Sunday January 23

Third Sunday of Ordinary Time

 

Proclaiming Liberty to Captives

In church we often hear the words “salvation” or “redemption.” These technical words sound difficult and remote. Jesus, whose name means “God saves,” tells us today what this “saving” means: He came to bring us freedom, liberation, from all that alienates us from God and people and to make us capable of liberating one another. Indeed we are created and born to be free. That is the Good News he brings us. Let Jesus here among us make us free sons and daughters of God.

                 

First Reading: Nehemiah 8:2-6,8-10

So Ezra the priest brought The Revelation to the congregation, which was made up of both men and women—everyone capable of understanding. It was the first day of the seventh month. He read it facing the town square at the Water Gate from early dawn until noon in the hearing of the men and women, all who could understand it. And all the people listened—they were all ears—to the Book of The Revelation.

The scholar Ezra stood on a wooden platform constructed for the occasion. He was flanked on the right by Mattithiah, Shema, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, and on the left by Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

Ezra opened the book. Every eye was on him (he was standing on the raised platform) and as he opened the book everyone stood. Then Ezra praised God, the great God, and all the people responded, “Oh Yes! Yes!” with hands raised high. And then they fell to their knees in worship of God, their faces to the ground.

Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah, all Levites, explained The Revelation while people stood, listening respectfully. They translated the Book of The Revelation of God so the people could understand it and then explained the reading.

Nehemiah the governor, along with Ezra the priest and scholar and the Levites who were teaching the people, said to all the people, “This day is holy to God, your God. Don’t weep and carry on.” They said this because all the people were weeping as they heard the words of The Revelation.

He continued, “Go home and prepare a feast, holiday food and drink; and share it with those who don’t have anything: This day is holy to God. Don’t feel bad. The joy of God is your strength!”

 

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:12-30

You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re still one body. It’s exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive.

I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn’t just a single part blown up into something huge. It’s all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. If Foot said, “I’m not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don’t belong to this body,” would that make it so? If Ear said, “I’m not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don’t deserve a place on the head,” would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.

But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn’t be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, “Get lost; I don’t need you”? Or, Head telling Foot, “You’re fired; your job has been phased out”? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the “lower” the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it’s a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn’t you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?

The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, the parts we see and the parts we don’t. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.

27-31 You are Christ’s body—that’s who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your “part” mean anything. You’re familiar with some of the parts that God has formed in his church, which is his “body”:

apostles
prophets
teachers
miracle workers
healers
helpers
organizers
those who pray in tongues.

But it’s obvious by now, isn’t it, that Christ’s church is a complete Body and not a gigantic, unidimensional Part? It’s not all Apostle, not all Prophet, not all Miracle Worker, not all Healer, not all Prayer in Tongues, not all Interpreter of Tongues.

 

Gospel: Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21

So many others have tried their hand at putting together a story of the wonderful harvest of Scripture and history that took place among us, using reports handed down by the original eyewitnesses who served this Word with their very lives. Since I have investigated all the reports in close detail, starting from the story’s beginning, I decided to write it all out for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can know beyond the shadow of a doubt the reliability of what you were taught.

Jesus returned to Galilee powerful in the Spirit. News that he was back spread through the countryside. He taught in their meeting places to everyone’s acclaim and pleasure.

He came to Nazareth where he had been reared. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,

God’s Spirit is on me;
    he’s chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor,
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and
    recovery of sight to the blind,
To set the burdened and battered free,
    to announce, “This is God’s year to act!”

He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in, “You’ve just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place.”

 

Prayer
God our Father,
through Jesus you speak to us today
your message of Good News.
May we accept today
the year of grace he proclaims.
Give us your Holy Spirit today
to enlighten us and to make us free
for you and for people.
And with his help may we bring your Good News
to the poor and to those in prison,
to the blind and the downtrodden,
that all may enjoy your happiness.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Reflection:

 

To make our lives the best preached sermon

Today the Chruch celebrate the Sunday of the Word of God. It is a celebration instituted by Pope Francis in 2019, through the Apostolic Letter “Aperuit Illis” (which means: he opened their understanding). It is celebrated on the III Sunday of Ordinary Time of each year.

With the universal Church, let us renew our commitment to read, study and pray with the Holy Scriptures. The Sunday of the Word of God reminds us to live by the Word, where our life should become our most eloquent sermon. Jesus in the Gospel insists on “today” as a day consecrated to God, a time of salvation, an occasion for joy and celebration.

Luke wrote his Gospel to give a solid foundation to the faith of the Christians. He did not write it to convert the pagans, but for those who already believed in Jesus and wished to lay a solid foundation for their faith. Although Luke was not an eyewitness to Jesus’ ministry, he attempts to gather his information from those who were witnesses of the works and teachings of Jesus to faithfully transmit his life and mission to his community.

The second part of today’s passage (Lk 4:14-21) is the beginning of Jesus’ public life in his country. For Luke, it is the synthesis of all the activities of Jesus. It is Saturday, and people go to the synagogue to pray and hear the reading and explanation of God’s Word. On this day, Jesus, who is back in his village, acts as a reader.

Jesus opens the book that was presented to him. Luke wants to make it clear to his readers that the sacred text is a closed book without Christ. After reading, Jesus sits, and all the eyes are fixed on him. It is an invitation to focus our gaze on Jesus alone and not on others.

“Today” —Jesus begins to proclaim— “these prophetic words come true” (v. 21). Today, the word of Jesus begins to free us from all diseases and psychological and moral barriers that do not allow us to go forward in love of God and his people.

Uncontrolled passions in pursuit of self-interest, thirst for possessions, the frenzy for power and success are the chains and barriers that prevent us from becoming children of God. These barriers begin to be crushed today through the irresistible force of the Holy Spirit (v. 14). The Holy Spirit is at work in Jesus not only when he performs miraculous healings but also when he comforts and encourages with his powerful Word (Lk 4:36).

For your Reflection:
Today begins the year of grace, a time of the endless feast because the Word of salvation to everyone, free and without conditions, is announced in God’s name.

 

Video available on Youtube : To make our lives the best preached sermon