Messenger's Message
Commentary
Imagine an aging church leader or preacher who has seen one technology tool after another change the face of how messages of fait are communicated. It started with the chalkboard, overhead plastic sheets on a projector to now various forms of computer software programs off a laptop onto a screen. With all the modern technology changes going at increasing megabytes per second, is God’s Word still as accurate and effective as in times past?
Today’s texts make a case that it is the message which is as or more important as ever, more so than the messengers. For example, the Ten Commandments are still as valid today as they were when Moses carried them from Mount Sinai to the people in Exodus 20. Regardless of whether they are on stone tablets or wall screen projector their message remains valid and is from the God of the covenant people. For example, it is still wrong to worship false idols, kill, commit adultery, steal, lie and covet one’s neighbor’s property. Regardless of whether one uses the Exodus 20, or Deuteronomy 5 versions, the message of the commandments remains valid. Also, whether a scholarly argument is made that Moses etched the commandments or exilic authors “J.E.D.P.” wrote and edited the Ten Commandments, their message is valid today. It is all about the integrity of the message, and less so about the messenger be it human or AI (Artificial Intelligence)
All three of today’s lessons is about a message which is a long lasting, universal word from the God of Israel. Despite his resistance, Jeremiah has a very difficult message to proclaim. Paul in 1 Corinthains 13 text can not only be heard are modern weddings, but still is a sober reminder as to how to heal rocky relationships. Finally, Jesus in Luke 4, God’s ultimate revelation, citing the prophet Isaiah—as his hometown reject and even tries to kill him. The messengers’ message is still valid. Teachers and preachers and preachers of the Christian faith can take solace and rest at peace with their head on the pillow at night if they have been faithful in presenting the message, regardless of how people respond or shun the messenger’ s message. This includes the teacher and preacher who still uses the yellow legal pad and ball point ink pen along with older version of a printed Bible to teach and preach.
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Suppose you found an old trunk of letters in a back room or attic from a loved one. The letters appear in a bit random pile of paper, but they do reflect the entirety of the lived life of the loved one. This is one way to approach four parts of the Book of Jeremiah. They are out of chronological order, but still complete. Chapters 1-25 are prophecies against Judah. Jermiah 26-45 is biographical material about the prophet himself. Chapters 46-51 are prophecies against foreign nations. 2 Kings 24:18-25:30, 2 Chronicles 34-36, are cross references to the events of the prophet’s ministry. This collection of oracles, some dictated to Baruch and latter editors around 560 BCE, the book is approximately dated between 627-587 BCE Stulman, 5). It is suggested some oracles are misplaced out of chronologic order, thus making the book challenging to read. Ther prophet lived during the reign of five kings of Judah: Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah. Worshiping other gods and attending to their cult rituals are signs of disobedience to the first covenant made with God. Latter (Reformation Sunday text) would God write a new covenant on the people’s hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
The current social context is one of disfranchisement refugees living in Babylon. The people feel vulnerable without a temple or land. In some sense, it may be viewed as a “theodicy” (if God is reigning, why are God’s people suffering?). People in any time who are barely eking out a living to survive, are being encouraged to explore a new world after the destruction of the old (Stulman, 6-7, 21). This preaching path is for those who have seen a cherished past diminish before their eyes and seek a new life in its embryonic stages.
As a descendent of the priest Abiathar who was banished by King Solomon to Abiathar (1 Kings 2:26-27). His own kinsmen plotted against him (Jeremiah 11:21), as Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth rejects and seeks to him in the Luke 4 text for today. Rejection by one’s hometown is one preaching path to explore here and in the Luke 4 lesson. Do people really want their hometown child to return back as an adult if they do not say the words the kinsmen wish to hear?
Today’s text is God’s call to the prophet. God takes the initiative to call him as a prophet, not priest (as was his ancestors). Like Isaiah (6:5), Jeremiah does not feel worthy, nor does he have a strong desire to be God’s prophet. Note, that God appoints Jeremiah. He does not take a vocational career test for skill sets nor was groomed for this position by friends and family. The prophet’s own shortcomings continue to haunt him throughout the book. God equips, the called, not calls the equipped might be one take away here. Moses objected to his call from God due to lack of speech abilities (Exodus 4:10-17). Later in the New Testament, none of Jesus’ disciples would have a strong temple training background. What credentials are needed for spokespersons of God these days?
