Epiphany 4
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook, SERIES II
for use with Common, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic Lectionaries
Comments on the Lessons
There is virtual consensus on the Jeremiah reading. While (RC) adds verses 17-19, they become redundant with verses 4-10. The Jeremiah passage is the account of Jeremiah's commissioning as a prophet of God, even from his mother's womb. There is near consensus on the 1 Corinthians reading. The (L) reading begins with 1 Corinthians 12:27, which serves to link love with the relationships of members within the Body of Christ. There is virtual consensus on the Lucan reading, and in (C) (RC) verses 31-32 are dropped since they are anticlimactic and detract from the thrust of the main passage.
Commentary
Jeremiah 1:4-10 (C) (L)
Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19 (RC)
The book of Jeremiah is found between the books of Isaiah and Ezekiel, and is the longest of the three. We are told in 1:1-3 that the book is the words of Jeremiah ben Hilkiah, one of the priests who lived in Anatoth in the district of Benjamin. He was active during the time when the Assyrian imperial power was waning and Babylon was emerging as the new imperial power of the Near East. The book of Jeremiah describes the fall of the kingdom of Judah and the city of Jerusalem in the sixth century B.C., and gives few details of the prophet's life. Since neither a birth nor death notice is contained in the book, it cannot be thought of as a biography of Jeremiah. The key to interpreting the book lies in the problems associated with its composition and editing. The reader is referred to one of the commentaries in the bibliography for discussion of these issues.
The prologue to the book is contained in 1:1-19, and the passage for today, which is part of that, recounts the divine commissioning of Jeremiah to be a prophet to the nations. Note carefully that Jeremiah is commissioned to a task. While some scholars call verses 4-10 the "call" of Jeremiah to be a prophet, the account is better taken as a commissioning to a specific task, that of being a prophet to the nations. A call does not make a prophet, but what constitutes his role is the possession and delivery of the divine word at the divine command. There is a subtle difference between a call and a commission. A call is an abstraction. A commission is a very specific task.
The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, declaring that he was set apart for his task even before he was formed in the womb, the task of being a prophet to the nations. Notice that while other prophets were called to speak to Judah or Israel, Jeremiah is called to be a prophet to the nations. The nations hold dominance over Judah at this time, but God's prophet Jeremiah is given the real power over these apparently dominant forces. At God's command, the prophet exercises control over the nations. He plucks up and breaks down, and he builds and plants. In 29:7 we see that the misfortune or well-being of nations depends upon him. The nations struggle against the prophet in vain. (v. 8)
Notice that in verse 10 the human agent, Jeremiah, is made the subject of the verbs of the verse, while in every other use of them it is Yahweh who is the one who builds or destroys.
There is no specific occasion for the commissioning of Jeremiah in verses 4-10, since his commissioning is from before his birth, indeed, even before his conception! There are parallels to this notion in Egyptian history, where the king is told by the god that he had been set apart to be ruler of Egypt while yet in the belly of his mother.
While much has been made of Jeremiah's protest that he is "only a youth," this seems to be a conventional way of showing humility and reluctance on the part of one called by God to serve. Solomon in his prayer for wisdom (1 Kings 3:5-15) offers a similar account when God appeared to him in a dream at Gibeon. Thus, we need not become embroiled in a lengthy discussion of how old Jeremiah was at this point.
A major question about this passage is: To whom were these words addressed? Or: On what occasion were these words spoken? Our passage cannot be seen as a private experience of Jeremiah's. The editors of the book set it forth as public knowledge. The fact that verses 4-10 are declaratory in nature means that they are an introduction to the reading of the Jeremiah tradition, whether in the second temple or wherever. They validate Jeremiah's commission to be a prophet to the nations, and give authenticity to the words of God delivered by his prophet.
