YEAR C: HOMILY/REFLECTION FOR THE 3RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY (5)

YEAR C: HOMILY/REFLECTION FOR THE 3RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY

THEME: TO SET THE CAPTIVES FREE

BY: Fr. Christian Eze

HOMILY: First reading – Neh. 8:2-6.8-10
Second reading – I Cor. 12:12-30
Gospel – Lk. 1:1-4; 4:14-21

Jesus, in accordance with the Scriptures, (the letter to the Hebrews) is the High Priest in a manner that is so nonpareil. In the Old, three categories of people were usually anointed. The first were the kings that were anointed to impart power and authority over the people. Saul was the first king who was anointed by Samuel. The second set of people anointed was the priests.

In Exodus 29 and 30, we note that Aaron and his sons were consecrated. The third include the prophets. These were called and consecrated too, probably not by anointing with oil, but by investiture or outpouring of the spirit as in the case of Elisha – I Kg 19:16-19. Today, in the gospel, Christ (meaning anointed) proclaimed: the Spirit of the Lord has been given to me; He has anointed me to….. By the virtue of His anointing, Christ is a King, a Priest and a Prophet. In Him is the fullness of Priesthood. It is marvelous that by the grace of God, every baptized Christian share in the priesthood of Christ. This is not in the sense of the ministerial priesthood, however, but as it is properly called the universal priesthood. At our baptism, we were anointed with the oil of Chrism. In case you don’t know, this is the same oil with which the ministerial priests are anointed at ordination.

Again, I am not saying that by that, you too have become an ordained minister, a priest. Of course, the prayer of consecration and the laying on of hands makes the difference. The universal priesthood is that by which, by the virtue of their baptism, and by the way they live their lives, the people of God work along the mind of Christ in establishing the kingdom of God to the ends of the earth. How is this made clearer? We can take the example of Christ Himself who came to proclaim the good news of the kingdom.

At the crux of this matter, I wish to draw our attention to the fact that Christ’s own anointing and consecration was that he be sent …to proclaim the good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom to the captives, and to restore sight to the blind, to set the downtrodden free… We cannot argue at this point whether our own anointing at baptism was for a different purpose.

But the way of life of many of us are the exact opposites of what are enumerated above of Christ.Instead of proclaiming the good news, some of us work against the Church and her authorities thus they go about extinguishing what have been proclaimed. Instead of setting captives free, in the meetings they head, they lay precepts that tie more yoke on the neck of the captives. Instead of restoring sight to the blind, they extinguish the little light of hope in those beclouded by the darkness of doubts. The question here is, do I live up to the meaning and responsibilities of my anointing at baptism by which I share in the priesthood of Christ; do I work to set the captives free or help to tie them more?