Third Sunday In Ordinary Time January 23, 2022

Readings: Jeremiah 8.2-4a, 5-6, 8-101, Corinthians 12.12-30, Luke 1. 1-4; 4.14-21

The Expression "poor" occupies a central place in the Gospel pf Luke. People who are vulnerable are poor. The elderly are poor. Children and youth are poor too. In Lk 18:15-17, Jesus would say, "Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs." People who are afflicted every kind of infirmity are also poor. When John the Baptist sends his disciples to find out if Jesus was the Messiah, Jesus tells them, "God back and tell John what you have seen and heard; the blind see again, the lame walk, those suffering from virulent skin diseases are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, the good news is proclaimed to the poor."

The poor are those who are in need of the help of God; those who are open to the plan of God in their lives; those who are simple hearted; the humble. When Elizabeth hears the 'good News' that was announced to Zachariah, she acknowledges that the Lord has removed her humiliation of being barren. When Mary sings her Magnificat in the presence of Elizabeth, she would say, "The Lord has removed upon the humiliation of his servant". in short being open to God. It is to those who rely on God that the Good News is proclaimed. It is to us that the Good news is proclaimed.

Often, we simply say, the Gospels are the Good news. True, but not quite! Or we sat, the message of Jesus is the Good News. rue, but not Quite yet! If we consider the Good news as a message, then, it is liberty to Captives- the experience of freedom from all that binds us including sin; it is healing to the sick-the experience of wholeness; it is the promise of the favorable year-the time of Grace. So Good News is not a set of information. It is an experience! Again, the Good News is not just an experience in the abstract. It is the possibility to experience God in the person of Jesus. Jesus Christ is the Good News.

This is what actually stirred the hearts of those listeners in the Synagogue, as Jesus said: "This text is being fulfilled today even while you are listening". in other words, Jesus was saying, "the times that Isaiah prophesied are here. it is possible to experience the Good News in my person!" This was a bit too hard for the people. Luke continues to tell us, "When they heard this everyone in the synagogue was enraged. They sprang to their feet and hustled him out of the town; and they took him up to the brow of the hill..".

Are we ready to be stirred too- stirred to respond to the possibility of experiencing God in the person of Jesus? let the Good News then become an experience for us today even as we participate in the Eucharist.