Psalm 29:1-11 · Isaiah 43:1-7 · Acts 8:14-17 · Luke 3:15-17; 21-22

This week’s theme for this Baptism of the Lord Sunday is the voice of God. The call to worship Psalm describes the power of the Lord’s voice over the forces of the natural world. Isaiah 43 tells the story of God’s voice gathering the family of Israel to bring them home. Acts 8 tells us of the Spirit and word of God crossing old divisions between people. Our sermon is on Luke 3, and the climax of the story is God speaking at Jesus’ baptism.

Made Extraordinary by Jesus

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Read, or have someone read Luke 3:15-17, 21-22, prior to the sermon.

Have you ever been so committed to a cause or relationship that you felt nothing could stop you? We only get a few of those moments—falling in love, going on a mission trip, having kids, finding our vocation—that fill our veins with purpose. You find yourself with strength you never knew you had. Boldness, stamina, focus seem to come out of nowhere. For a few moments, you seem to walk on air.

These supercharged connections are some of life’s great blessings and we only get so many. It’s like you don’t need to sleep or eat anymore. You are consumed with purpose.

John the Baptist was consumed with purpose. By the time we see him, he’s in the white-hot center of his vocation, living in the desert, wearing rags. He has a singular focus. Today we’ll look at Jesus’ baptism and John’s part—or lack of part—in it. We’ll look at how John’s vocation gave way to Jesus’ vocation and the beginning of the adventure we call the gospel—our vocation.

The vocation of John

One of the first things we hear John say is:

…but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. (Luke 3:16 ESV)

John refers here to the slave’s work of untying someone’s sandals. Slaves were everywhere in the ancient world, and since everyone wore sandals, this would have been a common situation in those days and one of the lower duties of being a slave.

John says he isn’t worthy to do this for Jesus. This is a verse we are familiar with, but it would sound completely strange to them. John looked to them like a prophet—one of God’s messengers they hadn’t heard from in centuries. They even thought he might be the long-awaited Messiah. He looked like everything they’ve been waiting for. And one of the first things he says is, “I’m not your guy.”

This is an important moment. John embodied everything they’d come to expect about God moving. He ate, dressed and talked like Elijah, the prophet hero of their culture. And he says, It’s not me.

This meant that the new movement of God wasn’t going to look like the old movement. The prophets of all the centuries, symbolized by John in this moment, were not even worthy to approach Jesus, only to point to him. Then they are to leave the stage.

The Gospel of John portrays the Baptist saying this with its trademark stylistic language: “He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me” (John 1:15 ESV). John the Baptist is a prophet just like the prophets of old, but he is not here to declare political victory for Israel, nor is he here to declare the age of military peace and harmony. John is here, like the prophets, to declare the entrance of God.

We’ve seen this in our own lives as well. Think of all the times that we’ve been doing things like we always do, business as usual, and Jesus arrives on the scene in a new way. Maybe you’ve been praying for someone, and you see that prayer start to take hold and their life and situation start to change. Are you ready to walk away and give the glory to God? Or will you steal the moment for yourself?

Maybe you’ve been pouring yourself into someone’s life who is just learning about faith, and you see the Spirit take hold of them. They are given the energy and insight and freedom that comes with Jesus being present. Will you bask in that moment, congratulating yourself for your evangelism efforts, or will you join in the greater glory of giving that honor to God? Will you watch them grow, even surpass you, and be used by God to do great things, or will you sink into jealousy?

At the same time, we’ve seen that rush of faith in our own lives: The way we used to do things has passed away; behold the new has come. Over and over we see this throughout our faith lives, as we grow from “glory to glory,” as Paul put it (2 Corinthians 3:18, KJV). We see the old way we were doing things no longer working. The old gossip sessions ring hollow, the drinking doesn’t give us the same escape, we start to see our enemies as three-dimensional people with their own problems – it is the approach of Christ, and he’s burning the chaff off of you. Behold, the new has come.

The footnote to this is that our lectionary reading this week actually leaves out a few verses. Luke interjects the story of John’s imprisonment by Herod right in the middle of this. It’s a strange interlude, and some people believe it was added in later.

But I believe it was there from the beginning. John’s imprisonment and death was tragic, but in the end,  he wanted nothing more. His disappearance from the stage was certain to be violent, and the contrast is vivid. The old way, represented by John, is dead and the new way, Jesus, is alive and unkillable.

