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Sentence

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 13:14 

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Collect  

Living God, 

in Christ you make all things new:

transform the poverty of our nature

by the riches of your grace,

and in the renewal of our lives

make known your glory;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who is alive and reigns with you and 

the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

Readings

• Jeremiah 1:4-10
• Psalm 71:1-6
• 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
• Luke 4:21-30

next week

• Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13)
• Psalm 138
• 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
• Luke 5:1-11

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A Thought to Ponder

Epiphany 4 – Luke 4:21-30

 “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.”

There is a cost to being a prophet; to proclaim what is right, just, and good can be a lonely, isolating experience.

Today’s Gospel continues last Sunday’s account of Jesus’ teaching in the synagogue at Nazareth. After proclaiming the fulfilment of Isaiah’s vision of the Messiah (last Sunday’s Gospel), Jesus sits down – the posture assumed by one who is about to teach – and begins by explaining in no uncertain terms that he cannot perform any healings or miracles there because of their lack of faith. He teaches the Messiah does not come for Nazareth alone but for every race, culture and nation of every place and age.

His explanation is met with indignation and anger. Many Jews of the time were so convinced they were God’s own people they despised everyone else. They could not accept Jesus’ idea that others – Gentiles! – were as loved by God as they were. Jesus is forced to leave his hometown.

Standing up for what is right, speaking out for such things as ethics and justice, are the call of the prophet. To speak – and to listen – as prophets demands the courage and conviction to risk isolation, ridicule, and persecution for sake of the justice and mercy of God.

God continues to raise up parents and teachers, preachers and ministers, friends, and classmates to help us realise our own call to be prophets of God’s word, to embrace God’s grace enabling us to transform our own Nazareth into God’s dwelling place.  The core of the Gospel is the revelation that God became what we are so we can better understand what God is and grasp what God is about: love, forgiveness, compassion, justice, peace.       

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Sermon

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You can read the Pew Sheet here

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