they carry the word within them and they proclaim it with the testimony of their life. Thus, God’s word does not go in vain. It looks for the human response. It is finally accepted with the Amen on the part of the receiver. - The result of listening to the word is unity (second reading): It is the listening of the word that builds the community of faithful. It is God’s word that invites them to be together. It is God’s word that creates one mind and one heart in the community. Each one who enters into the liturgical celebration has his/her personal intentions and individual views. Each is different in listening and in comprehending the word. There may be diversity in intending the word. They may come up with the different understandings. But in the liturgy of the word, when the word is proclaimed and explained, all receive only one message from it. It is the spirit of the readings that is proclaimed and therefore, all have the possibility for having only one understanding. The spirit keeps them united both in listening and understanding. Paul speaks that unity that the spirit creates in the community. He explains it with the analogy of One Body and different organs in it. Each organ has its specific function. Yet its function is always in the view of other organs. Each organ finds its action and meaning only in and with the presence of the others. Otherwise there is no growth, above all, there will appear only division. Body becomes broken up and it is no more called a body. It is with the view of the Body that all the organs must exercise the proper function. So also the listening of the word finds its function with the view of the mission of Christ. If the action of the word’s listener is not united with the mission of Christ, it has no sense and meaning. It becomes private and individual action which will not have a meaning for the community. Both the word from the part of God and its acceptance from the part of the believers make the community. If we all participate in the liturgy of the word, embracing the one word, we all work as the community and for the community. The result of the listening of the word is the unity between the members of the Christian community. Thus, the power of God’s word is the unity of believers. - Jesus enters into the Old and gives it a New Understanding (Gospel): Jesus enters into the temple and teaches the law giving it a new dimension. The teaching of Jesus in the temple teaches at least two things: that he belongs to the Hebrew origin and as every Jew he manifests his desire to get into the heart of their cult by making the law a life giving one. The novelty that Jesus introduces is this: he offers himself as the fulfillment of this law. He does not indeed abolish the law but gives it a new meaning and makes it perfect (Math 5:17ff). Moreover, the passage of today’s gospel, is the synthesis of the entire mission for which Jesus has come. The prophecy has the double meaning: in the immediate meaning, it was addressed to the people of the Babylonian slavery, and in the remote meaning, it reveals the messianic salvation in the future, through the work of God’s son. It is this second meaning that is fulfilled in Jesus. It is for this, by quoting from the text of Isaiah, Luke manifests the context of Jesus. He introduces the entire ministry of Jesus through this prophetic quoting. The scroll of Isaiah (61: 1-29 contains the great themes that characterize the gospel of Luke: the Holy Spirit, Messianic Anointing, the eschatological liberation, the joy, the divine intervention in favor of the poor/anawim and the oppressed, and finally, the proclamation of God’s grace. The same program is introduced differently in Mark (1:14-15). The discourse is not long there. The words are more original than prophetic: “The time is fulfilled; the kingdom of God is near; repent and believe in the good news.” Mathew is little elaborative in introducing Jesus in the ministry which is revealed in the discourse on the mountain (chapters 5, 6 and 7). Jesus accepts all that was promised by his Father in view of him – the law, the psalms and the prophets. He keeps it in the process of realization and in the ultimate fulfillment in his person and in his work. He teaches with authority because he takes the Old Law into himself and lives it and brings it to its completion. The rapport between his word and his action is very strong and it is so strong that his action announces the new way of understanding the law, not anymore with the letter but with the spirit. It is for this reason, his action goes beyond the ethnic boundaries and touches everyone who is in need of salvation: the poor, the prisoners, the blind and the oppressed. Jesus does not comment on the prophecy but makes it into a reality: “Today, this scripture is fulfilled as you listen to it.” He does not speak anymore. He acts. His word is an event. His word is an act of salvation. The promise becomes a fulfillment. The word is already in action. The Messenger sets out to be a Liberator. Conclusion: The world looks at us for the message of salvation - We are the mobile bible: Jesus comprises the entire design of God for the humanity and carries it within him as his mission. He sees the destiny of the promise and hope in himself. He walks with it all through his life, even to the point of total self-donation for the liberation of humanity from the various burdens. As we are called to be his messengers and followers, now, it is our turn to read and explain the scriptures to the world around. As Jesus has assumed into himself all the hope of Israel and given it a new dimension of life, so also we need to transform the words of the scriptures into our very life and proclaim its meaning through our life-giving testimony. In this way, we become a bible in movement. We become a walking scriptures. We become a mobile bible. As we walk along, the people must be able to see in us the Word of God, thus find the consoling and liberating force in us. Through the witness of both word and action, we need to repeat the words of Jesus: Today, the will of God is fulfilled in us as the people observe it. - We are hope of world’s salvation: One important thing to be noted in the gospel passage is this: all have fixed their eyes on Jesus, so that he would give them some solution for their hope. So also, the world, burdened by many complexes – fears, desperation, failures, anxieties for power and domination and what not – is looking at us, Christians, for the definite answer. It has fixed her eyes on the teaching of the Church. More than this, it has fixed its observation on the life of the Christians. We need to give them a solution. We need to show them the way, the truth and the life. We have with us Jesus who is himself the Way, the Truth and the Life. We need to live in the world as the instruments of life and liberation. To be an authentic means, the first thing we need to do is this: to receive the word with open heart. Only when we are full, we can share with others. Only when we are full of God’s word, we can proclaim it to others. Only when we enjoy the fullness of liberation from all the clutches of passions, we can offer some solution to those who are still in such bondage. We are God’s answer to the World’s hope and life. Such is the task we are entrusted with: a holy and challenging task. We need not fear to carry it on. In fact, it is not who are doing it but it is the same force of the God’s Word and the Spirit that makes us move further with the proclamation of Christian dignity both with the message and with the action. It is here that the Word of God Finds its Fulfillment IN US.