Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Neh 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10; Ps 19:8, 9, 10, 15; 1 Cor 12:12-30; Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21
In the age of Netflix, many of us have become fans of various series. Each season of our favorite shows (or book series) brings new characters, development of characters, things coming full circle, and often surprises and twists. I see the readings for this Sunday as being like episodes from a few different “seasons” of the Bible that show a connection in the plot. In the first ‘clip’ from a much earlier season, we see Ezra the priest opening a scroll of the Law in view of a presumably large crowd of people. As Ezra praises God and lifts the scroll, the people raise their hands and say “Amen, amen!” Ezra then reads and interprets the law, telling them that “rejoicing in the Lord must be your strength.” The Psalm contains a similar theme when the psalmist declares that “The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.” In other words, God’s law causes our hearts to rejoice. Fast forward to, say, a future “season” where Jesus, like Ezra, opens up a scroll before people gather to listen. There is certainly continuity in this scene. But then an unexpected, plot-shaking twist happens: Jesus reads the scroll from Isaiah which declares that God’s Spirit is upon him and anointed him to bring good news to the poor, proclaim liberty to captives, and free the oppressed. Unlike Ezra, Jesus does not provide an interpretation...he says that he is the fulfillment of those words! Wow! It is as if Jesus is telling us that he is the main character, the key for the meaning of the whole story. Saint Paul gives us another plot twist: the same Spirit that was upon Jesus is accessible to all of us, and that Spirit makes us one body in baptism. We are Christ’s body in the world! So now, here’s the cliff hanger: how do we, the people Saint Paul is talking to today, respond?