Third Sunday after the Epiphany

It is easy to assume that God’s Word ought to be a welcomed guest wherever it is preached. We are also surprised when that same Word is met with apathy or rejection by those who hear it. It is also easy to conclude that when the Word offends us that something has gone terribly wrong.

Today’s readings hew us reevaluate those assumptions. As Jesus began to carry out his prophetic office, and as He continues to do so through His body—the Church—today, we see that the rejection of Jesus’ Word is not the exception, but the rule. Jesus’ words will always offend. Jesus’ words will always be rejected and opposed. In fact, we see in Jesus’ life that those who should be most eager to hear and receive His words, are the very ones who reject them.

Rather than pointing to something gone terribly wrong, this demonstrates what is right with the Word of God. It confirms the very message that the Word delivers. You see, the message is for the broken and the imprisoned. Jesus is here with Good news, but as broken people we are constantly tempted to do what seems right in our own eyes. However, Jesus has set us free.

Jesus is Here with Good News

It is Jesus’ custom to go to church every week. He maintains this custom throughout his life and travels. On this particular Sabbath, Jesus goes with family, friends, and neighbors to worship in his hometown synagogue of Nazareth.

Take a close look, friends, to what is happening here. Jesus does not seek to worship God in his own way, nor does He choose to be somewhere else. Rather, He follows God’s desires—He goes into God’s house and on the Lord’s Day. It may be the assumption of some that, being the Son of God, Jesus would not benefit from attending a worship service. Yet, this is precisely what he does, because Jesus knows hearing the Word of the Lord with the community of saints is necessary, and it is a gift—just a we regularly confess in the Creed.

During the service, Scripture is read and explained by the leader of the synagogue or by a guest. On this particular day, Jesus is invited to read and speak. So, standing before the people, he opens the scroll to Isaiah 61 and reads: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19).

When he finishes, Jesus rolls up the scroll and sits down. Then he drops a bombshell: “Today,” he says, “this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).

At first, the people speak well of Jesus. In fact, “They all spoke well of him and were impressed by the words of grace that came from his mouth” (Luke 4:22). But as they think about what Jesus said, they are offended.

The mood changes quickly. “How can this carpenter’s son claim to be the Christ, the Savior of God?” “This impostor came from down the street, not from heaven!” “How dare he claim to be equal to God?” The people cannot believe what they heard; they are indignant and think that Jesus has blasphemed the holy name of God.

Yet, what they fail to consider is that Jesus is the Son of God, the fulfillment of all of God’s promises, just as he said.

Jesus already knows the congregation desires a sign to demonstrate his divine claim, and He reminds them that Gentiles of yesteryear were more receptive to God’s Word than they are. He says, “But truly I tell you: There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut for three years and six months, while a great famine came over all the land. Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow of Zarephath, in Sidon. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was healed except Naaman the Syrian.” (Luke 4:25-27).

They are no longer confused. They know exactly what He is saying, and they are filled with anger—enraged that He will not be the Messiah they want. Jesus is saying that just being one of the people of Israel doesn’t get them a thing! And so, they reject Him, even seek to murder him. They grab him and drag him toward the hill on which the town is built, planning to throw him off. You see, anger and wrath are often the sinful response to the inconvenient and unflattering truth Jesus has spoken against them.

But Jesus miraculously slips through the crowd, because this was not the appointed time of His death for the sins of the world.

Isn’t it ironic that the very people who could see Jesus in person, those who knew him best and lived near him, refused to see him as their Savior? How blind they were! And sadly, as far as we know, Jesus left Nazareth that day never to return. Their rejection of Jesus seems to have been irreparable and complete.

Why is this the case? We are constantly tempted to do what seems right in our own eyes.

Doing What Seems Right to Us

What if Jesus came to Chippewa Falls this morning? What if he came to Christ Lutheran Church? What if he stood here in the pulpit and preached a sermon? Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

What would He think about the empty pews? Would He be fine with the absence of those so many? Like the Israelites of old, so many today seem to do what seems right in their own eyes (Judges 21:25), despite the fact that He is here to preach the good news! This good news is headline news about freedom to the captives, the blind receiving their sight, to set the oppressed free, and to proclaim a year of Jubilee. This is all a free gift, yet....

The sermon Jesus preached is for all, and especially for those held captive to self-satisfying and destructive sins of the flesh—like when a man and woman live together as husband and wife, when in fact they are not. This is what sin, death, and the devil does; it hold us like a prisoner. No matter how hard we try, we cannot seem to break free of its grip. But Jesus is here to preach good news; News we need to hear because there are so many who are blind to the light of God’s love for us.

