Gospel Reflection for Sunday January 23rd, 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Brian Maher OMI

Luke 1:1-4, 4:14-21

Today’s Gospel is unusual in that there are two distinct sections to it, leaving out three chapters in between. The first short section is Luke’s introduction to his Gospel and it is more important than we may first think.

Luke, like all of the early Christians, was aware that the ‘Good News’ he brought would stretch belief to the limit. To preach that our very God, creator of everything that is, became one of us out of love and walked among us for thirty-three years is incredible. To go on to say that he was put to death as a criminal by the Romans and that he then rose from the dead and spoke, ate, and was seen by them for a further period must have pushed the boundaries of acceptance to the limit. Poor Paul was doing very well speaking to the philosophers in Athens … until he came to the Resurrection and then they laughed at him and dismissed him. Luke, we know, was at different times a companion of Paul and would, without doubt, have experienced many moments of ridicule and dismissal.

As he begins his Gospel, then, he is at pains to ensure that Theophilus, to whom the Gospel is addressed, knows that it is not just a ‘story’.

First, everything is based ‘exactly’ on the accounts of eyewitnesses and those who first followed Jesus. Luke almost stresses the word ‘exactly’ so that when the reader comes upon the incredible events of the Gospel, they will remember that what they are reading is ‘exactly’ as was seen by those who were there.

Second, Luke points out that he himself did not just accept at face value the events he writes about. No, before becoming a believer himself, he researched and investigated and ‘carefully’ examined everything he was told. In his own words, “after carefully going over the whole story from the beginning…”

The words ‘exactly’ and ‘carefully’ are saying to Theophilus, “What you are about to read will seem far too good to be true, but you can trust me when I say that it is true!”

Just as Luke addressed these words to Theophilus two thousand years ago, he addresses them to us today. The ‘Good News’ of the Gospel is just as incredible now as it was then. In many ways it is even more incredible now because so many of us, in our arrogance, think that science, technology, Google, Siri and the other internet gurus, have all the answers. I say, “in our arrogance” because even the briefest of looks shows us that our world has more questions now than ever before, more pain and loneliness now than it ever had. The message of the Gospel – what Pope Francis in 2013 referred to as the “Joy of the Gospel” – is more relevant and important now than it ever was.

Luke saying to us that “the Gospel story he tells us may seem too good to be true – but it is true” is important. We must say it to ourselves today and often. More than that, we must come to truly believe it. Only when we do can we become authentic witnesses to the Gospel.

The hope our world so badly needs is with us in the person of Jesus who died and rose from the dead. Once we accept what Luke said to Theophilus, once it becomes part of our being, then even in our darkest moments of grief, pain, or loneliness, that deep joy and peace, which is beyond words, will shine through us.

Let me briefly link this with something I notice in the second section of today’s Gospel. In this section we are present with Jesus at the very beginning of his own mission. Having left John the Baptist, who offered a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins and preached that the Kingdom of God was close, Jesus needed to articulate for himself and then share with others the mission he was called to by God.

After his baptism, alone in the desert, in prayer and fasting, and plagued with temptations to choose an easier life, he heard within himself the call of God. Maybe in prayer he came across the words of Isaiah and through them God spoke to him – he was chosen by God and was being sent to the poor, the captives, the blind and the downtrodden. He was bringing to them a message of joy; that God loved them and always would, without conditions or reservations.

In the synagogue that Sabbath he announced his ‘manifesto’, his statement of intent, his programme for the rest of his life. Those who followed him knew they were committing to the same thing. Perhaps those who left John to be with him wished they had stayed, because the programme Jesus outlined was difficult.

Notice that twice in this short text Luke links the mission of Jesus with “the Spirit” ……

“Jesus, with the power of the Spirit in him, returned to Galilee…”

and, “The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me…”

It is not Jesus, by himself, who is being sent to the poor and downtrodden; it is Jesus ‘with the power of the Spirit in him’ who is being sent. It is the Spirit who gives Jesus the strength, power, and endurance to be who he was called to be, and to do what he was called to do.

Luke wants his readers to know, he wants us to know, that that same Spirit is given to us. In the Acts of the Apostles (also written by Luke) we see again and again the “power of the Spirit” in action. It is with the ‘power of the Spirit’ that the first followers of Jesus face persecution and death, it is with the power of the Spirit that they leave the security of Galilee to proclaim the Good News to the whole world, and it is through that Spirit that the Church is born and grows.

We are witnesses to Jesus in our world. We are called to be signs of hope and joy and peace in the face of all that is thrown at us. The Good News we bring is incredible and, just like St. Paul in Athens, people will ridicule us and dismiss us.

Our message is too good to be true, but it is true! God did come among us, he died for us, and he rose from the dead to remain with us forever.

Our call as witnesses is not just to preach this message but to live it; to let that peace, which is beyond words, be visible in our lives, just as it was visible in Jesus’ life. “He taught in their synagogues and everyone praised him.”

The truly Good News for us is that we are not called to do this alone. Just as Jesus had ‘the power of the Spirit within him’, just as the first apostles had the ‘power of the Spirit’ within them, we too have the ‘power of the Spirit’ within us.

Now that is Good News!

Thanks,

Brian.

If you have any comments, questions or thoughts on this scripture reflection you would like to share, I would be delighted to hear from you – please feel free to email me at b.maher@oblates.ie