Scripture Reflection for Jan. 26, 2025, Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Neh 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10
Ps 19:8, 9, 10, 15
1 Cor 12:12-30 or 1 Cor 12:12-14, 27
Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21

Having watched for Jesus in Advent; having celebrated his coming in the flesh at Christmas; having praised his universal sovereignty at Epiphany, adoring him with the magi; and then having found him so near to us in his baptism, we have moved on.

That is, having finished our Christmas and Epiphany celebrations, seeing how Christ has come, how he dwells among us in wonder and sacrament, now we have come to Ordinary Time, which, scripturally speaking, is simply a season of following. Having found Jesus in Bethlehem, having witnessed his baptism in the Jordan, now we follow him to Jerusalem. Now we make our slow, miraculous and darkening way to Calvary.

But first it's as if the church wants to give us a heads-up. That is, these first two weeks of Ordinary Time point out the purpose of the journey -- where we are headed and why. Last Sunday, we heard the story of the wedding at Cana, "the beginning of his signs" (Jn 2:11). A story so rich and full of truth after truth, it is ultimately a sign pointing to the messianic fulfillment Jesus will bring about in himself -- fulfillment, as John later saw, figured as a wedding feast (Rv 19:9). Here the church, it seems, wants to remind us of the eschatological point of this journey with Jesus we've just begun.

And then we come to this Sunday's Gospel reading, to Luke. The passage begins with the first few verses of chapter one, to frame what we'll hear as a beginning; but then the reading skips to chapter four, to the story of Jesus in the synagogue at Nazareth. He's given a scroll; he reads it, words from Isaiah about "glad tidings to the poor" and "liberty to captives." He reads the words, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me;" and then at the end he says, "Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing" (Lk 4:14-21).

Here the church, it seems, wants to remind us of the moral point of this journey with Jesus we've just begun. Not only does this journey lead to mystical union, to the wedding banquet of the Lamb, it also leads to justice, to jubilee.

Now there is scholarly debate whether Jesus here is indeed calling for a jubilee in the sense of Leviticus 25; I think he is. Jesus is at least pointing to that great vision of the people of God established in justice, to that pristine vision found in Deuteronomy 15:4 ("But there will be no poor among you…") and which Luke rehearses in Acts 4:32-35 wherein he describes the solidarity of the first Christians.

This, the church seems to be saying, is where Jesus is taking us. We are following him to the wedding supper, to the heavenly Jerusalem and to the truly just kingdom of God. That's what the journey is about; all these stories from Jesus' life and ministry, which the church will share with us in the coming weeks, are meant ultimately to carry us toward mystery and justice.

Following Jesus is meant to lead us to heaven, and it's also meant to lead the least of our brothers and sisters to heaven too. That's why I think the church begins Ordinary Time with these two stories from John and Luke, because it helps us prepare for the journey if we know where we're going.

So, the questions then are these: Is this where you want to go? Is this why you're following Jesus? The church is telling us that the point of following Christ, the end point of the journey, is mystical and moral. The challenge then is to order our spiritual and ethical lives to this mystical and moral end.

How, for instance, is our spiritual life ordered to the mystery signified at Cana? Do we merely pray for things we want? Is our spirituality self-serving? Or does our prayer also include time of simple communion, of simply being with the Lord -- prayer that is simply longing for God in heaven? How also is our ethical life ordered? Is it ordered to justice? Do we work to make the world morally acceptable, not just to ourselves but to the Lord? That is, do we care for the poor and the oppressed? Do we help them? Do we understand that is just as much part of being a Catholic as anything?

It's all offered as fair warning. This is what following Jesus is about: mystical and moral perfection. Are you okay with that? Do you want to continue? Do you want to keep going? The journey will not be easy. It will involve suffering and death, suffering for others, even for enemies. Are you ready to go? That's what God, I think, wants to know. What only you can answer as you keep walking with him.