Sunday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
YEAR C THIRD SUNDAY - 21.1.07 Neh 8,2-6.8-10; 1 Cor 12,12-30; Lk 1,1-4; 4,14-21 Putting ‘asphalt’ to your faith. The Year of Luke. Every Sunday this year, we read Luke’s Gospel
& today we reflect on its opening words (Chapter 1 verses 1 to 4). It starts
saying: Many have published a written account of Jesus’ life, mission death
& resurrection, just as they had heard them from eye-witnesses &
preachers (Luke calls these ‘ministers of the word’). I for my part,
have carefully gone through the same events & have put in writing my
own orderly account, so that you, my learned reader - in love as you are with
wisdom (Luke addresses himself to a ‘Theo-philos’ = lover of wisdom) may see
for yourself how rock-solid & ‘asphalt-impregnated’ is the Christian
teaching you have received. The Romans built a great system of solid roads
across the many countries of their Empire, then -as now-, it was important to
add asphalt to the road-base, to make it rock solid & keep the road hard,
connected & impenetrable to water. Luke uses the imagery of -asphalt
impregnation’ to assure us that the life & teaching of Jesus, are based on
solid historical facts. Indeed from the very start, Luke addresses himself to us
-the readers of 2007 years after Jesus lived on earth- & puts to us this
important question: how rock-solid & how asphalt-impregnated is our faith in
Jesus Christ? & how does it impact, sustain & enrich our conviction of
Christians in the third millennium? Today, scholars & archaeologists keep
making us aware of the many people who have written about Jesus’ life, mission
& saving plan in the early years of Christianity. Think of the many
apocryphal Gospels: Gospel of Judas Iscariot, Gospel of Thomas’ Gospel of 12
Apostles... discovered at ‘Nag-Hammadi’ & elsewhere. So this year, Luke
urges us to make sure that our Christian faith, devotion & conviction are
solidly based, so in turn we are able to support those who doubt & waver
Coping
with doubt & fear. Luke’s Gospel is very modern: it asks us to study the well-foundedness
& ‘asphalt-solidity’ of Christianity. Luke builds on Mark’s Gospel
& its earlier view-point, historical setting & specific needs to fulfill.
Mark wrote his Gospel in Rome -year 68ad-, during Nero’s persecution when
Christians were thrown to lions in the Coliseum to amuse spectators. At this
time, naturally, Christians were in a state of alarm, their life dysfunctional,
fearing for themselves & their family. Then to be a Christian was a capital
offence & it took courage to deal with fear, live at risk, go underground,
& stay faithful to Christ & family. At this horrendous time, Mark’s
genius stood out: he wrote a ‘fear-ful’ account of Jesus’ life, to suggest
a conviction that with Jesus, we can deal with fear, risk martyrdom, cope with
chaos & stay strong in faith. Jesus’ suffering & death are the key to
hope in the midst of utter despair, since all
pain, persecution, tragedy, crisis & conflict become bearable, if we
humbly & prayerfully de-brief our crisis against the Passion & Death of
Christ.. Luke however wrote in Ephesus, (today’s Turkey) in 78ad. By then, the
blood-bath of 1st Jewish Revolt (70ad) was over. Jerusalem & its glorious
Temple was raised to the ground, changing forever the Jewish way of life. Roman
‘law & order’ ruled supreme & people resumed to go on with life. But
then, a new anxiety arose, which is strong in us too. The faith that had been so
staunchly kept, became hard to hold & people doubted the well-foundedness of
their faith. They needed to be reassured & see for themselves that God had
fulfilled the promises made to the Prophets. To these new anxieties, Luke
writes: stop doubting, see how well-founded is your faith: in Jesus, God has
fulfilled his promise, in His time, now & always. Let
us stay with Luke this year! ______________________________________ |
