Fourth Sunday after Epiphany and Farewell at Ascension

Luke 4:21-30

Jeremiah 1:4- 10

In today’s gospel, as at the wedding in Cana that we heard about two weeks ago, Jesus is going to do what Jesus is going to do. He isn’t going to be about what his mother wants, or what people back home expect. Even when that causes disappointment and provokes anger. Jesus is following God’s Word, and his actions are grounded in the relationship that he has as the Son of God.

In the Old Testament reading from the prophets, the prophet Jeremiah also encounters God’s Word and it changes how he acts. God spoke to the prophet and when Jeremiah raised his objections and doubts about the work God was calling him to do, God reminded him that he has been known to God from the very beginning of his existence. And knowing Jeremiah as God did, God appointed him to go forth with God’s Word in his mouth and take it to the people in the nations and kingdoms of Judah.

We, like Jeremiah and Jesus before us, are known to God and chosen by God to be God’s presence in the world where we are. And today’s Scripture shows us how being known and chosen by God is very different from being known and chosen by the world or by other people.

From as far back as the ancient prophets, “people” will talk. Jeremiah feared that he could not speak for God because of his youth – whether in actual years, or his lack of experience or knowledge. I expect most of us have had the experience of “imposter syndrome” sneaks into our thoughts and we find ourselves wondering if we are enough; whether we can speak with clarity and authority, or whether we belong in the place and role where we find ourselves. And, even as a congregation, whether we matter because we are small. Here God tells Jeremiah, you are enough because you are mine.

Jesus was more unflappable. He knew how people are; he wasn’t surprised or thrown off when people questioned how he could have knowledge of God’s Word, whether that was because they couldn’t imagine that the son of a carpenter could be a teacher, or because they thought he had gotten too big for his britches, so to speak. This episode in the synagogue follows the temptations in Luke’s Gospel where Jesus had been tested by the devil and refuted false claims at every turn, trusting instead in God and God’s Word to guide him.

Throughout Scripture, people say one thing and God shows them another way to be because God knows the capacity God has created within us to be God’s people, made in God’s image and living out God’s kingdom here in this world.

As the Lord says when Samuel is meeting Jesse’s sons, looking for the one who is to be anointed king, “the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart." (1Samuel 16:7 NRS)”

And as we hear in Paul’s letter today, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)

We trust that God will continue to reveal God’s purpose and future for us, because we trust who we know God to be, and here we are reminded too that God knows us and entrusts us to go into the world bearing God’s Word.

In 2014, you called me as your pastor and invited me into your lives to care for you and listened to me as I have preached and taught. I am grateful for the ways you have cared for me, Jamie and the girls and for your curiosity about our VW buses and four-legged companions. I love you and I am so grateful for the ways you have let me know you and your stories and the ways we have shared together in being Jesus to each other and to our community.

Even now as there are questions about what’s next for the congregation and what the next season of ministry may look like, the promises from today’s Scriptures center our lives going forward:

God knows us and entrusts us with the care for the world around us.

God says we are enough and claims us as God’s own.

And God believes in our future because God formed us and shapes us for our life together.

Remembering these promises, we recognize with the psalmist that our trust and hope is only found in God and find our comfort in God’s boundless love for us.

Let us pray…

Good and gracious God,

We give you thanks for your Son Jesus who comes into this world to reveal your Word and presence to us.

Thank you for the ways Jesus shows us that we are chosen by you and called to be your people, faithful to your Word.

Forgive us when we place more value on others’ opinions of us or doubt who you have created us to be and the gifts you have given us.

By your Spirit, give us courage to live out your Gospel and love in the world every day.

We pray in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Third Sunday after Epiphany

Luke 4:14-21

There’s a Gospel song from the 1970’s called, “God said it , I believe it, that settles it.” Hearing Jesus’ words here in Luke’s gospel reminded me of those words, which more recently have migrated onto t-shirts and bumper stickers. Unfortunately, sometimes those words are used to set God’s actions and Jesus’ teaching firmly in the past as historical events, limited to their original time and place, with no demands on us today 

But in his inaugural sermon in Luke’s gospel, in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth, Jesus unrolls the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and reads,

 ¹⁸“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,
 ¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And then he sits down, saying, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Doesn’t that sounds like, “God said, it, I believe it and that settles it.”?

