DoM Gospel Reflection
3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time / January 19, 2016
Luke: 1: 1-4, 4: 14-21
By Mary Jo Wilder
Our Liturgical year is well underway and we will begin to hear regularly, during Ordinary Time, from the Gospel of Luke. Scripture scholars believe Luke was written around the year 85. According to a reflection on this Gospel by Father Greg Friedman, the community of Luke’s day was far removed from their Jewish roots. They were experiencing new challenges living in a Greek culture under Roman political rule. Questions arose about their ability to be absorbed into this culture. Would they face ridicule? Could they handle persecution? How did they solve situations that arose in their own community? Questions of good leadership, how to share community goods, how to reconcile members. These Christians wondered is the faith we received really true, really trustworthy? To meet their needs, Luke the Pastor, was inspired to create a solution! He states clearly in the beginning of his Gospel that his purpose, “after investigating everything accurately anew“ was to “write it down in an orderly sequence” “so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received”! He creatively reinterprets the Gospel of Mark. He includes other sources and other stories, and his Gospel is crafted to give people a solid foundation again in the Christian life. He’ll present old things in a new way, from Jewish traditions and sources. Luke will show how all the Scriptures are fulfilled in Jesus! They will come to understand their Christian mission and know renewed fervor as disciples of Jesus.
The scene from this weeks reading is preceded with the Baptism of Jesus and His temptation in the desert. Compelled by the Holy Spirit, Jesus returns to His hometown to begin His public ministry. He stands up in the Synagogue to read from the Prophet Isaiah. There Isaiah declares that the Spirit of the Lord has commissioned him to announce good news to the poor, news of release from captivity, recovery of sight for the blind, liberty to the oppressed, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
The term “a year acceptable to the Lord’ is a Hebrew idiom for a Year of Jubilee. So Jesus is announcing a Jubilee Year at the beginning of His public ministry. But what is a Jubilee Year? According to Dr. Tim Gray, there are 3 key elements to the Jubilee Year in the Old Testament. And we must understand these elements to understand Jesus’ mission. The first is release of debts. Jubilee Years were declared every 50 years, so every 50 years all debts are released. To relate this to our day, our mortgage, credit cards, student loans would all be released and our slate would be wiped clean. Secondly, all slaves were released. Because of the debt one owed, many became slaves to their lenders. But in the Jubilee year, owners were required to release these slaves as well as the debt they may owe to them. Thirdly, they would have their land restored to them. Any land that had been lost, for whatever reason, would be returned to the original owner.
Now this all makes sense if we put it in the larger story of Israel. When Israel goes through its Exodus from Egypt to Mt. Sinai, Moses gives Israel this law of the Jubilee Year in the book of Leviticus. In this Jubilee year Israel had just been released from the debt of sin that she held to Yahweh. In addition, God had released Israel from their slavery to Egypt. And thirdly, God restores their land, the Promise Land flowing with milk and honey, the land of their fathers – Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God does this for Israel and he commands that Israel does this very same thing every 50 years for the poor in their midst.
So what are the implications of Jesus proclaiming this particular passage at the advent of His public ministry? The key lies in the statement: Today this Scripture passage has been fulfilled in your hearing!! Jesus is declaring that the true Jubilee has arrived!! The Jubilee always pointed to New Beginnings. And the prophecies of the Old Testament pointed to the fulfillment to come in the New Testament. This freedom accomplished through the Exodus from Egypt foreshadowed the Spiritual freedom from sin and death brought about by Adam’s fall!!
So let’s parallel the 3 key elements of the Jubilee Year in light of the appearing of the Messiah, the Anointed One of God!
1. Release from Debt – Spiritually there was a crushing debt to sin and death. Yearly, Israel would “remember” the Passover and offer the Lamb that would take away their sins for a year! Jesus, the true Lamb of God, would free us from this great debt of sin forever!!
2. Release from Slavery – As Israel was a slave to the taskmaster, Egypt, we were slaves to the wiles of the enemy of our soul, satan and his cohorts! Jesus delivers us from that slavery through His life, death and resurrection!!
3. Restoration of our Land – As a result of Adam’s fall, man lost entrance into Paradise, the Garden of Eden. Through the actions of Jesus on the Cross, Heaven has been restored to God’s people and it doors are opened wide!!
Those who sat in the Synagogue that day would have understood the implications of this prophecy. They knew these Scriptures and the Word of God was more real to them than their hand in front of their face!!
Meditating and praying about this Gospel passage has allowed me to consider what we do here every week at Daughters of Mary. As we listen to these commentaries, our minds are opened more to the true teachings and deep mysteries of our faith. We have more certainty in the teachings of our Church and with that certainty comes conviction to grow closer to Christ and His Church. And with that conviction we have the courage to live and share our faith with others.
Last week Deborah talked about being renewed. Renewal of ourselves, our families, our parishes. This renewal takes place in prayer. There are many ways to pray. We may use the rosary, meditation, prayer cards or sitting before the Blessed Sacrament just to name a few. During the Christmas season, I watched a movie called War Room. This movie reminded me of a season in my life where I prayed the Scriptures regularly! After seeing the movie I thought I need to go back and practice this form of piety again. This kind of prayer has a beautiful way of renewing our mind and helping us to put on the mind of Christ as St. Paul speaks of in his letters!
So how would we take the Scriptures and pray?? I would like to share the way I have done this with this Sunday’s Gospel reading:
Father, I thank you have sent forth your Spirit and you have anointed me! I know Father that it is your desire to set captives free! Father, free me from all things that would bind me and keep me from the freedom you have provided through Jesus. Loosen the bonds that hold my husband, my children, my grandchildren from fully living the life you have planned for them. Lead and guide them by the power of your Holy Spirit. Open our eyes Lord that we may see you in all things. That we may not grope in darkness but be filled with Your marvelous light! Help us to set others free by the proclamation of your Word and the lives that we live. Help us to be generous to those who are poor physically and in spirit. May all that we say and do be an acceptable offering to you! Thank you for your many blessings and fill us with the joy of our salvation!! AMEN
I had one other insight as I prepared this commentary. One Thursday I was praying the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary. As I went from The Baptism of Jesus, The Wedding Feast at Cana and The Proclamation of the Kingdom I realized that these where the readings for the last 3 Sundays!! It just blessed me to see how interconnected our prayers and the Liturgy are!! And just so grateful for our Church and those who have preserved and guarded it for us!!
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