January 23, 2022, Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
Today’s First Reading (Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10) is an intriguing and inspiring story from the Old Testament, but what is really interesting is the contrast it presents when compared to the Gospel (Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21) for this weekend and the event with Jesus.
The passage from the book of Nehemiah consists of an event which involves two of the most important Israelites from the Judean post-exilic period, Ezra, and Nehemiah. After defeating Babylon (538BC), King Cyrus of Persia (539-530BC) is moved by God to allow the exiles to return to Judah and sponsor their rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple. Among these returning exiles is the scholar and high priest Ezra, a descendant from the line of priests of David. Ezra is given the task of restoring proper worship and behavior according to the laws of Moses.
Also among the returnees is Nehemiah, a Jewish advisor to the subsequent King Artaxerxes I of Persia. Nehemiah is given the responsibility of overseeing the project to repair the city’s broken walls and burnt-out gates, which he successfully completes even amid resistance and intimidation from Samaritan adversaries. Nehemiah thus becomes the secular counterpart to the religious leadership of Ezra and the two together undertake a coordinated attempt to establish the requirement for God’s chosen nation to maintain holiness throughout their society.
In the passage from Nehemiah for today we are shown one of their efforts to establish right worship among the people. In front of an assembly of the people, Ezra reads from the book of the Law of Moses for several hours and all the people listen attentively. He stands on a wooden platform built especially for the occasion so that the people can see and hear him plainly. He also interprets the book’s directives as he reads so that the people can understand what is being revealed.
As Ezra proceeds the crowd kneels down and bows before the LORD. With their faces to the ground, they weep in sorrow for their past apostasy. But Nehemiah encourages them to change their lament into joy and celebrate with food and drink, declaring that this is a special holy day to the LORD. It seems that the Israelites have finally come to comprehend the importance of the covenant for their survival as a nation through this renewed course of holiness.
The story in the Gospel for today is from the time period in Israel’s history over four centuries later. The Israelites have become a well-established nation now under the dictatorship of Rome. But their worship has not changed significantly since the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. Although now taking place in synagogues throughout the various territories outside of Jerusalem and the Temple, it still consists of a religious leader or rabbi standing on a platform and reading from scripture and breaking open the word in a form of homily just as Ezra had done.
In this particular passage, it is Jesus reading in the synagogue in the territory of Galilee and his hometown of Nazareth. He indicates that he has been properly prepared for his ministry saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me…” This is a reference to the fact that he has just recently been baptized in preparation for his mission.
Jesus reads a portion of the scroll of the prophet Isaiah indicating that his ministry will be prophetic in nature. This is more than an apt description considering that there are more than 350 Old Testament prophecies found in the New Testament in reference to Jesus. However, Jesus summarizes all of these with a few short verses including the fact that he will announce good news to those who are poor, blind, in captivity, and oppressed. In other words, the character of his mission is specifically being offered to the outcasts of the people and the downtrodden.
Notice the contrast between the “homily” of Ezra from the book of Nehemiah and that of Jesus. Ezra has many parts of the laws of Moses to explain to the people from the Hebrew Scriptures, commonly referred to as the three portions of the Old Testament – “The Law, the Prophets, and the Writings.” The passage states that Ezra read from “daybreak till midday,” (Neh. 8:3a) in order to cover the required material. In other words, it takes Ezra several hours to complete his task on what is declared to be a holy day of the LORD.
Jesus has an equal amount of lengthy prophetic material from which he might choose to read, but notice it takes him barely little time to read a few verses he has selected from the prophet Isaiah. And these are declared to encompass not one holy day but an entire year acceptable to the LORD.
One might ask, “Why the difference?” Why can Jesus do what Ezra does in such a compact manner? The answer lies in the statement that he makes as he retakes his seat: “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk. 4:21). Jesus is not just reading the words from the Hebrew Scriptures according to which the Jewish people worship and live. Rather, he is the living embodiment of everything they consist of. The people only need follow him and pay attention to what he is about to do in his upcoming three-year ministry to learn all that the LORD blessedly reveals in the Hebrew Scriptures.
This is why Jesus is referred to as “The Word” of God: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (Jn. 1:1). Unfortunately, as we will find in the Gospel for next week (Lk. 4:21-30), this action of Jesus in the synagogue will not be received well at all by the locals of Nazareth. Stay tuned…