One key verse to this text is, 1:8, “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you says the Lord.” None of the visions Jeremiah receives are reassuring. Ruin awaits from the north, along with war, defeat, and exile” (Berrigan, 9). God’s assurance is also based on Israel’s history of deliverance from Egypt (Exodus 3:8; 5:23, 6:6; 12:27; 18:4). One preaching path might be that when God calls a person for a mission, God also empowers them, provides resources, and provides some divine authority based on God’s Word contained holy scriptures. In this case, the prophet is like a new Moses (Deuteronomy 18:18).
Another lens (or preaching path) to view the book is based on 1:10. God both dismantles the old civic, cultural and religious life of Judah (Jeremaih 1-25) and rebuilds and plants it in a new way. (26-52). A case can be made that Jeremiah 1:10 is the motto for the whole book, as well as God’s activity in the life of many communities, “See today I appoint you over nation and over kingdoms, to pluck up and pull down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant (Stulman 41-42). God’s promise of protection and presence is a constant in this book for all believers of all times is the good news of this text. [Sources: Berrigan Daniel, The World and the Wound of God: Jeremiah, (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2024 edition), Stulman, Louis, Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries: Jeremiah, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2005)].
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
This uncontested letter of Paul usually dated around 51-55 CE is written to address internal divisions within the Corinthian church. He would need to write a second letter as well later (Hays, 5, 12). The unifying theme of chapter 13 is live (agape, unconditional love) must governs off the gifts of the Holy Spirit which God has given believers. The text can roughly be divided into three sections: 1) Futility of all religious practices without love (13:103) 2) Love as a celebrated virtue (13:4-7) 3) The provisional character of spiritual gifts juxtapose to the abiding character of love (13:8-13). Paul is promoting this love as an antidote to factionalism within the Corinthian church. He is building up a cumulative unity of his definition of love until the climatic ending of, “So faith, hope, love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love” (13:13 )Love is not seen a higher or better gift, but rather the way or means in which all of the spiritual gifts serve the larger community of faith (Hays, 221-222).
While this text is often used at weddings to counsel couples, the initial intent was to show the means of community formation during the middle of conflicts which Paul is addressing throughout the rest of the epistle. Essentially, regardless of one’s spiritual gifts, without love such gifts are worthless, and hold no account if not applied to community issues and problems. He uses the pagan example of clanging bronze symbols used in other religions to make the point that gifts given by God without love are distracting noises as practiced by pagan religions at the time.
A modern example might be the most well-planned, and executed church council meeting which lacks a loving spirit had might as well be a secular organization business meeting. Conflicts regarding, finances, personnel differences or use of church property issues are simply like a noisy gong if not undergirded with a spirit of unconditional agape love. Leadership or business skills are mere clanging symbols without the patience, kindness, lack of jealous and bosting traits of love here (13:1-2).
Possibly before a tense church business meeting, 1 Corinthians 13 might be read and held as a high level of God’s revelation, as many other texts often cited to make points during heated debates. This includes the Ten Commandments, Sermon the Mount, birth and crucifixion narratives of Christ as well as the list of sins cited that Paul tells people to avoid (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
A three point sermon might be divided as: 1)Love as the ground of meaning (13:1-3). 2) Love requites the formation of character (13:4-7) and 3) all knowlege is partial if not accompanied by unconditional (agape) love (8-13).
One verse often used in other contexts is, 13:12, “For now we see in the mirror dimly, but then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.” This text has been applied to Christians experiencing incomplete knowledge in many areas of life, but one day a fuller revelation will occur. For example, the theodicy question of, “Why do the righteous suffer and wicked prosper?” … might use this text as an excerpt provisional answer to questions which confound many Christians. Fuller understanding will occur later, as God chooses to reveal in other texts, manners etc. Is this taking a Bible verse out of context? It is not, if the question also embedded within the larger context in 1 Corinthians 13 of Christian love.
