Third Sunday in Ordinary Time 'C'

Sunday January 21, 2007

So what’s on your agenda?

“What’s up, Joe? What’s on your agenda?”

My mom used to ask this question of me on Saturday mornings when I was a kid. Incidentally, “Joe” was my household nickname. It all started with when my dad arrived home from work and the greeting, “Watcha know, Joe?”

In any event, my customary response was, “Nothing much.” This reply so typical of a teenager was intended to limit or even terminate the conversation before it began. Mothers really don’t need to know what their sons are up to on a Saturday morning. Yeah right. If the truth be known, most of the time, I had no agenda. I don’t think I even understood the meaning of the word. Besides, I was one of those kids who enjoyed taking life as it comes — believe it or not — even in the face of oodles of homework or a test the next morning. Homework was not one of my most enjoyable pastimes.

When I grew up, I learned that the word ‘agenda’ had a variety of meanings and applications. Every meeting has an official agenda that may change as the meeting progresses. This is not necessarily a bad thing. If nothing else, it’s a sign that the participants are fully engaged in a collaborative effort to achieve their goals.

Then there are ‘hidden agendas’ that may be conscious, subconscious or unconscious. They usually arise from unmet subliminal needs of one or more individuals in a group who for whatever reason are not in the mainstream of group thinking. This occurs in the political arena for sure and in commercial or corporate enterprises. It happens even in religious institutions and shows up in the concern for political correctness and/or careerism — getting ahead and getting the vote. In these situations, self-interest rather than truth may be the driving force. What we see and hear is not always what we get in people with a hidden agenda.

On the other hand, there are those who do not think with the group and who indeed have another agenda that challenges the ‘status quo’ but whose ideas are worthy of the attention of the group. Secular or religious, their words are prophetic and their style even disruptive at times. Though this is not always characteristic of prophets, they may be perceived as irritants and agitators.

They are essentially reformers who are intent on preserving the core values of the institution or group. Their agenda may be hidden but it is not private. Over time, their efforts bear fruit through productive reforms. Many do not live to see the fruit of their works. “One man sows, another reaps.” Some seeds are “wasted;” others are vested and just put on hold.

Jesus had an agenda which although veiled for a time was neither private nor clandestine. In fact he announced his agenda in the synagogue as a young man searching for his call and career, as it were. He was handed the Scriptures and he turned to the prophecy of Isaiah in which it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tiding to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”

Those who surrounded him understood that “the poor” meant the spiritually poor as well as the materially poor and that “captives” included those held captive by their own sins and handicaps. The recovery of sight had to do with the gift of wisdom and insight as well as the cure from physical blindness. Freedom from oppression was associated with freedom from all the fears and anxieties that prevent us from being assertive and courageous in our response to the Lord.

Then he said to them, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” So listen up!

Luke was not present for Jesus’ appearance in the synagogue. This introductory account was based on the end of the ‘Jesus story.’ In other words, Luke had to find a way to announce Jesus’ agenda in order to justify all that was to follow in his gospel in an orderly account.

He addresses himself to ‘Theophilus,’ which is probably not the proper name of a person but the descriptive word for all who love God — ‘Theo’ is the Greek word for ‘God.’ ‘Philo’ means love and so he is addressing his words to all who love God. In other words, “To all you who love God, I want to tell you who Jesus was and all that led up to his death and resurrection and why people of faith believe he was the long-waited Messiah of Israel given to the world.

Jesus was an itinerant preacher and a reformer. His message was intrusive and even disruptive but he was not an outsider or a rebel. Mark told us in Chapter 3 of his gospel that members of Jesus’ family thought he was out of his mind at one point! (Mark 3:21)

Apparently it was not Jesus’ intent to establish a new religion or religious institution but to bring the ancient prophecies to fulfillment among the people of Israel through reform. In his mind, Israel would become a new Jerusalem, a city of peace, and a messianic community in which everyone would find a home and a place at table.

The first reading from Nehemiah and third reading from Luke’s gospel have a liturgical setting and even the second reading from First Corinthians was meant to be read within a liturgical assembly “to men, women and children old enough to understand.”

Jesus’ agenda was rooted in the Jewish tradition passed down through the law and the prophets and ultimately through the Torah. The agenda of the early Christians was rooted in Jesus who was viewed as the fulfillment of the ancient prophecies and who himself became the new law or Torah.

We gather in this liturgical assembly week after week so that we too may over time establish our agenda as a Church and our agenda as individual members of the People of God—“men, women and children old enough to understand.”

Jesus is the paradigm and exemplar of our own vocation as Christians whatever our specific call or career.

So, what’s on your agenda!

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