Homily for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Image: BabaJide
(Scriptures for this Sunday's liturgy)

He unrolled the scroll
and found the passage where it was written...

We’re still doing today what Ezra did in ancient times.
We’re still gathering the an assembly of the people, young and old
and we’re still standing on a wooden platform.

While Ezra opened a scroll, we open a book
and like Ezra we lift it up high for all to see,
and we read from word of the Lord
and interpret it in the hope that all will understand what was read.

(One difference between then and now
is that Ezra read and preached - and the people listened -
“from daybreak until midday”
while far too many of us get itchy after about 50 minutes
and, unfortunately, take their leave at Communion time...)

Jesus didn’t leave early from the synagogue in Nazareth
but rather he stayed and as Ezra and our readers do,
he unrolled the scroll, he opened the book, if you will,
and read the passage of Isaiah and “interpreted” it by saying,

I am the one of whom Isaiah writes.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me
and has anointed me to bring good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives,
recovery of sight to the blind
and freedom to the oppressed;
to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

Now, it would be a lot easier for us
if Isaiah had written and Jesus had read
something along these lines:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me and has anointed me
that I might be happy and healthy;
that I might be content, fulfilled and satisfied;
that all my problems might be small and easily solved;
that no harm come my way;
and that this might be a new year acceptable to me.

That’s often just what we hope, what we expect
and what we pray will come of our faith
and of the Spirit’s anointing in our lives.

But make no mistake about this:
every one of us who is baptized
has a share in the job description detailed in Isaiah’s words
which Jesus appropriated for himself.

So, it is our work
to bring good news to the poor
(in Haiti or some other place, near or far, in need);

it is our work
to proclaim liberty and freedom
for those held captive and oppressed
(by working for and shaping a justice providing for the needs of all);

it is our work
to bring recovery of sight to the blind
(to provide for the physically challenged
but even more to bring the light of truth
to those who walk in darkness);

and it is our work
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord
(to shape a culture, a society, an age,
and our own lives as reflective of God’s desire for us).

As Jesus identified himself in the words of Isaiah - so must we.

Next week we’ll hear the conclusion of this scene in the gospel.
But I’ll give you a little preview…

The people hearing Jesus praise him first -
but the more he reveals himself, the less accepting they become
- until they finally run him out of town and try to throw him off a cliff.

Having the anointing of God’s Spirit upon you
doesn’t always lead to a bed of roses…

For Jesus, these words were his first steps towards the Cross.

And we have been anointed by the same Spirit.
We have been given the same work.
We are walking the same path.
We not followers of One who had it easy all the time
but rather we walk with the One
who came to know and understand himself
in giving everything he had, in love, for others.

We're only three weeks into this new year
so it’s not too late yet for us to consider, to ask ourselves,
“Will my new year be a year acceptable to the Lord?"
To ask:
"How is God’s Spirit prodding me, nudging me, leading me
to serve the poor, to bring good news and freedom
and the light of truth to the people right around me
at home, at work, at school, in my neighborhood, in my parish?"

And as a community of believers, we need to ask the same question:
"How is God’s Spirit prodding, nudging, leading us, as a parish,
to shape a year acceptable to the Lord,
a year in which we become, more and more,
a people of Isaiah's vision, a people of the gospel?"

This kind of talk led Jesus to the brink of being thrown off a cliff.
It leads us first, thank God, not to a cliff
but to the Lord’s table,
where he nourishes us with his life
in the sacrament of the Eucharist, the gift of the altar of the Cross.

May this gift open us, each of us and all of us as a parish,
to receive the anointing of the Spirit
and to live a year acceptable to the Lord.