The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because God has anointed me.

The word anointed is the word that caught my attention. What did it mean to be anointed in the time of Jesus? Well, it was very significant. When one was anointed, he or she was set apart. He or she was elected or selected by God and the community for something special. When the prophet Samuel seeks a new king for Israel, he is sent to the family of Jesse, a man with seven sons. Each son is presented to Samuel but Samuel says that none of the sons are elected by God. Samuel asks if Jesse has any more sons and Jesse says, “Yes, the youngest son, David, who is taking care of the flocks”. Samuel requests Jesse to send for him and we hear, “…and the spirit of the LORD rushed upon David” and David was anointed King of Israel. So to be anointed in Jesus’ time was something reserved for royalty.

To be anointed was to be set apart as in the case of Jeremiah who becomes a mighty prophet of God. We read in the book of Jeremiah,

Before I formed you in the womb I knew] you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations ... I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”(Jeremiah 1:5-9)

So to be anointed in Jesus’ time was something reserved for prophets.

To be anointed was to be set apart as in the case of Aaron and his sons who served the Hebrew people as priests of God. Moses gathered the Hebrew people together with Aaron and his sons. Moses poured the anointing oil upon Aaron’s head, and anointed him to sanctify him. Afterward, Moses brought Aaron’s sons, and put coats upon them … as the Lord had commanded. (Leviticus 8:1-13) So to be anointed in Jesus’ time was something reserved for priests.

So have you been anointed? All of us who were baptized in a Catholic Rite were anointed with the words, “Priest, Prophet and King”. (Or as I would add, "Queen.") Let’s also look at some other words that mean “anointed one” – Messiah, Christ. So when one says Jesus Christ, we really are saying, Jesus, the Anointed One. Fr. Joe Kemp in his video presentation on Baptism says, “…when we are baptized we literally become a Christ”. WOW! Yes we are reborn, reconfigured to Jesus, the Christ (the anointed one). We enter into the family of God, we become members of the body of Christ.

As St. Paul tells us today, "…For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body" (1 Corinthians 12:13). We join with Jesus who is the Head of the body. So what does the Jesus, the head of the body, want to do?

To bring glad tidings to the poor, 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.

Jesus also says that the passage from Isiah is fulfilled in your hearing.

So if by our baptism we were reconfigured to Christ, becoming part of His body, then we too must bring glad tidings, proclaim liberty, promote freedom from oppression and proclaim the Good News! We have been anointed, Priest, Prophet and King/Queen. We have been elected, set apart for something truly royal, we are to speak truth to power and we are holy. Wow! But how do we embark on such an overwhelming mission?

Ezra, the priest-scribe gives us the answer:

Do not be sad, and do not weep ... eat rich foods and drink sweet drinks, for rejoicing in the LORD must be your strength!

Members of Christ’s Body, Christians must be joyful! In order to bring glad tidings, we must be joy filled. Proclamation of the Good News without joy would be an oxymoron. Let us find our spiritual strength in rejoicing in Our LORD, the Anointed One! Amen

NOTES:

January 24, 2016
3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C