In verse 9 we find that God puts his words in Jeremiah's mouth. The utterances of Jeremiah are to be read as the divine word mediated through an authentic prophet, in contrast to false prophets who claimed to speak for God. God knew Jeremiah in the biblical sense of knowing, a profound and intimate knowledge, a sense of knowing like that of Adam knowing Eve in sexual intercourse. God's Word is a dynamic and vital force which Jeremiah speaks for God.
Verses 17-19
This is simply an expansion of the thought of verses 4-8. God encourages Jeremiah to go and speak his word to the nations. He promises to make Jeremiah strong, and although the nations will fight against him, they will not prevail. The reason Jeremiah will prevail is that "I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you." (v. 19) Here Jeremiah is to speak against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land, but earlier in verse 5 he is commissioned to speak to the nations of the earth. His earlier commission to the nations includes, of course, Judah and her kings.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (C)
1 Corinthians 12:27--13:13 (L)
1 Corinthians 12:31--13:13 (RC)
When we begin the pericope at 12:27, we include the image of the body of Christ composed by individual members. There are various roles in the body, the church, to which God has appointed persons to serve. In the Greek there is no "the" before body, and so it reads "you are body of Christ." Christ is the source of the body's life, and the director of its operation. (Note: J. A. T. Robinson has developed this idea in his classic, The Body.) There is division and strife in the Corinthian church over the roles and gifts of its members. Paul goes on in chapter 13 to show them a "more excellent way," the way of love. Paul has demonstrated the interdependence and equal importance of those in the body, the church. He shows that there is but one source (the Spirit) of these gifts. Paul seeks to explain in a more profound way the operation of the Spirit in human relations, since no one of the gifts of the Spirit is sufficient for understanding the Spirit. So Paul points to the concept of "agape," usually translated "love," to explain the working of the Spirit. Agape is the transliteration of the Greek word meaning "divine love," the unselfish love revealed in Christ's death on the cross, in contrast to friendship, and love which seeks its own satisfaction.
In verse 31 Paul does not admonish the Corinthians to "desire the higher gifts," although this is the usual interpretation. Rather, he points to the fact that they do desire the higher gifts. He has just shown this to be a mistake, because they do not understand the Spirit's working. They think they can identify the Spirit with speaking in tongues, etc. But Paul says, no, the Spirit can only be understood in "a still more excellent way," which refers to "going the limit." Paul thus proposes to show them the most extreme way there is, to go the limit, and does so in chapter 13.
Paul begins chapter 13 without defining or qualifying love. It is not defined as a gift of the Spirit, although in Galatians 5:22 Paul writes that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace ..." Here the definition of love is indirect, as Paul uses negation and contrast to define love. Looking at the whole chapter we may outline it as follows:
1. Verses 1-3 form the introduction, in which Paul describes the religious person in her or his highest possibilities. Paul tells us what love is not.
2. Verses 4-7 deliberately show the contrast of love with the behavior of the Corinthians
3. Verses 8-9 the contrast of love with the spiritual gifts
4. Verses 10-12 the contrast of love with that which is imperfect
5. Verse 13 the contrast of love with faith and hope
The "tongues of men and of angels" refers to the ecstatic manifestation of the Spirit, rather than to human speech. Gongs and symbols were used in pagan worship, but neither give intelligible communication. The "mysteries and all knowledge" refer to the secrets of God, which he revealed to the prophet, regarding God's way of operating, especially regarding what will take place at the end of the world.
The reference to delivering one's body to be burned could refer to martyrdom, or possible self-immolation as practiced in some pagan religions. This statement forms a powerful climax to Paul's description of the religiousChristian. Note that in verses 1-3 Paul uses "I" to refer to his hypothetical description of the religious Christian, who performs certain acts demonstrating piety but does not have love. The performance of love, as Paul declares in verse 10, is perfect.
The Greek word translated "kind" in verse 4 is used only here in the New Testament.
In verse 5 the word "resentful" translates Greek words which mean literally "takes no account of evil." Resentment has proven to be one of the most destructive of all human emotions. It can produce mental and physical illness. Love is not resentful, but forgiving of persons and events.