The vocation of Jesus

Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, (Luke 3:21 ESV)

When scholars approach this moment in Scripture, they often question why Jesus was baptized at all. John’s baptism, as is said in other places, is a baptism of “repentance.” It is a baptism of renewal and realignment with the purposes and character of God. It’s a revival of law-keeping and walking away from sin.

The issue arises: Jesus never sinned, so why is he being baptized? He’s the sinless Lord, why would he need the baptism of repentance? He wrote the law, so why would he need to re-declare his allegiance to it?

We need to think about the purpose of John’s baptism with a little more dimension. Yes, he was offering them a way to declare their allegiance and turn away from sin, but all that was part of declaring they were part of what God was up to. John the Baptist is orienting them toward God, calling them to pass through the waters, as the ancient Israelites did on their way to the promised land.

Jesus comes not as the detached observer or the gloved surgeon to the human story. He dives right in. For him to join in the baptism was for him to declare that he was not only one with God’s purposes and movement in the world; he was declaring that he, as the Son of Man, is one with us.

Baptism, especially as John practiced it by immersing people in water, is a bit like death. It’s meant to be. We are never quite so helpless as we are when we’re underwater—we can’t breathe, and we have to trust the person who put us in there to get us back out. When we rise from the water, we are wet—mascara-streaked, toupee floating on the surface behind us. We are humble and fresh and a bit helpless, like a newborn baby.

For Jesus to participate in this death and re-birth was for him to declare himself part of the pathetic and beautiful story of humanity. He wasn’t baptized just into water; he was baptized into us.

This fact can be an immense comfort to us. When God became one of us, he didn’t take the easy track. You can’t read more than a paragraph of Jesus’ life in which he wasn’t challenged, exhausted, misunderstood and finally killed. For him to be baptized into the human condition meant that he was immersed in the fatigue, boredom and heartbreak that comes with it. Remember, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35).

The heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke3:21-22 ESV)

Jesus’ baptism was a frighteningly vivid Trinitarian moment. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are there right next to each other. Luke tips his hat in several directions to the Old Testament writers, accenting the different imagery present.

• The heavens are opened – This is similar phrasing to the description of the Genesis flood; the heavens being opened and torrents of rain coming down.
• The dove descends – This is an allusion to the dove returning to Noah after the flood with the olive branch in its mouth, showing him that the flood was receding, and the promise was coming to be.
• I am well-pleased – Here Luke echoes the Genesis account, in which God says over and over that “it is good” and he was well-pleased with all he created.

All this Genesis imagery in one place speaks about Jesus’ vocation—re-creation. Jesus’ “job” is not just to do everything better, but to start it over. There are several examples of this kind of Genesis language used about Jesus. God is starting over again—like the flood, like the original creation—giving us a new heart and putting his own Spirit in us.

One early indicator of the kind of world Jesus is re-creating is with John himself. Jesus is making a world in which the last shall be first, and the weak will be made strong. He’s making a world in which a powerful, popular figure like John lives his whole life to introduce Jesus and disappear. John is one of the first residents of the new Jesus world. Instead of living for himself and his own ego, he lives only to introduce Jesus and then immediately go to the sidelines.

What freedom! John is one of the first to be made “free indeed” by Jesus, delivered from his own ego and drawn into God’s amazing purpose. This is the “upside down kingdom” of Jesus. Instead of being slaves to our insatiable egos, God delivers us to be part of his great plan. Instead of status, he gives us purpose; instead of solitary narcissism, he invites us to be part of a family. He is re-creating, making all things new, and that includes the way we as human beings interact with each other and treat ourselves.

Your vocation

Theologian Frederick Buechner said it beautifully: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” This is about vocation—which comes from the root word “vocal,” meaning calling. This is much more than your job, although it can include your job, but it is what God has called you to in his overarching purpose in humanity—the meeting of your gladness and the world’s deep hunger.

That vocation can mean a history-shaking post like John the Baptist or Billy Graham or Corrie Ten Boom. It can also mean joyfully serving that special-needs child or overcoming the abuse you’ve endured in your life by stopping the cycle and showing kindness. Those moments of vocation can bring you to the rugged strength of John the Baptist, the unflinching obedience of Peter, the joyful participation of Mary. These were not extraordinary people. They were made extraordinary by Jesus.

