Today in the Spirit: Epiphany 4C
After considering in worship our Lord’s baptism and the events of his ministry while still in Judea, we move ahead in the Epiphany season to the accounts of the revelation of the Son of God in Galilee. Following Luke in Year C, we will now spend two Sundays meditating on an important occurrence that took place in Nazareth, Jesus’ hometown, before or soon after he settled in Capernaum.
At Epiphany 4 each year, the overall theme of light in the world by the manifestation of the Son of God in Israel suffers the introduction of some darker colors. The teachings of Jesus and the narratives about him begin to highlight the threat of opposition to the gospel, even to the point of severe persecution. The assigned Gospel reading for Epiphany 4C from Luke 4:21-32 is the second part of the narrative of our Lord’s visit to his hometown of Nazareth, where Jesus has all but called himself the Messiah in a synagogue sermon. While at first “marveled” by Jesus’ words, the people resent what they perceive to be condescension and condemnation on the part of the visiting rabbi and resolve to kill him. In the power of God, Jesus escapes unharmed: “But passing through their midst, he went away” (30).
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The assigned OT reading from Jeremiah 1:4-10 is the account of the call of Jeremiah as a young man into service as a prophet of YHWH. It is a call to speak the word of the LORD even to “kingdoms and nations” and stand against opposition from every side. But with the hard commission comes the promise of God’s presence: “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord” (8).
Psalm 71 comes up three times over the course of the three-year cycle (Epiphany 7A, Epiphany 4C, Proper 2A). In between the OT and Gospel readings this week, we can imagine the section appointed of this for this week , Psalm 71:11-21, as giving us the words of Jeremiah as he brings the word of God to hostile nations, or those of Jesus as he faces the frenzied crowd in Nazareth: “Go not far from me, O God; my God, make haste to help me. Let those who are my adversaries be confounded and perish; let those who seek to do me evil be covered with shame and dishonor. As for me, I will always patiently abide, and will praise you more and more” (11-13, BCP, New Coverdale).
The assigned NT reading from 1 Corinthians 14:12-25 is the third in this year’s series of readings in Epiphany out of that epistle. Here, Paul extends his earlier argument in this section of the letter, appealing for unity in the local church regarding the use of spiritual gifts in worship. Tongues, like all spiritual gifts, should edify the body and so be interpreted: “So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret” (12-13).
The appointed Collect is well suited to this week’s theme in the reading in which the servants of God are called to face serious opposition. The prayer acknowledges two facts about the faithful Christian’s life circumstances: that “we are set in the midst of many grave dangers” and that “because of the frailty of our nature, we cannot always stand upright.” Humbled by that knowledge, we pray for “strength and protection” through every trial.
The Collect
O God, you know that we are set in the midst of many grave dangers, and because of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright: Grant that your strength and protection may support us in all dangers and carry us through every temptation; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Now the Word of the LORD Came to Me (Jeremiah 1:4-10)
4 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
Jeremiah 1:4-10
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak,
for I am only a youth.”
7 But the Lord said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’;
for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,
and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
8 Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
declares the Lord.”
9 Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth.
And the Lord said to me,
“Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
10 See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to break down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.”
See how YHWH equips and encourages Jeremiah for the task of becoming “a prophet to the nations” (5). In support of a hard calling “to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant” (10), God has words of deep assurance for Jeremiah pertaining to the past, present, and future. I call them “deep” in the sense that they are profound beyond human reckoning, revelation out of the knowledge of God, as to the deep past. YHWH informs Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you and before you were born I consecrated you” (5). With respect to the deep present, Jeremiah receives heat from heaven on his mouth, which God tells him explicitly is the power to speak the word of God with effect, “Behold I have put my words in your mouth” (9). (In this case, don’t miss the humor in the text as God’s big “behold” (9) overrules Jeremiah’s little “behold” (6)). And as for the future, Jeremiah hears God’s assurance that no opposition, however formidable, will defeat him, “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you” (8).
It is not only biblical prophets and apostles who receive these promises with heavenly origin. From Paul’s letter to the Ephesians alone, we find words of deep assurance that apply to all Christians called to walk in his service. As to the deep past, we learn: “…he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” (1:3). About the deep future, we find that just as Jeremiah was given a deposit of words, we have received the “seal” of the Holy Spirit, “who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (1:13-14). And, regarding the present, we, like Jeremiah, are assured of protection from opposition with God’s “full armor:” “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm” (6:13).
Today, Holy Spirit, seeing that I am no less equipped for ministry than Jeremiah with deep assurances from the mouth of the Father, I take up the call to “good works, which God prepared beforehand that [I] should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).
Forsake Me Not, O God, in My Old Age (Psalm 71:11-20)
11 Go not far from me, O God; *
Psalm 71:11-20, New Coverdale Psalter (BCP 2019)
my God, make haste to help me.
12 Let those who are my adversaries be confounded and perish; *
let those who seek to do me evil be covered with shame and dishonor.
13 As for me, I will always patiently abide, *
and will praise you more and more.
14 My mouth shall speak daily of your righteousness and salvation, *
for I know not the end of them.
15 I will go forth in the strength of the Lord God, *
and will make mention of your righteousness, yours alone.
16 You, O God, have taught me from my youth; *
even to this day I am telling of your wondrous works.