In verse 7 "bears all things" and "endures all things" are redundant. The root word for "bears" in Greek means "to cover" and later developed the meaning found here of "to endure."
In verses 8-12 Paul contrasts love, which endures and never ends, with those things which do end. The word translated "ends" in Greek means literally "fall," so that the thought is that love never disappears or goes away.
In verse 11 Paul uses the analogy of a person growing up from childhood to adult life. When a person grows up, the imperfect childhood state must be abandoned, so that a perfect one may take its place. This analogy serves as a springboard to Paul's idea in verse 12 that the perfect must take the place of the imperfect. The Greek word translated "dimly" in verse 12 means in Greek "in a riddle," and the point is that our present knowledge of things comes only by reflection. We do not see things face to face, even though knowledge and prophecy are divine in origin, gifts of the Spirit. But in sharp contrast to what is yet to come, these must be viewed as only partial.
In verse 12 Paul does not say that our present knowledge will abide. While it may seem strange that Paul makes a statement here about one of the spiritual gifts, his purpose is to relate knowledge to love. Present knowledge is only partial, and hence is inferior to love. But in the End humans will participate in the knowledge which God has of them. In the End our knowledge will become love, just as God's is now.
In verse 13 "so" could also be translated as "now," but most scholars take it with the logical meaning of "so." "Abide" stands in contrast to its opposite "pass away" in verses 8-10. The meaning is that faith, hope, and love abide after the end of this world. Love is the source of faith and hope, and for this reason must be considered the greatest of the three. All are gifts of the Spirit. Faith and hope abide in that they outlast all the spiritual gifts, but only love is sufficient to explain the working of the Spirit.
Luke 4:21-30 (C) (RC)
Luke 4:21-32 (L)
We have in verse 21 an overlap with the previous Sunday's reading, which concluded that lesson and begins this one. Jesus says literally "this scripture has been fulfilled in your ears." As Jesus proclaims the kingdom he also announces that "this scripture has been fulfilled."
At first the hearers in the synagogue spoke well of him and admired him, saying, "Is not this Joseph's son?" Jesus anticipates their response and says to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Physician, heal yourself'; what we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here also in your own country." (v. 23) This implies that Jesus had an earlier ministry which Luke knows about, although he sets forth the Nazareth sermon as the beginning of Jesus' public ministry.
In verses 23-27 we have the scope of Jesus' ministry, which can be divided into two sections: (1) Verse 23, which interprets verse 22 negatively, and Jesus says in effect, "You are calling on me as a local boy to set up practice here in my hometown, and (2) a multifaceted response in verses 24-27 to the preceding demand. Here we find that both proverbial wisdom ("No prophet ...") and Scripture (the account of the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian) argue against their demand that he set up shop in Nazareth. Notice that the implication is that Jesus, the hometown boy, will have a mission beyond his hometown, and that God's benefits promised in the Isaiah 61 and 58 passages he just read will be for the Gentiles too. (vv. 25-27) Here Luke sets forth his concern for the universal scope of God's salvation offered in Jesus. We have heard of this in his prepublic career in chapters 2 and 3, and will hear of it almost immediately in 4:43 after the exorcisms of 4:31-41. So the thrust of this whole passage is that Jesus says he must bear the good news of the kingdom beyond the confines of those to whom he most closely related as a neighbor, Palestinian and Jew.
The crowd's reaction is quick and violent, as verses 4:28-29 relate. They tried to kill him! This foreshadows the cross, when he is killed outside the city. Note that it is not that Jesus goes elsewhere because he is rejected, but that he is rejected because he announces that God wills him to go elsewhere on mission. Thus, in being rejected because of his wider mission, Jesus foreshadows what will happen to his disciples later as recorded in Acts, when they are abused because of their mission to the Gentiles, and sometimes turned to the Gentiles because of rejection by the Jews. Jesus' escape points forward to the escape of the Gospel, which evokes hostility and is rejected, but nevertheless survives. Jesus slips through the crowd and escapes their efforts to kill him, which some think is a miraculous escape. It stands in sharp contrast to the later event in Jerusalem, because he chooses not to escape but to obey God's will - even when it leads to death outside the city.
