Homily WORD OF GOD SUNDAY

A few years ago, Pope Francis declared this 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time as Sunday of the Word of God, a time for us to focus on the importance of scripture in the life of the Church.

I don’t know about you, but many Catholics were not really encouraged to read the Bible when we were young.

Some were told not to read the Bible on their own because it’s so easy to misunderstand it. There’s some truth to that, but it was never the mind of the Church.

Way back in the 4th century, St. Jerome said that “ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ.”

In the 20th century, Pope Pius X said that “Nothing would please us more than to see our beloved children form the habit of reading the Gospels. Not merely from time to time, but every day.”

Pius XII said that we are “urged to know and meditate on the sacred letters, especially the New Testament.”

So, the Church clearly wants us to know the Bible, and make it part of our daily lives.

Knowing scripture is more than memorizing or quoting it. The goal is understanding and living it.

What’s the message behind the words? What did it mean in that time and place? How did the various parts of the Bible come to be? Today’s readings give us a good look at these questions.

Today we have the beginning of Luke’s Gospel. Our Sunday readings are on a 3 year cycle: A, B and C.

In year A we hear mostly from Matthew, from Mark in year B and Luke in year C. John appears in the Easter Season, but also shows up at other times – like last Sunday with the wedding at Cana, which appears only in John. The Church uses this reading at the beginning of Ordinary Time, since it was the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.

Luke’s formal introduction is unique among the four Gospels, but it fits the Greco/Roman literature of the time. “Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have taken place among us…I too have decided to write it down in an orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus…”.

The Acts of the Apostles also begins in this way, because it was also written by Luke. It’s a two part series.

The Gospel portrays the life and ministry of Christ. The Acts of the Apostles is about the early Church.

So, who is this “most excellent Theophilus” that Luke is addressing? The name actually means “friend of God.” It could be a prominent person who had great influence in society, or just anyone who is open to the word.

Luke’s introduction shows us how the 4 Gospels came about. They weren’t written right away. They rely on the tradition and preaching passed down for decades after the time of Christ. As Luke says, “those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning and ministers of the word have handed them down to us.”

The Bible is a product of the Church, not the other way around. The Bible is not our only source of authority.

It’s interesting how the 4 Gospels relate to one another. Most scholars say that Mark came first, then Matthew and Luke, with John coming much later. Matthew and Luke contain most of what’s in Mark, but they also have other content in common with each other that is not found in Mark. This leads to the idea that they relied on another source, known as “Q”, from the German word Quelle (which means “source”).

Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the “synoptic” gospels, because they have so much in common.

John is different. For example, John’s Last Supper story is about foot washing. No bread and wine, no “this is my body, this is my blood.” That part was already well known by the time of John’s writing.

So, the character of each Gospel relates to when it was written, and who it was addressing.

The second reading on Sundays is always from the New Testament, most often from one of Paul’s letters.

These are mainly pastoral letters, addressing the situation in one of the faith communities he had started. Today we hear from the 1st of two letters he wrote to the Corinthians, the church in the city of Corinth.

He writes about the variety of gifts among the people, and the importance of every part in the Body of Christ.

The Corinthians were fascinated with some of the more spectacular charisms, like speaking in tongues. But Paul reminds them of the spirit of unity they were given in Christ. Every member is necessary and important.

All of us have gifts and experiences that contribute to the mission that is entrusted to us by Christ.

The 1st reading is normally from the Old Testament, except for the Easter Season and certain feast days.

Today we hear from the prophet Nehemiah: “Ezrah the priest brought the law before the assembly (that refers to the Torah, the 1st 5 books of the Old Testament)…Ezra read plainly from the law of God, interpreting it so that all could understand.” This interpreting is important today as well. These words were written so long ago, in a culture that is so different from ours. We need guidance to get the real message.

It’s so important that we gain a better understanding of God’s word. Too many Catholics are led away from the Church because other Christians can quote a few bible verses and make us think we’re wrong.

We’re not wrong. We just know the whole story.

And so we celebrate this Sunday of the Word of God.

We can be greatly blessed by learning more about God’s word, and making it part of our daily lives.

We believe that true happiness and freedom come from living our true nature, made in God’s image and likeness.

 We also believe that God’s plan is better than anything we can come up with on our own.

 So we need to understand God’s word, so that we can follow this path.

 The path that leads to the fullness of life.