17 Forsake me not, O God, in my old age, when I am gray-headed, *
until I have proclaimed your strength to this generation, and your power to all those who are yet to come.
18 Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens; *
you have done great things. Who is like you, O God?
19 Oh, what great troubles and adversities you have shown me! And yet you have turned and refreshed me; *
indeed, you have brought me again from the depths of the earth.
20 You have brought me to great honor *
and comforted me on every side.
There is a real grittiness to prayer psalms like this one. From the language in this text (“even to this day” and “my old age”) it appears to be the petition of an old man. His need is desperate, and his lamentation profound. He suffers from “adversaries…who seek to do me evil” (12), maybe even deathly illness (19). Earlier in the psalm, he describes himself as a “portent” (7, ESV), suggesting he has become something of a Job figure in public, a man who has fallen from prosperity to deprivation and receiving scorn from his peers. With all that, reciting the words of this song in our worship, we find the declarations of faith in YHWH to be far more profound than the lamentations of suffering. “Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens; you have done great things. Who is like you, O God?” (18). This old man is not merely wishing for help from a divinity he hardly understands. He calls on YHWH by the prophets’ name, “O Holy One of Israel,” and resolves to return to what appears to be a leadership position in temple worship (see vv. 21-23).
Your theology may be accurate and your religion disciplined, but the question this psalm raises is, will your house of faith stand up against your own experiences of mounting adversity? The age-old question, “Do you know the Lord, or do you just know about him?” applies here. Do you relate to him only by reputation or through the long experience of walking with him side-by-side over time? The good news is that it is not up to us to conjure within ourselves the strength of faith we find in this psalm. Just so, we are reassured by Paul’s invocation to the One God on behalf of the Thessalonian church: “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it” (1 Thess. 5:23-24).
Today, Holy Spirit, work in me the gritty, abiding faith of the old man in Psalm 71.
Foreigner (1 Corinthians 14:12-25)
10 “There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, 11 but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. 12 So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. 13 Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. 15 What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.
1 Corinthians 14:10-15
The phrase “So with yourselves” (12) is an awkward place to begin this reading as it picks up Paul mid-argument. To understand what the “so” refers to, we really need to start at v. 10 (see above). There, we learn from the apostle’s counsel that in our worship, we should not do anything to make ourselves or anyone else like a “foreigner” (Gk. barbaros, like “barbarian”). The sense of alienation Paul wants to avoid is not that which might arise from odd behavior that people understand (he is not afraid that Christians should appear counter-cultural) but specifically the unintelligibility of language. So, in the more literal NASB translation: “So if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be unintelligible to the one who speaks, and the one who speaks will be unintelligible to me” (11).
Let me take a bit of a detour around spiritual gifts to make what I believe to be a more pressing devotional application here. This passage goes indirectly to something we Christians from traditional denominations, especially we Anglicans, need to get a grip on. Never mind tongues (not much of a concern in most of our churches anyway), our worry deep down as many of us look around at our small congregations, may be that our ancient liturgy, with its formal language and the up-and-down body movements, is too traditional, archaic and “foreign” to people in modern society. Underneath, we may be concerned that the form and formulae handed down to us as Anglicans may be too “unintelligible” to be relevant for the community around us.
Now hear this: irrelevance and unintelligibility are not the same thing. Yes, we may need to be concerned that our form of worship is not so ancient as to be unintelligible, but biblically, we find that relevance itself means very little when it comes to church best practices. The fact is that the gospel itself is “irrelevant” to most of the world’s people. As long as we can be clearly understood—and we can—we need to go ahead, worship with passion, proclaim the good news, believe it to be true, and edify one another in the community of faith.
Today, in the Spirit, Lord, hearing Paul’s concern for intelligibility in worship, let us see to that–but without becoming preoccupied with people feeling like we are foreigners due to irrelevance.
His Word Possessed Authority (Luke 4:21-32)
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. 31 And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, 32 and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority.
Luke 4:21-32
Notice the different language Luke uses in this text to describe how the people from two towns receive Jesus’ teaching: “All spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words” (22) in Nazareth, and “they were astonished at his teaching, for his world possessed authority” (32) in Capernaum (see also 4:36). Luke clearly means for the reader to make the comparison. In Greek and English, “spoke well” and “marveled at” are less intense than “astonished.” Also, “gracious words” suggest more an attraction to Jesus’ personality and ability to speak than the message of God’s mercy. The people of Nazareth are impressed by the speaker, while the people of Capernaum confess his “authority,” and the results are exceedingly different.
Now, I do not want to make too much of this. No doubt, not everyone in Nazareth was ready to push Jesus off the cliff, nor was everyone in Capernaum prepared to leave everything and follow him. Devotionally, however, we do well to take note of the difference between these two responses and monitor how they each interact in our hearts personally (and as a congregation). One Sunday in church, we might hear the words of Jesus with all due admiration but then easily slip back into living life under our own supervision. It’s not murdering Jesus, but we take the warning from Hebrews that persistent falling away amounts to “crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace” (Heb. 6:6). Another Sunday, we hear the word. It cuts us to the quick with its “authority.” With God’s help, conviction leads to fresh repentance and renewed obedience.
Today, Spirit of Jesus, guard my heart so that I might hear the word of God with the authority that causes me to surrender to your will.
Today in the Spirit
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