Sunday Meditation: Uniting the Kingdom of God

In the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time in Year A we see Jesus starting His ministry.  But wait a second.  Didn’t we see Jesus in the First Sunday, two Sunday’s ago, being baptized.  Wasn’t that the start of His ministry?  And last Sunday, didn’t we see John the Baptist declare Jesus the Lamb of God after that baptism?  Wasn’t that the start of His ministry?  Well, yes to both of those Sundays and to this one too.  The Baptism is the start by God’s anointing; the second is start by John’s declaration; and today is the start by Jesus’s activities.

Three years ago for this Third Sunday in Ordinary Time of Year A, I embedded Dr. Prant Pitre’s explanatory breakdown of this Gospel.  One of the homilies I provide below will reference it, so it might be worthwhile to go back and watch it.  It is important to know that the significance of withdrawing to Zebulun and Naphtali was that those were the first two regions that went into exile when the northern kingdom was conquered.  So by Jesus going there, He will be reconstituting David’s kingdom, but only this time it will be a spiritual kingdom.

The Gospel passage divides into two parts.  We see Jesus in the first starting His ministry with the preaching of repentance.  And we see in the second, Jesus selecting apostles for His ministry.  In these apostles we the very turning away from ordinary life to a life in Jesus, which is exactly what Jesus is asking us to do.  We see the apostles giving up their business and their families, and we see them accepting their calling without knowing any details nor outcome.  Later in Matthew 19:27, Peter tells Jesus they have given up everything.  And Jesus responds, in  the Kingdom the twelve will be on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

 

 

Here is today’s Gospel reading.

 

 

When Jesus heard that John had been arrested,
he withdrew to Galilee.
He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea,
in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali,
that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet
might be fulfilled:
Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles,
the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light,
on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death
light has arisen.
From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say,
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

 

As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers,
Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew,
casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen.
He said to them,
“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
At once they left their nets and followed him.
He walked along from there and saw two other brothers,
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets.  He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him.
He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people.

~Mt: 4:12-23

 

I have explained some up above, but I haven’t explained everything.  Fr. Cajetan Cuddy O.P. will explain the significance.

So with John the Baptist’s ministry over, Jesus receives the baton and starts His ministry, proclaiming the need for repentance as John had done.  “The Kingdom of God is the overarching theme of the entire economy of salvation.”  Jesus teaches, therefore, “the union of repentance and the kingdom.”  Since Jesus is the Kingdom, your turning—repentance—is a turning to Jesus.

Fr. Terrance Chartier provides an interesting pastoral homily.  If Jesus’s mission is to unite, those that create occasions of division are working against the Kingdom of God.

“Jesus of Nazareth comes to restore light and hope and unity to his people. He comes to reunite his people under one faith. He also comes to engraft...the Gentiles…Our Lord works to bring hope and unity and healing to places torn by division and destruction.”  The significance of this unity is that, as the second reading points out, the introduction of divisions into the Kingdom of God is working against the work of Jesus.  Beware of the schismatic elements you bring to the Body of Christ.  Surely fragmentation into denominations is working against Christ’s unity.  But so is obstinate fighting against the Pope and the Bishops, as we have seen in recent years.  Cum Petro et Sub Petro  (With Peter and Under Peter).  “The work of the devil is to divide and pit God's children against each other.  And the devil continues his work to this day.” 

 

 

Sunday Meditation: “He went around all of Galilee,

teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people.”

 

 

Let’s return to John Michael Talbot for the hymn, and this lesser know but still lovely hymn, “Walk and Follow Jesus.”

“I will walk and follow Jesus.”  How about you?

 

 

Sunday Meditation: The Fulfillment of the Scriptures

On the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time in Year C we get moving into the Gospel of Luke.  The Gospel reading actually leaps in its start.  It starts with the opening lines of the first chapter of Luke and then leaps into the fourth chapter where Jesus declares He is the fullfiment of the Word.

 

Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events

that have been fulfilled among us,

just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning

and ministers of the word have handed them down to us,

I too have decided,

after investigating everything accurately anew,

to write it down in an orderly sequence for you,

most excellent Theophilus,

so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings

you have received.

 

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit,

and news of him spread throughout the whole region.

He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all.

 

He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up,

and went according to his custom

into the synagogue on the sabbath day.

He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.

He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to bring glad tidings to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down,

and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.

He said to them,

"Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."

~Lk 1:1-4, 4:14-21

Let’s get a complete background on the Gospel of Luke, it’s author, and today’s reading from the homilist that gives the best background and context, Fr. Geoffrey Plant.

Fr. Geoffrey gives us a lot of fascinating facts, but perhaps the most fascinating might be the distinguishing of how each Gospel initiates Jesus’s public ministry.  Let’s list them.

Matthew: The Sermon on the Mount

John: The Wedding Feast at Cana

Mark: The Casting Out of the Unclean Spirit at Capernaum

Luke: The Declaration of Fulfillment at the Synagogue at Nazareth

In back to back weeks, then, we have read two of the four initiations of Jesus’ public ministry.  Did you also hear the understanding of how one should interpret Biblical tests?  Through a twofold process of (1) exegesis and (2) hermeneutics.  Let’s also list Fr. Plant’s definition of both.

Exegesis: What did the text mean in the original context?

Hermeneutic: What does this the text saying to us now?

And now, Dr. Brant Pitre will provide the exegesis of the Gospel.

 

Are we not in a Jubilee year this year? 

Neither Fr. Geoffrey’s homily nor Dr. Pitre’s exegesis really served as a pastoral application of today’s Gospel, and I was going to skip it, but Fr. Cajetan Cuddy’s homily was so perfect as a pastoral application I have to include it.

 

 

Sunday Meditation: “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

 

Finally the hymn will be a brand new hymn, written very recent to celebrate the Jubilee year.  Here is the official hymn for the 2025 Jubilee, "Pilgrims of Hope".

 

 

Actually I see it’s already over a year old in composition.  Lyrics by Msgr. Pierangelo Sequeri and music by Maestro Francesco Meneghello.  Recording performed by the Choir of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, DC,  Peter Latona, Director.