Often times, Ordinary Time, sandwiched between the Season of Christmas and the Season of Lent, is generally quite short, two to four weeks at the most. This year, we have the luxury of eight Sundays in Ordinary Time before we begin our Lenten fasts and practices. Because this is Year C in the Lectionary cycle, the Gospels we will hear are drawn largely from the Gospel of Luke.
Jesus goes back to his home town and announces to the people that his mission in life is more than being that of a carpenter. The people of Nazareth reject him and are so furious they try to murder him. Jesus then begins to call people from all walks of life to join him. Some are notorious sinners and others are self-righteous. Some are men, and some are women. Some come from well to do families, others are fishermen, homemakers, and common laborers. One is a tax collector who is in cahoots with the Roman Empire, and another is an armed revolutionary. One might think Jesus didn’t choose very well, given the motley group of individuals who followed him. For the self-righteous religious of his day, the relationships Jesus had with tax collectors, prostitutes, thieves and other societal reprobates was downright scandalous.
Let us use this Ordinary Time to reflect upon how Jesus has called us to be his disciples. We are no different from the men and women disciples he called to follow him 2000 years ago. We come from all walks of life, from different professions and backgrounds. Not a one of us is without sin. We are the same motley group of individuals. We sit in church trying to forget our past, or struggle with the present, and hope for the future. Over these ensuing weeks of Ordinary Time, may we sit at the feet of our Lord, and as we listen to the Gospels, learn from him what it means to be his disciple this new year.
