Fr Billy Swan
Dear friends. Perhaps you have been asked the question: ‘When was the last time you cried at a movie?’ Well, here’s another question: ‘When was the last time you cried after hearing a Gospel passage read in Church or after hearing a moving homily?’ For most of us, this might seem a silly question because it never happened and yet, in the first reading today, the Jewish people who had returned from exile wept with joy after hearing God’s Word again. So why did hearing God’s Word make these people so emotional? What was going on?
The people who wept on hearing the Scriptures were exiles who had returned to Jerusalem after a seventy-year absence. To put it mildly, they were a broken and dispirited people after their years away. But on hearing the familiar texts and stories from their Scripture, they came alive with new hope and joy as they heard God’s Word again and were reminded of God’s choice of them as his beloved people. For them, the power of God’s Word spoke to them in that moment and gave their lives new meaning, direction and hope.
Another powerful moment was when Jesus stood up to read in the synagogue in Nazareth from the prophet Isaiah. When Jesus spoke that day, he wasn’t just reading from an ancient text in a dull and boring way. Rather he proclaimed the Scriptures in a manner that grabbed his listeners attention as he lifted the Good News from the page and proclaimed that the saving power of God, bringing good news to the poor, freedom to captives and sight to the blind was being unleashed in that moment ‘even as you listen’. In other words, the promise of new hope for the poor, liberation from every form of servitude, new ways of seeing things and the Lord’s year favour, was being declared there and then through him. Little wonder that as he spoke ‘all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him’. This was extraordinary and revolutionary stuff.
The reason why people don’t cry on hearing God’s Word or after a homily is not because God’s Word has lost its power but because we don’t fully appreciate its power to change us and change lives. Somehow, we have got to reconnect with the same arresting power of the Gospel to touch us, move us, challenge us and change us in a profound way. We must return to the Gospel’s power to anoint hearts and minds, to be good news to those in most need of good news, to see things in a new way and to be truly free. Here is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that bursts out of the small boxes we make for it and the love that spills over any container in which we try to capture it. It is a raging fire that never goes out.
In the Gospel today, Jesus proclaims a year of the Lord’s favour. In ancient times this was known as a Jubilee Year which happened every 25 years. As it happens, 2025 is also a Jubilee Year which proclaims God’s love and favour of us his people. It is a year of forgiveness, reconciliation, new beginnings and hope.
On this ‘Word of God Sunday’, I would like to encourage everyone in this Jubilee Year to bring the Word of God into a more central place in your lives of faith. This message also applies to myself and all priests, catechists and bishops who have the awesome task and responsibility to preach and teach the Gospel having first heard it ourselves. Again, practical steps are important. Buy a Sunday Missal (available in the parish office) and a weekday missal if possible in order to know in advance what the readings are for each Sunday and for every day. Create a sacred space in your home with the daily readings open. Ask for the grace to understand and to love the Scriptures more. Spend time with the readings, sit with them, pray with them and allow them to speak to you. Allow them to guide your thoughts, shape your values and influence your decisions. Allow God’s Word to purify your heart and to see what hope his call holds for you; what is your vocation and destiny.
Friends, we might not get as emotional as the people in the first reading who heard the Scriptures after seventy years without them. But let’s pray in this Jubilee Year and on this word of God Sunday for a new love for God’s Word that its power and freshness may not just move us, but change us profoundly.
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