Archbishop of Sydney

Saint Maria Domencia Mozzarello Church, Rome

Neh 8:2-6, 8-10; 1 Cor 12:12-30; Lk 1:1-4, 4:14-21

By + Cardinal George Pell
Archbishop of Sydney
21/1/2007

In 598 B.C. the Jewish kingdom was defeated by the Babylonians, Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jewish people taken into exile in Babylon.  Today in Jerusalem deep under the city we can see the excavated walls and gate where the Babylonians entered the city.

Happily for the Jews Cyrus the King of Persia defeated the Babylonians sixty years later in 538 and allowed the remnant, those Jews who wanted to return to go to Jerusalem now part of the Persian Empire.

Life was difficult although the temple was rebuilt fairly quickly, but one hundred years later the walls of Jerusalem still had not been rebuilt, the gates were ruined and the Jewish people dispirited and in disarray.

Two Jews were responsible for improving the situation Nehemiah, a layman, who obtained permission from the Persian King Artaxerxes to return to Jerusalem with government money to rebuild the city and especially the walls.  This was in 445 B.C.  The other leader was Ezra the priest who restored the Jewish religion around the ancient book of the Law.

In today’s reading we hear of a solemn gathering of all the devout to hear the Law read to them – a long session from the crack of dawn to midday.  The people were weeping, but not from boredom or exhaustion; they prostrated themselves because they realised the beauty and usefulness of this Godly teaching.

Ezra ordered a feast because “the joy of the Lord is your strength”.

The psalm today explains the significance of God’s teaching for the Jews of 2,500 years ago and for us as Christians today.  The words of the Lord give spirit and life; his law is perfect, his witness is true, the commands are just and give light to the eyes.  We are able to understand the difficulties and predicament of life through God’s teachings.  The Lord is our rock and our redeemer.

The history of God’s special people extends for more than 3,500 years, including 2,000 years of Christianity.  On many occasions during this time people have lost their way.  Here and there the faith has died, but again and again individuals have recognized the light and whole communities have returned to the way of life and truth.  The people listening to Ezra wept because they understood this.

In the gospel of Luke today we hear of another incident in the Holy Land, 450 years after Ezra, when Jesus, the preacher returned to his own village of Nazareth to read the Old Testament scriptures, the word of God.  In Galilee everyone knew of him already because of his cures and teaching.

There was tension between Jesus’ family at Nazareth and his group of disciples.  His family were jealous of the disciples, wanted to see miracles and believed that they too should receive them, simply because they were family and friends, who had known Jesus since he was a boy.  They did not realise that faith is always necessary; in the days of Ezra, of Jesus himself and in our time.

Jesus is the Servant of God described by Isaiah.  Today, as always, he has a happy message for the poor, freedom for prisoners, not only the prisoners in gaol, but prisoners to hate, drugs, pornography.  Also he gives sight to the blind, not only the physically blind, but to all those who are confused, do not understand the meaning of life and are without hope.  In all those ways God’s teaching, through Jesus, frees the oppressed.

In the synagogue it was a dramatic moment.  The young local was claiming to be the Servant of God described in Isaiah.  All eyes were on him.  “Today the Scripture which you have heard with your own ears is fulfilled” he announced.

It is easy to sympathise with the locals, who knew Jesus as a baby, then as a boy.  They would have known Mary and Joseph, his uncles and aunts and his cousins.

And it can be difficult for us in moments of darkness to believe that this young man from Nazareth is the only Son of God, the Eternal Word, not just a prophet or a poet.  We thank God for the gift of faith.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.