Where is the extraordinary he’s calling you to today?

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Small Group Discussion Questions

Psalm 36:5-10 · Isaiah 62:1-5 · 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 · John 2:1-11

The theme for this week is God’s great reversal, where God’s way of moving in the world upends human beings’ expectations. We sometimes project human tendencies for punitive anger and “quid pro quo” (a conditional exchange) on God, forgetting God’s great love, mercy, and solidarity with us (John 3:16-17). Psalm 36, our call to worship, speaks of God’s steadfast love and the abundance found in him. An example of this is found in Isaiah 62, where God says he will not rest until his people are vindicated and restored to their glory, regardless of what they may deserve. 1 Corinthians 12 shows how the great reversal happens by illustrating how there are many kinds of gifts and service. No gift is better than any other, all gifts are needed, and God is the source of them all. Our sermon text, John 2, emphasizes the beginning of the great reversal with Jesus’ first sign, turning water into wine at a wedding in Cana.

The Beginning of the Great Reversal

John 2:1-11 (NRSV)

If you remember the movie The Wizard of Oz, you probably remember at the beginning how the main character Dorothy Gale was feeling down and misunderstood by her family. Her dog Toto was taken away by the nasty lady Miss Gulch to be euthanized because he had chased her cats. Toto escaped from Miss Gulch’s bicycle basket and made it back to Dorothy, but since her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry didn’t stop Miss Gulch from taking Toto the first time, Dorothy decided to run away. While talking to the traveling Professor Marvel, Dorothy noticed the wind picking up. A tornado was on the way. Dorothy made it back to her room just in time to get hit on the head, and then the tornado appeared to take the house on a wild ride to the land of Oz.

During the whole time Dorothy is in Oz, what did she want to do? [wait for response] She wanted to go home. By the end of the movie, what do we realize? [wait for response] She always was home—she had never left; it was all a dream. That was a reversal of what we, the viewers, thought was happening. We thought the fantastical land where she found herself and her new friends, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Lion, were real, at least real in the story. We were surprised to find out that Dorothy never left her home, and Dorothy was surprised herself to find that she didn’t want to run away and that everything she wanted was at home. The outcome reversed what we thought was really happening and what was really important.

God has always been showing humanity that what we think is important might not be what’s really essential, and that his way of moving in the world is very different from what we might expect. One example of this was the way Jesus was born to poor parents rather than to wealthy royalty (Luke 2:7). Another example is found in John 2:1-11, which tells the story of Jesus’s first sign or miracle at the wedding in Cana.

Read John 2:1-11.

What can we notice about this passage?

• How this story fits with Epiphany in the church calendar: An “epiphany” is a unique insight. It might be helpful for us to read this familiar story with the understanding that this miracle or sign is revealing something unique about Jesus or the way God works in our world. What deeper truth does this familiar story show us?

By considering the themes in the passage, we can look at this familiar story in a new light—an epiphany:

• The theme of hospitality: The wedding was taking place in Cana of Galilee, which was a poor area. Hospitality, though, was of the utmost importance in the culture, and the wedding hosts would have been shamed for not supplying enough wine. However, it was also customary for guests to bring drinks and food to help out. We could speculate that the community wasn’t doing its fair share to support the festivities, but we don’t have the backstory. What we are told is the wine ran out.

The good wine provided by Jesus allowed those at the wedding to experience God’s abundance of hospitality. They literally tasted it, comparing it to the wine they had tasted first. Jesus’s first miracle was to create a place of belonging and hospitality that was outside the humanmade constructs of culture. Culture (i.e., what was expected at weddings during that time) had failed; Jesus provided even better hospitality than what was expected.

• The theme of abundant grace: Jesus’s actions show us what grace looks like. Not only was he God incarnated, but he was also grace incarnated. His miracles, or signs, were not just to benefit the people involved but rather to show the lavish kindness God bestows on his creation. One scholar suggests that “once the Word becomes flesh, the rest of the Gospel shows you what grace tastes like, looks like, sounds like, and feels like” (Karoline Lewis).