In brief, Luke shows us Jesus beginning his public ministry, empowered by the Holy Spirit - a ministry of preaching, healing, and exorcism which moves outward to touch the entire world.
Theological Reflections
Jeremiah relates how God commissioned him to be a prophet before he was born, even before his conception, and sent him as his messenger to the foreign nations. Jeremiah, in a typical protest of humility, says that he is merely a youth, but God does not relieve him of his duty for this reason. He is to be God's instrument in plucking up and breaking down, destroying and overthrowing, building and planting. These actions foreshadow Jesus' death and resurrection, when evil is broken, and Jesus is raised with a resurrection body. In his letter Paul tells the Corinthians that love is the greatest of all the gifts of the Spirit, the source of both faith and hope. Paul describes love, both in contrasts with imperfect things and in positive affirmations of how love manifests itself in community. He declares that love endures and never ceases. Luke records Jesus telling his townsfolk in the synagogue that the Scripture from Isaiah had been fulfilled in their hearing that day. Their initial response was pride and affirmation, but this quickly turns to anger and an attempt to kill him when he announces that his mission is to the Gentiles as well as to his own people. They rise up in rage to try to kill him, but he escapes through the crowd. Jesus continues his public ministry, which has its focus on the Jewish people, but which includes Gentiles as well. The disciples and the church later will continue this wider mission to the Gentiles. Notice that both Jeremiah and Jesus have a God-given mission to the nations of the world, a mission which invokes hostility and persecution, but to which they are faithful. Paul describes love in terms which Jesus lived out in his life of service in the world. Jesus was love incarnate, and death itself could not destroy the power of love, as the Risen Christ continues to manifest God's love in the world.
Homiletical Moves
Jeremiah 1:4-10 (C) (L)
Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19 (RC)
Jeremiah, Commissioned to Be a Prophet to the Nations
1. God commissioned Jeremiah, before he was conceived, to be a prophet
2. Jeremiah protests that he is but a youth and does not know how to speak
3. God renews the commission, assuring Jeremiah that he will put the words in his mouth to speak to all the nations
4. God calls his church to a prophetic ministry to the secular powers of the world, to speak forth justice and to practice mercy
5. Accept God's commission to speak his Word by life and lips in the world, as God's Spirit guides and empowers you
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (C)
1 Corinthians 12:27--13:13 (L)
1 Corinthians 12:31--13:13 (RC)
Love, the Greatest of All Gifts
1. Without love, all human efforts to please God are futile
2. Note what love is and is not
3. Love is the source of faith and hope and is the greatest of all gifts of the Spirit
4. Commit your life to Christ, who is love incarnate, and live by the law of love in your daily life
This Preacher's Preference
Luke 4:21-30 (ç) (RC)
Luke 4:21-32 (L)
Jesus' Mission to the World
1. Jesus announces that the prophecy of Isaiah 61 and 58 is fulfilled
2. Jesus refuses to be a local prophet in Nazareth, but affirms his God-given mission to the Gentile world
3. His townsfolk are enraged and seek to kill him
4. Jesus escapes through the crowd this time, but not in Jerusalem later
5. Accept God's call to be on mission to the whole world
Hymn for Epiphany 4: O Word of God Incarnate
Prayer
Gracious God, who commissioned Jeremiah of old to be a prophet to the nations and who sent your Son Jesus on mission to the world, enable us by your Spirit to be faithful to our world-wide mission. Enable us to hear your Word in Scripture, sending us forth into the world to work for justice, to do acts of mercy, and to live by the law of love. Forgive us when we have been noisy gongs or clanging cymbals and have tried to earn your favor. We trust in Christ, who did not escape from the death on the cross to which he was commissioned, but who suffered in our place. Thank you for his resurrection and gift of life to us by faith. Grant us a greater measure of faith, hope, and love that we may be your faithful servants on mission to the world. Amen
There is virtual consensus on the Jeremiah reading. While (RC) adds verses 17-19, they become redundant with verses 4-10. The Jeremiah passage is the account of Jeremiah's commissioning as a prophet of God, even from his mother's womb. There is near consensus on the 1 Corinthians reading. The (L) reading begins with 1 Corinthians 12:27, which serves to link love with the relationships of members within the Body of Christ. There is virtual consensus on the Lucan reading, and in (C) (RC) verses 31-32 are dropped since they are anticlimactic and detract from the thrust of the main passage.