Except, it’s a trick question.

The Greek verb that translates as “has been fulfilled” is in the perfect tense, not the aorist tense. The grammar changes the meaning because aorist verbs mean the action is complete and over while perfect verbs indicate action that is ongoing or keeps happening.

So Jesus is saying that God’s Word has been fulfilled already and continues to be fulfilled in our hearing it spoken or proclaimed.

For Jesus, what is settled is that God’s Word places an ongoing call on our lives, that comes to us in our hearing and in our believing.

We must not relegate God’s actions or the demands of God’s Word to the past.

Karoline Lewis, one of my seminary preaching professors, tells a story about traveling to the Holy Land and visiting

“the chapel that is built around the rock where Jesus hosted his last meal for his disciples (John 21) [Outside the chapel there is a plaque and its] inscription is based on Luke 5:5, the calling of the first disciples in Luke, “Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” And so the plaque reads, “The deeds and miracles of Jesus are not actions of the past. Jesus is waiting for those still prepared to take risks at his word because they trust his power utterly.”[i]

Jesus’ teachings ask something of us here and now.

So what will the fulfillment of this Scripture look like in our lives?

Can we acknowledge that we live in a world

where there are captives to release?

there are ways that we are blind and need to have our eyes opened?

and there are oppressed people yearning for freedom?

Paul’s words to the church in Corinth echo the ones Jesus spoke. Paul writes in his letter, “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member rejoices, all rejoice together with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” (1 Corinthians 12:26-27)

Paul’s letters are always in response to something that he knows is happening in the local church, and in this letter he admonishes the church that we rise and fall together. There cannot be an “us” and a “them” in the body of Christ. So, when Jesus speaks of the captive, the blind and the oppressed, we must not hear that as though he’s speaking about people who aren’t in our lives.

Truly I tell you, we don’t have to look very far to find people who are suffering in the ways that Jesus names:

People in our community who are working full-time jobs but cannot afford basic shelter, food and clothing, let alone medical care.

We suffer blindness when our experiences and education shape our worldview one way, and we cannot see the truth of another person’s perspective.

And, every one of us is both saint and sinner, afflicted by the oppression and brokenness of sin that turns us in on ourselves and away from God.

In all Scripture, there is both Law and Gospel; the Law identifies our chains, and the Gospel sets us free.[ii]

When Jesus declares that today this Word has been fulfilled, he tells us that we do not have to wait any longer for our freedom. We have received God’s grace and we are set free to practice our faith in our words and actions, to participate in God’s kingdom here and now.

The fulfillment of God’s favor or grace on the world can be seen all around us if we will open our eyes and our hearts. It is seen in that one person who provides transportation to someone who cannot drive themselves any longer or when you call the person who usually sits in the pew in front of you but you haven’t seen recently; it is seen in the volunteers who hang the greenery before Christmas and shovel the snow when winter weather shows up so that we can worship together; and it is seen when we reach out into our community and recognize and respond to the needs of those around us.

With this inaugural sermon, Jesus calls us into an ongoing life with God, for the sake of the world.

Let us pray…

Liberating God,

Thank you for your Son Jesus who has come to break the chains of sin and evil in our lives and set us free.

Give us courage to see the poor, the captive and the blind, knowing we cannot be free until we are all free.

Continue to fulfill your Word in our lives that we would continue sharing the Good News of your abundant grace and love with our neighbors, community and world.

We pray in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen.

---

[i] Karoline Lewis, “Preaching Nazareth”, Dear Working Preacher, workingpreacher.org.

[ii] “Strangely Warmed” podcast for Epiphany 3C

Second Sunday after Epiphany

John 2:1-11

In the gospel story of the wedding at Cana, the evangelist says, “The wine gave out.” (v. 3)

But I wonder if the guests even noticed.

