Proclaiming The Year of Grace
Third Sunday - Year C
Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10; Psalm 19:8-10,15; 1 Corinthians 12:12-30 (12-14, 27); Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21
We meet three preachers in today’s liturgy of the Word: Ezra, Paul, and our Lord. Ezra read from the book of the law of God and then interpreted it for the audience so they could understand the reading (Neh 8:8). Jesus reads from the book of Isaiah (Is. 61:1-2) and gives that passage definitive interpretation: “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). Finally, Saint Paul explains to the faithful in Corinth the meaning of the Church: though we are many, we are one Body in Christ (1 Cor. 12:12).
Ezra, elevated upon a wooden platform reminds us of Moses, who from Mount Sinai gave God’s law to the people (see Ex. 19:17-20; 20:1-17). According to the Jewish tradition the anniversary of the giving of the Torah - God’s law - is observed seven weeks after the feast of Passover. In our Christian tradition, it is the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Church. In today’s responsorial psalm we hear that the Torah is perfect, it renews life, it is more desirable than gold and sweeter than honey (Ps. 19:8-11). But, to become Spirit and life (John 6:63c) the words of the Lord need proper interpretation. Only Jesus can open our minds so we can understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45) because He is the fulfillment of the Law (see Rom. 10:4).
Our Lord returns “to Galilee in the power of the Spirit” (Luke 4:14). He returns from Judea where he was baptized by John the Baptist (Luke 3:21-22) and from His desert experience where He was led by the Spirit (Luke 4:1). Now, in his hometown, He reads a text from the book of Isaiah that has a connection with the famous Jubilee Year - the fiftieth year (Lev. 25:10). It was a year of liberty: all debts should be forgiven, the land should go back to their original owners, and those Israelites who were forced into indentured servitude should be set free. During the time of Isaiah, the prophecy about the Jubilee Year took on a particular meaning. In 586 BC, the whole nation lost its land and was forced into exile. Fifty years later, after 538 BC, their period of service ended when the Persian king Cyrus allowed them to leave Babylon and regain their ancestral land (see 2 Chron. 36:22-23).
Used by Jesus, the words of Isaiah take on even a much deeper meaning. Since Adam, humanity is ‘indebted’ for transgressing God’s commandments. Since Adam, we lost our ‘ancestral land’ - the garden of Eden - and have been forced to live elsewhere. Now, our period of slavery to sin is over. By proclaiming the Gospel of God’s mercy Jesus has declared a year of liberty. This year is not confined to 365 days. This year lasts “so long as the earth endures” (Gen. 8:22). Furthermore, Jesus makes His proclamation on the sabbath, the day of rest. The true sabbath rest has nothing to do with idleness. We are not called to cease merely from work but to cease from sin.
We see “the Spirit of the Lord upon” Jesus at the moment of His baptism (Luke 3:22) and we see “the Spirit of the Lord upon” the Church at the feast of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13). Moreover, we also see “the Spirit of the Lord upon” every baptized person. “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, ..., and we were all given to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13). This Spirit equips us with different charismatic gifts to proclaim the Jubilee Year, the Year of Liberty, the Year of Grace.