Reading
Sunday Year C – 26 January 2025
Australia Day: Dare to Be More Godly in A Secular Society
Recently, a prominent theologian ended his lecture with a question: Can we still dare to speak today of God's salvation for all? Can we still dare to make this claim?
This Sunday’s Gospel consists of two sections of text that are separated from each other by several chapters in the Gospel of Luke. It begins with the prologue of the Gospel of Luke and continues with a story of Jesus' first public appearance, which Luke places in the synagogue of Nazareth, Jesus' hometown. What connects both parts of the Sunday Gospel is the idea of the fulfillment of Old Testament promises (Luke 1:1; 4:21). History therefore unfolds according to God's plan, God directs events. For Luke, history is therefore salvation history. God promised in the Old Testament, which is now being fulfilled according to his will—for the good of mankind.
Obviously, not everyone was convinced that the promise had been fulfilled. There were doubts in Luke’s community. One problem was the disappointment that the return of Christ, which was expected to happen soon, had not occurred. Another difficulty was probably the fact that most Jews were closed to the Christian faith. Luke seems to respond to this by placing the Christian church firmly within Israel's salvation history and emphasizing the church's Jewish roots. In the church, the Old Testament promises to Israel are fulfilled.
This context also determines Jesus’ public appearance. With Jesus, the time of salvation announced by the prophet Isaiah has begun. It is important to Luke that Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit. In the Gospel, Jesus is the Spirit-bearer par excellence. He owes his existence to the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35), the Spirit descended upon him at his baptism (Luke 3:22) and in the power of the Holy Spirit he resisted the temptations of Satan (Luke 4:1). After the resurrection and ascension, the Spirit will descend upon the disciples at Pentecost and from then on upon all those baptized. In the Gospel, however, the possession of the Spirit remains limited to Jesus.
God sent him to free people from material (“to bring good news to the poor”), physical (“to give sight to the blind”) and spiritual (this probably includes the reference to “prisoners” and “the broken”) hardship. Since, according to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus particularly cares for sinners, Luke certainly also means liberation from sins (to free those “captive” in sin). Jesus wants to renew the whole person, which has personal and social consequences. This is also an obligation for those who follow Jesus.
This salvation is an obligation for the Church. She proclaims a message of salvation. Salvation, the presence of the life of God in the Church, is the first and most important content of the Christian message. This gift of salvation also obliges us and makes demands on believers to this day.
Let us return to the question posed at the beginning: Can we dare to proclaim God’s salvation? How could we not trust his message, especially when in human proclamation, human words are so fallible?! Whoever trusts his message, whoever trusts God's word through the ages—even in these times today—can, despite everything, dare to love more in a world that is largely loveless, can dare to be more mysterious in a world that is often disenchanted, can dare to worship more in a world that is increasingly alienated from prayer, yes, I dare say, can dare to be more Godly in a world that seems godless, because he has dared to do it with us—once and for all!
In a world where words are often used to judge and condemn others, where people talk more about each other than with each other and have less and less words for each other, we need the incarnate, human, living Word: God is love.
Have a great Australia Day!
Fr. Joe
Add a review