Other applications of this text might be a series of using the words: faith, hope and love, then explain how love informs faith and hope. In days when some people have lost faith and hope in the future, the unconditional love of God and God’s peoples is a Scriptural antidote here.
For preachers this text contains short, memorable phrases, each can be a sermon in and of itself. Love bears all things; love believes all things; love hopes all things; love endures all things (Hays, 233). Also, by virtue of the need for a 2 Corinthians Epistle, it is reasonable to assume that the hearers did not respond to this chapter in haste in immediately application. This text might have been preached many a times in possibly many forms.
In wedding services where this text is requested, I have begun my homily with, “God’s grace is free, but marriage is work.” 1 Corinthians 13 needs to be remembered within the life of the marriage including paying bills on a tight budget, a crying child with a loaded diaper, and unexpected auto repair bills—all part of marriage. As the couple awaits the reception party and hears the party bus in the church parking lot playing music and serving alcoholic beverages, such a sermon might sound like dampening the spirit of the day. But it is real. Older couples always nod their heads in affirmation as I say these words. [Sources: Harrisville, Ray A. Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament: I Corinthians, (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1987); Hays, Richard B., Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching: First Corinthians, Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997)].
Luke 4:21-30
And he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:22). Do people in church really believe they are hearing God’s Word when read from scripture? Are Bible passages simply part of a tsunami of words which flood into people’s lives daily? Luke intends for Jesus’ words from Isaiah to have the effect of a bombshell that enters people’s lives (Gadenz, 100).
As the text begins, Jesus has just finished reading portions of Isaiah 61 regarding the coming of he long awaited Messiah. From Luke’s vantage point, this is God speaking through Jesus. Initially Jesus is greeted in a welcome manner by the hometown crowds, until it is discovered that he is he son of Joseph (a local craftsman). The crowd does not accept the word of this hometown son. As in the Hebrew Bible lesson, there is a rejection theme of the messenger which God has sent. This does diminish the importance of the message, despite rejecting the messenger. The messenger’s message is still from God.
Luke provides the most detail of this event among the synoptic gospels. One major point Luke underscores his how outsiders may be more receptive to Jesus as God’s sent Messiah, than the traditional Jewish hometown kinsmen. Only Luke provides the additional details of the example of Elijah and Elisha precents of receiving benefits of God’s reign (1 Kings 17, 2 Kings 5, Aland 32-33).
There is contempt by the hometown crowd that Jesus would be available to serve outsiders. This implies a parochial attitude of not wanting to share the benefits of God’s reign. The town crowd wishes to be privileged over other others even their neighbors (Chen, 64). In Luke, Jesus’ mission is summarized in (19:10), “For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.” Such a mission will be embodied in the followers of Jesus throughout the entire books of Acts, when such outsiders as the Ethiopian Eunuch and (Acts 8) Cornelius the centurion (Acts 10) became part of the Christian community.
Gods’ grace embraces outsiders, is one theme to pursue from this text. Also, are there people who are still considered unclean and offensive to traditional church members? Summer vacation Bible school ministries often attract children who were not taught the manners, protocol, and appropriate behaviors in the church building. Yet, Jesus in Luke 4 would welcome them despite their uncouth behaviors.
Another theme to explore is how and when does the Spirit of the Lord anoint messengers to proclaim God’s words? In national polarizing times, must clergy effectively walk on eggshells and soften the message they receive in the Bible in order to avoid conflict in the church? Are there some texts which preachers simply will try to skip to provide a “Hallmark Narrative” with a happier ending? How do messengers of the word respond to manipulative hostility by power members of any congregation (Chen, 64). Will they receive enough back up from the supporters within the congregation so as not receive punitive action their pay or loss of employment? In Jesus’ case, the crowds literally wanted to kill him! Which messengers today are aware that this possibility lingers for those who accept the all to be God’s messenger such as Jeremiah or Jesus?