The six water pots were estimated to be 20-30 gallons each, filled with water that was changed into the best wine. Because weddings during that time could last as long as a week, the best wine was served early on, and then when the guests were less observant (and maybe tipsy), the cheaper wine was introduced. Not so in this case. Isn’t that how abundant grace works? You might be expecting something, maybe trying not to get your hopes up, when something much better comes your way. That’s an experience of Jesus’s abundant grace, an experience of God’s lavish gift-giving, that we can easily rationalize away if we’re not observant.

• The theme of marriage and restoration: We can read about the metaphor of marriage in Hosea 2:14-23, noticing that wine is a symbol of restoration (Joel 3:18; Amos 9:11-15). In Isaiah 55:1-3, the prophet talks about enjoying “wine and milk without money and without price.” Wine symbolizes how God will make things more than right—he restores his kingdom (i.e., his way of working in the world) and our status in it, no longer subject to cultural constraints and comparisons.
• The theme of subverted cultural norms: Jesus often pointed out the exclusionary nature of Jewish culture with its ideas about holiness and purity. There are plenty of stories about who was considered “outside,” like the woman at the well (John 4:4-42), the woman caught in adultery (John 7:53-8:11), children (Matthew 19:13-14), and the man with demons (Mark 5:1-20). Jesus chose to spend time with people considered “outsiders,” to the point that he was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard (Luke 7:34-36).

If Jesus wanted his first sign noticed, he could have presented the wine to the hosts, or at least to the bride and groom, and explained what he did and why. Instead, the story shows us that the “insiders,” the ones in on the surprise, were the servants who filled the water pots. It was those people who were often invisible in Jewish culture who had the first glimpse of who Jesus was. The invisible ones got to see God at work in the world first, much the same way a woman (Mary) saw the resurrected Jesus first (John 20:11-18).

If we read the Bible closely, we will notice that God’s way of moving in the world disregards class or social structure or “the way things are done.” Instead, we are encouraged to invite those to dinner who cannot repay (Luke 14:12-14), and we are told we should not discriminate against the poor by favoring the rich (James 2:2-4). Most cultural norms are constructed in a way that excludes and diminishes some people; God’s way throws open the door to welcome all as beloved children, even giving special honor to those most often forgotten.

Application:

• Watch for experiences of God’s abundant grace and hospitality in your life. It’s easy to overlook the minor blessings that come our way. You know what I’m talking about: the stranger who opens the door for you when your hands are full, the close parking spot when your knees ache, the sweet and tart taste of a grapefruit in season. These could be just coincidences, but it’s also possible a loving God used “coincidence” to shower you with an instance of loving grace.
• Notice your own tendencies to exclude those different from you and to favor those that culture deems worthy of acceptance. It’s human nature to gravitate toward those who look or think similarly, and it’s easy to think highly of those that culture has esteemed worthy of our attention, whether it’s because of power, fame, or appearances. God’s way, however, calls on us to expand our vision for who is our neighbor (Luke 10:30-37). We are called on to reverse the cultural norms that exclude and embrace God’s way of loving acceptance.
• When you have the opportunity, lift up those who are invisible. Giving opportunities to those who are overlooked or forgotten offers you the chance to participate with God in reversing the negative effects of discriminatory social constructs.

We can read the story of Jesus’s first sign as a miracle and as the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. But we can also see the water turned into wine as indicative of Jesus’ mission itself: to reveal who God is, to reveal God’s great abundant love and grace for all, to establish God’s commitment to restore us as his beloved people, and to begin the great reversal, showing that the cultural expectations about who is worthy and who is not, or who gets to participate, or who is loved and blessed is different than what human beings might think. Just as Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz realized that her perceptions of life and home were incorrect, we can understand the limitations we often place on God’s willingness to love us as well as the limitations we put on our love for others.

For Reference:

https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/second-sunday-after-epiphany-3/commentary-on-john-21-11-6

https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/second-sunday-after-epiphany-3/commentary-on-john-21-11-4

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Small Group Discussion Questions

Psalm 19:1-14 · Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 · 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a · Luke 4:14-21

The theme for this Third Sunday of Epiphany is the discipline of feasting. We are called as God’s people not just to withdraw, but to party when the time is right in the joy of the plenty he gives. The call to worship Psalm tells of the bounty of God’s amazing world and how we can take joy in it. Nehemiah talks about the reading of the law and the great feast to follow as they declare again their love for God. 1 Corinthians 12 tells of the many gifts of the Spirit and how they can work together in joyous harmony. Our sermon comes from Luke 4, in which Jesus declares that with his coming comes the year of Jubilee and feasting.

