The Third Sunday after Epiphany | January 26, AD 2025 | Luke 4:16–30 | Andrew F. Weisner |

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
Psalm 19:(1-6) 7-14
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

Luke 4:16-30
¹⁶ And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. ¹⁷ And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, ¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me toproclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, ¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” ²⁰ And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹ And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” ²² And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” ²³ And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘“Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” ²⁴ And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. ²⁵ But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, ²⁶ and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. ²⁷ And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” ²⁸ When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. ²⁹ And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. ³⁰ But passing through their midst, he went away.

Homily

I am not accustomed to coming up with sermons titles. We have the biblical texts, we have the season of the Church year, we have what’s going on in our community and the world around us; I think that’s enough to provide context for a sermon without inventing a title!

But were I to give a title to today’s sermon, it may be something like, “The Unexpected – and Sometimes Unsuspecting – Chosen One.” There are several examples in the Bible of people who others would not expect to be chosen by God for some special purpose; and even a few examples of people who did not, themselves, ever suspect that they would be chosen. But in all such instances, they were, indeed, chosen by God for a special purpose. And today, we have a few such examples before us.

We look first at today’s gospel reading; and first and foremost at the one who does most of the talking in this reading, Jesus himself. Certainly, not just in today’s reading, but throughout the New Testament, and especially the gospels, this is a theme: No one expected – and only a few could believe – that God would choose to reveal himself fully in a carpenter-rabbi from Nazareth. That God would come to this earth to rescue his people, born as a baby, born of a human mother, and born poor, in a stable? What? „You claim that almighty God became human?“ And then: „that God would be a carpenter?“ That this man, Jesus, of peasant stock, from the northern Gentile territory of Galilee – not from God’s holy city of Jerusalem – would be God’s Messiah, Chosen One? Preposterous! But, it is true.

Also from the gospel reading: Jesus himself makes two references that, in this context of teaching in the synagogue, could be – were, to his hearers – offensive. He refers to a place and time in his people Israel’s history (recorded in 1^st Kings, chapter 17, well known to his hearers) when there was a famine in the land because of no rain. It was during the time of the great prophet of Israel, Elijah. And, during that famine, there were plenty of widows in Israel, says Jesus. But, to whom did Elijah go – or rather, to whom did the Lord send Elijah – to give him something to eat and drink and a place to stay? It was not to a good Jewish widow-woman, a member of the clan of Israel, but instead, God sent Elijah – and he went! – to a Gentile woman, somebody who was not even a member of the same family of faith. And “that ol’ Gentile woman” – some might say – “is the one who has gone down in history as having done the right thing and took good care of the prophet!” Who would expect – could anyone expect? – that God would send his Hebrew prophet to be taken care of by a Gentile woman! She was an “unexpected chosen one.” Jesus reminds his Jewish listeners of this, and they were mightily offended by it.

Then Jesus gives another, similar reference. Back in the time of the prophet Elisha (the disciple of Elijah), there were (according to the gospel text) lots of lepers in Israel. But: did Elisha choose to heal one of them? No. Instead, he healed Naaman the Syrian, who had been a sworn enemy of the people Israel! In fact, he had led military campaigns against Israel. But, of all the lepers, all around in the territory of Israel, Elisha didn’t heal any one of them. He healed someone from enemy territory: a military commander Syrian. Who would’ve expected such? And why would God do such a thing? We don’t know a reason for sure; but he did!

And while he is not mentioned in any of today’s readings, Moses is another example of an “unexpected, unsuspecting, chosen one.” Here he was, just a simple sheep-herder, and God called him to be a leader of a nation-in-transit. He had grown up in Egypt, a member of the Pharaoh king’s household. He had eaten from Pharaoh’s table; and here, lo and behold, God calls him to go work against Pharaoh! Certainly, Moses never suspected that he would be chosen for such; and perhaps (probably), nobody else would expect it, either. And Moses, as we read in chapter 3 of the book of Exodus, tried to get out of his call by God: he claimed that he stuttered, couldn’t talk plainly! But that wasn’t reason enough for God to pass him by. The Lord said, “That’s alright. Get your brother Aaron to do the talking for you; but you are going to be the leader!”

There’s also the instance of the call of the Old Testament prophet, young Jeremiah (perhaps still a teen when God called him). I’ve read articles speculating that Jeremiah could have been anywhere from 13 to 20 when God’s call came to him; likely, on the younger side, because it was around 13 to 14 when Jewish boys went through their Bar Mitzvah and passed from being a boy to a man. God called him to be his prophet, to speak to religious leaders, national politicians, and kings. And worse yet, Jeremiah’s going to have to say some hard things that they don’t want to hear. Jeremiah tries to get out of it (just like Moses did). Jeremiah says to the Lord: “‘Ah, Lord God! I do not know how to speak; I’m only a boy!’” God didn’t accept Jeremiah’s objections, but told Jeremiah that he was going to be his prophet anyway! Who would’ve expected that just a young’un would be called by God to be the one to stand up to kings and chief priests and politicians, to endure all kinds of rejection and indignities, and just accept it for the sake of his call? Certainly Jeremiah didn’t expect such, but – there it was, his being chosen by God!

Now, although there are several others from scripture to whom I could point, „Unexpected Chosen Ones,“ people unexpected to be called by God for an important task, I will now come to the last one (or, „ones“) related to today’s readings. And that is, the ones who are attending to these texts; that is to say, you; every one of you. Regardless of how old or young you are, here you are, attending to the presence of God in this world, the word of God, and you have been called by God and play a role in God’s great drama of history.

“Huh!?!” you might say. “You mean me?” “Yes, you.” “No-no-no, Preacher, you don’t know what you’re talking about!,” you might say. To which I reply: “Now there you go, just like Moses and Jeremiah, trying to get out of it!”

Yes indeed: God, through your baptism, has called you to be his spokesperson, his representative, his co-laborer; that you be his example of love and kindness that is going to change the people around you, and as a result, change the world. Yes, God is calling – has called – you: an Unexpected, Unsuspecting, Chosen One. And don’t worry about how to do it, just hand yourself over to God and he will take care of the rest. Just remember: God never calls someone for a task for which he does not provide the means to do it. One might say, „God doesn’t have to call the Qualified: he qualifies the called.“ That is, You – every one of you, every one of us – has been called by God, no less than Jeremiah, no less than Moses, no less than Jesus‘ rag-tag army of disciples. God has called you to make a difference in this his world, and he has given – and gives – the guidance and ability to do it. He gives you the call, guidance, strength, and promise, through your baptism. He guides you by means of your family, friends, and the Church; and he strengthens you through his holy sacraments. God has called you for a purpose in this world that is unique to you, even if you do not suspect it. God works through you. That is one of the important messages of the Christmas and Epiphany season: God works through human beings and human things, such as water, bread and wine, to equip his people and accomplish his purposes. And with such means, bread and wine, he makes an appearance and works toward the fulfillment of his purposes today.

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

Pastor Andrew F. Weisner, Ph.D.
pastorweisner@gmail.com
Pastor, New Covenant Lutheran Church
Morganton, North Carolina, USA
Faculty, North American Lutheran Seminary, Ambridge, PA, USA