THIRD SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
Two weeks ago, we started the season of Ordinary Time with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which was also the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus. In that baptismal event in Jordan, we hear the voice of the Father confirming who Jesus is with these words “this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Then the Sunday that follows the Baptism of the Lord (which was last Sunday), we heard the story about the wedding in Cana, in which Jesus turned the water into wine, which was also the first miracle that Jesus did even though he thought that it was not yet the time for him to make himself known. The famous line in that Gospel was “Woman, how does your concern affect me, my hour has not yet come.” The hour that Jesus was talking about is the story we heard in the Gospel today. If he had some reservations at the wedding at Cana last Sunday, with manifesting who he is, what we have in the Gospel today is quite the opposite. This passage from the Book of Isaiah, which he proclaimed in the synagogue, “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 usually associated with the arrival and expectation of the Messiah; for Jesus to say in the end of that passage, “this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”, was practically announcing to the whole world, especially to that congregation in front of him, that “I am whom you have been waiting for. I am whom Isaiah and the all the prophets of the Old Testament have been proclaiming for hundreds of years.” What we have here is the first explicit public announcement of Jesus who he really is. Biblical scholars refer to this proclamation of Jesus as the announcement of his vision and mission. Organizations and entities usually have a mission and vision statements as guides towards achieving their goals. Isaiah’s proclamation was the vision and mission statement of Jesus.
Before coming back to Nazareth, his home place, we were told that Jesus was already a little bit famous in some cities as he had already performed some miracles, curing people and proclaiming the Good News, but the people from those encounters really had no idea yet who he was. They probably only saw him as an itinerant preacher, who had the gift of healing. This makes the gospel story today so crucial because it is the first time in which Jesus publicly announced is identity. We will know in the Gospel next Sunday that this proclamation was not received by his town mates ,and they drove him out from his native place. The description of Luke in the gospel today that he came from Galilee before returning to Nazareth tells us that before Jesus publicly proclaimed his vision and mission statement, he had already started doing and fulfilling them in his earlier visits and cures in different towns. He was not just announcing a set of nice and good intentions, but he had already started doing them. This is where we can find the answer to our question “What does this Gospel story have to say to my life right now?” From the modeling of Christ himself, we can see that to proclaim the Gospel is not just to publicly say that I am a baptized Catholic, but rather it should be seen by the way we lead our own lives. As followers of Jesus, it is quite logical to think that his vision and mission, as contained in the Book of Isaiah, also becomes our own vision and mission statement of our Christian discipleship. Just think for awhile and imagine yourself making the words of the prophet Isaiah as your own, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed” – yes, I am anointed by virtue of my baptism. When I was
baptized, I was not just initiated to become a member of this worldwide religious organization, but rather I have become an heir to the Kingdom of God; I share in the very life of God and, because of this. I am asked to bring glad tidings to the poor. What does it mean to bring glad tidings to the poor? To bring glad tidings to the poor means that I become an instrument of hope to those who are experiencing poverty of any kind. The poor here does not just mean those who are materially lacking, but also those who are lacking of something – emotionally, spiritually. This includes all of us because we know that in us there is some level of poverty in one way or another. It can be poverty in love, in respect, poverty from being valued by those whom we love, poverty in health, and of course material poverty. Am I person who brings hope to those who are struggling in their lives especially starting with my own family? Does my presence in my relationships right now bring light and joy to those people who are part of those relationships? Or does my presence always bring about division and strife? “He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives or to let the oppressed go free.” What are those things that continue to imprison and chain us to the point that we can not move on and experience the life God wants to offer and truly live in God’s joy? Could it be an addiction to something, paralyzing resentment because of a failed marriage and a bad divorce — the list can go and on. Christ asks us to unbind and unchain ourselves from those things that continue to imprison us. “Recovery of sight to the blind” – this means being able to see the truth, especially the truth that Christ proclaimed, lived and passed on to the Church. Does my life mirror the teachings of the Church, or am I blinded by my own biases and those things that would only be convenient for me? Do I stand for the truth of the Gospel, or do I proclaim a different kind of gospel that runs contrary to my faith out of personal convenience? And, do my actions and lifestyle testify to the Gospel that I was baptized? Again, the power of the proclamation of Jesus, of the prophecy of Isaiah as Jesus’ mission statement, lies on the very fact that he has the best credibility for it – because he himself lived by it till the very end. If we ourselves will proclaim those words from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, can we also say with Jesus “today this gospel passage is fulfilled in your hearing”? If the answer is no, what’s keeping us from proclaiming the Gospel with credibility? – Fr. Cary