Commentary
Jeremiah 1:4-10 (C) (L)
Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19 (RC)
The book of Jeremiah is found between the books of Isaiah and Ezekiel, and is the longest of the three. We are told in 1:1-3 that the book is the words of Jeremiah ben Hilkiah, one of the priests who lived in Anatoth in the district of Benjamin. He was active during the time when the Assyrian imperial power was waning and Babylon was emerging as the new imperial power of the Near East. The book of Jeremiah describes the fall of the kingdom of Judah and the city of Jerusalem in the sixth century B.C., and gives few details of the prophet's life. Since neither a birth nor death notice is contained in the book, it cannot be thought of as a biography of Jeremiah. The key to interpreting the book lies in the problems associated with its composition and editing. The reader is referred to one of the commentaries in the bibliography for discussion of these issues.
The prologue to the book is contained in 1:1-19, and the passage for today, which is part of that, recounts the divine commissioning of Jeremiah to be a prophet to the nations. Note carefully that Jeremiah is commissioned to a task. While some scholars call verses 4-10 the "call" of Jeremiah to be a prophet, the account is better taken as a commissioning to a specific task, that of being a prophet to the nations. A call does not make a prophet, but what constitutes his role is the possession and delivery of the divine word at the divine command. There is a subtle difference between a call and a commission. A call is an abstraction. A commission is a very specific task.
The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, declaring that he was set apart for his task even before he was formed in the womb, the task of being a prophet to the nations. Notice that while other prophets were called to speak to Judah or Israel, Jeremiah is called to be a prophet to the nations. The nations hold dominance over Judah at this time, but God's prophet Jeremiah is given the real power over these apparently dominant forces. At God's command, the prophet exercises control over the nations. He plucks up and breaks down, and he builds and plants. In 29:7 we see that the misfortune or well-being of nations depends upon him. The nations struggle against the prophet in vain. (v. 8)
Notice that in verse 10 the human agent, Jeremiah, is made the subject of the verbs of the verse, while in every other use of them it is Yahweh who is the one who builds or destroys.
There is no specific occasion for the commissioning of Jeremiah in verses 4-10, since his commissioning is from before his birth, indeed, even before his conception! There are parallels to this notion in Egyptian history, where the king is told by the god that he had been set apart to be ruler of Egypt while yet in the belly of his mother.
While much has been made of Jeremiah's protest that he is "only a youth," this seems to be a conventional way of showing humility and reluctance on the part of one called by God to serve. Solomon in his prayer for wisdom (1 Kings 3:5-15) offers a similar account when God appeared to him in a dream at Gibeon. Thus, we need not become embroiled in a lengthy discussion of how old Jeremiah was at this point.
A major question about this passage is: To whom were these words addressed? Or: On what occasion were these words spoken? Our passage cannot be seen as a private experience of Jeremiah's. The editors of the book set it forth as public knowledge. The fact that verses 4-10 are declaratory in nature means that they are an introduction to the reading of the Jeremiah tradition, whether in the second temple or wherever. They validate Jeremiah's commission to be a prophet to the nations, and give authenticity to the words of God delivered by his prophet.
In verse 9 we find that God puts his words in Jeremiah's mouth. The utterances of Jeremiah are to be read as the divine word mediated through an authentic prophet, in contrast to false prophets who claimed to speak for God. God knew Jeremiah in the biblical sense of knowing, a profound and intimate knowledge, a sense of knowing like that of Adam knowing Eve in sexual intercourse. God's Word is a dynamic and vital force which Jeremiah speaks for God.
