1. -- Lanie
LeBlanc OP
2. --
Carol & Dennis Keller
3. --
Brian Gleeson CP
4. --
5. --(Your
reflection can be here!)
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1.
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Sun. 3A 2020
Our Gospel reading this Sunday tells of Jesus's specific
call to follow Him to two sets of brothers . Each of the
four men left their ordinary lives to do exactly that.
Thanks to them, we (and/or our parents) have heard the Good
News, and we have been baptized into this same calling.
Preaching the Good News as a follower of Jesus can be
done in many places and in many ways to many people. Some
people find that their Baptismal call takes them to foreign
lands, to unknown people, some of whom have never even heard
of God. Others stay right where they are planted, sometimes
unceremoniously re-planted, to look for the Light and to
bring light into the darkness of the circumstances in which
they find themselves and those around them.
The truth is that there is darkness in many aspects of
people's lives today, no matter where they live or who they
are. Prayerful discernment is necessary to figure out where
God wants each of us to be present as light in His Name,
then and where else afterwards. It may not be very far, but
the depth of the need may be very deep. Sometimes it may
take awhile to even see the Light ourselves even though we
know it is always there.
Ordinary Time is settling in time, settling in enough to
absorb and review the teachings of the past liturgical
season. Jesus said, "the kingdom of God is at hand" and we
are charged to illuminate our part of the kingdom with the
Good News of the Light of Christ. It is a good time to ask
prayerfully once again what the Lord has in mind for each of
us to do.
Blessings,
Dr. Lanie
LeBlanc OP
Southern
Dominican Laity
lanie@leblanc.one
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Third Sunday of Ordered Time January 26, 2020
Isaiah 8:23-9:3; Responsorial Psalm 27; 1st Corinthians
1:10-13 & 17; Gospel Acclamation Matthew 4:23; Matthew
4:12-23
Upon hearing of the death of his cousin John, the
Baptizer, Matthew tells us that Jesus returned to Galilee.
As he returned to his home territory, he moved from his
childhood home in Nazareth to the larger, thriving city of
Carpernaum. Matthew makes a point of saying Galilee was home
to the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali. The significance of
this arises from the history of those two tribes. They were
the first of the Chosen People to be overrun and lose their
autonomy. The Assyrian empire under Tiglath-pilesan III in
733 B.C. conquered the region. It was the beginning of the
end of the grand kingdom created by David and lifted to its
highest glory by the wisdom, political and commercial
systems created by Solomon.
There was a significant element to this tragedy. Two
thirds of the population of Zebulun and Naphtali were forced
into exile, scattered among the pagan nations of the world.
This was the beginning of the diaspora – the scattering of
the Hebrews throughout the known world. At the birth of
Jesus, when Joseph took the infant and his mother into
Egypt, they would have gone to the Jewish community well
established there. That community was one of several
communities of dispersed Israelites. Some thirty or forty
years later, Peter, Paul, and the other apostles spread the
Christian message by preaching in synagogues throughout the
world. Those synagogues supported the faith of the Chosen
people. Every city first visited by the apostles had a
synagogue where Hebrew Scriptures and traditions were taught
and practiced. The tragedy of the Assyrian victory over
Naphtali and Zebulun became the fulfillment of the prophecy
of Isaiah we hear this Sunday. The anguish of the people has
taken wing; dispelled is the darkness of the Assyrian
victory: the people who walked in the darkness and defeat
have seen a great light. Those dispersed, those who lived in
the diaspora, were rejoined to the larger community of the
faithful.
We come to a fuller understanding of Matthew’s gospel if
we recall that he is writing for Jews – and not just those
living in Judaea, but for all the Chosen People living in
exile. These were those who listened to the prophets, to
those who understood the history of their people. These are
those who practiced the Law of Moses given them at the
beginning of their journey to becoming a nation of God. They
worshipped the Living God, not one made by human hands of
wood, or gold, or silver, or stone. Their God is present to
his people. Their God creates unexpected victory out of
crushing defeat. Clearly, this repeated history of the
Chosen People is summed up in the ministry and the ultimate
work of Jesus. Jesus is present to the people by curing
illnesses and banishing disease. He returns to the Community
of Faith those whose circumstances have denied them
membership. His cruel death is a defeat of his ministry, or
so it seems. For God raised him up on the third day in an
unexpected victory as a new creation, the first-born of
those who embrace and practice his message, his way. His
experience is our experience as we overcome death by being
raised to new life – if we wish to be lifted-up and practice
the Way of Jesus.
