Sunday of the Word of God
Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled …
Today we gather to celebrate the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, also known as the Sunday of the Word of God … established by Pope Francis in an apostolic letter just over five years ago … saying that sacred Scripture is essential [part of] our identities as Christians. In addition, he also reminds us that, without the Spirit of the Lord, who opens our minds to [the Scriptures], it is impossible to understand [them] in depth … and without the Scriptures, the events and mission of Jesus Christ in this world would not be comprehensible. In other words, the Word of God is not merely a collection of texts; it is the living voice of God, so it is important for “the Christian community to set aside moments to reflect on the importance of the word of God for everyday living.
For example, the Liturgy of the Word during Mass covers all of the readings, the homily, the Credo, and the General Intercessions, or Prayer of the Faithful … and it is an important part of the sacramental celebrations. To help nourish the faith of believers, the signs that accompany the Word of God are emphasized. Sometimes we have a procession of the Book of the Gospels to emphasize its importance and veneration. Even the place from which it is read, emphasizes that it is the Word of God that is being proclaimed. We can see this reverence for the Word of God all the way back to the time of Ezra … where in our first reading, he read out from the book of Law to the people. Of course, there is more going on here than the priest simply reading scripture … and we see a hint of this in how the people respond to hearing it … the people stand in awe as the Word of God is proclaimed, and they are moved to tears … but why is are tears their response?
Some context might help here. Nehemiah’s time was during the days following the Babylonian Exile, when the Jews were finally allowed to return home … or to what was left of home … and to begin rebuilding the Temple and the holy city of Jerusalem … after 70 years in exile, the Temple and city walls had been rebuilt … now he was starting the task of rebuilding a nation … and Ezra was helping by using the Word of God to restore the people’s faith in the God’s covenant and remind them that they are the People of God. Simply put … the Word of God became a Part of their identity … this is true even today, where the Jewish coming of age ceremony, the Bar Mitzvah … which simply means Son of the Commandment or the Law ... celebrates when a child becomes a full-fledged member of the religious community, with all of the responsibilities that come with that, including the responsibility to live by God’s law. This is similar to what Pope Francis means when he says that the Word of God is Essential to Our identity as Christians as well … but for the Christian, there is a second component to that identity … because the Law … by itself … is not enough.
When my children were very young, and just learning to speak, they would often grow frustrated with their inability to communicate what they wanted us to do for them … and they would, at times, lash out in their frustration … generally known as throwing a tantrum … And despite our frequent encouragement to use their words, sometimes they just didn’t Have the words they needed. When that happened, we would typically ask them to show us what they were trying to say … if we take this idea even further … we come to the realization that sometimes, even as adults, the limitations of human words, written in human fashion, such as in sacred scripture, can make it difficult to fully understand the divine will of God. And so “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14) He came in order to Show us the “relationship between God’s word and our human language” … and we begin to see this in the Gospel reading today, where Jesus begins his ministry by reading and interpreting the written Word of God.
Here Luke tells us the Jesus was “in the power of the Spirit” … giving us the first key to unlocking the full meaning of God’s word … the Holy Spirit … because without the Holy Spirit, there is always a risk of being limited by the written text alone. So it is in the spirit that Jesus goes to the synagogue, as is His custom to do so … where the Word of God is read to, and heard by, the People of God. After the first reading from the Torah, Jesus, as a teacher of the Law, or Rabbi, was given the scroll for the prophet Isaiah, as would have been proper for the season … and … after selecting the appropriate portion, he would have been expected read it and then give an explanation of the passage. Of course, the part of Isaiah He selected was very important, because it is one of the few passages in Isaiah that explicitly uses the language of the messiah … or “Anointed One.” It also tells us that the mission of the anointed one is to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord … but what is a year acceptable to the Lord.
Luke give us a few clues … this year includes bringing glad tidings to the poor, proclaiming liberty to captives, restoring sight to the bind and setting the oppressed free … all of which refers to something known as a Jubilee. The concept for a Jubilee is found in Leviticus … every seventh (7) year is to be a year of rest for the land, where the farmers do not plant or harvest; the fields will remain fallow and the food stores are to be shared equally. It was also a time of debt forgiveness … after seven (7) such cycles, or 49 years, you have a Jubilee the following year … where not only are the fields fallow and all debts are forgiven, but slaves are freed and land is restored to its original owner, mostly likely giving back to a family their livelihood. In short … it gives everyone a do-over … a new beginning. Pretty Good News right? So I can imagine the people listening to Jesus recite this passage leaning in to hear what he has to say about it … and then he precedes to give what may be the shortest homily in history … “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Imagine the excitement a Jubilee would have produced … Except the math doesn’t quite work … scholars have calculated the traditional Sabbath years around that time to be 28AD and 35AD … and we are pretty sure that the ministry of Jesus was right in the middle of that period. So what was Jesus doing? He was taking the words of the prophets and applying them to himself … revealing publicly … and for the first time … that He is the Messiah … and the Time of the Messiah is now … he was using the tradition of the Jubilee as a framework to describe God’s promise of salvation. You are no longer a slave to death and all your debts from sin have been forgiven … for you have been given new life in the Kingdom of God … made present now in Jesus … in his life, death and Resurrection.
Jesus is the Incarnate Word of God … but He does not stop there. By His example here in Luke, He wants everyone to be able to encounter the Word of God for themselves and to be transformed by that encounter … so that Word can be incarnate in them as well. It is not just something we listen to and talk about … it must be lived and acted upon … even now … in the face of human suffering and tragedy, we are called to be the living Gospel … the Good News … today.
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