Willothepooh

Neh 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10; 1 Cor 12:12-30; Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21

On the 20th of January, 1961, John F. Kennedy was inaugurated President of the US. As it is customary for US presidents sworn into office to deliver inaugural speeches, so Kennedy too had no exception. President Kennedy, in his inaugural address emphasized mainly on the America’s revolutionary heritage. He also called for "a new world of law, where the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved". But of all his words, Kennedy’s inaugural speech was remembered when he said "Ask not what your country can do for you… ask what you can do for your country". That famous word of Kennedy ever since has been quoted by many leaders through out the ages.

Today’s gospel reads somewhat like the presidential inaugural address. Jesus had already been appointed officially by his Father to his office as Messiah when he was baptized. Although he has yet to select his cabinet [i.e. the 12 apostles] he now begins his teaching ministry by standing up in public in a synagogue and making his inaugural address. So in his speech Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah to outline the challenges facing him as the Messiah and to give us a glimpse of the ideals by which he will try to live. He will bring glad tidings to the poor and proclaim liberty to captives; he will restore sight to the blind and free the oppressed. These so-called manifesto of Jesus actually define his life’s mission namely to place himself entirely in the service of those who are "not free". The poor, the captives, the blind and the oppressed obviously are "not free". Let’s have closer look on Jesus’ mission:

1. He will bring "glad tiding to the poor". By this it does not mean that Jesus only wants to bring the good news to the materially poor. He also brings it to those who think themselves rich but poor in spirit. Those who rely only on themselves and their possessions and therefore have no place for God in their hearts.
2. He will proclaim "liberty to captives". The captives are not only those found in jails. Here are those who are prisoners of their selfishness, greed and hunger for wealth, fame and power. And especially, there are those who are enslaved by their vices and addictions?to lust, gambling, alcohol, drugs, etc.
3. He will restore "sight to the blind". The blind are not only those who are physically blind. We too are blind if we only see our needs and not our neighbors’. We are blind if we cannot distinguish between good and evil, between a just and unjust act. We are blind if we say we work for our children?s future but we do not take measures to lessen pollution so that our children can breathe cleaner air, drink cleaner water and eat healthier food.
4. He will free "the oppressed". We see all kinds of oppression around us. Workers underpaid but cannot stand up for their rights for fear of losing their jobs. Squatters not getting out of the slums because their incomes are even hardly enough to feed their families. People who are so hard up and thus forced to borrow from ALONG. People who are discouraged and depressed, who believe that no one cares for them.

Jesus has made these and more His life-mission. The bible tells us so and the Church tradition confirms to us. He did all these because he loves so much.

As we gathered here these evening, we are being reminded again and again that we too share in Jesus’ mission. It’s not that we don’t notice all these forms of captivities around us and even within us. The thing is, often we don’t want to get involve. For many of us these are all tasks belong to the Church. But who is the Church?

The second reading from the letter of St Paul to the Corinthians tells us that we are the Church, we Christ’s body. So if that is the case Christ’s mission is also obviously our own mission. All of us Christians are therefore called to live the mission of Christ: To bring glad tidings to the poor; To proclaim liberty to captives; To restore sight to the blind and to free the oppressed.

President Kennedy on the 20th January 1961 said, "Ask not what your country can do for you… ask what you can do for your country". Today on the 20th of January 2007, probably many of you would suggest then… "Ask not what your church can do for you…. ask what you can do for your church". But that’s irrelevent. We should "ask not what our Church can do for us" because you and I are making up the CHURCH… We are the CHURCH.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 24th, 2007 at 10:20 am and is filed under Sunday Homily. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.