January 26, 2025

Lectionary Readings: Neh. 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10; Ps 19:7-9, 14; 1 Cor. 12;12-30; Lk 1:1-4, 4:14-21

Theme: The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength (Nehemiah 8:10)

“the joy of the Lord is your strength” (8:10)

The readings for our liturgy today evoke joy in the sheer gift of the word of God. We can hear the Psalmist’s appreciation of the qualities of that gift: the law of the Lord is perfect, the decrees of the Lord are sure, the precepts of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart, the commandment of the Lord is clear enlightening the eyes (Ps 19:7-9, 14). Nehemiah, Paul and Luke remind us of the deep roots of this joy in the Spirit’s gift of the word of God to our faith community.

     The Lukan passage emphasizes the influence of the Spirit in a series of affirmations following Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan. After 40 days of fasting in the wilderness, as if assuming the 40-year desert journey of his people, Jesus “filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee” (4:14); he goes back to Nazareth, and to the synagogue on the Sabbath and he is invited to read a scripture text. The passage designated for this Sabbath is a selection from the Prophet Isaiah (61:1). It speaks to him personally: the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, release to captives, sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed (cf. 4:18-19). Commenting on that reading, Jesus confirms his own sense of vocation: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (4:21).  

“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”

 Again, in Paul’s Corinthian text, the Spirit emerges as the protagonist, this time transforming multiplicity into vibrant unity. Paul uses the metaphor of the human body to reflect on the implications of our own baptism, enabling our journey from individualism to faith community. In his theological perspective, we become members of the one body of Christ by baptism, and we drink of the same Spirit. In the longer reading designated for today, Paul gives considerable attention to illustrating the specific contributions of various members to the body; here he makes four significant observations: (1) each member’s sense of belonging to the body, (2) each member’s function in the body, (3) the complementarity of the various members of the body, (4) the interdependence of the members of the body—if one suffers all suffer. Paul emphasizes our unity in this vocation as members of the body of Christ. While sustaining all of our individual qualifications, we now embody the essential quality of our unity in Christ: we “are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (12:27).

     Nehemiah vividly recalls a very significant moment in the life of the Israelite community following Cyrus’s decree in 538, which enabled the return of the Jews to Jerusalem, formally ending the experience of exile in Babylon. The celebration of renewal and reconstruction in Jerusalem culminates when the community summons Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses (the Torah). In the square in front of the Water Gate, standing on a wooden platform constructed for this purpose, Ezra, the priest and scribe, reads the book of the law to the assembly of men, women, and children old enough to understand. They respond with a resounding “Amen, Amen,” hands raised in reverent submission. In their joy at this proclamation “all the people wept” (8:9); Ezra assures them, “the joy of the Lord is your strength” (8:10)

For Reflection and Discussion: 1.  Since this is the “Sunday of the Word of God,” reflect on what place scripture has in your life and on an experience in which it provided inspiration or discipline for you.

Bibliography: Coogan, Michael D., editor, The New Oxford Annotated Bible, (Oxford University Press, 2001); Levine, Amy-Jill and Brettler, Marc Zvi, editors, The Jewish Annotated New Testament (Oxford University Press, 2011).

This week’s Sunday Liturgy Commentary was prepared by
Diane Willey, Canada, Bat Kol Alumna 2005, 2006

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