Time to take it slow Neh 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10; Ps 19:8, 9, 10, 15; 1 Cor 12:12-30; Lk 1:1-4, 4:14-21 On the Third Sunday of Advent, we heard part of today’s Gospel, taken from Isaiah (61:1): “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.” I noted that these are the first words we see Jesus speak to people in the Gospel of Luke. In the other synoptic Gospels, the first word we hear Jesus say is “Repent!” The first thing Jesus does in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, then, is to point to what is wrong. But in Luke, the first thing he does is use this text from Isaiah to proclaim what is called a jubilee year. According to the Old Testament, this is a year in which all debts are forgiven, the land is granted rest and is returned to its original owners, and slaves and laborers are freed (Lv 25:8-55). The Jesus of Luke does not tell people about their sinfulness and their need to repent. Instead, he tells them that they are good in God’s eyes. Jesus’ citing from Isaiah here is not a mere messianic statement, although it is often overlooked as such; it is an important statement about restoration. Jesus knows what these people have suffered, what they are going through as a people who are occupied and oppressed under the Romans. He sees and focuses on the goodness within them. He knows what they were created to be by God, and he tells them they will be able to get there again: to be restored. The time has not come yet, but it is beginning. This week, the reading is paired with a moment from the Old Testament that also speaks to restoration and new beginnings. It imagines the descendants of those who had been exiled to Babylonia returning to Judea to begin anew. The temple has already been rebuilt, as well as the walls around the city of Jerusalem. In today’s reading from Nehemiah, the people are taking a pause to listen to God’s word. They are commanded to relax and celebrate the work they have done, the return to their land, and their rededication to God. They are told that rejoicing in God is their strength (8:10). There is nothing they need to do now, but to eat, drink and be merry. We are now near the end of January, the first month of the secular new year. Many people will make some sort of New Year’s resolution with the hope of starting fresh. These resolutions are often aimed at a problem or a behavior that had caused trouble in the past year. Others will make a resolution intended to add self-care into the year, like a new meditation practice. More often than not, the dedication to these resolutions fades rather quickly, leaving some to start the new year not with a fresh start, but with something else to feel disappointed about. This is not a failure of will or dedication. Nor is it a sign of laziness. It is a sign that the dead of winter is not the time to renew oneself. It is not a time to create a fresh energy. It is a time to rest and to take care of one’s needs. Like the people in today’s Gospel, we have been through a lot this past year, and there is more struggle to come. Like the people in our Old Testament reading, we have all worked so hard, and there is work yet to do. It is OK to take a break. It is OK to listen to your body, which is likely telling you to take it slow now. If you do feel a surge of energy and sense you are being called to begin the work of renewal now, that is great. If you are not ready for that yet, that is also fine. Take this time to listen to God’s word, to be freed from the demands you have put on yourself, and to heal. Easter, the time for new life, will be here soon enough.
About the Author Kate Oxsen is an assistant professor of Old Testament studies at Catholic Theological Union.