Sunday, January 25, 2004
3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

1st Reading: Ne 8:2-4, 5-6, 8-10

Ezra brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all the children who could understand what was being read. It was the first day of the seventh month. Ezra read the book before all of them from early morning until midday in the square facing the Water Gate; and all who heard were attentive to the Book of the Law.

Ezra, the teacher of the Law, stood on a wooden platform built for that occasion and to his right were Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah and Maaseiah; and to his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hasbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam.

Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was in a higher place; and when he opened it, all the people stood. Ezra blessed Yahweh, the great God; and all the people lifted up their hands and answered, "Amen! Amen!" And they bowed their heads to the ground.

They read from the Book of the Law of God, clarifying and interpreting the meaning, so that everyone might understand what they were hearing.
Then Ezra, the teacher of the Law, said to the people, "This day is dedicated to Yahweh, your God, so do not be sad or weep." He said this because all wept when they heard the reading of the Law. Then he said to them, "Go and eat rich foods, drink sweet wine and share with him who has nothing prepared.

"This day is dedicated to the Lord, so do not be sad. The joy of Yahweh is our strength."

2nd Reading: 1 Cor 12:12-14, 17

As the body is one, having many members, and all the members, while being many, form one body, so it is with Christ. All of us, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, have been baptized in one Spirit to form one body and all of us have been given to drink from the one Spirit.

The body has not just one member, but many. If all the body were eye, how would we hear? And if all the body were ear, how would we smell?

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

Several people have set themselves to relate the events that have taken place among us, as they were told by the first witnesses who later became ministers of the Word. After I myself had carefully gone over the whole story from the beginning, it seemed right for me to give you, Theophilus, an orderly account, so that your Excellency may know the truth of all you have been taught.

Jesus acted with the power of the Spirit, and on his return to Galilee the news about him spread throughout all that territory. He began teaching in the synagogues of the Jews and everyone praised him.

When Jesus came to Nazareth where he had been brought up, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath as he usually did. He stood up to read and they handed him the book of the prophet Isaiah.

Jesus then unrolled the scroll and found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and new sight to the blind; to free the oppressed and announce the Lord's year of mercy."

Jesus then rolled up the scroll, gave it to the attendant and sat down, while the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he said to them, "Today these prophetic words come true even as you listen."

Commentary

THE scholars tell us that that first paragraph is the most polished Greek in the New Testament. The New Testament is written in vernacular "common Greek". This was a dialect that was far removed from the elegance of classical Greek; its grammar was greatly simplified and it borrowed freely from Middle Eastern languages. A scholar writes, "It only slowly came to be used in literary works by lower-class writers. Of these the most important are the four Gospels of the New Testament."

Luke began in sparkling style. Immediately however he plunges into the muddier reality of his own day, "In the days of King Herod of Judea." But today's reading skips to chapter 4. Here too, and in the rest of the gospel, it is everyday reality and not literary style that will count.

Jesus arrives on the scene, "acting with the power of the Spirit." The Spirit has no form, and would therefore not appeal to Greeks, whose civilization was almost a worship of form. Order, harmony, beauty, timeless perfection: these they appreciated; not the formlessness and unpredictability of a Holy Spirit (symbolized in the New Testament as "wind" or "fire"). Their great thinkers regarded infinity as an imperfection-because it has no form.

The Holy Spirit, through the guttural sounds of Hebrew and the country accent of Jesus, proclaimed new sight to the blind, freedom for the oppressed, good news for the poor. And Jesus did not say that it would come about in a timeless world of thought, but today and in this dusty and muddy world.

Read also Sunday's Into Silence: Today is God's Day

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