Göttinger Predigten
Göttinger Predigten im Internet hg. von U. Nembach
The Third Sunday after the Epiphany, 01/27/2019
Sermon on Luke 4:14-21, by Paul Bieber
Luke 4:14-21 Revised Standard Version
14 Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and a report concerning him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the sabbath day. And he stood up to read; 17 and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
20 And he closed the book, 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.”
also
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
Psalm 19
I Corinthians 12:12-31a
Today the Scripture Is Fulfilled in Our Hearing
Grace, peace, and much joy to you, people of God.
Today we hear Jesus reading Scripture in the synagogue in Nazareth, Isaiah 61 (mostly). And we hear his one-sentence sermon, the inaugural address of his public ministry. Juxtaposed with this we hear of Ezra’s reading Scripture (probably the book of Deuteronomy), with interpretation, 400 years earlier at the Water Gate in Jerusalem from early morning to midday. So this is a day to contemplate and celebrate scripture and its effectiveness. (Next Sunday we will hear about some ill effects of skeptical reception.)
The middle section of today’s Psalm is a praise of scripture, of the Lord’s Torah, his law, his testimony, his statutes, his judgments. These revive the soul, give wisdom to the innocent, rejoice the heart, and give light to the eyes; they are true and righteous altogether. It’s no wonder the returned exiles stood in the square and listened to Ezra read and interpret across a whole morning, answering, “Amen, Amen,” and lifting up their hands, then bowing their heads in worship.
But wait, you will say, we are Lutheran Christians; we know that lex semper accusat, the law always accuses. In the midst of Psalm 19’s praise of the Torah comes the line, “The fear of the Lord is clean and endures for ever.” The main use of the law is to bring us to mourn and weep over our failure to keep it, to drive us to Christ. How can Ezra and the Levites tell the people, “Do not mourn or weep”? Because there has been a famine in the land, a famine of hearing God’s word.
The first exiles had returned from Babylonian captivity 100 years before the day Nehemiah narrates, but only now is the liturgical year being observed. The day Nehemiah sets before us is the last day of the autumn Feast of Booths, the celebration of God’s giving of the Torah as part of the mighty acts of the Exodus of God’s people from Egyptian servitude. “This day is holy” because it looks back in gratitude to what God has done, and forward in hope to the renewal of God’s promise. These are not the parts of God’s instruction that make us weep; they bring us to a festive banquet, with portions set aside for those who have nothing prepared.
Jesus is keeping the sabbath, as was his custom, by going to the synagogue. As a returning son of the congregation, he is given the opportunity to read, and he chooses the passage that sets the tone for his public ministry, a prophetic ministry. He will preach good news to the poor, release to the captives, eyesight to the blind, liberty to the oppressed, the acceptable year of the Lord.
His reading is also an interpretation. He omits the part of Isaiah 61 about “the day of vengeance of our God.” And he interpolates from Isaiah 58:6 the line our translation gives us as “liberty to the oppressed.” More literally it is something like, “send forth the broken in release.” Why did he do this? To emphasize a word. The word is our old friend áphesis, which we know so well from the parable of the wheat and the weeds: release, leave alone, forgive.
By adding áphesis to the broken to áphesis to the captives, Jesus doubly emphasizes that his mission is one of release and forgiveness. He will release those captive to and broken by bondage to sin, sickness, and Satan. He has been anointed, “Christed,” by the Holy Spirit for this ministry. The Spirit who descended and remained on Jesus at his baptism, who led him through his wilderness temptations, brings him in power into Galilee for his inaugural address and the inauguration of his public ministry of áphesis.
More than that, this Holy Spirit brooded over creation, anointed Israel’s judges and kings, priests and prophets, overshadowed the Blessed Virgin Mary, empowered the infant Church at Pentecost, comes to us at our Baptisms and whenever we are gathered around the story of Jesus.
This means that the very Spirit who anointed Jesus for his mission of áphesis, release, forgiveness, comes to us today. Jesus’ inaugural address is the briefest on record: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Nehemiah and Ezra said, “This day is holy to the Lord.” Christ’s “today” of fulfillment encompasses this holy day on which we are gathered for worship in Word and Sacrament. In that very Spirit we are gathered today into real participation in the body of Christ, the Spirit giving us interdependent, complementary gifts for the ministry of release and forgiveness.
As Israel looked back to the mighty acts of the Exodus and forward to the promise of restoration, as the Church looks back to the Paschal mystery and forward to the parousia, so we, today, on this holy day, are gathered: looking back on the mighty acts of Christmas and Epiphany, the Incarnation and manifestation of Christ, and forward to the fulfillment of the proclamation of the good news of forgiveness and release, of áphesis, the word that is fulfilled in our hearing, fulfilled as we listen to it.
Today this word is fulfilled in our hearing, in the Absolution, in our release from whatever has us bound and broken. We, as a body, are taken up into the today of Christ’s fulfillment. We are set free to live for him, for each other, for those who have nothing. We suffer and rejoice together. We weep, but our tears are wiped away as we come to the festive banquet that marks our participation in the body of Christ. We lift up our hands, we bow our heads, we join in praying: Amen, Amen; come, Lord Jesus.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.