Verses 17-19
This is simply an expansion of the thought of verses 4-8. God encourages Jeremiah to go and speak his word to the nations. He promises to make Jeremiah strong, and although the nations will fight against him, they will not prevail. The reason Jeremiah will prevail is that "I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you." (v. 19) Here Jeremiah is to speak against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land, but earlier in verse 5 he is commissioned to speak to the nations of the earth. His earlier commission to the nations includes, of course, Judah and her kings.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (C)
1 Corinthians 12:27--13:13 (L)
1 Corinthians 12:31--13:13 (RC)
When we begin the pericope at 12:27, we include the image of the body of Christ composed by individual members. There are various roles in the body, the church, to which God has appointed persons to serve. In the Greek there is no "the" before body, and so it reads "you are body of Christ." Christ is the source of the body's life, and the director of its operation. (Note: J. A. T. Robinson has developed this idea in his classic, The Body.) There is division and strife in the Corinthian church over the roles and gifts of its members. Paul goes on in chapter 13 to show them a "more excellent way," the way of love. Paul has demonstrated the interdependence and equal importance of those in the body, the church. He shows that there is but one source (the Spirit) of these gifts. Paul seeks to explain in a more profound way the operation of the Spirit in human relations, since no one of the gifts of the Spirit is sufficient for understanding the Spirit. So Paul points to the concept of "agape," usually translated "love," to explain the working of the Spirit. Agape is the transliteration of the Greek word meaning "divine love," the unselfish love revealed in Christ's death on the cross, in contrast to friendship, and love which seeks its own satisfaction.
In verse 31 Paul does not admonish the Corinthians to "desire the higher gifts," although this is the usual interpretation. Rather, he points to the fact that they do desire the higher gifts. He has just shown this to be a mistake, because they do not understand the Spirit's working. They think they can identify the Spirit with speaking in tongues, etc. But Paul says, no, the Spirit can only be understood in "a still more excellent way," which refers to "going the limit." Paul thus proposes to show them the most extreme way there is, to go the limit, and does so in chapter 13.
Paul begins chapter 13 without defining or qualifying love. It is not defined as a gift of the Spirit, although in Galatians 5:22 Paul writes that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace ..." Here the definition of love is indirect, as Paul uses negation and contrast to define love. Looking at the whole chapter we may outline it as follows:
1. Verses 1-3 form the introduction, in which Paul describes the religious person in her or his highest possibilities. Paul tells us what love is not.
2. Verses 4-7 deliberately show the contrast of love with the behavior of the Corinthians
3. Verses 8-9 the contrast of love with the spiritual gifts
4. Verses 10-12 the contrast of love with that which is imperfect
5. Verse 13 the contrast of love with faith and hope
The "tongues of men and of angels" refers to the ecstatic manifestation of the Spirit, rather than to human speech. Gongs and symbols were used in pagan worship, but neither give intelligible communication. The "mysteries and all knowledge" refer to the secrets of God, which he revealed to the prophet, regarding God's way of operating, especially regarding what will take place at the end of the world.
The reference to delivering one's body to be burned could refer to martyrdom, or possible self-immolation as practiced in some pagan religions. This statement forms a powerful climax to Paul's description of the religiousChristian. Note that in verses 1-3 Paul uses "I" to refer to his hypothetical description of the religious Christian, who performs certain acts demonstrating piety but does not have love. The performance of love, as Paul declares in verse 10, is perfect.
The Greek word translated "kind" in verse 4 is used only here in the New Testament.
In verse 5 the word "resentful" translates Greek words which mean literally "takes no account of evil." Resentment has proven to be one of the most destructive of all human emotions. It can produce mental and physical illness. Love is not resentful, but forgiving of persons and events.
In verse 7 "bears all things" and "endures all things" are redundant. The root word for "bears" in Greek means "to cover" and later developed the meaning found here of "to endure."
