Sermon: Third Sunday after Epiphany, Luke 4:14-21
January 26, 2025
Faith-La Fe Lutheran Church
Pastor Jonathan Linman
In this new Gilded Age, the rich promise – or threaten – to get still richer and the poor will inevitably become still poorer. Aren’t you tired of billionaires calling the shots for everyone these days? So many members of Congress are millionaires. Wealth inequality in our nation is at levels that rival or exceed the first Gilded Age of the robber barons of the late 19th Century.
What’s more, the captives remain captive. The United States has one of the highest rates of incarceration in the world, often for petty crimes like drug use which is really a public health issue, not a criminal one.
The blind struggle as ever. But there is more than one way of being blind. It’s as if the majority of people in our nation are willfully blind to what is really going on in the world concerning wealth inequality, climate change, and more….
The oppressed remain oppressed. This certainly includes the most vulnerable and marginalized among us – immigrants, LGBTQIA folk, especially those who are trans, and then also, women, persons of color – but increasingly whole populations are oppressed by tyrannical leaders who seek to lord it over us.
And this new year of 2025 is looking as though it will not resemble anything like a year of the Lord’s favor in terms of jubilee where old debts are forgiven.
What is true today was true in Jesus’ day concerning the ongoing plight of the poor, the captive, the blind, the oppressed. And yet Jesus went to his hometown synagogue and publicly read those wonderful words from the prophet Isaiah about good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind, and freedom for the oppressed all taking place during a year of the Lord’s favor.
These are great words of hope, which also come with great cognitive dissonance when stacked up against the realities of the world, then and now. It can be painful to hear words of promise when those very words of hope contradict so much of what we see around us.
And yet Jesus does something even more astonishing. In today’s gospel there’s that dramatic moment of tension when Jesus rolled up the scroll and sat down in silence with all the eyes of his hometown crowd fixed on him. They were waiting for Jesus to say something in response to the reading from scripture.
Here’s the astonish thing: Jesus offered a remarkably short, succinct sermon, his commentary on the passage from Isaiah: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Jesus had merely recited the words of the prophet. How on earth could the scripture be fulfilled simply by reading, and the crowd hearing, the words of the prophet? Talk is cheap, we say. Don’t just talk the talk, we say; you’ve got to walk the walk. This moment in Luke’s gospel recounts the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. He hasn’t really done anything yet. He’s been baptized; he’s spent time by himself in the wilderness. And now he’s just preached a one sentence sermon. How can Jesus assert that the sacred, scriptural words of the prophet have been fulfilled in the hearing of members of the assembly?
Sermons as you know from your first-hand experience are not generally particularly memorable, and they often seem to have no effect on things…. Or if they have an effect of inspiration or whatever, that seems to pass quickly. “I liked your sermon today, pastor….” And by afternoon, the effects dissipate.
But that’s not always true of sermons. Today’s first reading from Nehemiah describes the effects of a sermon on the listeners. Ezra read from the law of Moses and then offered interpretive commentary on the word – much as I am trying to do right now – to give hearers a better understanding of God’s word. Here’s the effect: “For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.” They wept, knowing that they had fallen short of keeping God’s law. That’s when Nehemiah offered a concluding word of grace to the people: “Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10) In short, Ezra and Nehemiah preached law and gospel which resulted in weeping and joy and the directive to feed the poor.
That’s exactly what preaching is supposed to do. And the effects of powerful, good, faithful sermons are that they result in the fulfillment of the preachers’ words, and ultimately God’s word. In the case of Jesus, it’s that in him, the poor have good news proclaimed to them, the captives are released, sight is given to the blind, and freedom is granted for the oppressed.
Preaching – or public speaking in general – can incite people to act. That’s true of good and faithful preaching, but, alas, it’s also true of bad and faithless preaching. Preaching can incite people to do good or incite people to give in to acts of evil and violence. Words matter. Words have power. Words get people to do things.
The powers and principalities, the rulers of this world know the power of preaching and public speaking. It was Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s preaching that ultimately resulted in his execution by the Nazis. It was Martin Luther King, Jr’s preaching and oratory skills that led to his having been assassinated. Just this week, as part of the inauguration ceremonies, the Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese in Washington DC spoke truth to the power of the newly inaugurated president who quickly posted on X scathing comments about her sermon.
Preaching can get preachers in big trouble and even killed. That’s when you know that preaching the word of God can have a powerful role in changing the course of history.
This was true of Jesus’ own preaching in his hometown. At first, “all spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.” (Luke 4:22a) But then Jesus offered further commentary to the hometown crowd: “a prophet is not without honor except in their hometown” (cf. Luke 4:24) That’s when the crowd turned on him: “When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and brought him to the brow of the hill… so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But [Jesus] passed through the midst of them and went on his way.” (Luke 4:28-30)
He escaped the clutches of the angry crowd that time. But Jesus’ preaching and teaching ultimately got him crucified. And in the death that resulted from Jesus’ preaching, and in God subsequently raising Jesus from the dead, is the ultimate fulfillment of all of scripture that bore the fruit of years of the Lord’s favor for all people.
We continue today what Jesus did in his hometown synagogue and what Ezra and Nehemiah did in ancient Israel. The scriptures are read and commented on for the understanding of God’s people. And once in a while, the people are moved to weep. And words of grace are offered that bring joy and faith to the people. And we invite you to eat and to drink sweet wine at this table. And the people are moved to leave this place to fulfill in word and deed what we have heard in this assembly.
The whole fabric of our time together in hearing the word and celebrating the sacrament, the word of God that we eat and drink, sets the agenda for our work in the world, and gives us the faith and courage to do God’s work with our hands, doing our part in God’s fulfillment of the scripture through Christ.
And the outline from Isaiah that Jesus’ recited as his own agenda, is ours too: good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, letting the oppressed go free – all part of the jubilee year of the Lord’s favor.
Each of us has a role to play in being part of the contemporary fulfillment of the prophetic message in our hearing and that of the world. As we heard from Paul in today’s second reading: “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, hen gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?” (1 Corinthians 12:27-30)
The answer is, no. We cannot do all things by ourselves. But together, in the power of God, we can. And each of us has an essential role such that “if one member suffers, all suffer together with them; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with them” (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:26). We need each other, and honor each other, such that together we make a difference to the world in the power of the Holy Spirit.
We will embody this togetherness in Christ just after worship at our annual meeting when we hear reports of work accomplished in the past year and anticipate what is before us as a church. We’ll elect Council members and pass a budgetary mission plan to do God’s work with our hands. Again, each has a role to play, no matter how small or grand. And in this way, we as Christ’s body, the church, become part of Jesus’ promise of fulfillment made in his hometown of Nazareth: “Today the promises of scripture have been fulfilled in your hearing.” May it be so during these troubled times in our nation and world. Amen.