This good news of Jesus is like the Emancipation Proclamation that President Abraham Lincoln declared on September 22, 1862. Though the slaves were set free, most continued to live in the servitude they were freed from.

And though Jesus has set us free with His own Emancipation Proclamation, so many continue to live as if the devil is their taskmaster. The devil—Satan—called the "prince of the power of the air" by St. Paul in Ephesians 2:2. Jesus said that the devil is the "ruler of this world" in John 12:31. These titles and many more signify that in some way he rules over the world and the people in it.

The phrase “god of this world” indicates that Satan is the major influence on the ideals, opinions, goals, hopes and views of the majority of people. His influence also encompasses the world’s philosophies, education, and commerce. The thoughts, ideas, speculations and false religions of the world are under his control and have sprung from his lies and deceptions.

But, dear child of God, Christ Jesus has set you free from all this craziness. Though the world’s philosophy says that adultery and the murder of our unborn is perfectly fine—despite the fact that God has said NO to this countless times—Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection sets you free from all this stuff. By the power of God, the Holy Spirit, you can say NO to this stuff in your life. This is the good news — the Emancipation Proclamation that Jesus declared.

Jesus earned all this through His victory over death and the grave on our behalf. When we are baptized, we are baptized into this freedom, where we die with Christ and are raised again to a brand new life. Despite this, “the god of this world” is working hard to influence the ideals, opinions, goals, and philosophies of this world that many people—including the baptized—are so terrified of sickness and death that they stay away from the very gifts of God that sustains them in this life.

One modern Lutheran theologian put it like this:

Jesus announces in Galilee that the Jubilee year is now present in him and his ministry. It reveals to the hearer how his Baptism initiates him into a life of continual release, sustained in the Lord’s Supper. —Arthur Just, Commentary on Luke: Luke 1:1–9:50 (Luke 4:16–30)

In other words, the gift our Lord gives us in His Supper—that comes from this altar—is integral to sustaining us in this good news of Emancipation that Christ earned for us! This should motivate us to run to this altar every time this freedom is distributed.

Yet the devil knows the power of God’s gifts in hearing the preached Word and receiving the Sacrament from this altar, which is why he works so hard to manipulate man into believing that it is okay to stay away. He tells us that we are okay on our own.

Friends, Jesus gave the people in his home congregation a warning that the Good News may be taken from them and given to others (Luke 4:25-27), as he cites the example of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath, along with Elisha and Naaman. God ‘s own people refused to believe, which is why God’s prophets went to the Gentiles.

What the response of His home congregation? They mobbed Jesus, tried to kill him by throwing him off a cliff. Jesus, the Messiah, just walks right through their midst; they have no power over him.

And what about you and me?

What is your response to the shocking Good News of Emancipation? Unfortunately, some will reject the Good News to their own destruction.

They deny God’s holy prophecy and fulfillment, especially regarding Jesus as the Messiah. They try to be their own problem solver, and listen to the people of the world, instead of the promises God has made.

But, God the Holy Spirit creates faith in your heart through the Word of Good News heard and through the Good News we consume in the Sacrament.

Jesus Has Set You Free

Today, Jesus has come to our town, and as is his custom each week, is present with us in this house called Christ Lutheran Church. Jesus is present with us in his Word and in the Sacraments, just as He promised.

Today, here in God’s house, Jesus “proclaim[s] good news” to all who are poor in spirit. Here each week, “the Spirit of the Lord” is upon us, to release us from the oppression of our guilt and sin. Here each week, Jesus offers “recovering of sight” for spiritual blindness, so all might see him clearly as their Savior, whose forgiveness sets them free from fear and death. Today, you see, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Yes,

We hear this great news from the very Christ Himself during this Divine Service, on this and every Lord’s Day.

Friends, I am not trying to manipulate you with some shocking or clever twist of the Scriptures. I’m telling you the Gospel truth: Jesus is the Messiah, promised throughout the Old Testament. He died and rose again for you, setting you free from sin, death, and the power of the devil. You are a new creation in Christ, and He gives you his body and blood to sustain you in this life.

Therefore, since it remains “the year of the Lord’s favor,” may his Spirit be upon us all. And may your presence in the House of the Lord today strengthen you for the week to come, as again Jesus says to us, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing!”