In her book Tending Roses, Kate Bowman temporarily moves into Grandma Rose’s farmhouse in Missouri to have the family later to arrive on Christmas, to break the news to Grandma Rose that her declining health conditions means the family must move Grandma into assisted living. While staying with Grandma Rose, a subplot to the book is when Kate discovers the regular visiting neighbor girl Dell Jordan who is trapped in impoverished living conditions of her mother’s bad smoking, drinking and negligent housekeeping habits. Grandma Rose secretly takes on the mission of helping this girl Del with clothing, food and hygiene donations from the church Christmas gifts collection, extra food in their garden and mentoring her for her passion in music. Del lives on the bad side of town. Kate Bowan discovers that the elderly Grandma Rose is indeed doing an outreach mission in this rundown shack on the poor side of town. For Del, Grandma Rose’s efforts do point her to a year of Jubilee of sorts. [Sources: Aland, Kurt, Synopsis of the Four Gospels, 5th edition, (Stuttgart, German United Bible Society, 1982); Chem Diane G., New Covenant Commentary Series, Luke, (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2017); Gadenz, Pablo T., The Gospel of Luke, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2018); Tiede, David L., Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament: Luke (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House); Wingate, Lisa, Tending Roses, New York NY: Penguin Books, 2001)].
Preaching Path
In the dark wintry weather days of the Epiphany season, which Bible texts once read will eventually sink in or become internalized in the minds and souls of the listeners? The Nativity of our Lord (Christmas) and crucifixion and resurrection do have audiences every year who are exposed to these texts on a regular basis. Might the rejection of a messenger who is returning to their hometown also join the ranks of annual readings when God is speaking a special way?
Alternative Preaching Path
The Isaiah 61 text read by Jesus is in fact, God authorizing good news to be proclaimed on transforming a community. The spirit is anointing a community to come to grips with ministries to the weak, powerless, and marginalized in any time. The verbs in Isaiah 61 are transformative in nature. Possibly the year of the Lord’s favor might include to restore, repair, and rebuild God’s community. Isaiah 61 addresses the time of Ezra and Nehemiah when God works with a people who have returned home from exile into ruins. Which ruins in our lives is God giving us a vision, energy and resolve to transform into new life? [Source: Brueggemann, Walter, Westminster Bible Companion: Isaiah 40-66, Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998].
Today’s texts make a case that it is the message which is as or more important as ever, more so than the messengers. For example, the Ten Commandments are still as valid today as they were when Moses carried them from Mount Sinai to the people in Exodus 20. Regardless of whether they are on stone tablets or wall screen projector their message remains valid and is from the God of the covenant people. For example, it is still wrong to worship false idols, kill, commit adultery, steal, lie and covet one’s neighbor’s property. Regardless of whether one uses the Exodus 20, or Deuteronomy 5 versions, the message of the commandments remains valid. Also, whether a scholarly argument is made that Moses etched the commandments or exilic authors “J.E.D.P.” wrote and edited the Ten Commandments, their message is valid today. It is all about the integrity of the message, and less so about the messenger be it human or AI (Artificial Intelligence)
All three of today’s lessons is about a message which is a long lasting, universal word from the God of Israel. Despite his resistance, Jeremiah has a very difficult message to proclaim. Paul in 1 Corinthains 13 text can not only be heard are modern weddings, but still is a sober reminder as to how to heal rocky relationships. Finally, Jesus in Luke 4, God’s ultimate revelation, citing the prophet Isaiah—as his hometown reject and even tries to kill him. The messengers’ message is still valid. Teachers and preachers and preachers of the Christian faith can take solace and rest at peace with their head on the pillow at night if they have been faithful in presenting the message, regardless of how people respond or shun the messenger’ s message. This includes the teacher and preacher who still uses the yellow legal pad and ball point ink pen along with older version of a printed Bible to teach and preach.
