Reflection for the 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C
The lectionary translation of the readings for this Sunday can be found at HERE
1st Reading: Nehemiah 8:2–4a, 5-6, 8-10
Nehemiah is a lay person who worked diligently for the restoration of Israel and the temple after the Babylonian captivity. It was not only the temple which needed restoration but the community itself. Part of his effort to renew the community was renewal of the Law as a basis for their relationship with God.
2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:12–30
This is a continuation from last week’s reading about all being given different gifts by the one Spirit to be used for building up the Church. It presents the concept of the Church as the body of Christ with each member having a job to do.
Gospel: Luke 1:1-4, 4:14-21
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. Lk 4:18
Gospel Reflection
Reflecting on this Gospel made me think of the victims of the L.A. wildfires returning to their homes. Most are returning to utter destruction with literally nothing left. I can’t even imagine what that must feel like; the emptiness, confusion about the future, feeling trapped by something outside your control, hopelessness maybe… I can’t even imagine. Praise God for those that are helping, our first responders, government programs, not-for-profit organizations, individual volunteers, those who donate, even other countries. Praise God.
When the prophecy Jesus quoted, in today’s Gospel selection, was first given, the Jewish people were returning from exile and must have felt the same things the wildfire victims are feeling now. They were returning to a city that had been purposefully destroyed. The temple, their homes, their businesses, everything… rubble. Yet they had been told to rebuild and that they would be helped by neighboring kingdoms. Still, the devastation must have made it look impossible.
Then the prophet delivers this prophecy which Jesus quotes. And yes, they rebuilt. The prophecy wasn’t completely fulfilled but in a large way, it was. Then, as is common in Judaism, Jesus applies the ancient prophecy to his day and time. But this was a time of prosperity for Jerusalem, nothing like the time of the return of the exiles. He couldn’t have meant it in the same way.
By the time of Jesus, an underclass had developed in Judaism. They were like today’s people who live in abject poverty. They couldn’t have hope for the future because they were too busy trying to survive the current day. They lived in fear of personal catastrophes and suffered from a lack resources that could provide any comfort. They, the anawim, are the ones who would be the beneficiaries of the year acceptable to the Lord and Jesus is ushering in that acceptable year.
And here is another not so minor point… The acceptable year wasn’t just to be one year in the life of Jesus. It continues until our day. God tells the prophet, at his commissioning, “This is my covenant with them, My spirit which is upon you and my words that I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouths of your children nor the mouths of your children’s children from this time forth and forever, says the Lord.” (Is 59:21) As disciples of Jesus, we are the prophet’s children’s children. It’s our job, now, to create a year acceptable to the Lord.
This is a good week for each of us to reflect on how we, personally, are going to make this an acceptable year to the Lord. How am I going to be glad tidings to the poor? How am I going to proclaim liberty from whatever is holding them back? How am I going to help them see beyond that which blinds them? How am I going to lessen the oppression which binds them?
Let’s allow the Spirit of God, which he has put inside us, be our guide. Let’s let his words, which he has put in our mouths, speak out over the this-worldly words of our society. Let’s let his words of love take full effect.
Personal Reflection:
The Lord has anointed me to being glad tidings to the poor. Lk 4:18
Question:
What words or phrases grabbed your attention during the Liturgy of the Word on Sunday? What connection do those words or phrases have to your day-to-day life? (Why do you think they grabbed your attention?) What might God be trying to say to you through these words or phrases? What response should you make? What action should you take?
Alternative:
What have I done in the past that I can say was “glad tidings” for the poor? What will I do in the future?
Verse by Verse:
Lk 4:18 “…to proclaim glad tidings to the poor” | Remember, Luke’s Gospel is the Gospel of the poor: Blessed are you who are poor 6:20, Go and tell John what you have seen and heard 7:22 (also Mt), But when you give a banquet, invite the poor 14:13-14, Go at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor 14:21 (Mt has “all you can find”), Lazarus and the rich man 16:20, The rich young man 18:22 (also Mt & Mk), Zacchaeus gives half to the poor 19:8, The woman who gives from her substance 21:1-4 (also Mk 12:41-44). Also the infancy narratives have no room at the inn and angels proclaim to poor shepherds.
Remember also, that Luke presents Jesus as savior.
By quoting duetero-Isaiah, Luke connects Jesus’ mission and ministry to the ending of the Babylonian captivity and the restoration of Israel. As such, his salvation is worldly on the one hand and, as we know from the development of the Gospel, eternal on the other hand.
He quotes from Is 61:1-2 (except for recover of sight to the blind and letting the oppressed go free) and 58:6 (this is where setting the oppressed free comes from, it’s the one about “this is the sacrifice I want” This is the “day acceptable to the Lord” rather than lying in sackcloth and ashes and bowing one’s head like a reed [in prayer]). These come from the period of the ending of the Babylonian exile and “the anointed” in 61:1 could refer to Cyrus the King who is called God’s anointed in Is 45:1. The poor is the anawim, those destitute who have nothing to depend upon except the Lord.
The oppressed are those oppressed by life. Letting them go free is to free them of their miseries.
Luke is obviously having Jesus speak of an active piety which brings salvation now in this worldly terms.
