First Reading: Nehemiah 8:2-4, 5-6, 8-10
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 19:8, 9, 10, 15
Second Reading: First Corinthians 12:12-30 or 12:12-14, 27
Gospel: Luke 1:1-4, 4:14-21
We begin the Gospel of Luke, which we will follow throughout the liturgical year. And the Church chooses a section of Luke containing an important announcement, an announcement that is the cornerstone of Christian liberation.
Jesus unrolls the scroll and applies to himself the announcement of Isaiah. As we listen Isaiah, we recall that, from the outset, Jesus directed his ministry to the poor, the infirm, the oppressed, the marginalized:
I the Lord have called you for the victory of Justice,
I formed you to … open the eyes of the blind,
To bring out prisoners from confinement,
And from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.
Isaiah 12: 5-6
The particular ministry we encounter this Sunday is announcing. Announcing is a key ministry -- because, without announcing, good news would be no news at all. And the ministry of announcing is ongoing. In our own poverty and oppression, God calls us to announce. What we announce is a revolution of social priority, of values, and of accepted practice.
What is good news to some is bad news to others. It is easy to announce when the announcement gives comfort to the disturbed. But the same announcement disturbs the comfortable. What is good news for the poor, the outcast, the loser, the disenfranchised, will not fall easily on the ears of the well settled, the rich, the important, the powerful.
We may not feel qualified to be entrusted with such an important announcement. The apostles were not famous for their good works, or their ability to form community, or their organizational skills. Christ did not entrust the most revolutionary announcement in history to erudite speakers, or compelling orators, or resounding voices. They were a collection of tax collectors, fishermen, simple, hardworking people called to announce good news.
The same Spirit of Pentecost that made passionate announcers out of the ragtag army that was the apostles fills us in our poverty and simplicity. In today’s reading Jesus models the ministry of announcing, so that we in turn can announce the kingdom to the poor and oppressed.
And so the Gospel of Luke sets out to be a Gospel of Liberation. We follow it week by week, Sunday by Sunday, and not only experience but also share in the ministry of Christ Jesus:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you and me,
Because he has anointed us
To bring glad tidings to the poor.
He is sending us to bring liberty to captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
|