In verses 8-12 Paul contrasts love, which endures and never ends, with those things which do end. The word translated "ends" in Greek means literally "fall," so that the thought is that love never disappears or goes away.
In verse 11 Paul uses the analogy of a person growing up from childhood to adult life. When a person grows up, the imperfect childhood state must be abandoned, so that a perfect one may take its place. This analogy serves as a springboard to Paul's idea in verse 12 that the perfect must take the place of the imperfect. The Greek word translated "dimly" in verse 12 means in Greek "in a riddle," and the point is that our present knowledge of things comes only by reflection. We do not see things face to face, even though knowledge and prophecy are divine in origin, gifts of the Spirit. But in sharp contrast to what is yet to come, these must be viewed as only partial.
In verse 12 Paul does not say that our present knowledge will abide. While it may seem strange that Paul makes a statement here about one of the spiritual gifts, his purpose is to relate knowledge to love. Present knowledge is only partial, and hence is inferior to love. But in the End humans will participate in the knowledge which God has of them. In the End our knowledge will become love, just as God's is now.
In verse 13 "so" could also be translated as "now," but most scholars take it with the logical meaning of "so." "Abide" stands in contrast to its opposite "pass away" in verses 8-10. The meaning is that faith, hope, and love abide after the end of this world. Love is the source of faith and hope, and for this reason must be considered the greatest of the three. All are gifts of the Spirit. Faith and hope abide in that they outlast all the spiritual gifts, but only love is sufficient to explain the working of the Spirit.
Luke 4:21-30 (C) (RC)
Luke 4:21-32 (L)
We have in verse 21 an overlap with the previous Sunday's reading, which concluded that lesson and begins this one. Jesus says literally "this scripture has been fulfilled in your ears." As Jesus proclaims the kingdom he also announces that "this scripture has been fulfilled."
At first the hearers in the synagogue spoke well of him and admired him, saying, "Is not this Joseph's son?" Jesus anticipates their response and says to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Physician, heal yourself'; what we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here also in your own country." (v. 23) This implies that Jesus had an earlier ministry which Luke knows about, although he sets forth the Nazareth sermon as the beginning of Jesus' public ministry.
In verses 23-27 we have the scope of Jesus' ministry, which can be divided into two sections: (1) Verse 23, which interprets verse 22 negatively, and Jesus says in effect, "You are calling on me as a local boy to set up practice here in my hometown, and (2) a multifaceted response in verses 24-27 to the preceding demand. Here we find that both proverbial wisdom ("No prophet ...") and Scripture (the account of the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian) argue against their demand that he set up shop in Nazareth. Notice that the implication is that Jesus, the hometown boy, will have a mission beyond his hometown, and that God's benefits promised in the Isaiah 61 and 58 passages he just read will be for the Gentiles too. (vv. 25-27) Here Luke sets forth his concern for the universal scope of God's salvation offered in Jesus. We have heard of this in his prepublic career in chapters 2 and 3, and will hear of it almost immediately in 4:43 after the exorcisms of 4:31-41. So the thrust of this whole passage is that Jesus says he must bear the good news of the kingdom beyond the confines of those to whom he most closely related as a neighbor, Palestinian and Jew.
The crowd's reaction is quick and violent, as verses 4:28-29 relate. They tried to kill him! This foreshadows the cross, when he is killed outside the city. Note that it is not that Jesus goes elsewhere because he is rejected, but that he is rejected because he announces that God wills him to go elsewhere on mission. Thus, in being rejected because of his wider mission, Jesus foreshadows what will happen to his disciples later as recorded in Acts, when they are abused because of their mission to the Gentiles, and sometimes turned to the Gentiles because of rejection by the Jews. Jesus' escape points forward to the escape of the Gospel, which evokes hostility and is rejected, but nevertheless survives. Jesus slips through the crowd and escapes their efforts to kill him, which some think is a miraculous escape. It stands in sharp contrast to the later event in Jerusalem, because he chooses not to escape but to obey God's will - even when it leads to death outside the city.
