+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Luke 4:14-21
Theme: Word, Rest, Freedom
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Jesus went to church. That fact may seem unsurprising, but it is also profound. Today’s summary of Jesus’ preaching in His hometown of Nazareth is an inexhaustible well of soul-refreshing water. Jesus said, “Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.”1 Mindful of this, we’ll take three sips of this water in the next few minutes hoping to imbibe the following truths: 1) the authority of Scripture in relation to the gospel, 2), the meaning of the Sabbath and importance of public worship, and, 3) the relationship between the One who frees and those of us who are freed. Scripture, sabbath, freedom- these are our foci.
We begin with the words of Jesus that conclude our reading for today. “[Jesus] began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."2 He is referring to the prophecy of Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good new to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed…”3 Jesus is more than the bearer of good tidings. He is the incarnation of God’s promises. What the Spirit promises comes true in Jesus.
Jesus recognises the words of Isaiah as the words of Holy Scripture. This gives clear credibility to the prophetic proclamation. The Son of God treats Scripture as the word of God. Throughout His ministry Jesus validates the reliability of the Old or ‘First’ Testament. Modern attempts to dismiss the authority of the OT should deal honestly with the witness of Jesus. Christianity is fully reliant on a complete interdependence between Jesus, the God-in-the-flesh Messiah, and the Scriptures, the written word of God. The one cannot be marginalized at the expense of the other. Salvation comes only through trusting in the sin-atoning death, and life-sustaining resurrection of Jesus Christ for sinners. The Holy Spirit creates faith through this proclamation of the gospel. The gospel, however, is only part of the wider witness of Scripture. The credibility of the gospel is reliant on the authority of Scripture. The Jesus of the Bible is the only Jesus we can know with certainty. And Jesus is never at odds with the teachings of the Bible.
Secondly, Jesus went to church. He went to the synagogue. His example alone should be enough to settle any questions about the necessity of attending public worship. Christ was only doing what the faithful have always done. The Third Commandment says,"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”4 Luther offers a succinct explanation. “What does this mean? We should fear and love God that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred, and gladly hear and learn it.”5 The Sabbath day for Christians is about reverence for God’s word. It is a time of spiritual rest and worship. The Sabbath, rightly understood, is a welcomed relief from the rigors of daily life. God’s house is a sanctuary and His people migrants who have found a permanent home. No matter what day public worship is held- Sunday through to Saturday- it is a participation in the Sabbath.
The fact that God even welcomes us into His house is an astonishing miracle. Your sins are such a serious affront to God’s holiness that it merits exclusion from His presence for eternity. It’s no small gesture on God’s part that He forgives your debt of sins and throws open the gates of heaven. It’s not a matter of courtesy. Christ was nailed to a cross to make it possible. Every time we walk through the doors into God’s house it’s a foreshadowing of entering into His presence in heaven.
So, attendance in God’s house should be routine, habitual, but the struggle to prevent it is very, very real. Satan delights in dictating our schedules. He does this overtly, as when he convinces us to do something out of selfishness because we are arrogant, or angry or lazy. He does it with finesse, as when he convinces us that some alternative activity is more noble or important. If you think the suggestion of demonic intrusion is too brazen or too preachy, think only of your own sinful nature and how easily you can be led astray through weakness, peer-pressure, or selfishness.
At some juncture we reached the tipping point- and this reality is in a state of flux- where it has become inconvenient, and even counter-cultural to preference attending the public liturgy above other things. That is, it’s no longer fashionable or considered desirable to go to church regularly. The statistics are undeniable. Of all people, Christ understood that faith is not a private matter. Though our faith is personal- no one can believe for us, and we can’t believe for anyone else- it is never completely private. The fellowship of the faithful is a communal gathering. Your convictions are established, tested, and confirmed, through interaction with others. This interaction is facilitated by the Holy Spirit working through the word. Reciprocity in sharing the divine things characterizes our common life together. The baptized gather together, eating the holy meal together, receiving God’s admonition, forgiveness, and instruction together.
Thirdly, Jesus says today He has been sent to proclaim freedom. Public worship is the place where those who are bound in sin become free. The nature of this truth strikes right at the heart of the gospel. The core of the Bible’s message is the one-way direction of God’s activity from Him to us. He humbles Himself by being conceived of the Virgin. He endures suffering. He absorbs the divine wrath. He succumbs to death. God initiates. He perseveres. He completes. We can do none of these things. In so doing, He justifies sinners by grace through faith. Resurrected on the third day, ascended to the Father’s throne of power, Christ lives, never to suffer death again. He has subdued Satan, He has conquered death.
So, God doesn’t forgive you (thus freeing you) if you love Him first. His promise is not dependent on the strength or sincerity of your devotion. You have His forgiveness when you believe Him…no strings attached, no conditions appended. Now, you might be thinking, isn’t it conditional on our repentance? Well, your reception of forgiveness can be understood in that way, but the validity of God’s promise is not dependent on your repentance. Our repentance does not trigger God’s forgiveness. Making God’s forgiveness, or the certainty of His pardon, or, put conversely, the certainty that He accepts us, conditional on our repentance is like saying that our traveling north is conditional on us not heading south. If you’re heading south and you’ve been turned around- and this is what repentance is: God turning us around from self-destruction to divine restitution-now you’re heading north.
This isn’t all much to do about nothing, an exercise in tedious repetitiveness because we already knew that God loves us, or an advanced course for the super-spiritual who are seeking a higher degree of piety. Making the forgiveness of God dependent in any way on human action is like saying to the clearly guilty criminal “You can be released from jail free of charge if you can prove your innocence.” The Bible says, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”6
You are free. The guilt of sin no longer binds you to the punishment of God. But what are you freed for? To what purpose are you freed? You are not given license to sin, but to serve. You are not freed from the will of God. You are not freed to be a self-subsisting, self-managed being. You are not spiritually self-reliant or self-supporting. Your freedom entails subordination. You are subordinate to the design of God’s kingdom, Christ’s church, according to His patterns and purposes. In being subject to God’s created order you have freedom. You are freed to show love that is extraordinary. St. Paul says today, “You are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it,”7 and as such you are a recipient of the extraordinary love of God.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Third Sunday After Epiphany
27 January 2019
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 John 4:14
2 Luke 4:21
3 Luke 4:18
4 Exodus 20:8
5 Luther’s Small Catechism
6 John 8:36
7 1 Corinthians 12:27
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