Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
“Most excellent Theophilus, so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received.”
Today we begin to hear the voice of Jesus through the evangelist Saint Luke, who will accompany us during this liturgical time. Luke writes his friend Theophilus, so “that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received.” (Lk 1:4). If that is why Luke is writing his friend, then we should better start pondering over the importance of the Gospel of our Lord —Word alive! and, therefore, always brand new— every day.
Today, the Word of God introduces Jesus the Master, when “He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all” (Lk 4:15). He begins like any other preacher: reading a fragment of the Scripture, which is being fulfilled at that precise moment... The word of the prophet Isaiah is being fulfilled; even more: all the word, all the content of the Scriptures, all that the prophets had announced is concretized and reaches its fulfillment in Jesus. It is not indifferent to believe or not in Jesus, because it is the same "Spirit of the Lord" who has anointed and sent him over.
Through His Word, God's message is good news to the poor, proclaims liberty to captives and new sight to the blind; frees the oppressed and announces a promise of salvation. It is a message filling with hope all mankind. We, children of God in Christ by virtue of our baptism, have also received his holy anointment to participate in his mission: namely, to bring this message of hope to all mankind.
By mulling over the Gospel that brings consistency to our faith, we can see Jesus preaching in a different way than the other masters: “He taught and his message had authority” (cf. Lk 4:32). This is so because He preached with his deeds, with his example, by giving testimony, even offering his own life for all of us. We are supposed to do the same; we cannot just limit ourselves to words: we need to settle on our love for God and our brothers with our deeds and examples. As a mother trying to guide our steps for that purpose, the Church proposes The Works of Mercy —seven spiritual and seven corporal—, which can indeed be very valuable for us.