Third Sunday after the Epiphany (2)

Scripture

Luke 4:14–21 NIV

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.”

Sermon: “The Never-Ending Sermon”

Okay. Time for confession. Anyone get nervous when you saw the title of today’s sermon? Okay. Anyone not look at the title before now, take a look, and now you are nervous? I understand. The title is “The Never-Ending Sermon”. If I were in your seat, I would probably be getting nervous about now too.

But, the never-ending sermon, is not mine. Instead, the never-ending sermon are the 8 words spoken by Jesus Christ according to our text this morning. “Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” That’s it. That is the never-ending sermon.

And I call it that because the truth is, we don’t know how this sermon ends. These eight words mark only the first sentence of Jesus Christ’s message. The message or sermon He gave on this particular Sabbath in the synagogue while He was in Nazareth. And being a preacher myself, I’m certain, this is not all He said. Everyone knows a good sermon has more than 8 words. I mean, in seminary we joked a good sermon needs 3 points and a poem. And we agreed that any sermon needed at least one point.

So these 8 words can not be all that Jesus said about this text. This cannot be His complete message. But it is all we have. This sermon has a beginning but certainly not an ending. And what Jesus says in these 8 words is the scripture He has read has today been fulfilled. And the scripture He references comes from what book? The book of Isaiah. And this is what Jesus read, “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.”

Now, this text doesn’t take a lot of work to interpret. Jesus’ 8 words simply tell us what Isaiah spoke to the nation of Israel was fulfilled in Him. That in Him, there would be good news to the poor, freedom for prisoners, sight for the blind, freedom for the oppressed, and the proclamation of the Lord’s favor. But with most things Jesus said, He was thinking and speaking larger than His audience was hearing. This is in part what caused their confusion because even though Luke records those who heard Him like this, “all spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips”, they immediately connect Him back to His earthly father, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son”?

In other words, “how is the son of a carpenter, who himself would become a carpenter, do all these things?” Now there are three reasons why these people may have responded like this.

First, they may have identified this text as a reference to the long awaited Messiah. And looking at Jesus that’s not what they saw. They didn’t see the Messiah. They saw a regular, ordinary guy who had grown up in their hometown. Who walked and talked and looked like they did. Everyone knew the Messiah would never look like that.

Secondly, they may have questioned His authority. Here He was the son of a local carpenter. Who did He think He was? What made Him think He could do even half the things He said. Who would listen to Him? Where did He get His authority from? It certainly wasn’t from working with wood and stone. Maybe they questioned his authority to do all He said He would do.

Thirdly, they may have felt Christ was pointing out their need and they were unwilling to hear it. As long as a person is satisfied with themself, they won’t accept an offer for help. People who are convinced they are okay won’t ask for help. Only those who are keenly aware of their need will reach out for assistance. Perhaps they knew that Jesus was talking about them but they didn’t want to admit it. Maybe they didn’t want to admit how real their need was.

But again, they weren’t hearing what He was saying. Though they did not see it, He was indeed the Messiah. His authority came not from His earthly father, Joseph, the carpenter, but His Heavenly Father, God. And He could absolutely do what He was talking about, but He did not mean in an earthly temporal way, but in a spiritual way. Through Christ there is indeed, “good news to the poor, freedom for prisoners, sight for the blind, freedom for the oppressed, and the proclamation of the Lord’s favor.” For there is new life in Christ.