Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, January 23, 2011

(Isaiah 8:23-9:3; 1 Cor.1:10-13,17; Mt.4:12-23)

Often enough when we hear place names in the readings our minds head off to
exotic places. The reality is that none of these places is even as big as most counties
in Ohio. Neither Zebulun nor Naphtali would have been as geographically large as
Franklin County in Ohio. Moreover, the size and shape of these “lands” changed
from time to time depending on the fortunes of war. The whole picture involves
tribes scattered in the North and West of the Sea of Galilee. But the area is
geographically very small.
The echoes of Christmas joy reverberate briefly with mention of the “people
who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of
gloom a light has shown.” We think immediately of the first reading for late Mass
on Christmas Eve. Thus we have a subtle link between the Christmas season and
our return to Ordinary Time.
The Gospel cites the same passage, using it as a “fulfillment citation” which is
a favorite device Matthew uses to speak of Jesus fulfilling various Old Testament
passages. By doing so, Matthew makes the case for his later claim that Jesus has
come “to fulfill” (the Law and the Prophets) in Mt.5:17.
Jesus then takes up the message of John the Baptist who has been arrested and
thereby clears the stage for the work of Jesus to begin. Like in Mark’s Gospel, the
first thing Jesus does after being baptized and being tempted in the desert (which
will be recounted on the First Sunday of Lent) is to call the first of his disciples.
They appear in the same order found in Mark: Simon (called Peter) followed by his
brother Andrew followed by James and John, the sons of Zebedee. He concludes
this section with a summary statement: “He went around all of Galilee, (like all of
Franklin County) teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the
kingdom and curing every disease and illness among the people.”
Because he uses all the Old Testament passages we can easily see that
Matthew is constantly working to proclaim his belief that Jesus is son of David and
Son of Abraham. He is not presenting us with a life of Jesus. In various ways he is
sharing with us his belief in Jesus as Christ and Lord.
That leaves us to consider briefly the action unfolding from the beginning of
the first Corinthian letter. Right off the bat, we see where Paul is heading as he
appeals for unity of purpose among the members of the Corinthian Church. They
had become divided by aligning themselves with one preacher or another rather
than aligning themselves with Christ.
Chloe apparently was a business woman from Ephesus who must have had
some influence in Corinth and who also must have kept in touch with Paul in order
to get these reports to him. The main divisions were based on the strong
personalities of people like Apollos, Cephas and Paul. Each had his own following,
but then Paul asks rhetorically “Is Christ divided?” It was in the name of Christ, not
these others, that they were baptized. And it was Christ who was crucified; not any
of these others.
Paul’s appeal for the Corinthians to unite around Christ is an appeal that
continues in every generation to some extent. The factions that exist in today’s
Church have been found in every generation even though Christ wills and the
Gospel demands unity. But one necessarily must ask whether unity and uniformity
is the same thing? The obvious answer is no.
Certainly Paul and Cephas, among others, demonstrate the great variety of
opinions in the early Church on many matters. We should hardly be surprised to
find that diversity exists in our own time and place.

Fr. Lawrence L. Hummer