Jesus Declares Jubilee

Luke 4:14-30 ESV

You have to imagine this scene as it first happened. This is probably a relatively small, humble setting. The synagogue would have been crowded and well-used, not unlike a lively rural church that smells like old coffee and Pine-Sol. The congregants are the oppressed, occupied people of Israel. They lived in relative peace with their Roman conquerors much of the time, but their lives were restricted, and their culture disrespected. Revolts against Rome were crushed mercilessly.

The synagogue was one place where they could be themselves, reading about the promises of their God to deliver them one day.

Over the grind of years, especially under the thumb of a decidedly pagan oppressor, some tribalism and animosity toward outsiders had developed. They believed Israel was God’s chosen people, and that Rome—with her disgusting gods and terrifying power plays—would eventually be destroyed on the day of God’s deliverance. Israel would be exalted again, and their enemies would be demolished.

During Jesus’ time, small Israelite terrorist groups existed that would stage riots and assassinate officials in hopes of bringing about God’s great military deliverance. God’s salvation would be for them as a people, and the rest of the world would pay for their arrogance.

And on this day, Jesus stands up to read where these promises are read. But he reads a different section for the day, and that’s where the story takes a turn.

 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:14-30 ESV)

Today in our reading, Jesus takes aim at exclusivity. He places just the right dynamite at just the right places to explode our judgment of who’s “in” and who’s “out.” He topples our understanding of who the desirables and deplorables are; he breaks down the “us versus them.”

We need a few historical coordinates to understand what’s going on here. At that time in Israel, there was the belief that God would come and deliver his special people and destroy their enemies. Based on their reading of the Old Testament, they believed that God’s deliverance would be physical and political, and that the barbarian hordes, Rome especially, would be broken by God’s strength. Israel would be exalted.

We need to view that sympathetically, although it seems foreign to most of us. A few generations before Jesus came, people were tortured and killed for keeping Jewish practices and beliefs. Their grandparents had been killed for things like keeping the sabbath, which is why it was so important when Jesus confronted these realities. The people of Israel were a displaced minority, so their identity was extremely important to them. Within the story of that identity was the exclusive deliverance of Israel, hand-picked by God to be his people and the rest of the world could, quite literally, be damned.

Small note here: I am NOT saying that this what Jewish people believe today. Their faith has evolved and changed dramatically since the first century. I’m not saying these are Jewish beliefs as a whole, but these are the beliefs that were in play when Jesus was here and in the specific society he was in. Do NOT assume what Jewish people these days believe; that is a very diverse subject that is another discussion entirely. Please know also that any problems we see in the people of Israel, or in any other faith group, are sins we’ve committed as well. The church has been just as exclusionary as first-century Judaism ever was at different times in her history. These issues aren’t pointed out for us to judge, but to be warned lest we do the same.

Jesus is coming up against this exclusivity, against the idea that we know what God’s “chosen” will look like. Let’s get to the passage:

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. (Luke 4:14-15 ESV)

It says Jesus was in the “power of the Spirit.” What had he just come back from? What had he just been through? He’d just been through 40 days in the wilderness, fasting and praying and spending time with God, and having the harrowing experience of Satan bugging him like a horsefly. We don’t see him coming out of college with a fresh degree or coming off a nice long sabbatical, a long vacation, refreshed and ready. He has been recently tried and tested, emptied and encouraged, so that he can be filled with the Spirit and fully prepared for his ministry.

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:16-18 ESV)

We have to set the scene here as well. Jesus is walking into the synagogue, as was his custom. He was there doing what faithful Israelites of the day were always doing. They would open the scroll and read and then sit down and offer a teaching based on the reading.

But the scene here is different. As the passage indicates, they are aware of Jesus and what he has been up to. Word has spread about his teaching and his presence, maybe even his miracles. They were waiting for him to say something profound.

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:19-20 ESV)

He’d shocked them: “This is about me and it’s happening now.”

What?! He was reading about God’s deliverance. He was reading about God’s great deliverance of Israel that they’d all been waiting for. But it sounded different than what they expected; it wasn’t what they thought it would be.

