Homily for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C
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In the structure of the Readings for Sunday Mass, the First Reading and the Gospel generally complement each other. The Second Reading is usually connected obliquely, and the Responsorial Psalm is often off on its own. Certainly, today’s First Reading and Gospel fit this model, with Ezra the Priest and Jesus, the itinerant Rabbi both:
+reading from a scroll
+interpreting the Reading for the assembly
+speaking of the day at hand as a cause for rejoicing.
However, today I would like to unite these Readings in the context of the Responsorial Psalm, which sings about the importance and the loveliness of God’s Law as a basis for understanding Christ’s Teaching. In poetic fashion, the Psalmist, employing several images for God’s Revelation mentions:
+the law of the Lord
+the decree of the Lord
+the precepts of the Lord
+the command of the Lord
+the ordinances of the Lord…
and even the Fear of the Lord, all in a hymn that teaches us that properly understood, God’s law is not restrictive, but liberating, in that it gives us a direction for our lives, and, when lived in humility, connects us with Isaiah’s proclamation: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…” as well as the Lord’s own pronouncement: “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Let’s look at these words again:
The law of the Lord is perfect,
refreshing the soul;
the decree of the Lord is trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.The precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the command of the Lord is clear,
enlightening the eye.
The fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever;
the ordinances of the Lord are true,
all of them just.
Let the words of my mouth
and the thought of my heart
find favor before you,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Our antiphonal response to these images as they were chanted was: “Your words, Lord, are spirit and life.” This means that when we consider what the Lord’s law means for us, there is both an interior (spirit) and exterior (life) dimension. The interior dimension comes alive when the Holy Spirit helps us to transcend our self-centeredness, Then the exterior is revealed in the teaching and ministry of Christ, as well as in the sense of the living and working together in Saint Paul’s analogy of the body, which we recognize and live as the Mystical Body of Christ.
This body, then, incorporates the uniqueness of each member and the uniformity of every member, together. Among us, as Saint Paul avers, are:
+apostles
+prophets
+teachers
+doers of mighty deeds… and more.
As Pope Benedict has said, “All are wanted by God; all are necessary in the Church.” Being neither apostles, prophets, nor doers of mighty deeds, a couple of questions arise: “What is my place in the Church?” and “What gift can I put at the use of the Church in the world?” Saint Luke, who addresses his Reader as “Theophilus,” meaning “friend of God,” or “one who loves God,” leads us to the scene in which Jesus is teaching in the synagogue.Jesus, reading the Isaiah passage, owns the words, and says to those gathered there… and, therefore, to us gathered now: “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, recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free…”
While this might sound as unattainable to us as Saint Paul’s call to be apostles, prophets and doers, these words which Our Lord reads and proclaims become our legacy, our mission and our identity through our Baptism, in which we were first Anointed. The Anointing to which Our Lord speaks, was given to us a second time at Confirmation, and empowers us to make the Lord’s proclamation come alive in our living.
In our own way, in our own time and place, this Scripture passage is once again fulfilled when we see each person standing before us at any given moment as a living, immediate opportunity to serve Christ. The choice for Charity at that moment brings to the fore the “spirit and life” that we sang about a few minutes ago, prompting us to act upon the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy.
The laws, decrees, precepts, commands and ordinances of the Lord are embraced and fulfilled in the struggle that our Christian faith demands. Thus, the Spirit of the Lord can come and rest upon each one of us, and the wisdom with which the priest Ezra closed his admonition, can bolster us and cheer us as he says to us who struggle, and sometimes fail in our approach to the Kingdom: “Do not be saddened this day, for rejoicing in the Lord must be your strength.”