Texts of the Readings
January 21, 2007
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
Dr. Terrance Callan
Neh 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10 X 1
Cor 12:12-30
X Luke 1:1-4;
4:14-21
Promise and fulfillment is a prominent
theme of the Bible. The Bible is filled with promises God made to people.
It is also filled with descriptions of how God has kept many of those
promises. Knowing that God has kept promises in the past makes us confident
that God will continue to keep them in the future.
The reading from the book of Nehemiah tells the story of an
important moment in the history of the Hebrew scriptures. The Babylonians
had conquered Jerusalem in 587 BCE and sent some of the conquered people
into exile in Babylon. When the Persians conquered the Babylonians in 539
BCE, the exiles were allowed to return to Judah and some did so. About a
century later, Ezra led another group of Jews from Babylon to Judah. He was
empowered by the Persians to teach and enforce the Jewish law. He began to
do this by reading the law, i.e., the scriptures, to the people, as we are
told in the reading from the book of Nehemiah.
When the people heard the law, they wept. Perhaps hearing it
reminded them of the ways they were not living up to it. But Ezra told
them, Do not be saddened this day, for rejoicing in the Lord must be your
strength. Rather than simply being saddened by their failure to keep the
law, they should rejoice in Gods promises to save them that it contains.
The reading from the gospel according to Luke presents Jesus as
the fulfillment of those promises. The reading consists of the first four
verses of the gospel, which are a prologue to the whole gospel, along with
the beginning of the story of Jesus visit to Nazareth, his hometown.
The
prologue to the gospel describes the gospel as a narrative of the events
that have been fulfilled among us. It says that the gospel is intended to
show the certainty of the teachings you have received. The gospel will
show that what has been said about Jesus is reliable by showing that Jesus
truly did fulfill the promises God made in scripture. When the reader sees
that Jesus is the one whom God promised to send, then the reader will know
that Jesus is the savior.
When Jesus visited Nazareth, he announced his fulfillment of
scripture. After reading in the synagogue a passage from the book of the
prophet Isaiah, Jesus said, Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in
your hearing. Jesus fulfillment of this passage tells us who he is: the
one anointed by the spirit of the Lord to bring glad tidings to the poor
... to proclaim liberty to captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to
let the oppressed go free.
The reading from Pauls first letter to the Corinthians speaks
of a further dimension of this fulfillment. Now that Jesus has come in
fulfillment of Gods promises, all who believe in him have been baptized
into the body of Christ. Through the Spirit we are united with Jesus and
one another as the parts of a body are united. Like the parts of a body we
are all different, but mutually interdependent. We all need each other.
None of us can say, Because I am not like the others, I am not really part
of the body. Nor can we say, Because others are different from me, I
dont need them. No part of the body is self-sufficient. It is only when
all work together that the body is whole.
Terrance Callan
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