Jesus is talking about those who are the undesirable, those who are the broken and on the margins: the blind, the poor, the prisoners, the oppressed. Luke’s gospel is often economic, talking about Jesus’ special love for the poor and destitute. But the definition of “poor” here is wider than that as well.  It describes those who are of low social status in their society—women, children, disabled people, blind people.

Jesus is stating that the vision of God’s kingdom starts with and always includes these people.

The good news is not for those who think they’re together, but those who know they’re broken.

That’s the bombshell here. Jesus didn’t come to save the righteous, but sinners. He didn’t come to rain fire down on those bad guys, but to show the good guys and the bad guys that they need a Savior.

This is easy to forget in a changing world. Christianity was the dominant religion for a very long time in the west—several centuries. Many of us remember a time when almost everyone you knew went to church and the world stopped on Sunday. This next generation won’t grow up in that world. There will be a wide diversity of different worldviews in the air, different perspectives, and the traditional Christian one will become a minority.

Can we learn from this that we are not to view the rest of the world with fear and bitterness? Can we learn to be thankful that we know Christ as we do rather than be judgmental to the rest of the world that may not know him? The saved hostage doesn’t judge those that are still imprisoned—he aches for them, he prays for them, and he is grateful every moment that he has been rescued. Let’s let this be our attitude.

This is one reason it can be refreshing to hang out with recovering addicts, and if you never have, I’d recommend it! Those who have looked in the face of death and complete loss and know that every blessing in their lives is just that. Extra. They live with a certain freedom, knowing what it’s like to lose everything, knowing that they are just as capable of evil as the so-called “bad guys.”

Jesus says here that he has come to “proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (v. 19) That’s another important historical piece. Let’s look at that phrase, which is heavy with meaning, and what it would have sounded like to the original hearers. Turn with me to Leviticus 25…

Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan. The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields. (Leviticus 25:10-12 ESV)

This is what was called the Jubilee year. In the Jubilee year, all property was returned to its original owners and the land rested from being cultivated. Those who had become indentured servants because of poverty were to be freed in that year.

It was a year of liberation, of return of property, and of simplicity. They were to live on what naturally grew off the land, not to work the land and destroy it trying to get what they wanted out of it. This would have been a simpler time; wealth and competition would have been at a lull because everyone was living under the same restrictions of production.

The year of Jubilee—the time when everything restarted, and those who were imprisoned were released. That’s what Jesus is talking about here. This was a very strict and serious part of being God’s people. The sabbath day and the sabbath years pointed to the great Jubilee of God delivering Israel one day. It was an integral part of what it meant to be God’s people.

Jesus declares that he has come to bring Jubilee. He has come to bring a time of release, of starting over again from ground zero. The over-complicated, sin-infested ways of “who owes what to whom” and “who offended whom” and “who’s winning and losing” need to be demolished. Jesus has redeemed all of that and enables us to start over. But this time we start over with him.

Here are a few things to put in our pocket today, as we look at this special reading of Jesus.

• Jesus didn’t come for those who think they have it all together, but for those who are broken—whether they realize it or not. Every good thing in life is from him, every blessing we have is a gift from him, so let’s be freshly grateful.
• Jesus came for all. In this same vein, we as God’s people need to be gentle with those who don’t call themselves Christians. Jesus gives several examples here of God’s mercy shed on those who were “outside” of the chosen. He had his strongest words for the religious establishment, for the US not the THEM. Let’s continue to tell truth in love, and be known for our welcoming and hospitality, for our feasting, instead of how well we withdraw.
• The year of Jubilee—Jesus declared the year of Jubilee, the year that has never stopped. In Jesus we are released from our sin, guilt, and shame. Do you need a year of Jubilee in your life? Is there something that you need to let go of? Some bitterness or rage against someone, or against life itself? Let Jesus take care of that for you. Let this be the year of Jubilee. Let this be the year when you claim God’s peace and love against all odds.

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Small Group Discussion Questions

Psalm 71:1-6 • Jeremiah 1:4-10 • 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 • Luke 4:21-30

This week’s theme is speaking God’s word boldly. The call to worship Psalm is an individual’s prayer for deliverance emboldened by God’s faithfulness. The Old Testament reading of Jeremiah recounts the Lord’s empowering of his prophet to “speak whatever I command you.” Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 reminds us that only the words empowered by God’s love will remain. Our Lukan text presents Jesus as a prophet who speaks gracious words even while facing fierce opposition from his hometown.

