The Third Sunday after Epiphany (CL)

Luke 4:14-30

¹⁴ And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about 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 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

to proclaim 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.

This passage generally comes down to people wanting to throw Jesus off a cliff. Just like most meetings, they end with someone wanting to throw someone off a cliff. But this passage is more about fulfillment. God placed his Spirit upon the prophet Moses, and upon the prophet Isaiah. This passage is fulfilled in their hearing because Jesus has the Spirit of God placed upon him.

Many people like to think this is the shortest sermon every. The crowd even feels a little annoyed by the fact that Jesus did not give them some long instruction. But it is not the shortest sermon, nor are they really annoyed because they want more instruction. It comes down to can anything good come from Nazareth. In Jesus' home town the people know his immediate family. They knew him from a child. How could this man be so great and important.

Not all of us get to have a St Paul conversion, or a narrative story like Moses. We often do not get the wilderness journey like John the Baptist. But the truth is that each of us get the Holy Spirit in our Baptism. The spirit is upon you so that you can proclaim forgiveness of sins in Christ Jesus. Jesus can say these words are fulfilled because he has the Spirit of God. He also can say they are fulfilled because God gives the Holy Spirit to each of you. He has forgiven you all your sins.