Third Sunday after Epiphany

Readings – Nehemiah 8:1-3,5-6,8-10, Psalm 19; I Corinthians 12:12-31a; Luke 4:14-21

In 586 B.C.E. the Assyrian army destroyed Jerusalem.  The city walls torn down. The temple of Solomon torn down.  All its beauty and treasure carried to Assyria.  And the professionals, the artists, the crafts people, the merchants, the educated, walked in chains to Assyria.  Only a few were left to survive as best they could. 

In 538, almost fifty years later, some of the exiles were permitted to return.  They began to rebuild the city and the temple, the second temple that stood until 70 A.C.E. when the legions of Rome tore it down. In 548 the priest Ezra returned to Jerusalem to reestablish temple life.  In 545 Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls.  The city of Jerusalem rose again yet the faith of the people continued to ebb and flow, ebb and flow, ebb and flow.  This is the pattern, the People of God’s faithfulness ebbs and flows. 

Jesus following his baptism in the River Jordan sought to revive the faithful
to bring good news to the poor, to bring release to the captives,
to bring sight to the blind, to bring freedom to the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of God’s favor, God’s blessing.

Jesus gathered people together; he gathered disciples, some of whom we honor to this day. Then he was arrested, and crucified.  While still on the cross he continued to reach out his arms of love to embrace others.  Jesus died and was placed in a tomb for three days.  All seemed to be over until that brilliant Easter morning when the stone was pushed away, and the Gospel ministry resumed.  The disciples were greeted and then sent as beacons of light to create new communities of faith in Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. 

A rabbi named Saul was cared for by an early community of faith in Damascus.  There he was transformed into St. Paul, and traveled far and wide as a beacon of faith, and preached Gospel living.  In a letter to a newly formed community in Corinth, Greece he wrote–

…in one Spirit… all [are]baptized into one body, Jews or Greeks,
slaves or free… If one member suffers, all suffer together…if one
member is honored, all rejoice together… you are they body
of Christ and individually members of it…

To be fully functional as the body of Christ, we need each other.  We need to pull together.  This pulling together, this working together as one body, is hard work.  This is rigorous work; every member is to stretch our arms of love.  Using St. Paul’s image, it means the eyes and ears and nose, as well as weaker and stronger, as well as honorable and less respectful parts, need to work together, to exert maximum effort in love.  We are all needed.  We all have a role. 

The Diocesan mission statement of almost 25 years ago states —

We are partners with Christ with the love of God on our lips and in our lives.

Partners in the Body of Christ. 

We are living in tough times where Gospel living is challenging.  There may be times when we feel crucified and hung on a cross like Jesus.  Still, we need to extend our selves in love.  And if we fail, we, too, after three days of mourning, need to push away the stone and start again, living in the brilliance of the Easter Good News. That is what we are created to do.                        

We are inspired to see God in ourselves.                                                                                

We are inspired to see God in each other.

We are inspired to see God at work around us                     

And we are to join together in a community in Gospel living.

Is it hard to be the Body of Christ?  Yes, it is. Yet we are not alone, we are bound together. 

Psalm v.1 – The heavens declare the glory of God,                                                                                    and the firmament shows his handiwork. 

Amen