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Suppose you found an old trunk of letters in a back room or attic from a loved one. The letters appear in a bit random pile of paper, but they do reflect the entirety of the lived life of the loved one. This is one way to approach four parts of the Book of Jeremiah. They are out of chronological order, but still complete. Chapters 1-25 are prophecies against Judah. Jermiah 26-45 is biographical material about the prophet himself. Chapters 46-51 are prophecies against foreign nations. 2 Kings 24:18-25:30, 2 Chronicles 34-36, are cross references to the events of the prophet’s ministry. This collection of oracles, some dictated to Baruch and latter editors around 560 BCE, the book is approximately dated between 627-587 BCE Stulman, 5). It is suggested some oracles are misplaced out of chronologic order, thus making the book challenging to read. Ther prophet lived during the reign of five kings of Judah: Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah. Worshiping other gods and attending to their cult rituals are signs of disobedience to the first covenant made with God. Latter (Reformation Sunday text) would God write a new covenant on the people’s hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
The current social context is one of disfranchisement refugees living in Babylon. The people feel vulnerable without a temple or land. In some sense, it may be viewed as a “theodicy” (if God is reigning, why are God’s people suffering?). People in any time who are barely eking out a living to survive, are being encouraged to explore a new world after the destruction of the old (Stulman, 6-7, 21). This preaching path is for those who have seen a cherished past diminish before their eyes and seek a new life in its embryonic stages.
As a descendent of the priest Abiathar who was banished by King Solomon to Abiathar (1 Kings 2:26-27). His own kinsmen plotted against him (Jeremiah 11:21), as Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth rejects and seeks to him in the Luke 4 text for today. Rejection by one’s hometown is one preaching path to explore here and in the Luke 4 lesson. Do people really want their hometown child to return back as an adult if they do not say the words the kinsmen wish to hear?
Today’s text is God’s call to the prophet. God takes the initiative to call him as a prophet, not priest (as was his ancestors). Like Isaiah (6:5), Jeremiah does not feel worthy, nor does he have a strong desire to be God’s prophet. Note, that God appoints Jeremiah. He does not take a vocational career test for skill sets nor was groomed for this position by friends and family. The prophet’s own shortcomings continue to haunt him throughout the book. God equips, the called, not calls the equipped might be one take away here. Moses objected to his call from God due to lack of speech abilities (Exodus 4:10-17). Later in the New Testament, none of Jesus’ disciples would have a strong temple training background. What credentials are needed for spokespersons of God these days?
One key verse to this text is, 1:8, “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you says the Lord.” None of the visions Jeremiah receives are reassuring. Ruin awaits from the north, along with war, defeat, and exile” (Berrigan, 9). God’s assurance is also based on Israel’s history of deliverance from Egypt (Exodus 3:8; 5:23, 6:6; 12:27; 18:4). One preaching path might be that when God calls a person for a mission, God also empowers them, provides resources, and provides some divine authority based on God’s Word contained holy scriptures. In this case, the prophet is like a new Moses (Deuteronomy 18:18).
Another lens (or preaching path) to view the book is based on 1:10. God both dismantles the old civic, cultural and religious life of Judah (Jeremaih 1-25) and rebuilds and plants it in a new way. (26-52). A case can be made that Jeremiah 1:10 is the motto for the whole book, as well as God’s activity in the life of many communities, “See today I appoint you over nation and over kingdoms, to pluck up and pull down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant (Stulman 41-42). God’s promise of protection and presence is a constant in this book for all believers of all times is the good news of this text. [Sources: Berrigan Daniel, The World and the Wound of God: Jeremiah, (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2024 edition), Stulman, Louis, Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries: Jeremiah, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2005)].
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
This uncontested letter of Paul usually dated around 51-55 CE is written to address internal divisions within the Corinthian church. He would need to write a second letter as well later (Hays, 5, 12). The unifying theme of chapter 13 is live (agape, unconditional love) must governs off the gifts of the Holy Spirit which God has given believers. The text can roughly be divided into three sections: 1) Futility of all religious practices without love (13:103) 2) Love as a celebrated virtue (13:4-7) 3) The provisional character of spiritual gifts juxtapose to the abiding character of love (13:8-13). Paul is promoting this love as an antidote to factionalism within the Corinthian church. He is building up a cumulative unity of his definition of love until the climatic ending of, “So faith, hope, love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love” (13:13 )Love is not seen a higher or better gift, but rather the way or means in which all of the spiritual gifts serve the larger community of faith (Hays, 221-222).
