Homily for 3d Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
3d Sunday of Ordinary Time

Jan. 22, 2023
Collect
Matt 4: 12-23
Christian Brothers, Iona University, New Rochelle
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx

“Almighty ever-living God, direct our actions to your good pleasure, that in the name of your beloved Son we may abound in good works” (Collect).

So we prayed a little while ago.  It’s a good prayer for daily use, connecting us to the Son of God and seeking God’s help to imitate the Son.

On Jan. 9 we celebrated the Baptism of our Lord, an event during which he was identified as the beloved Son of God.  Our prayer recalls that.  After his baptism, Jesus went into the wilderness of Judea, where he was tempted by Satan—we’ll hear about that when Lent comes around.  In the desert he committed himself to doing what God wanted of him, not to pursuing his own pleasure or power or ambition.  So we prayed for ourselves in the Collect:  “direct our actions according to your good pleasure.”

Christ Preaching in the Synagog of Nazareth

(Gerbrand van den Eeckhout)

In the meantime, King Herod arrested and imprisoned John the Baptist—for preaching that people ought to direct their actions to God’s will.  In spite of the danger implied by that, Jesus begins his public ministry in Herod’s territory, Galilee.  He leaves Nazareth, an out-of-the-way town, and makes his home in Capernaum, alongside the Sea of Galilee, along the highway between Syria and Jerusalem.  There he may find more customers for his carpentry than he could in Nazareth.  More to the point, he’ll find an audience for his preaching.  There he’ll find men who have already been disciples of John the Baptist, now deprived of their teacher, men whose acquaintance he’s already made, according to St. John’s Gospel (1:35-51).

Jesus begins by preaching repentance, that people should turn away from their sinful ways and live in closer alignment with the kingdom of heaven (Matt 4:17).  He urges people to direct their actions according to the good pleasure of God.  Today’s gospel passage doesn’t offer specifics about pleasing God, but in coming weeks we’ll hear plenty, starting next week with the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, specifically with the beatitudes, which are the attitude of heart and the behaviors pleasing to God.

We also prayed that “we may abound in good works.”  Good works are the fruit of acting for God’s good pleasure.  The fruits of Jesus’ alignment with the kingdom of heaven are evident:  “He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogs, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people” (Matt 4:23).  St. Matthew sees in these fruits the fulfillment of a prophecy of Isaiah:  “the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light; on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen” (4:16; Is 9:2).

That Jesus should do all this enlightenment, all these good works, isn’t enuf.  He’s one man in one place.  To amplify his work, to extend it in both place and time, he chooses disciples to follow him.  So we hear him call 2 pairs of brothers to leave their boats, their nets, their families, and their livelihoods and to follow him.  From him they’ll learn to direct their actions according to God’s good pleasure.  As we read in the gospels, that’s a long learning process with many failures.  They’ll learn gradually to abound in good works rather, for instance, than to call down fire from heaven to zap people who aren’t receptive of Jesus’ word (Luke 9:51-56).

Eventually the apostles learn to “abound in good works,” continuing what Jesus began in Galilee.  The good works of Jesus’ followers—teaching, preaching, healing—are the proclamation of God’s kingdom in action.  The specifics of his teaching and preaching bring light into the darkness of human lives:  forgiveness from God and the liberation that comes from our forgiving the trespasses of others; assurance that God loves us, a love experienced in how Jesus’ followers care for others; an end to exploiting others thru theft, deception, and the abuse of power, and instead living generously, patiently, kindly, modestly.  When Peter and Andrew, James and John eventually learn to fish for human beings, it’ll be with that kind of bait, the bait of Christian virtue.  We follow those 4 and the rest of the 11 who were faithful to Jesus.  So we pray that in the name of God’s beloved Son we might always act according to God’s good pleasure and bear Christian light into a dark world.