Scripture Studies, January 15, 2023 Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

January 15, 2023 Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

We have arrived at the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time. Since, as usual, the First Sunday of Ordinary Time was replaced by the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord last week, this Sunday will be the first Sunday that we will see green vestments and cloths decorating the sanctuary since the end of the last liturgical year in November. This first part of Ordinary Time runs until the beginning of Lent on February 13, 2002. The name Ordinary Time does not mean that this time is unimportant. It comes from the word,”ordinal” because these are the counted Sundays of the year.


First Reading: Isaiah 49: 3, 5-6

3 You are my servant, he said to me,
Israel, through whom I show my glory.

4 Though I thought I had toiled in vain,
and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,
Yet my reward is with the LORD,
my recompense is with my God.

5 For now the LORD has spoken
who formed me as his servant from the womb,
That Jacob may be brought back to him
and Israel gathered to him;
And I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD,
and my God is now my strength!

6 It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant,
to raise up the tribes of Jacob,
and restore the survivors of Israel;
I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

NOTES on First Reading:

* 49:3 Here the Suffering Servant seems to be identified with the people of Israel as their ideal representative. However, since Isaiah 49:5, and 6 seem to distinguish the Servant from Israel as a whole, some scholars regard the word Israel here to be a gloss that was added later. Some have suggested that it represents the faithful Israelites.

* This appears to be a protest by the Servant in line with the protests of several prophets at their commissioning as in Isa 6:5;40:6; Jer 1:6. The Servant expresses dejection over what appears to be a wasted ministry and ultimately leaves the result of the ministry in the hands of God.

* 49:5 The text here seems a bit damaged. It repeats part of verse 1 and provides a new introduction. It seems to conflict with 40:1-11 and 45:2-3,113 where God Himself or Cyrus leads the new exodus.

* 49:6 The Servant’s call is not only the restoration of Israel but the conversion of the world. Luke 2:32 refers to this verse.

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1: 1-3

1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, 2 to the church of God that is in Corinth, to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

NOTES on Second Reading:

* 1:1-9 In these verses Paul follows the conventional form for the opening of a Greek letter but he expands it with details carefully chosen to remind the readers of their situation and to suggest some of the issues the letter will discuss.

Paul presents his mission and the church’s existence as grounded in God’s initiative. He emphasizes God’s call, grace, and fidelity which are central ideas in this introduction using repetition and word plays in the Greek.

Sosthenes may be the same individual as in Acts 18:17.

Gospel Reading: John 1: 29-34

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

30 He is the one of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’ 31 I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel.”

32 John testified further, saying, “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon him. 33 I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the holy Spirit.’ 34 Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”

NOTES on Gospel Reading:

* 1:29-34 This “witness by John before Israel” is John’s analog of the stories in the synoptic gospels (Mark:1:11; Luke 3:22; Matt 3:17) where the Holy Spirit comes upon Jesus. The coming of the Spirit is the sign that John has been told by God to look for in recognizing the one who is to come.

*1:29 The language calling Jesus the “lamb of God” is most likely a very early Christian combination of the Suffering Servant image(Isa 52:13-53:12) and the Passover lamb image of Jesus (John 19:36 and 1 Cor 5:7).

* 1:31 Here there seems to be no knowledge of the tradition (Luke 1) about the kinship of Jesus and John the Baptist. John calls his baptism a baptism of revelation. In this gospel, John’s baptism is not connected with forgiveness of sins but rather its purpose is revelatory, that Jesus may be made known to Israel.

* 1:32 The dove was both a symbol of the new creation (Genesis 8:8) and of the community of Israel (Hosea 11:11). This is the first use of the word “remain” (menein) which is one of John’s favorite verbs in this gospel. It is used to emphasize the permanency of the relationship between Father and Son and between the Son and the Christian. Here it is used to portray Jesus as the permanent bearer of the Spirit.

*1:34 The reading, “Son of God,” is supported by many if not most good Greek manuscripts but some consider it somewhat suspect because it harmonizes this passage with the synoptic version, “This is my beloved Son” (Matthew 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22). The poorly attested alternate reading, “God’s chosen One,” or “elect” is probably a reference to the Servant of Yahweh (Isaiah 42:1).


Scripture text: New American Bible with revised New Testament copyright © 1986,1970, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.
Commentary Sources:
Vince Del Greco
The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (1990) (Eds. Brown, Fitzmyer & Murphy)