In the reading from the first section of Isaiah, Zebulun
and Naphtali are said to have been degraded by the hands of
the Assyrians. Isaiah doesn’t leave it there. He continues
the story to its hoped for ending. "In the end he has
glorified the seaward road, the land west of the Jordan, and
the district of the Gentiles. These three regions make up
the region of Galilee. It is called the district of the
Gentiles because the Assyrian empire replaced two thirds of
the Hebrew population in Galilee with strangers, Gentiles
from other conquered nations. That is the reason they are
called Gentiles since two thirds of the population is of
pagan blood. The question arises, however. How does Isaiah
consider this region so devastated as glorified? The answer
is Matthew’s narrative this morning. Jesus begins his
ministry of preaching and healing. Isaiah writes in his
poetic manner, "Anguish has taken wing; dispelled is
darkness: The people who walked in darkness have seen a
great light, upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a
light has shone." We heard these words of Isaiah in our
Christmas season marking the birth of the Messiah.
Jesus begins his preaching in Galilee. Most of us hear
this and let it pass without much thought. William Barclay,
the revered Anglican Biblical Scholar, writes that Galilee
was a well-chosen region in which to begin the messages of
the Gospel. Galilee was a small area densely populated. The
historian Josephus writes that the region contained two
hundred and four villages. This large population was
supported by a wonderfully fertile soil that produced crops
well beyond the needs of the population. In addition, there
were caravan routes that ran along the borders of Galilee.
The great Seaward Road ran along the Mediterranean and
carried commercial traffic from the north all the way to
Egypt. The caravan routes from the east ran along the Sea of
Galilee and connected Carpernaum with the east and the west.
The people of Galilee were bombarded with commerce and the
thinking of the entire middle east. This population was more
open to new thinking and culture than those in the south.
Those same routes carried Hebrew pilgrims from homes and
businesses located in all nations to Jerusalem for the three
great celebrations of the faith of the Hebrews. Exile did
not prevent, did not eradicate the faith from that people’s
life. Recall the Acts of the Apostles narrative about the
Pentecost fifty days after the Resurrection. "Now there were
devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in
Jerusalem."
Jesus begins his ministry in a heavily populated region,
blessed with great natural resources. Because of exposure to
many cultures and histories the natives of that region were
accepting of progress and new ways of thinking and living.
This is the region where Jesus began his public ministry. He
went about teaching in the synagogues and healing every
disease and illness among the people. This was the
glorification of the region of Naphtali and Zebulun of which
Isaiah writes. The Galileans knew Isaiah’s prophecy and
would have been excited that the former glory of the Kingdom
of David and Solomon was just on the horizon.
Not only were the people of Galilee encouraged. Those
persons who traveled the caravan routes who heard the
message and carried the news of this Jesus throughout the
synagogues and gathering places of the twelve tribes in the
diaspora. Jesus preaches as did his cousin John. "Repent of
your ways. The reign of heaven is now, is beginning."
We write "reign" of heaven instead of Kingdom. When we
use the word "kingdom" we fall into thinking of a place, of
territory under the control of a King, president, dictator,
or tyrant. This is not God’s way. God does nothing half-way.
God’s interventions always exceed expectations. The
understanding of the prophecies regarding the Messiah were
based on an idealized memory of the reigns of David and
Solomon. David subdued the enemies of the nation and bought
peace and prosperity to the land. His son Solomon brought
beauty, art, and most of all wisdom to the people. It was
the peace of David and wisdom of Solomon that was the
expectations of the people of Jesus’ time. Over time,
David’s sinfulness was overlooked. Solomon’s heavy-handed
taxation was forgotten. The Temple of Solomon was such a
marvel that the citizens forgot the burdens its building
laid on their shoulders.
Our responsorial psalm this Sunday insists that "The Lord
is my light and my salvation." What is this light; what is
this salvation? The light is the wisdom that guides how we
live. Wisdom provides us understanding of our place in the
world and in God’s eyes. From such understanding comes joy.
Salvation is freedom from the yokes and the bars mentioned
in Isaiah. That freedom is within our hearts and minds even
though we may be enslaved economically, socially, or even
treated as chattel. Even though circumstances burden us, the
freedom that is within us is the faith. We trust that God
remains in charge and is present to us even in our darkest,
most dismal hours. In that presence we are free of chains
that come from the violence and terror of those who would
subdue our hearts and rob our minds of personal purpose and
meaning.
This Sunday begins Jesus’ public ministry. It is a
ministry of healing, of defeat of disease. The reign of the
God is rising. Jesus message is just that. His beginning in
Galilee is a sign of the defeat of the ways of the world on
the very highways of the world. The very center of
agriculture and commerce insist that we live in and grow in
the world. His beginning in a prosperous land, filled with
people, at the crossroads of the world indicate that all are
called to this way of the Lord. In the gospel this Sunday,
he chooses his first messengers. In effect he calls us as
well to be his messengers. We’re not going to walk the
Sea-ward Road or the Road from east to west. We walk in our
own place. And our goal is the Peace of Jerusalem. Our goal
is the wisdom to live in peace and wisdom. The Messiah is
here even now calling us to follow in his way. Can we find
the courage to listen and to do?
