4th Sunday after Epiphany
Jeremiah 1:4-10; Psalm 71:1-6; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; Luke 4:21-30
The gospel for this 4th Sunday after Epiphany continues where we were left off last week (verses 16-21) when Jesus stood and read from Isaiah while worshiping in his hometown of Nazareth. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor… (Isaiah 61:1). After he declares this prophecy fulfilled on their presence (verse 21) the first reaction of those attending the Synagogue with him is of awe and pride towards the one they recognized as the son of Joseph. Nonetheless, the Son of God somewhat catches a whiff of what kind of thoughts his next-door neighbors might be developing upon realizing the significance of Jesus’ statement to them. He says, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’(23).”
The expression was well used in patronage systems of Jesus’ time to argue that one must not act on behalf of others without benefiting one’s own.1 Jesus goes on to remind them of the Hebrew scripture’s well-known accounts of Elijah (1 Kings 17:8-24) and Elisha (2 Kings 5:1-19) when both prophets fulfill the call of Israel to be light, healing, and release to the nations (Isaiah 42:6-7). That causes a dumpster fire in the village and now the beloved son must be killed (28-29) – a prelude to the cross.
Prophets are not to be people pleasers, but God pleasers. When Jeremiah is called to be the voice of the Lord for the nations (1:5), God declares he will be granted words “to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant (10).”
Prophetic or not, Paul asserts to the church in Corinth, which is struggling with conflict and divisions, that without agape, the sort of unselfish and sacrificing love that Jesus embodied, Christians are nothing (verse 2).
The psalmist pleas:
“In you, O LORD, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me and save me.
Be to me a rock of refuge,
a strong fortress to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress (Psalm 71:1-3, NRSVue).”
1 Joel B. Green, The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Gospel of Luke, pg. 216-217.
Bridging Faith 