Epiphany Week 3

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

Today we look at the beginning of Jesus' ministry as Luke presents it. We are all familiar with this passage, but I will try to draw our attention to a few things. First, we have to place this passage in the context of the Lukan narrative. Jesus' public life and ministry began when he was baptized and the Holy Spirit descended on him, which we looked at two weeks ago. Next, and directly before our passage today, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. We have discussed this episode before in terms of the preparation this event was. The temptations no doubt served multiple purposes both for Jesus and for us who read about them, but I would just point out today, 1. the Spirit led and sustained him, and 2. The temptations represent and prepare Jesus for the challenges he will face during his ministry.

After these two episodes, Luke writes that at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, Jesus, "in the power of the Spirit," returned to Galilee. Luke makes it very clear that from Jesus' conception by the Holy Spirit right on through to his death, he did everything in the presence and guidance of the Spirit. Two weeks ago, when we looked at Luke's account of Jesus' baptism, we noted how Luke in particular placed an emphasis on the Holy Spirit. And we see that again here. Let us not forget that this Christian life, being "Little Christs", requires us to live life in and by the Spirit, as Christ himself did.

Moving on to the actual events of the text and what is actually happening in the scene, Jesus was in his home town and recognized that his own people wouldn't accept him because after all, isn't he just "Joseph's son?" What is interesting is that Luke uses this particular episode to introduce Jesus' public ministry. It is clear from the text that Jesus had already been traveling around teaching and healing. There are two clues to this fact: first, the text says Jesus went to the Synagogue on the Sabbath to teach, "as was his custom," thus implying he had done this on a regular basis before; and second, Jesus spoke these words quoting his audience, "Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum." Again, the implication is that Jesus and his miracles were already well-known.

Jesus the miracle worker and insightful teacher was already known, but Luke behind his narrative of Jesus' ministry by placing him into his hometown where he is essentially rejected, chased off, and almost thrown off a cliff. I think this is no accident. There is a tradition in the Old Testament prophetic literature (And in many other genres of literature) where the "origin stories" or the callings of the prophets are foreshadows of their public ministries. So for example at Isaiah's calling, the Lord tells him to go and tell the people, "Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand." (Is. 6:9) As you can probably guess, Isaiah did not have the best success rate on getting Israel to turn back to the Lord.

So returning to Luke and how the start of Jesus' ministry is presented, I want to make three points. First, notice what type of Messiah Jesus will be. These words from Isaiah 61 set the stage for Jesus' earthly ministry and for his ministry through his Body, the Church, even today:

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.

 Jesus' Kingdom is for the poor, the hurt, the downtrodden, and the prisoner. He comes to set the people free from their bondage! This is Good News indeed for those in need of deliverance. I have already mentioned that we are to be "Little Christs," so we should take special note of how Jesus views his life and ministry and reflect on how we also are to follow his example. In what ways can we also free the captive, feed the poor, and proclaim the Lord's favor?

The second thing we can see from the start of Jesus' ministry is the fact that Jesus will be rejected by his own people. In Jesus' own province and hometown he is rejected and presumed to be either a charlatan and fake or somebody who can be controlled and coerced to serve their needs. The people lack faith and thus Jesus evoking the Prophet Elijah is appropriate since that is what Israel lacked when Elijah was sent by the Lord to Sidon. The people in Jesus' hometown foreshadowed what will later happen by Jesus' own people, Israel. He will be rejected and despised. And ultimately, faith will generally be found lacking amongst the Jews during Jesus' life.

The final point which may more properly be called 2.a. is that what the people of Nazareth attempt to do, namely kill Jesus, Israel ultimately succeeded in doing at his crucifixion. So this episode from Jesus' life, which inaugurates and announces his ministry (In partnership with his baptism and wilderness temptation), foreshadowed and prepared Jesus for that ministry. It also prepares us as we read the Gospel of Luke and try to understand what Luke is saying about Jesus.

This post is a little bit longer than normal and I haven't even discussed the other three readings. I was struck this week in the Psalm by the comparison between natural revelation, which is revealed by God's creation, and the Law God has given to his people; both of which display the glory and nature of God. There is lots to think about when one reads Psalm 19. So I would encourage you to read all the passages.

In conclusion, I would encourage us to reflect on these early episodes in Jesus' life and what they say about what type of Messiah he is, and then as a follow-up, what that means for us as we seek to follow him.

May we seek first God's kingdom and righteousness, and represent Jesus in the world as "Little Christs."

Grace and Peace.