Third Sunday In Ordinary Time

Gospel:

Luke 1:1-4, 4:14-21

This gospel consists of two parts: Luke’s preface or introduction to his gospel and Jesus first visit to his home at Nazareth after acquiring fame. First, the introduction. There are important elements to be noted. Luke points out that there were many who had undertaken to write a narrative of “the things that have been accomplished among us.” From the contents of his gospel we know that he is speaking about the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus. Luke was not satisfied with those who had written before him. Therefore he intends to write “an orderly account.” Where does he get the information for his version of the gospel? “. . . delivered to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word.” Beyond these witnesses and ministers were his own study and research, “having followed all things closely from the beginning.”

Luke follows this introduction with the so-called “Infancy Narrative” in two chapters. There are parallel stories of John the Baptizer and of Jesus — annunciations, conceptions, births, growth. Luke must have been interested in Christian hymns. He composes or adopts six (maybe seven) canticles or songs into the Infancy Narrative. The third chapter begins by placing the ministry of John within its historical setting. This is followed by John’s proclamation, Jesus’ baptism and the genealogy of Jesus. Chapter four begins with the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, his victory over Satan, and his return to Galilee, his home country, and to his hometown of Nazareth.

Luke is always concerned in depicting Jesus as a devout Jew. Therefore Jesus must attend synagogue on the Sabbath. Luke does not tell us how or where, but by this time Jesus had acquired fame, “glorified by all.” It is this fame which prompts the synagogue leaders to invite this former village carpenter to read from the Scriptures and comment on them. They handed him the scroll of Isaiah. Jesus unrolls the scroll to a section we now call Isaiah 61:1-2. (Chapters and verses were not assigned for another 1,200 years.) We must recall that Luke is not writing a biography of Jesus 50 years later but a theology of Jesus. Therefore it is Luke who proposes this text from Isaiah as a “platform” or “mission statement” for his version of Jesus’ public life and ministry.

From the contents of the passage Jesus reads we can see why Isaiah is sometimes called “the Fifth Gospel.” First comes Jesus’ authorization which this column discussed a few weeks ago for the feast of Jesus’ baptism, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me . . . .” Thus Luke refers back to the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus at his baptism. In what activities will the Holy Spirit guide Jesus? ‘To preach good news to the poor, proclaim release to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty the oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke has tinkered a bit with Isaiah’s words, but not overly much. The “acceptable year of the Lord” corresponds with the one-year ministry Mark, Matthew, and Luke assign to the public life of Jesus.

The “good news” which Jesus is to preach is the gospel itself. The Greek verb Luke uses to express “preaching the good news” is the verb from which the Greek word for “gospel” is derived. Luke, more than the other three gospels, depicts Jesus reaching out to the oppressed, the poor and those at the bottom of the social scale. Even though Jesus cured physical blindness in Luke’s gospel, 7:21; 18:42, the three items in the “mission statement,” liberty for the oppressed, sight to the blind, release from captivity, are best understood in a spiritual sense as delivery from sin or at least proclaiming the opportunity of delivery and freedom from sin. Luke is a master of the dramatic, as he writes, “He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, sat down, and the eyes of all were upon him.” Then he attributes to Jesus this daring statement, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” This and the rest of Jesus’ homily on Isaiah will place Jesus in extreme danger from his fellow-citizens of Nazareth. Next week! Don’t miss it!

First Reading:

Nehemiah 8:2-6, 8-10

This reading places us in the middle of the fifth century B.C. The exile of the Judeans in Babylon ended in 540-538 B.C., when the Persians conquered Babylon. A remnant of the exiles returned. The rebuilding of the temple was completed in 515 B.C. The newly replanted community did not succeed as expected. A century later the Persian king sends to a failing community in Jerusalem new leaders. They were Nehemiah as governor and Ezra as religious leader. This reading accompanies today’s gospel because Ezra, like Jesus in the gospel, unrolled the scroll, “and read plainly from the book of the law of God and interpreted it so that all could understand.”

Second Reading:

1 Corinthians 12:12-30

Paul continues working to unite his dysfunctional, unruly Christians at Corinth in Greece. The theme of unity runs throughout this chapter. Paul’s comparison of the Christian community at Corinth to the human body became a foundation of the Church’s teaching on the Mystical Body of Christ. All parts of the body must work together for the body to function properly. “If one part suffers, all suffer. If one part is honored, all are honored.”