3rd Sunday after Epiphany – Year C
January 26, 2025
Gospel Lectionary Text
Luke 4:14-21
4:14 Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country.
4:15 He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.
4:16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read,
4:17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
4:18 "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,
4:19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
4:20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.
4:21 Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
Context
Welcome to the third Sunday after Epiphany. Last week, we witnessed Jesus’ first miracle. This week Jesus preaches his first sermon. It starts with a bang!
Apparently Jesus' time in the desert had prepared him well. He returned to Galilee “in the power of the Spirit” where he quickly gained popularity. And now the synagogue is packed and filled with anticipation as Jesus gets up to read from the scriptures. He chooses a fan favorite, Isaiah 61:1-2a, announcing the year of the “Lord’s favor.” Good news, liberation, sight, freedom, forgiveness of debt. What’s not to like? The audience is filled with awe at his gracious words, which are balm to their soul, but the awe is short lived.
It’s not what Jesus says, but what he doesn’t say that begins to turn the screws. Strangely, Jesus doesn’t finish the famed Isaiah passage. He withholds the anticipated punchline that everyone knows by heart and is eager to hear. He leaves off the bit about “The day of vengeance of our Lord” (Is. 61:2b). And this is where things begin to unravel. Jesus prunes the famous text of God’s violence and in doing so robs the gathering of an angry God. As we shall see next week, the awe-filled crowd quickly turns into a violent mob.
Question
How far is too far when it comes to the grace of God?
Reflections
What Is Not Included
By Jenna Smith |
The first time I spoke the words above in a community reading, written as a benediction, I noticed they kept out the last part of the second verse in Isaiah 61, “…and the day of vengeance of our God.” I was quick to judge this hermeneutical decision and assumed that the liturgists were exercising some...
The Only Path Forward
By Preston Adams |
Jesus’ first miracle is to keep a party going. As far as first impressions are concerned, wouldn’t it have made more sense to give sight to someone born blind, or cast out some demons?
The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Me
By Kris Rocke |
Yes, the whole world is a burning bush ablaze with God’s glory, if we can only see it, calling us to join the wildly liberating work of God among the poor, the captives, the blind and the oppressed. If this isn’t cause for celebration, it’s probably because we don’t easily identify ourselves as poor, captive,...
Anointed for What?
By Kris Rocke |
Last week we witnessed Jesus’ first miracle (water becomes wine). It ends well. This week we hear Jesus’ first sermon. It ends horribly. His text is Isaiah 61:1-2a. His sermon is electric. It charges the crowd with a confusing current of wonderment and fierce anger. In the end, they drive him out of town to…
Praying Eucharistically - Weekly Homily by James Alison:
Understanding the Bible anew through the Mimetic Theory of René Girard.
Poetry
Choose
by Steve Garnaas Holmes
Watch how Jesus does scripture:
the passage in Isaiah actually says,
“to proclaim the year of God’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God.”
But Jesus stops with favor,
leaves out vengeance, and sits down.
Call it cherry-picking.
Scripture is replete with images
of God as vengeful and God as forgiving.
But vengeance is not forgiveness.
God isn’t sort of this and sometimes that.
You have to choose.
You don’t get both.
Jesus chooses.
(He quotes Hosea: “I desire mercy, not sacrifices.”)
No matter what your sacred books say
you have to choose:
the way of vengeance, power and domination,
or the way of courage, love and nonviolence.
Though he has reason not to,
Jesus chooses the side of love.
And when he asks you, and you falter, don’t worry.
He’ll still choose the way of love.
The View From Below
by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
We have for once learned to see the great events of history from below, [...] through the perspective of the barred, the suspects, the badly treated, the powerless, the oppressed, the scoffed—in short the perspective of those who suffer...personal suffering is a more effective key in exploring the world in thought and action than personal good fortune.
Prayer
Come, Holy Spirit. Show us the way of the Lord that we might see your salvation and seek your peace in all things. Quiet our troubled souls and teach us how to pray. Be our guide, our counselor, our advocate, and our defender. Transform our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh.