While this text is often used at weddings to counsel couples, the initial intent was to show the means of community formation during the middle of conflicts which Paul is addressing throughout the rest of the epistle. Essentially, regardless of one’s spiritual gifts, without love such gifts are worthless, and hold no account if not applied to community issues and problems. He uses the pagan example of clanging bronze symbols used in other religions to make the point that gifts given by God without love are distracting noises as practiced by pagan religions at the time.
A modern example might be the most well-planned, and executed church council meeting which lacks a loving spirit had might as well be a secular organization business meeting. Conflicts regarding, finances, personnel differences or use of church property issues are simply like a noisy gong if not undergirded with a spirit of unconditional agape love. Leadership or business skills are mere clanging symbols without the patience, kindness, lack of jealous and bosting traits of love here (13:1-2).
Possibly before a tense church business meeting, 1 Corinthians 13 might be read and held as a high level of God’s revelation, as many other texts often cited to make points during heated debates. This includes the Ten Commandments, Sermon the Mount, birth and crucifixion narratives of Christ as well as the list of sins cited that Paul tells people to avoid (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
A three point sermon might be divided as: 1)Love as the ground of meaning (13:1-3). 2) Love requites the formation of character (13:4-7) and 3) all knowlege is partial if not accompanied by unconditional (agape) love (8-13).
One verse often used in other contexts is, 13:12, “For now we see in the mirror dimly, but then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.” This text has been applied to Christians experiencing incomplete knowledge in many areas of life, but one day a fuller revelation will occur. For example, the theodicy question of, “Why do the righteous suffer and wicked prosper?” … might use this text as an excerpt provisional answer to questions which confound many Christians. Fuller understanding will occur later, as God chooses to reveal in other texts, manners etc. Is this taking a Bible verse out of context? It is not, if the question also embedded within the larger context in 1 Corinthians 13 of Christian love.
Other applications of this text might be a series of using the words: faith, hope and love, then explain how love informs faith and hope. In days when some people have lost faith and hope in the future, the unconditional love of God and God’s peoples is a Scriptural antidote here.
For preachers this text contains short, memorable phrases, each can be a sermon in and of itself. Love bears all things; love believes all things; love hopes all things; love endures all things (Hays, 233). Also, by virtue of the need for a 2 Corinthians Epistle, it is reasonable to assume that the hearers did not respond to this chapter in haste in immediately application. This text might have been preached many a times in possibly many forms.
In wedding services where this text is requested, I have begun my homily with, “God’s grace is free, but marriage is work.” 1 Corinthians 13 needs to be remembered within the life of the marriage including paying bills on a tight budget, a crying child with a loaded diaper, and unexpected auto repair bills—all part of marriage. As the couple awaits the reception party and hears the party bus in the church parking lot playing music and serving alcoholic beverages, such a sermon might sound like dampening the spirit of the day. But it is real. Older couples always nod their heads in affirmation as I say these words. [Sources: Harrisville, Ray A. Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament: I Corinthians, (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1987); Hays, Richard B., Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching: First Corinthians, Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997)].
Luke 4:21-30
And he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:22). Do people in church really believe they are hearing God’s Word when read from scripture? Are Bible passages simply part of a tsunami of words which flood into people’s lives daily? Luke intends for Jesus’ words from Isaiah to have the effect of a bombshell that enters people’s lives (Gadenz, 100).
As the text begins, Jesus has just finished reading portions of Isaiah 61 regarding the coming of he long awaited Messiah. From Luke’s vantage point, this is God speaking through Jesus. Initially Jesus is greeted in a welcome manner by the hometown crowds, until it is discovered that he is he son of Joseph (a local craftsman). The crowd does not accept the word of this hometown son. As in the Hebrew Bible lesson, there is a rejection theme of the messenger which God has sent. This does diminish the importance of the message, despite rejecting the messenger. The messenger’s message is still from God.
