3rd Sunday in OT 2022
Nehemiah 8:2-6, 8-10; 1 Cor 12:12-30; Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21
I love that passage from the Book of Nehemiah, describing how Ezra and the scribes read from the Law—the first part of the Hebrew Bible—and interpreted it, all through the morning. Hands up if you can hear the word “Watergate” without thinking of Richard Nixon, and hands up if you are not tempted to think that anyone would be in tears if they had to listen to readings and sermons all morning.
Why were the people in tears? Bear in mind who they were. These were the exiles who had come home to Judah and Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile. They were now in that homeland of which they had heard so much from their parents and grandparents, but which they themselves had never seen, having been born in Babylon, where their elders could not even bring themselves to sing the Psalms, so deep was their distress.
Those same elders—parents and grandparents—would have done their best to pass on the faith of Israel to this generation, but inevitably it would have been piecemeal, even times a little garbled. Now this new generation is, at last, learning in full of their ancestral faith, hearing the Scriptures read and explained: no wonder they are overwhelmed.
What about us? What effect do those same Scriptures, and the many more passages which we hear, have on us? Every Sunday, we hear three parts of those Scriptures—actually four, if we include the Psalm. A passage from the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, is read to us; we respond with the Psalm, before listening to part of a New Testament Epistle and, finally, the Gospel.
How does it strike us? Are we, like the exiles, moved in the depth of our being? Are we moved to tears, and are they tears of joy, or tears of boredom? I have heard priests, who should know better, being very dismissive of the Old Testament. If they haven’t steeped themselves in the Old Testament and the other readings, if they haven’t struggled to penetrate their meaning so as to convey it to their congregations, how are those congregations to be moved, to have their hearts stirred, to be brought to the verge of tears?
All of us, priests, deacons, religious, members of the congregation, need to have listening ears and listening hearts, attuned to the Word of God which we are hearing. During the Liturgy of the Word, we will bring our ears, our minds, and our hearts into harmony, allowing the Scriptures to seep into us.
A few weeks ago, I saw a cartoon: a family was sitting in church, attending Mass in person after months of following it on line. The husband was whispering to the wife “I don’t half miss being able to fast forward past the homily”. Does the homily lead you more deeply into the word which you have heard? If not, it may be worth going through the readings again, allowing them to take root, taking the Word of God more deeply into ourselves, looking out for the link between the Old Testament reading and the Gospel.
That link can be seen this week, as Jesus follows Ezra in reading from, and then interpreting, God’s Word in the Scriptures. The people are attentive: “all eyes were fixed on Him” we are told. He begins His interpretation by saying “This text is being fulfilled today, even as you listen”.
Those words are as true today, as you listen to them in Claughton, Clitheroe, or Ontario, as they were when Our Lord spoke them in Nazareth. God’s Word is a living word: it speaks to you here and now. Do you have ears to hear, and hearts to welcome and absorb?