An Unacceptable Prophet

Luke 4:21-30 (NRSV)

Today’s message comes to us around the midpoint of the Epiphany season. We have been traveling mostly with Luke this Epiphany season and today we will use Luke’s account to travel with Jesus as he returns to his hometown. Luke positions the narrative to correspond to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Because of this we can look at the story with an eye to Jesus and his ministry to see what epiphanies we may have by it. Remember, during the season of Epiphany we are looking at Jesus to see the mystery of God’s glory that he reveals. When we have a story about Jesus recorded in Scripture, we are seeing into the very heart of God, who he is and who we are in relationship to him. We will keep our eyes open for that perspective. In addition, we will be able to gain some insights into the ministry of the church as it participates in Jesus’ continuing ministry by the Spirit in our day and age.

To start with, the passage we have today is the second part of the passage that began in verse 14 and was on the liturgical calendar for last week’s message. In fact, the first verse for today’s reading was the last verse for last week’s reading.

Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21 NRSV)

For some context, Luke had just told the story of Jesus’ triumph in the wilderness over the devil’s temptations. Then Luke records Jesus as being “filled with the power of the Spirit” and returning to Galilee (Luke 4:14). In a synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus delivers his inaugural message. He does this by using a passage in Isaiah where good news is proclaimed. This message is well received, and everyone is excited about what they are hearing. But in today’s message he uses two other passages that have the opposite effect. We will see that epiphanies can often get a hostile reaction from eyes burned by the light that have been in darkness. But before we get to that reaction, we see first that the congregation responds positively.

All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” (Luke 4:22 NRSV)

Their rhetorical question about Jesus’ lineage is not to be understood in a negative sense, like it does in Mark’s account. No, for Luke, the hometown crowd is not offended by this. This is not a case of “familiarity breeds contempt.” Rather, the way Luke is telling it, the hometown crowd sees this as an opportunity that is too good to be true. If Jesus is all that he just proclaimed himself to be, a herald of good news, the Lord’s anointed, who proclaims the benefits and blessings of the Lord’s favor, then certainly this means his own longtime neighbors and family will be the main recipients—perhaps the only recipients. It is like hearing of an old high school buddy who just won the lottery and now everybody thinks they are entitled to some preferential treatment. But Jesus knows their hearts and he anticipates their reaction. He also knows they need to see that he is not the son of Joseph, but the Son of God.

He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” (Luke 4:23 NRSV)

There is nothing more frustrating than someone putting words in your mouth that say the very thing you’d rather keep concealed. Jesus hits his mark. The proverb “Doctor, cure yourself” means that the one who can heal or be a benefactor should take care of his own. It is not implying that Jesus has a problem that he needs to attend to first. Jesus’ next statement about Capernaum is clearer. If Jesus has done wonderful miracles in Capernaum, then certainly he should do the same in his own backyard. And maybe there is more to it than that.

Capernaum, since it was situated along one of the major international highways that connected Egypt with Mesopotamia, tended to attract a wider diversity of people. This meant that its population was made up of both Jews, and to their discomfort, Gentiles—and lots of them. Capernaum in this story serves as a contrast to the hometown Jews of Nazareth. If Jesus is doing miracles in such a questionable place like Capernaum, then he will have to prove his loyalty to his own hometown by doing the same in Nazareth. But Jesus will not be manipulated by the assumptions of people who thought they knew him best.

And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown.” (Luke 4:24 NRSV)

The irony of this statement is that the word “accepted” here is the same word used in verse 19 where Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah. The prophet who is to proclaim the “acceptable” year of the Lord is himself not “accepted” by his own people. And with Jesus equating himself to a prophet, we get one of our epiphanies about Jesus’ ministry. It’s a prophetic ministry. This means that Jesus is the proclamation of the kingdom. He is God’s Word spoken to us, proclaiming the good news to the whole world—Gentiles included.

There is no other word spoken to us that gives us the proclamation that brings healing, release from prison, sight to the blind or freedom from oppression. As we, the church, participate in Jesus’ continuing ministry, we find that it has not changed. We too are to proclaim the kingdom in Jesus Christ. This means we point to Jesus in all that we say and do. We don’t proclaim ourselves or any other counterfeit “good news.”

