It is much the same today, isn\u2019t it. We roll open a scroll of sorts, our Bibles or\nthe Lectionary, and the word of the Lord is proclaimed to us, just as I have\ndone here. And then someone explains its\nmeaning to the crowd- as I am trying to do right now with you. And as a result, the people of God are\nenergized, and rejoice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ezra\u2019s day, the Israeli\u2019s had gone through much. They had been exiled from Judah and Jerusalem\nto Babylon; their temple had been ravaged and destroyed; and they had been\ntaken into slavery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But now, decades later, they had returned to Jerusalem and\nwere free. Their leaders were determined\nto restore the temple and their Religious practice by building a new temple in\nJerusalem. And as a beginning, Ezra\nproclaims and explains the Word as in days of old from a makeshift platform. The People weep- tears of happiness. The whole scene calls for a celebration, and\nthat is what we read. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Notice that these people responded best to the call of the\nLord when they were in adversity. Imagine,\nif you will, what it took in the ancient world to return from exile, build a\nnew temple, and restore Jewish practice. \nIt had to be a very hard road to hoe. \nThey were penniless; they were relatively few on numbers; and they had\nvery little assets. But they had faith\nand they had resolve. They were\ndetermined. And that is the story of the\npeople of God throughout its history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fast forward 500 years to Jesus\u2019 time. Jesus does the same- He enters the temple opens\nthe scroll and reads from the prophet Isaiah. \nThe times were bad for Jesus\u2019 people. \nThey were captive to the Romans. But\nJesus explains the meaning of Isaiah\u2019s word of God in absolutely revolutionary\nterms. It was like nothing heard before\nor after. Jesus claims that he is\npersonally fulfilling the age-old prophecy of Isaiah in their presence. Jesus is saying that he is the fulfilment of\nthe prophecy to proclaim good tidings to the poor, liberty to the captives and cure\nthe lame. Jesus is claiming to be the\nMessiah who will save Israel, and indeed the World. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And indeed, that is precisely what he did. Jesus cured the lame; and set those free who\nthought the only life was life in this world either in captivity or poverty. Jesus message opened up life in the Kingdom\nof God for all who believed. He blazed\nthrough the Holy Land on a three-year mission, and made the ultimate sacrifice,\nhis own life on the cross, but was risen from the dead and seen by many. He promised believers everlasting life like\nhis own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And finally, let us fast forward to today. We too, have heard the word proclaimed. We have heard that Jesus is the fulfilment of\nthe prophecy. We are challenged with\nkeeping firm in our faith through much adversity. There are many who attack our faith and\nridicule us. Our secular world seems to\nbe winning the battle. But it is in such\nadversity that we can rise to the occasion and renew the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You see, we have also heard about the mystical body of\nChrist. Yes, all of us are part of that\nmystical body of Christ. All of us in\nsome way contribute. We are the arms,\nlegs, hands, feet, eyes, ears, and all the other parts of the mystical body of\nChrist. Even the less honorable parts of\nthat mystical body in man\u2019s eyes are honorable and contribute. That includes those who are disenfranchised,\nlame, and infirm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because all of us are made in the mage and likeness of God, God\u2019s\nmystical body can radiate his love, the love of God. When we project the love of God, then we\nconquer all obstacles as did the people of Ezra\u2019s time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, it is much the same today as it was in Ezra\u2019s time. It is time for us to weep tears of joy over\nthe restoration of the promise. For we\nare the people of God who do his will and have the capacity to bring all people\nto the one and only God of Love. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Neh 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10; 1 Cor 12: 12-30; Luke 1: 1-4, 4:14-21 Deacon Larry Brockman It is much the same today, isn\u2019t it. We roll open a scroll of sorts, our Bibles or the Lectionary, and the word of the Lord is proclaimed to us, just as I have done […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[28,574],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1117"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1117"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1118,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1117\/revisions\/1118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}