A Cycle –3rdSunday of Ordinary Time 26

Mt. 4:12-23

Did you ever wonder how the people responded after the birth of Jesus?  His birth had to be proclaimed because the promise of God to free them was at last happening. The word of His birth had to get out because the shepherds and the Magi would have talked.  Herod’s reaction to His birth by slaughtering all the children under two had to make everyone wonder what happened to the Messiah. Of course, we know the story from the scriptures. Jesus was and remains the Messiah, the one God promised He would send. We also know He lived in obscurity for thirty three years. But one day He knew it was time to leave Nazareth, knowing the cost of our redemption.  But He also knew to continue the ministry would depend on forming disciples who would continue the mission. He would entrust the mission to His disciples. Who would form other disciples and form communities of faith who would speak the truth that Jesus Christ was, is now and will always remain our salvation.

  How did those early disciples respond so easily and so quickly?  We know from the scriptures, Jusus had done nothing more than be baptized by John and began to proclaim the “kingdom of God was at hand.”  That is a message we have heard from the minute we were baptized.  Just after we are baptized, we are anointed with the Oil of Chrism, with these words.  God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, has freed you from sin, given you new birth by water and the spirit, joined you to His holy people and has transferred you into His marvelous kingdom of light. 

That truth that message is affirmed by every sacrament, every part of our faith formation and yet we are no different than those disciples in today’s gospel. We are busy with life and although we know the Messiah is among us, we go about or daily tasks without ever giving God a thought. The truth is we do believe Christ came to reconcile us to the Father, but we are plagued with doubt because we continue to fail to live up the standard of a disciple.  Or because we doubt in God’s mercy, we strive to live up to a standard of faith measured by laws, rituals, and acts of service. 

Yet, we are called to follow Jesus and to continue the mission of proclaiming a new life awaits those who choose to follow Christ.  However, we continue to depend on ourselves for holiness instead. We will never be holy by what we do only by what we become by depending on the grace of Christ’s death and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  The disciples showed us how difficult it is to do God’s will without the Sprit’s intervention.  It takes great trust to rely on God’s grace instead of our selves.  We need to hear the call of Jesus to follow Him and to discover the gifts God has given us to be heralds of the good news.  ‘

Each of us, need to make that prayer we say just before the gospel is proclaimed a real request and an urgent need.  May the words of the gospel be in my mind, on my lips and in my heart.  The problem is we make that sign of the cross on our forehead, on our lips and on our heart without giving what we are doing a thought.  In fact, we can put ourselves on automatic pilot from the opening hymn to the final hymn.   We have become very good at automatic responses and gestures.  While we ignored how much we need to be shaped, molded and recreated by the Holy spirit.  Remember the disciples after three years of walking and listening to Christ were confused and lost after His crucifixion.  Perhaps the answer is to do what He told them to do and that was to pray and wait to be filled with the power from on high. 

Have you taken the time to ponder what is God asking of you beyond what you are doing to stay in His grace. God yearns for you to feel more than forgiveness and reconciliation.  He yearns for you to feel His presence and respond to His call to go and form disciples within your home, our workplace, your town and within your friends. He desires you go to those who wounded you and offer them forgiveness and by doing so show them the heart of God.  

Today is more than a story about those who walked with Jesus. It is an invitation for us to walk in the light of Christ because it is that light which will guide us to experience the Kingdom of God here on earth. It shows us what we must leave behind.  The old self, living in a comfortable predictable life which is filled with heartache, disappointment, and doubt.  God desires us to be light to those in darkness, to bring hope to those who are despairing and to be Christ to those who need forgiveness.  It is an invitation to pray for insight and to immerse yourself in the scriptures, so it does permeate your mind and heart. Once it does that it will be on your lips.