In brief, Luke shows us Jesus beginning his public ministry, empowered by the Holy Spirit - a ministry of preaching, healing, and exorcism which moves outward to touch the entire world.
Theological Reflections
Jeremiah relates how God commissioned him to be a prophet before he was born, even before his conception, and sent him as his messenger to the foreign nations. Jeremiah, in a typical protest of humility, says that he is merely a youth, but God does not relieve him of his duty for this reason. He is to be God's instrument in plucking up and breaking down, destroying and overthrowing, building and planting. These actions foreshadow Jesus' death and resurrection, when evil is broken, and Jesus is raised with a resurrection body. In his letter Paul tells the Corinthians that love is the greatest of all the gifts of the Spirit, the source of both faith and hope. Paul describes love, both in contrasts with imperfect things and in positive affirmations of how love manifests itself in community. He declares that love endures and never ceases. Luke records Jesus telling his townsfolk in the synagogue that the Scripture from Isaiah had been fulfilled in their hearing that day. Their initial response was pride and affirmation, but this quickly turns to anger and an attempt to kill him when he announces that his mission is to the Gentiles as well as to his own people. They rise up in rage to try to kill him, but he escapes through the crowd. Jesus continues his public ministry, which has its focus on the Jewish people, but which includes Gentiles as well. The disciples and the church later will continue this wider mission to the Gentiles. Notice that both Jeremiah and Jesus have a God-given mission to the nations of the world, a mission which invokes hostility and persecution, but to which they are faithful. Paul describes love in terms which Jesus lived out in his life of service in the world. Jesus was love incarnate, and death itself could not destroy the power of love, as the Risen Christ continues to manifest God's love in the world.
Homiletical Moves
Jeremiah 1:4-10 (C) (L)
Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19 (RC)
Jeremiah, Commissioned to Be a Prophet to the Nations
1. God commissioned Jeremiah, before he was conceived, to be a prophet
2. Jeremiah protests that he is but a youth and does not know how to speak
3. God renews the commission, assuring Jeremiah that he will put the words in his mouth to speak to all the nations
4. God calls his church to a prophetic ministry to the secular powers of the world, to speak forth justice and to practice mercy
5. Accept God's commission to speak his Word by life and lips in the world, as God's Spirit guides and empowers you
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (C)
1 Corinthians 12:27--13:13 (L)
1 Corinthians 12:31--13:13 (RC)
Love, the Greatest of All Gifts
1. Without love, all human efforts to please God are futile
2. Note what love is and is not
3. Love is the source of faith and hope and is the greatest of all gifts of the Spirit
4. Commit your life to Christ, who is love incarnate, and live by the law of love in your daily life
This Preacher's Preference
Luke 4:21-30 (ç) (RC)
Luke 4:21-32 (L)
Jesus' Mission to the World
1. Jesus announces that the prophecy of Isaiah 61 and 58 is fulfilled
2. Jesus refuses to be a local prophet in Nazareth, but affirms his God-given mission to the Gentile world
3. His townsfolk are enraged and seek to kill him
4. Jesus escapes through the crowd this time, but not in Jerusalem later
5. Accept God's call to be on mission to the whole world
Hymn for Epiphany 4: O Word of God Incarnate
Prayer
Gracious God, who commissioned Jeremiah of old to be a prophet to the nations and who sent your Son Jesus on mission to the world, enable us by your Spirit to be faithful to our world-wide mission. Enable us to hear your Word in Scripture, sending us forth into the world to work for justice, to do acts of mercy, and to live by the law of love. Forgive us when we have been noisy gongs or clanging cymbals and have tried to earn your favor. We trust in Christ, who did not escape from the death on the cross to which he was commissioned, but who suffered in our place. Thank you for his resurrection and gift of life to us by faith. Grant us a greater measure of faith, hope, and love that we may be your faithful servants on mission to the world. Amen
