Sunday Readings for 27 January 2013
Epiphany 4 - Year C Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a Luke 4:14-21
The Persian empire defeated the Babylonians and allowed the Jews to retur n to their homeland, and in 445 BC Nehemiah was per mitted to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, which he accomplished in just 52 days, as par t of the restoration of Israel following the long years of exile and slavery. As soon as this was done he set about reconsecrating both the city and its people to God, calling all to gather on the first day of the seventh month, a special day of rest. Israel’s identity was bound up with the Promised Land, and with the holy city, but much more so with the law of Moses, the great treasure which God had given to his people. The rebuilt walls of Jerusalem signified their security after so many years of defeat and destruction, but the surest way to guarantee Israel’s continued favour in the sight of God was for its people to return to live under the law of Moses, for the nation and for all its people to abide in all things according to the word of God. Ezra the priest and the Levites are present, both to read the law of God to the people and to explain it, so that everyone understands. It is a national act of worship, and a pattern for worship throughout the ages to come.
The Church founded by Jesus Christ incorporates many people into one body, even though they come from many places and speak many languages, for the body of Christ is brought into being by the Holy Spirit, who in baptism cleanses us and restores in us the likeness of God in whose image we were made. We who were formerly many peoples are now one people, those who have received the Spirit of God and who now belong within the one body of Christ as surely as all the limbs and organs which make up our human bodies. We are not homogenised into matching units, but like the different parts of the body we continue to have our own identity, as we contribute to the well-being and prosperity of the whole. And the same is true of the spiritual gifts that are bestowed upon us, according to God’s will and calling, to build up the Church in the knowledge and love of God. Not everyone is an apostle, or called to exercise one of the other ministries mentioned here by Paul, but what is certain is that all are equally blessed by God and honoured by him as we seek to serve him in his Church, in which we are united for the common good and for the glory of God.
Ezra proclaimed the word of God to the people in Jerusalem, a people chosen to receive the law through Moses long before. But that blessing is extended far beyond the walls of Jerusalem when Jesus, “filled with the power of the Spirit” begins his ministry in the synagogues and ar rives in Nazareth, his home town. The year of the Lord’s favour has begun, in which no distinction is made between the nations: the prophecy from Isaiah 61 which Jesus announces is now directed towards all who are poor, in captivity, blind or oppressed, whoever they are and wherever they are. Nehemiah’s concern was to rebuild the city, to retur n his people to Jerusalem and ensure that they knew the law of Moses by which they should frame their lives. But at that astonishing moment in Nazareth a still greater kingdom is announced in which the blessing of God’s word will be poured out upon all who are in need of salvation, in ever y nation, for the generosity of God knows no limits, and he has sent his Son into this world to build the city of God.