Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time: Present to the Word

3rd Sunday OT, C                                                                                           January 23, 2022
Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette

Normally I preach for 10 minutes but in honor of Ezra reading from “daybreak until midday,” how does an hour sound? Not long enough? How about 3? No, but we should take God’s word seriously.

The Gospel ends with Jesus saying “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” Not “fulfilled in your presence.” Not “fulfilled at this time.” In. Your. Hearing. The Word of God is fulfilled not just in being proclaimed, but in being heard, received, made fruitful. The question for us is, are we allowing the word of God to be fulfilled among us? Are we hearing it? And is it bearing fruit among us?

In 2019, Pope Francis declared that every year on the 3^rd Sunday of Ordinary time – that’s today – we would observe the Word of God Sunday and give special attention to the importance of Scripture. What makes Scripture so valuable is that it, along with Sacred Tradition, is how we can come into contact with the true Word of God, Jesus Christ the Son of God. As St. Jerome so fittingly put it 1600 years ago: ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ.

In the book of Nehemiah, we see Ezra proclaim the entire Old Testament – he reads for 6 hours and everyone – men, women, and children – are eager to listen to it. They are moved even to tears. Why? Because these people have just come back to Jerusalem after being exiled for 70 years. Most of them have never heard the word of God proclaimed and the rest haven’t heard it in a very long time.

They hear the promises of God if the commandments are kept. They hear the punishments of God if the commandments are broken. They just lived through those punishments; they know of their own sins and they are moved to weep for them and the sins of their ancestors. They are likely afraid of what greater punishments are still to come. But Ezra and Nehemiah know the power of God’s word and they know of his faithfulness and mercy. They proclaim a feast. So what began with sacred reading ends with a sacred meal – that’s something that should be familiar to all of us and what we are doing right now.

And then there is Jesus the Word of God reading the word of God to the people of God in order to announce the fulfillment of the promises of God. The passage he chooses is significant. To bring glad tidings to the poor is not something simply written down, it is announced, spoken. To proclaim liberty to captives is something vocalized and acted upon. So is proclaiming a year acceptable to the Lord.

There is power in the spoken word and even though Jesus has been alive for 30 years, it is not until this moment of proclamation and being heard that scripture is fulfilled. And every time we gather to proclaim scripture, to hear it in the midst of God’s holy people, we enter into this sacred stream of God’s covenant with his people. From Adam to Abraham to Moses to Ezra, the word of God is more than information. It is Jesus himself made present.

Generally speaking, if you ask Catholics what’s the most important thing about going to Mass, they’re probably going to tell you it’s communion – the Eucharist. And they’re not exactly wrong. But despite the differences in how, it is the same Jesus Christ present in the Eucharist who is present also in the proclaimed word. As St. Jerome put it: “When we approach the [Eucharistic] Mystery, if a crumb falls to the ground we are troubled. Yet when we are listening to the word of God, and God’s Word and Christ’s flesh and blood are being poured into our ears yet we pay no heed, what great peril should we not feel?”

A study a few years ago suggested that 70% of Catholics don’t actually believe Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist. I’m willing to bet just as many don’t believe in the real power of scripture either, for those two go together. If God is not truly present in his word or the Eucharist, then why would they bother to come to Mass? If the only thing Mass is good for is a moving sermon or some nice music or a social gathering, what’s the big deal with missing sometimes?

But that’s not what the Mass is for, because Jesus is present in the Eucharist and in the word of God proclaimed. Regardless of how well the lector reads, regardless of how holy the priest is or how bad his accent is, regardless of how much you understand, Jesus Christ is present. He is in our midst. The reason we want good readers and homilies, the reason we want beautiful Eucharistic prayers is not for our sake, but to honor Christ present in them. Still, his presence isn’t meant to be a passive thing, something left to stand in isolation. So we do care about really hearing the word and reverently receiving communion. God’s word does not return to him empty, but bears fruit.

So how do we allow that to happen? First and foremost, pay attention to the readings. Other Christians accuse Catholics of not knowing scripture and they’re right, which is absurd because we listen to three whole readings every single week. Don’t tune them out. Don’t see them as something to “get through” so you can get communion and go home. If you willingly disrespect the proclaimed word, I promise you that receiving communion isn’t helping you very much.

Secondly, read scripture. Do it every day. I cannot think of a single excuse for not reading scripture every day. Unless you are blind and deaf or completely cut off from all books, computers, and phones, it is probably a sin of omission to go a whole day without reading scripture. Would you spend a whole day with your wife and husband and not listen to a single word they say? Even if you would, there is no excuse to flatly ignore our God and savior for a whole day. It doesn’t have to be much, but attend to scripture every day. Even better if you can hear it proclaimed or read it aloud. Flip open the bible, put an app on your phone, subscribe to a podcast. Make scripture a daily habit.

Finally, let scripture affect you. Ezra’s congregation wept. Jesus’ reacted in a couple of ways. Whether scripture challenges you, consoles you, or bores you, let it in. Take the time to process your own reaction to it… to try to understand why. It is the word of the living God whose son died for you. Hear it with faith, hear it with hope, hear it with love and it will be fulfilled in a joy beyond your wildest dreams.