Third Sunday after Epiphany

 The unveiling of Jesus’ Mission

1/26/25

Today we celebrate the third Sunday after Epiphany. Last week we talked about the subtle unveiling of Jesus’ ministry through the calling of his first disciples and his quiet miracle. I say quiet because he shared it only with his disciples and the servants who were at the wedding. No other person at the wedding was even aware of what took place, although I am sure some of the servants spread the word. This week we will be reading about Jesus’ first public announcement of who he is and his mission.

Since returning to Galilee Jesus has been visiting the synagogues to teach. According to Luke, many have heard him and he has received much praise. In our passage for today he returns to Nazarath, his home town, and takes his place in the synagogue. Luke tells us that Jesus stood up to read and a scroll was handed to him. It was the scroll that contained what we would call the book of Isaiah.

Jesus would have been familiar with this, and likely, any scroll that was given to him. Jesus then moves through the scroll to locate a specific passage. It appears that he is choosing the passage that he wants to read, and not that it was a specific expected reading for that day.

Jesus finds Isaiah chapter 61 and he reads “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, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” After completing the reading, Luke tells us that Jesus rolled up the scroll, returned it to the attendant and sat down. All the eyes in the synagogue, according to Luke, were on Jesus. Jesus then says to all in attendance, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Was this a miracle? There was no great show of power. Jesus just read a passage and then told the people that today, in Him, this scripture was fulfilled. How did the people listening hear such a statement? What did that statement mean to them? While they may have only heard rumors from some servants that a miracle had been performed, they were familiar with Jesus. This text told us that he had been traveling and speaking in the region for a while since his baptism. It also tells us that he had been drawing a crowd, but it does not specifically tell us why. We are left to just assume that it was the content of his message, perhaps his confident delivery, that was speaking to the people.

This message was different. He did not teach a lesson, or make a theological point. He read a passage that every listener would have been familiar with, and then he sat down. The next words he spoke, well chosen I am sure, were not the start of a meaningful homily. His next words were a statement of his mission. He was proclaiming to be prophet to his people in the line of Isaiah. He spoke of comforting, freeing and healing the people of God. He equated himself to be the one to usher in “the year of the Lord’s favor”. These were not simple words that would have been spoken lightly or heard passively. Everyone in the room would have felt the impact of the claim Jesus was making.

So the question is, how did they respond? Perhaps some looked around to see if a blind man would suddenly shout, I can see. Many may have sat back in disbelief that Jesus, or any man among them, would make such a statement. But some may have thought back to the story they heard from others who felt the Spirit moving among them when Jesus came up out of the Jordan after John baptized him. Others may have thought of the story that they had heard about the wedding in Canan. There were probably some who thought about the things they had already heard Jesus say at an earlier visit to the synagogue and asked themselves, could this be true?

It strikes me that this event is very different from the event at the wedding. At the wedding something happened that could not be explained, but only a small number of people actually knew what took place. Today in the synagogue no unexplainable event had taken place, but an unquestionable line had been drawn. It was no small matter for a person to claim to be a prophet. Even more, a great prophet who had come to bring in the Lord’s favor. The people had to have been jared to their core to hear this young carpenter turned preacher speak in such a way.

We don’t know what else Jesus went on to say that day in the synagogue. All we know is he boldly proclaimed his mission. We also know from what follows that he received every kind of response. There were people who were angry. There were people who were confused and wanted to hear more. However, there were also people who were moved at that very moment to want to hear more and follow this man. 

Jesus took this moment to take a subtle action, words only, to proclaim his mission. He claimed that he was filled with the Spirit of the Lord and that he had come to be a messenger to the people. Now it was with each individual to search out their own feelings and choose how they would respond.

I think it is fitting that message was so simple, with no fanfare, no divine display of power. In our lives we will face ten thousand everyday events for every divine moment. Perhaps we will see ten million such moments without ever feeling that something divine is behind it. Still, we have to choose. We have to look deeply into the world around us, at what we see and hear, but also at what we feel and somehow know. The calling of the Spirit on our life is usually far less dramatic than pouring water into an empty jar and then dipping out wine. We have to listen deeply to hear the still small voice speaking into our life, just as Jesus’ voice spoke at the synagogue leading up to this day. We have to ask ourselves what we are hearing and what it means. What are we being shown, or invited into?

We can live our lives jumping from one big event to another, but what would we miss? What is right in front of us, guiding us, helping us to understand how to live and how to be? We can ask ourselves what we would have done on that day? Then we ask ourselves what we have already seen or heard. In what ways have we encountered the divine already and know that Jesus is speaking truth? Despite all the bad things we see around us, do we already know that we are living in the Lord’s favor? Living in the favor of the Lord does not mean life is all ease and pleasure. It means that life is meaningful. The favor of the Lord is upon us when we know that all we do is to His glory. When we can sit in comfort, knowing that even if this moment is uncomfortable God is with us. Every day that we face will be full of challenges and choices, actions and consequences. We can hardly control the outcome of anything, but we can choose how we will play our part. We choose the effort that we give. It is in that effort that we can be in union with God. 

Jesus has told them who he is, and we have been told as well. Jesus invited them to put their trust in God, through him, and we have been invited as well. The Spirit that filled Jesus fills us. We need not search for it, but only open ourselves to it. I would say that no more miracles are required for us to acknowledge the power of the Spirit in the world around us. We just have to choose to believe what we have already seen, and to act as the Spirit would lead. That is the action I encourage today, and every day. See the world around you, the good and the bad, and see where the Spirit is at work, and see how you can put your efforts in the direction of the Spirit. Choose to act today for the purpose of God and see how the world can be moved.

Thanks for reading.

David

Want to know why I am writing these articles? Look here.

You can find all of the readings for today at this link.

https://www.episcopalchurch.org/lectionary/Epiphany-3C