Hi everyone,
Welcome to worship for this 3rd Sunday after the Epiphany, landing on January 26, 2025!
The bulletin for this service can be found here. In it, you’ll find the order and words of worship and the full sermon. You can use it to follow along with the service or just use the words that will appear on your screen. The sermon is also included on this page under the worship video.
If you’d like to enhance your online worship experience, you can have a candle in your space, lit at the beginning of the service and extinguished near the end when the altar candles are extinguished after the sending hymn. You are also welcome to participate in communion if you are comfortable, by having something small to eat and drink ready for the appropriate time. More instructions will be given then.
May God’s unending love and mercy be upon you, this day and always!
God of all wisdom, may we hear your Word for us this day, that we be drawn to the Spirit by the Spirit, through the life and teachings of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Amen. Alright, thanks for coming out everyone, I’ll see you all later…
What? If Jesus could get away a one-liner sermon, why can’t I? Well, I guess maybe me not being Jesus might have something to do with it? I mean, if I were to get up on a Sunday, preach only a single sentence, and then go and sit down, that would have to be some sentence, am I right? It’d have to be supremely deep and meaningful. It’d have to be clear, concise, and absolutely mic drop worthy and not plagiarizing at all, at least without giving proper credit, nor AI generated whatsoever.
So I probably wouldn’t be able to get away with just a one-liner sermon. But I guess if you think about it, Jesus didn’t really get away with this one line sermon either, as we’ll see in the people’s reaction to his sermon in next week’s readings. Spoiler alert: they try to throw him off a cliff. This week, however, we’ll be looking at the sermon itself.
We are familiar with this story, aren’t we? If not before today, we probably are now as we just heard it read to us. But in case you weren’t paying attention, basically Jesus was in his hometown attending worship at his home church where he was signed up to be the lector for that day. The scroll of Isaiah was given to him, which is no surprise as Isaiah was like the most popular of the Old Testament scriptures, which in those days, they just called it “scriptures.” I mean, no other book is quoted and used as much as Isaiah throughout the New Testament, which in those days, they just called it “now.”
And so Jesus scrolled through that scroll until he got to the part which we are unsure if he chose because he liked or was the assigned lectionary text for the day, but to that part of Isaiah that proclaims good news, release for the captives, recovery of sight for the blind, freedom for the oppressed, and the year of the Lord’s favour. All that sounds great, don’t it? A lot of good stuff in there that brings hope, joy, and peace to the troubled heart. There’s a lot of sermon fodder in that text that shouldn’t be too hard for any level of preacher to cobble something together from it.
But Jesus? He came up with that one line. And as I said, next week we’ll see how his short sermon almost got him killed. Why on earth were the people so riled up over it? I mean, I’ve preached bad sermons before, but no one ever wanted to kill me over them, that I know of at least. What was it in this one line that was so offensive to them?
To be fair, I’m not so sure if it was the length of Jesus’ sermon that bothered them so much as the content of it. It was likely more about what he said rather than how long it took him to say it. It wasn’t the quantity of words that was so offensive to them, but how those particular words hit where they were. You’d think that these 9 words wouldn’t be all that offensive, right? “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” That doesn’t sound offensive to us at all, it actually sounds more like good news. Good news in that the wait is over. Good news in that the time is now. Good news in that today, we’ll see God at work in and around our lives.
But maybe that was the thing. Good news can be offensive.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we should intentionally offend people when sharing the good news. Nor am I saying that whenever we’re offended by something that it’s actually good news and we’re just overreacting. I’m not even saying that if we ain’t offended then it ain’t good news, either.
Rather, I’m saying that sometimes we are offended even when we hear good news because for various reasons, it doesn’t sound like good news to us. Sometimes that good news can be triggering or bring up past trauma or pain. Sometimes that good news actually sounds like bad news.
You know what I mean, don’t you? Like maybe you’re a firm believer of the saying, “if it’s too good to be true, then it probably isn’t.” Or maybe you brush off every vendor at every store who promises you an instant discount on your purchase if you sign up for their store card. Or maybe, like I once did, you almost threw away a $50 gift card because you’ve become so skeptical of all these “junk ads” that kept coming in the mail.
Or perhaps you or someone you know wonder about being saved and how we could probably just take care of ourselves instead. Or maybe you or someone you know scoffs at the thought of being loved, because the “love” that had been received from past broken relationships might be something that is best avoided. Or maybe you or someone you know takes offense at being promised to be set free, because children of Abraham have never been slaves to anyone, so that freedom isn’t needed.
See we might find these things offensive because in being given them, that could mean that we need them. Because we’re offered it, that could mean that we weren’t able to obtain or gain it on our own merit. If we accept it, then we are admitting to our own failures and faults and weaknesses. And in this day and age, that kind of vulnerability is just not something that we want to put out there to be exploited and taken advantage of.
Don’t believe me? How often, when we’re asked how we’re doing, we just say “ok” when we’re really not ok? How often do we not accept help because we think that we can do it ourselves, take care of ourselves, and handle whatever situation by ourselves? How often are we reluctant to admit that we’re wrong or in need or lost?
If you’re anything like me, then the answer to all that would be like, daily. Daily I pretend that I’m stronger than I am. Daily I hide behind these walls that I’ve put up to protect me from the hurt and pain and traumas of the past. Daily I tell myself that I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and gosh darn it, people like me.
Daily, I subconsciously tell myself that I don’t need anyone but me.
And in all of that, Jesus comes in and says, “uh, actually…”
Jesus, this relatively unknown character at this point who blends into the background. Jesus, this kid from the bricks that we might have watched grow up. Jesus, this under-qualified, under-educated, under-ordinary dude is telling us that he’s here to give us good news and that he’s anointed to save us? The nerve of this guy. No wonder they wanted him dead.
But you know what? Jesus isn’t wrong. Today is the day that we receive good news. Today is the day that God is revealed to be with us and shows us grace and mercy. Today is the day that we are redeemed, freed, saved, and brought into our Lord’s everlasting and unending favour.
But we don’t receive this good news because we need it or because we’re lacking or because we’re weak. While all that could very well be true, that isn’t why it is offered to us. Instead, we are given all of this because God so very dearly and wholly loves us. Just as a parent might love their child in spite of the defiance and attempts to break free to be independent. Just as a child might love their parent in spite of the constant nagging, bad timing, and expectation to do something when the lack of wine threatens to ruin the wedding celebration. Just we all share love among our companions, comrades, and community, so God loves us and even more than that, more than we could ever ask for or imagine. And out of that love for us, God brings us good news of release and recovery. God provides for us forgiveness and salvation. God frees us from the sin that holds us down, the selfishness that keeps us from right relationship, and the stubbornness that makes us think that we don’t need anyone else but ourselves. And even then God welcomes us all into God’s favour, and tells us that we belong.
God shows us, fills us, and lifts us up with this love. God holds us, unites us, and blesses us with this love. God, very simply put, is this love.
God is love for us, through us, and in spite of us. God is love always and forever, for all of eternity. God is love… today.
So in this season after the Epiphany and beyond, may we continue to see God’s love for us all through the life and teachings of Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit. Thanks be to God. Amen.