Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Psalm 71:1-6
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Luke 4:21-30
Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
grace and peace to you from the Word of God
which comforts and provokes. Amen
Today, we continue through our season of epiphanies
where each Sunday we have scripture
that reveals something about Jesus
So far we have seen Jesus revealed as a human baby
As the King of the Jews as shown in the stars,
and as the spirit filled beloved chosen child of God after his baptism
the glory of God was revealed
as joyful abundance in community
through Jesus’ act of turning water into wine at the wedding at Cana
And last week in his hometown synagogue
Jesus was revealed as the fulfillment of scripture
As he read from the scroll of Isaiah
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
And then he taught saying
“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
This week we get the continuation of that story
where it is revealed how Jesus will apply the word of God
which comforts even as it provokes
those who hear it.
And we see how the world will respond to Jesus
as the fulfillment of scripture in this way.
We see this in the reaction of those present in the synagogue.
They hear Jesus announce that he is the fulfillment of God’s good news,
of freedom from oppression,
the jubilee year where debts are forgiven and financial equality restored.
And this sounds good to them,
they who are under Roman rule and oppressed
who struggle economically,
this is all good news,
and they are amazed at the gracious words that come from Jesus’ mouth
Then they consider the source
and say “Is not this Joseph’s son?”
Now the tone of this question is left ambiguous.
It could be read “hey, look at this hometown kid and what he’s become,
we’re proud to have a part in that,
we watched him grow up!
This is so cool we now have an inside connection to God’s good news!”
Or it could be read
“wait a minute,
we know this guy,
this is Joseph’s kid,
the snotty one we watched grow up
who was always talking back to the priests in the temple,
where does he get off saying he’s the fulfillment of scripture?”
Either way, Jesus, sensing the shift in their reception
and knowing that next will come the request to prove it
through doing deeds of power
cuts them off and refuses to do any of the things
they’ve heard about him doing
citing the precedent of prophets failing to be accepted in their hometowns
and then he goes further
and reminds them that God has a habit
of sending of not only sending prophets away from their hometowns
but also away from their own people,
like God sending Elijah to the widow at Zarephath during famine,
or healing Naaman the Syrian.
And this reminder of the expansiveness of God,
who does not stop at the boundaries of the chosen people,
enrage those listening to such an extent
that they get up- in the middle of the sabbath service-
and they drive him out of the synagogue
and herd him toward the edge of a cliff
with the intent to throw him off of it.
Now we are told Jesus gets away from them before they do
(a neat trick not fully explained)
and continues on his way
having revealed how the word of God,
comforts us
but in its expansiveness also provokes us
out of our assumptions and comfortable self-interest.
The hometown crowd is gracious and excited
when Jesus proclaims the good news to them,
they become enraged when he includes others
in that same promise,
perhaps out of fear that they will be passed over or left out,
perhaps out of fear that there is not enough to go around
- fears which lie in stark contrast to the good news
that Jesus has just proclaimed to them-
the good news that in God’s way of life,
in God’s vision for the world
there is enough to go around
and everyone has access to what they need.
It’s almost as if having lived with inequity for so long
equality feels unfair.
It’s like an older sibling
being told that they would receive an allowance of $5 a week
and being excited about it
until they hear the parents tell the younger sibling
that they will also receive and allowance of $5 a week,
and immediately cries of ‘that’s not fair,
I’m older so I deserve more’
rend the air
even though just a moment ago they thought the amount was sufficient.
Jesus’ good news, challenges that way of life,
that order of the world,
and this message is in no way new or original.
This was the lesson God taught the people in the wilderness
after freeing them from slavery in Egypt
by giving them manna daily.
Enough for each day
and any extra collected rotted and smelled foul
because hoarding stinks,
this was the lesson the people were to live out in the promised land
and it is the lesson repeated over and over by the prophets
to the people living with the consequences of failing to live God’s way.
We hear God’s call and charge to Jeremiah in our first reading this morning
how Jeremiah is to be a prophet to the nations
and with the word of God in his mouth
he is to pluck up and pull down,
destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.
And we hear Jeremiah’s reluctance,
protesting ‘but I am only a boy’
nonsense God says,
you are precisely who I need at this time
and I will go with you, do not be afraid
- how often are those words are used when there is something to fear.
People do not like to be challenged to examine their way of life,
even, especially if it is the word of God that challenges them.
Jesus knows this,
and he knows what happens to prophets who proclaim God’s truth
and as the fulfillment of scripture
he does it anyway,
and he invites others to proclaim it with him,
because as provoking as it is,
it is good news,
good news conveyed out of love.
As those whom God has called to follow Jesus,
we too are called to proclaim and live out the good news
even as it provokes us to examine our own lives in light of it.
Luke is the gospel where the lawyer asks Jesus
what he must do to inherit eternal life,
and Jesus asks him what does the scripture say?
and the response is love God and neighbor,
and when the lawyer asks but who is my neighbor?
Jesus tells the story about the man beaten by bandits and left for dead,
who is passed by a priest and a religious person without them stopping,
but when one of those people,
one who is supposed to be outside of God comes along,
he is the one who stops and helps the man,
he is the one who acts as a neighbor
who we are to emulate in our lives.
The priest and the religious person
may have been technically religiously correct in their actions
but they were without mercy
and therefore they became the wrong actions.
and the good news is that who we are
or who are parents were
doesn’t matter when it comes to living God’s way of mercy and love-
it is a way of life open for all,
and that in itself is provoking in it’s expansiveness.
The good news does not provoke without cause,
because what makes it good
is the love for all creation that underlies it.
This is Paul’s point to the Corinthians,
that if they are using the gifts that God gave them without love as a motivation,
or for selfish reasons,
they don’t gain anything from that.
To lead mature faithful lives
is to live in love that turns us toward others
even when it doesn’t seem to benefit us,
and this is hard because it goes against our natural inclinations
but love, Love (that) is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
This is what is going to change the world for everyone.
Love sent Jesus to be the fulfillment of scripture,
love sent Jesus to comfort and provoke,
to proclaim the good news,
to be the good news,
for all.
Today the scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Amen
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