Luke provides the most detail of this event among the synoptic gospels. One major point Luke underscores his how outsiders may be more receptive to Jesus as God’s sent Messiah, than the traditional Jewish hometown kinsmen. Only Luke provides the additional details of the example of Elijah and Elisha precents of receiving benefits of God’s reign (1 Kings 17, 2 Kings 5, Aland 32-33).
There is contempt by the hometown crowd that Jesus would be available to serve outsiders. This implies a parochial attitude of not wanting to share the benefits of God’s reign. The town crowd wishes to be privileged over other others even their neighbors (Chen, 64). In Luke, Jesus’ mission is summarized in (19:10), “For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.” Such a mission will be embodied in the followers of Jesus throughout the entire books of Acts, when such outsiders as the Ethiopian Eunuch and (Acts 8) Cornelius the centurion (Acts 10) became part of the Christian community.
Gods’ grace embraces outsiders, is one theme to pursue from this text. Also, are there people who are still considered unclean and offensive to traditional church members? Summer vacation Bible school ministries often attract children who were not taught the manners, protocol, and appropriate behaviors in the church building. Yet, Jesus in Luke 4 would welcome them despite their uncouth behaviors.
Another theme to explore is how and when does the Spirit of the Lord anoint messengers to proclaim God’s words? In national polarizing times, must clergy effectively walk on eggshells and soften the message they receive in the Bible in order to avoid conflict in the church? Are there some texts which preachers simply will try to skip to provide a “Hallmark Narrative” with a happier ending? How do messengers of the word respond to manipulative hostility by power members of any congregation (Chen, 64). Will they receive enough back up from the supporters within the congregation so as not receive punitive action their pay or loss of employment? In Jesus’ case, the crowds literally wanted to kill him! Which messengers today are aware that this possibility lingers for those who accept the all to be God’s messenger such as Jeremiah or Jesus?
In her book Tending Roses, Kate Bowman temporarily moves into Grandma Rose’s farmhouse in Missouri to have the family later to arrive on Christmas, to break the news to Grandma Rose that her declining health conditions means the family must move Grandma into assisted living. While staying with Grandma Rose, a subplot to the book is when Kate discovers the regular visiting neighbor girl Dell Jordan who is trapped in impoverished living conditions of her mother’s bad smoking, drinking and negligent housekeeping habits. Grandma Rose secretly takes on the mission of helping this girl Del with clothing, food and hygiene donations from the church Christmas gifts collection, extra food in their garden and mentoring her for her passion in music. Del lives on the bad side of town. Kate Bowan discovers that the elderly Grandma Rose is indeed doing an outreach mission in this rundown shack on the poor side of town. For Del, Grandma Rose’s efforts do point her to a year of Jubilee of sorts. [Sources: Aland, Kurt, Synopsis of the Four Gospels, 5th edition, (Stuttgart, German United Bible Society, 1982); Chem Diane G., New Covenant Commentary Series, Luke, (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2017); Gadenz, Pablo T., The Gospel of Luke, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2018); Tiede, David L., Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament: Luke (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House); Wingate, Lisa, Tending Roses, New York NY: Penguin Books, 2001)].
Preaching Path
In the dark wintry weather days of the Epiphany season, which Bible texts once read will eventually sink in or become internalized in the minds and souls of the listeners? The Nativity of our Lord (Christmas) and crucifixion and resurrection do have audiences every year who are exposed to these texts on a regular basis. Might the rejection of a messenger who is returning to their hometown also join the ranks of annual readings when God is speaking a special way?
Alternative Preaching Path
The Isaiah 61 text read by Jesus is in fact, God authorizing good news to be proclaimed on transforming a community. The spirit is anointing a community to come to grips with ministries to the weak, powerless, and marginalized in any time. The verbs in Isaiah 61 are transformative in nature. Possibly the year of the Lord’s favor might include to restore, repair, and rebuild God’s community. Isaiah 61 addresses the time of Ezra and Nehemiah when God works with a people who have returned home from exile into ruins. Which ruins in our lives is God giving us a vision, energy and resolve to transform into new life? [Source: Brueggemann, Walter, Westminster Bible Companion: Isaiah 40-66, Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998].
