Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
The State of Kerala that I come from in India is socially and economically better off than many other States. There is poverty but absolute misery is less common. So when I saw this shabbily clad older woman with her equally miserable but pretty looking young daughter and the daughter’s half naked four-year-old wandering the streets of my hometown, I was taken aback. This little child – she only had her dirty underpants on. Her face was filthy, her hair frazzled and she looked starved. Many people turned around to look at them because they clearly seemed to be strangers. I decided to go after them, strike a conversation with them and offered to take them to the local restaurant for lunch. (As I led them to the restaurant, the young woman disappeared. I think I know why. I am presuming that she prostituted herself for a living and may be they thought that I would want her in exchange for the favour; or she had found a customer because I did not see her again). I paid for lunch for three but the older woman very honestly decided that two lunches would be enough since the child could share with them. Instead, she asked me if I would offer her to buy her a pair of eye glasses. She said it would cost her a thousand Rupees. I was clearly not prepared to be that generous. But then, I saw the rosary around her neck. She held on to the rosary and pleaded with me that she was not lying about the eye glasses. I opened my wallet and gave her five-hundred rupees. You would have thought I had opened heavens doors to her. Then, in the middle of the entire town square, she laid her dirty, filthy hands on my head and blessed me. She invoked heaven and all its blessing upon me. Then she asked me to bless them. Knowing that a lot of people were watching this spectacle, very embarrassed, I laid my hands on her and the child very quickly, blessed them, made her promise me that she would not spend my money on anything else but eyes glasses, turned around and left.
That night I could not sleep – both because of the jet lag and because I could not get these people out of my mind. There were questions in my mind. Where did that young woman disappear? And why? Did they take me for ride? On the other hand, the older woman’s blessing was the best blessing I have ever received. I never felt that blessed ever, even when the bishop laid his hands on me at my ordination. I also felt bad about being embarrassed to bless them as the town people watched. I felt I could have done more. That night I said that most sincere prayer I have ever said for anybody. I demanded that if God was God that he would lead them out of their misery. I never saw them again till I left India a week later.
I will return to this story in a little bit but let me introduce today’s scripture to you and the context within which I want to discuss them. The theme that binds today’s first reading and the gospel together is the names of two rather insignificant towns – Zebulun and Naphtali. The first reading from the book of Isaiah reads:
“First the Lord degraded the land of Zebulun
and the land of Naphtali;
but in the end he has glorified the seaward road,
the land west of the Jordan,
the district of the Gentiles. (Is 8:23)
Then in the gospel reading, Matthew says that Jesus begin his ministry in the “region of Zebulun and Naphtali (Mt 4:13).
A history of these places will tell us the significance of this detail provided in the readings. When the people of Israel entered the Promised Land, it was divided into twelve regions according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Thus, the region of Zebulun and Naphtali belonged to the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali. When Isaiah, in today’s reading says, “The Lord degraded the land of Zebulun of Naphtali” (Is 8:23), he was referring the Assyrian invasion of the Northern Kingdom. Zebulun and Naphtali were the first regions to be destroyed. Why is this detail important? It is important because Isaiah promises that these very regions that experienced “anguish and darkness” (Is 9:3), will once again experience joy and light. Matthew picks up on this theme in today’s gospel reading by suggesting that Jesus, about 700 years later, began his ministry in the same place where the people of God first experienced anguish and darkness. We are not merely taking symbolism here but a real intervention of God in human history. Jesus, God in flesh, walks through the dark and anguished lives of human beings. As Matthews says,
“…the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light,
on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death
light has arisen….” (Mt 4:16)
Immediately following this, Matthew says that by the sea of Galilee Jesus invited four people to follow him. The interesting thing is – they followed him. As if God was calling them, they left everything and followed him. Jesus then went about with the four disciples, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people (Mt 4:23).
Let me offer three practical implications from today’s readings for us.
1. What happened at Zebulun and Naphtaili is symbolic of each human life. Even a superficial look into our lives reveals a kaleidoscope of anguish and joy, darkness and light, sin and salvation, good and evil. On that day, Jesus did not wander into the region of Zebulun and Naphtali aimlessly. He had a mission and a plan. On that Jesus entered into the individual lives of people. Just like that, when no one expected him, when each was busy with their own thing, Jesus walked into the lives of four people – Peter and Andrew, James and John. The transformation in their lives was real. Jesus changed their profession, their families, the very meaning of their lives.
When I look back at my encounter with the woman and child that I shared at the beginning of the homily, for me it was a powerful God-experience. This experience was not about the money, or the misery and filth, or the identity of these people. It was about the blessing that this poor woman offered me and that I offered her. This experience was about how God came to them and how God came to me through them. Folks, God is real. God comes to us in real and concrete ways. As real God was for Peter, Andrew, James and John, God is real in the world. God may come in the most unexpected ways, but God is real.
2. Zebulun and Naphthali – the significance of these places is not merely historical and geographical. Today, they represent the anguish and darkness that pervades our world and society. Notice that immediately after calling the Peter, Andrew, James and John, Jesus goes about teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people (Mt 4:23). Be it in shanty towns, in oppressed and exploited peoples, in nursing homes, in juvenile centres, in abortion clinics, in refugee camps, in prisons, in the lives of addicts, in starving population of the world, or in war torn regions – there is much anguish and darkness. Today’s readings challenge us to be the “light” that people in darkness and people in anguish will see. Today, God is asking us to be light for somebody in the world who is in anguish and darkness of poverty, misery, ignorance, sin and selfishness. The practical implication of today’s scripture is to let our lives be meaningful for those today’s Zebuluns and Naphtalis. We cannot go about our lives concerned only about our needs and our lives. Like the apostles, we must accompany Jesus to those in need.
3. My experience with the woman and child in India convinced me even more deeply that we all are in need of the “light.” Sometimes, we may think that we are better off economically, socially and spiritually because we do not feel in dire need like other people do. I must admit that the blessing of this miserable, poor, filthy and dispossessed woman was special. I cannot explain to you why I feel this way – but there was something about receiving a blessing from someone who had nothing else to offer. AS a priest, to be blessed when usually it is the other way around, opened my eyes to my need for the poor in my life. There are a million ways in which I am Zebulun and Naphtali. There are a million ways in which the poor are a light to me. I too need God. I need the poor and the light they bring. I too need their blessing.
Just like Jesus came to the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, he comes to us today in this Eucharist. Today, we are the people who sit in darkness and have seen a great light; we are those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death on whom light has arisen. As we receive Christ in communion, let us be in turn be light to those in anguish. Jesus sends us today like Peter, Andrew, James and John to be fishers of people. Amen.
- Fr. Satish Joseph