Maybe among the servants there was a moment of panic. There weren’t corner stores where someone could pop over and replenish the supplies. There may have been anxiety and even shame at falling short, and not providing what was needed.

But my guess is that the guests whose cups were still full and who were enjoying the feast may not have even noticed the problem. At least not immediately.

Because we don’t often. When there aren’t enough of ____ fill in the blank ___ . A shortage of teachers or restaurant workers. Cereal boxes or drinks missing from the grocery aisles. We tend not to notice until it affects us directly. But at some point, the unmet needs go from being merely an inconvenience to being problems that need solutions.

In his gospel account, John doesn’t tell us who else knew the wine was gone, but when Jesus’ mother notices the problem, she goes to Jesus, full of expectation.

And when he turns the water into wine, the servants are in on it. They fill all six stone water jars to the brim with water and watch as one of them takes a cup to the chief steward. They know it was water and now it’s wine, and they know that Jesus was the one to take the ordinary and make it extraordinary.

But the steward doesn’t thank Jesus; instead, he credits the bridegroom, saying, “You have kept the good wine until now.” (v. 11)

When a good thing happens to you, or you see a problem gets fixed, what is your first thought?

Do you think, “Oh, someone clever has worked this out.”?

Or do you think, “Thank you God for making a way forward.”?

Ok, maybe that’s a bit of a false dichotomy or comparison.

In the gospel story, each of the stone jars would have held between 20 to 30 gallons of water and all of that water had to be brought from a well. There were no garden hoses or faucets. So, filling the jars to the brim wouldn’t have been as quick or easy as the story makes it appear. It would have taken time and strength, energy and patience.

We don’t know what would have happened if the servants had just thrown up their hands and said, “We can’t help.” The servants did some hard work here.

AND God is at work behind the scenes.

I will name that Jesus’ initial reluctance to get involved makes me uncomfortable. I cherish the promise that God is with us in every circumstance – big and small – and I don’t like the feeling of distance Jesus creates here. I want Jesus to be compassionate about every need and he appears dismissive here. And sure, it’s wine at a wedding and not life or death, but it’s still awkward.

Jesus explains his reticence, saying, “My hour has not come” – a phrase he repeats two more times in chapters 7 and 8 when he was threatened with arrest on account of his teaching. With that phrase, he is referring to the hour when the Son of Man will be glorified and depart from this world to be with the Father – the hour of his crucifixion. (John 12)

But thankfully after the exchange with his mother, Jesus chooses to act, even now. He sees the need that is there and answers it. He is there - even for the small things.

It makes me curious about how we notice needs and how we could help each other see what we may not see on our own. There’s a saying that “You can’t unsee what you’ve seen.”

I’ve told you a little about Trailhead Resources – a local organization that is meeting the neds of people experiencing homelessness here in Shelby. At the end of the summer, I helped with the group’s day shelter over on Warren Street that is open on Tuesdays. Everyone is welcome inside, off the street, and there’s a food pantry and lunch. In December they expanded their services, opening an emergency men’s shelter on Washington Street just across the street from our church property.

At Trailhead, I got to know a woman here in Shelby who doesn’t have regular housing. A lot of the time, she spends her days at her storage unit and then sleeps on a loading dock at night. She sleeps there because it’s well-lit and nobody bothers her. The other place where she feels safe to sleep is on the benches on the court square. One time we helped her get a motel room so she could get out of the wet for a night. Later we got her a sleeping bag to help against the cold.

Knowing her has helped me be a little more curious about the stories of other people I meet and helped me notice when I see someone who looks like they’re carrying their belongings with them or have set up camp on the side of a building. I can’t unsee them or deceive myself that everyone has someplace dry or warm or even safe to live.

The wedding at Cana assures us that God wants good for us. The God who changes water into wine so that the people can continue to celebrate the couple’s new life together is the same God who notices us and the joys and celebrations – and suffering – that we experience too.