Notice how Jesus goes about the business of proclaiming in his prophetic ministry: He uses the Scriptures. Last week we saw that Jesus gets a good response by citing Isaiah. This week we will see that he will get a hostile response by quoting from First and Second Kings. God’s Word always gets a response. Sometimes positive, sometimes negative. This is an important “epiphany” to remember when proclaiming the good news.

As members of the church, we are not trying to get a response— we are only trying to be faithful in proclaiming the Word. The response will follow, and we have no control over it.

Let’s see the passages Jesus uses to expose the hearts of those in his hometown.

But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian. (Luke 4:25-27 NRSV)

Jesus reminds them of two stories of the prophets Elijah and Elisha who were rejected by their own people. The first story is about Elijah providing an unending supply of food for a lowly Gentile widow and her son. In this story no provision is made for any of the Israelites. This is found in 1 Kings 17:8-16. Then Jesus refers to the story of Elisha, who healed Naaman, a Syrian army officer who had leprosy. This story is found in 2 Kings 5:1-14. Both stories show that the grace and favor God pours out was to their enemies, weak and strong alike.

The proclamation Jesus has is of a Father who does not show partiality. This did not fit well with the Jews’ expectation of the Messiah. The Messiah was supposed to come and destroy Israel’s enemies, not bless them. The Jewish people of that time pretty much had two basic beliefs about the Messiah. First, every generation believed that the Messiah would come soon and probably in their lifetime. Second, this soon-coming Messiah would vanquish the Gentiles and bless and restore Israel.

Jesus’ proclamation that “Today” this time of blessing had come fit nicely with their first expectation. But by announcing that “no prophet is accepted” and using Elijah and Elisha blessing Gentiles over Jews, Jesus completely shattered their second expectation. Here is their reaction.

When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. (Luke 4:28-29 NRSV)

The proclamation of the universal nature of the Father’s favor turns their initial favor of Jesus into outright hatred. They wanted to “hurl him off a cliff.” Like Satan who wanted Jesus to prove himself by throwing himself down from the temple, these Jews wanted the Messiah to answer to them and fulfill their expectations. This is an extreme hostile reaction. But Jesus did not soft-pedal what they needed to hear. He did not shy away from offending their pride and hurting their self-centered identities. True prophets are like that. They proclaim God’s word without compromise. May we as the church do so today even when our “hometown” turns hostile.

Unfortunately, the very favor and blessing Jesus’ hometown wanted Jesus to give was rejected. Jesus is the Father’s favor that is proclaimed. Like the hometown Jews, we too can fail to receive this favor when we want it on our terms.

• When we harbor hatred in our hearts towards those who have hurt us, we are not receiving the favor the Lord graciously pours out on all.
• When we size up our neighbors as people beyond the reach of God’s grace, we expose our own hearts of pride and prejudice.
• When we determine who is worthy of God’s favor, we bring assumptions and expectations that are out of line with God’s grace.

It is not up to us to draw lines of division between who is poor and who is rich, who is blind and who is enlightened, who is in captivity and who is free, who is the oppressed and who is the oppressor. Jesus is the Prophet who comes to proclaim good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind and to let the oppressed go free. He’s the only one who proclaims the acceptable year of the Lord, and that proclamation is made to all. But what if we are like Jesus’ hometown and we struggle to accept it? We have one final verse to consider.

 But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way. (Luke 4:30 NRSV)

This passage ends with Jesus escaping being hurled down the cliff by somehow slipping through the crowd and going on his way. Throughout Luke’s Gospel we see Jesus go through the crowd many times, all the way to the cross. Nothing will stop the favor of the Father being poured out on all his children. Even the animosity we turn towards him does not prevent God’s favor toward us.

Praise God that Jesus is the Prophet sent to us. His word trumps any word we try to give ourselves and any word we try to give each other that is not from him. We can pray, thy will be done, because his will is perfect and brings light to our darkness, even when the light hurts. He loves us that much and he is faithful.

As we come to believe and receive this amazing grace, we can then turn to our neighbors and even to our enemies with the same grace, forgiveness and favor the Father has for us. In doing so we join Jesus in proclaiming the good news of his kingdom.

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Small Group Discussion Questions