Carol & Dennis
Keller + Charlie
dkeller002@nc.rr.com
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JESUS, THE BRIGHT LIGHT OF GOD IN OUR DARKNESS
There are some valleys in the Swiss Alps that are so
deep, that in the middle of winter the rays of the sun don’t
penetrate for days, and sometimes even for weeks. For the
people who live in those valleys, life is often experienced
as one long night. This is particularly depressing for the
children there. So much so that when one day a ray of
sunshine shone in a classroom after nine days of darkness,
the children jumped on to their desks and shouted for joy.
The precious light of day remind us of Jesus ‘the light
of the world’ (John 9:2). It’s as true as it ever was, that
in Jesus, ‘the people that walked in darkness have seen a
great light’ (Isaiah 9:2: cf. Matthew 4:16). You and I are
among those favoured people. The light of his blessings
started with our Baptism, which was once known as ‘The
Enlightenment’. Ever since Jesus has been shining on us his
light of faith, his light of hope, and his light of love.
The beginning, the dawn of the bright rays of his
powerful influence have been traced by Matthew in today’s
gospel to his move from his hometown of Nazareth to that of
Capernaum on the north-western shore of the Sea of Galilee.
There, in that semi-pagan district, he begins his public
ministry as the Light of God, which Matthew sums up in this
single sentence: ‘From that time Jesus began to proclaim,
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near"’ (4:17).
What Jesus is saying is that the time has arrived for God to
come out of the shadows and darkness surrounding Godself,
and to demonstrate through Jesus just how God is our King.
Jesus is implying: ‘To know what kind of King God is, just
look at me. See what I do. Hear what I say. Notice the kind
of person I am. Then you will discover that the God I
represent, the God I bring to you, is not a God who rules in
fear. No, your God and mine is a God who leads and guides
with gentleness, with affection, with patience, and with
compassion.’
Everything, in fact, that we can say about Jesus the man
we can say about God, about God who is in Jesus, about God
who is one with Jesus. Jesus is warm and friendly. So is
God. Jesus is honest and truthful. So is God. Jesus is loyal
and faithful. So is God. Jesus is welcoming and forgiving.
So is God. Jesus is unselfish and generous. So is God. Jesus
is kind and loving. So is God. Jesus is accepting and
caring. So is God. Jesus lays down his life for others. So
does God in Jesus. In a nutshell, Jesus is the human face of
God, God’s enlightening 'good news' in person, speaking for
God and acting for God.
Jesus is the good news of the truth we are searching for.
In a thousand and one ways he shows us that there is a God,
and that this God is the fullness of love. Jesus is the good
news of the hope we need. That we can reject sin and walk in
the footsteps of Jesus! That this life is succeeded by a new
and better life! Jesus is the good news of the peace we
crave. We become worried and troubled about too many things,
but he is the strength and peace that calms our troubled
minds and heals our divided hearts. If only we let him, we
can experience him day after day lighting up our lives as
our Way, our Truth, and our Life.
But Jesus does not and will not force himself into our
lives. This is beautifully illustrated by an incident
involving Holman Hunt, who in 1854 painted the now-famous
picture, ‘Jesus, the Light of the World’. [Footnote:
Visitors to Sydney will find it beautifully reproduced in
the stained glass window above the West Door of the
‘Garrison Church’ in ‘The Rocks’.] The artist portrays
Jesus, crowned with thorns, carrying a lantern, and knocking
on a closed door. But when he showed the finished original
to some friends, one of them pointed out what seemed to be a
serious omission – there was no handle on the door. ‘There
is no mistake,’ the artist replied, ‘we must open to the
Light. The handle is on the inside.’
There are people not far away living in the darkness of
ignorance, prejudice, illness, loneliness, poverty,
rejection, bitterness, moral confusion, sadness, guilt and
grief. So we continue to acknowledge and respond to the
message brought by the Light of the World to ‘the people
that walked in darkness’. He is sending you and me to bring
his light to them with the challenge: ‘Recognise me for the
good news that I bring and the good news that I am.’ So too
we keep praying that beautiful contemporary hymn (1987) by
Graham Kendrick, popular in churches of all denominations,
and in which this is the recurring refrain:
‘Shine, Jesus, shine.
Fill this land with the Father’s glory,
Blaze, Spirit, blaze.
Set our hearts on fire.
Flow, river flow.
Fill the nations with grace and mercy.
Send forth your word, Lord.
And let there be light.’
"Brian Gleeson CP" <bgleesoncp@gmail.com>
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5.
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Volume 2 is for you. Your thoughts, reflections, and
insights on the next Sundays readings can influence the
preaching you hear. Send them to
preacherexchange@att.net. Deadline is
Wednesday Noon. Include your Name, and Email Address.
-- Fr. John