And this same God invites us to be attentive to the unmet needs that we witness. Like Jesus’ mother we can name those needs aloud. That’s what we do when we pray isn’t it?

“Dear God, This is happening. There’s this problem in the world. Surely, you can do something about it.”

“Dear God, There are people this weekend whose only shelter is a tent. Keep them safe.”

“Dear God, There are hospitals that are stretched thin because of staff outages from COVID. Equip the hospitals and provide the workers with all they need.”

This story reminds us that we know how to be part of God’s work in this way.

And it compels us to be thankful. When we notice how God intervenes, the way things fall into place or the good that happens, may we credit not only the people involved but God’s own agency. May we always be thankful and rejoice that God loves us and wants good for us.

Amen.

Baptism of our Lord

Isaiah 43:1-7

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Every year, just weeks after we rejoice at the Christmas story and how our Savior Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and days after we celebrate the magi’s gifts at Epiphany, we fast forward to this story and hear how our Lord Jesus - now a thirty-something year old man - was baptized in the waters of the river Jordan by his cousin John. The story is the hinge on the door through which we enter Jesus’ earthly ministry.

His ministry is christened with his Father’s words, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22) These words are an affirmation of who God knows Jesus to be;
confirmation that he belongs to God;
and a declaration God loves him.

God’s words to Jesus in Luke’s gospel echo those in Isaiah 43 when God tells God’s people, “I have called you by name, you are mine…you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you.”

Affirmation. Confirmation. Declaration.

With these saving and redeeming words, God draws us into life with God.

In Isaiah, God is addressing an exiled Israel, a sinful and defeated community. And we hear God’s judgment in Isaiah 42 before these verses. God doesn’t pretend that the people haven’t sinned or turned away from God and God doesn’t give them license to ignore God’s commands and be self-indulgent.

But as the Psalmist recalls, God is the one who formed our inward parts and knit us together (Psalm 139), so God already knows us from the inside out.

And the same God who created us and witnesses our sinfulness and defiance says, “You are mine.”

God says, “You are my child and that is your identity – not your occupation, education or your income, not your politics or your neighborhood.” Our identity is only found in the Lord our God who created us and rescues us from bondage to sin.

And the Good News is that this same God – the One who created us and names us “children of God” - loves us despite our sin and brokenness.

That is grace.
Grace says, “You are enough.”
Grace says, “You made a mistake, but you are not a mistake.”
Grace says, “I love you still.”

More than thirty years ago now, in college, I hit a low point in my life where I could not hear those words. But through the people God put in my life like Lori, a classmate who later became my roommate, and Tim, a high school friend who was at JMU with us, God gave me ears to hear of God’s amazing grace and finally understand that grace was for me, too.

God’s promised and unconditional grace is at the heart of my ministry because as a pastor I get to tell you each how much God loves you even when you can’t hear it or believe it:

You, yes, you, are precious, honored and loved by God because you belong to God.

As we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord, we celebrate God’s words of affirmation, confirmation and declaration for Jesus and for us. 

In the Lutheran tradition, we recognize baptism as God’s action for us. God is saving. God is redeeming. “In the waters of baptism, we understand that God marks us and claims us as God’s children. In the waters of baptism, God seals God’s love for us, no matter what we might have done and what might happen.”[i]

So today, and every day, we are encouraged to remember our own baptisms – not necessarily the event of them, but the meaning of them. Wherever you find water, whether it’s at a bathroom sink or in the rain falling from the sky outside, when you feel the splash of water upon your face, thank God for claiming you, naming you and saving you.

Let us pray….

Good and gracious God,

Thank you for loving us so much that you sent your Son Jesus to live among your people that we would know how much you love us.

Thank you for knitting us together and forming us as your children and your people.

And thank you for your grace – abundant and bountiful, forgiving and loving – especially when we do not deserve it.

Show us how to love others with the love you have given us that they would know they too are precious, honored and loved.

We pray in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen.

---

[i] David L. Bartlett; Barbara Brown Taylor. Feasting on the Word: Year C, Volume 1: Advent through Transfiguration . Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.