Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Jan. 30, 2022 (Epiphany 4C)


First Reading: Jeremiah 1:4-10

If not us, then who? If not now, when? We hear this familiar call to mission echoed through Sunday’s readings, beginning with Jeremiah, one of the great prophets of the Hebrew Bible.

Jeremiah foresaw destruction and exile for Jerusalem because the people had forgotten their covenant to follow God’s way. But like most of the prophets, Jeremiah was not eager for his role. Jeremiah thought he was too young for such a chore. “I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy,” Jeremiah said in response to God’s call. But God, reminding Jeremiah that God had consecrated him as a prophet before he was born, gave strength to Jeremiah’s spirit and sent him out with the words and the authority to warn his people.

Psalm: Psalm 71:1-6

The Psalmist sings in harmony with God’s message to Jeremiah: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” In the Psalm, too, we sing gratitude to God who sustains us and who has been our strength since before we were born, since we were carried in our mother’s womb. We sing only the first seven of the entire Psalm’s 24 verses on Sunday, but the message of this Psalm is consistent throughout: God is our rock and refuge. We sing thanksgiving for God’s presence and protection. Our trust in God’s strength gives us hope.

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Now we hear Paul’s beloved celebration of love, a passage that the Book of Common Prayer suggests for use in weddings. Paul is not speaking of romantic love here, of course; the Greek word “agape” represents a gentle but powerful selfless love. Agape binds us all as worshipers in Christian community. Agape gives us the strength to carry out God’s work together. These words complete the readings that came before it in the previous two Sundays, in which Paul spoke of the way that God gives us all different gifts and calls us to different duties. We all work together like the parts of the body; each is important and all are necessary. Now we learn that love is the glue that holds the community together: Faith, hope and love abide, but love is the most important of all.

Gospel: Luke 4:21-30

Last Sunday we heard Jesus impressing his neighbors in the synagogue at Nazareth, declaring that he had come to fulfill Isaiah’s call to bring good news to the poor. Today, in Luke’s account, Jesus pushes them a little too far. First, he predicts that they will reject him because they knew him when he was a child: “No prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town.” Then he indicates that his good news might be for all the poor, not just the poor who are our friends and neighbors and part of our community: He reminds them of two Hebrew Bible stories in which God’s grace was given to Gentiles. At this they rise up, drive him out of town and threaten to throw him off a cliff. But Jesus slips away from his captors and goes back to Capernaum in Galilee to continue his work.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Feb. 3, 2019

First Reading: Jeremiah 1:4-10

As many of the biblical prophets learned, it is not easy to hear God’s call and shout it out to crowds that don’t want to hear it. But when God calls us, God stands with us. God knows us even before the moment of our birth.

In Sunday’s first reading we hear of Jeremiah, one of the major Hebrew Bible prophets who saw destruction and exile coming for Israel because the people had abandoned their covenant to follow God’s way. God called Jeremiah when he was only a boy. Jeremiah thought he was too young for such a responsibility. He feared his message would anger his hearers. But God put words in his mouth and strength in his spine and sent him out all the same.

Psalm: Psalm 71:1-6

The Psalmist sings in harmony with God’s reassurance to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” In the Psalm, too, we sing gratitude to God who sustains us and provides our strength since before we were born, since we were carried in our mother’s womb. We sing only the first seven of the entire Psalm’s 24 verses, but its message is consistent: God is our rock and refuge. We sing thanksgiving for God’s presence and protection. Our trust in God’s strength gives us hope.

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

This week we hear Paul’s beloved celebration of love! Paul is not speaking of romantic love here but the gentle but powerful selfless love (from the Greek word “agape”) that binds us all as worshipers in Christian community, giving us the strength to carry out God’s work together. These words complete the readings that came before it, in which Paul spoke of the way that God gives us all different gifts and calls us to different duties, all working together like the parts of the body, each important and all necessary. Now we hear that love is the glue that holds the community together. Faith, hope and love abide, but love is the most important of all.

Gospel: Luke 4:21-30

We hear the second part of the Gospel account that began last Sunday, when we heard Jesus telling his neighbors in the synagogue at Nazareth that he had come to fulfill Isaiah’s call to bring good news to the poor. Now, as Luke’s account continues, Jesus pushes a little too hard. First, he predicts that his neighbors will reject him because they knew him as a child, adding, “no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town.” Then he recalls two Bible stories in which God’s grace was given not to the chosen people but to Gentiles. This is clearly the last straw, as the entire synagogue congregation rises up, drives him out of town and tries to throw him off a cliff! Jesus slips away safely, and in the next chapter he and the apostles will move along to Capernaum on the shores of Galilee to begin his public ministry.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Jan. 31, 2016

First Reading: Jeremiah 1:4-10

God had big plans for Jeremiah, but Jeremiah wasn’t so sure. Even before Jeremiah was conceived, God tells the young man, God intended that Jeremiah would hold Israel to account and warn the nation to choose between repentance and destruction. Jeremiah tries to reject this call. “I don’t know how to speak! I’m only a boy!” But God is determined, and assures the youth that God will give him the words and the authority to deliver God’s message.

Psalm 71:1-6

Today’s Psalm seems consistent with Jeremiah’s fear of being God’s prophet. In these verses we call for God’s protection and help. We ask God to offer us a place of refuge and safety. We seek God’s protection from the wicked, the evildoer, and the oppressor. We call on God, who has known us since before our birth, and sustains us throughout our lives. God is our strength and our hope; we shall always praise God.

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13


During the past two Sundays we have heard Paul gently reminding the people of the church in Corinth to get along. God gives us all different gifts that contribute to the whole. The people of the church are like the parts of a body, each important, and all necessary. Today he brings it all together in this beloved passage, reminding us that love is the glue that holds the community together. Faith, hope and love abide, but love is the most important of all,

Gospel: Luke 4:21-30

Last Sunday we heard Jesus impressing his neighbors in the synagogue at Nazareth, declaring that he had come to fulfill Isaiah’s call to bring good news to the poor. Today, in Luke’s account, Jesus pushes them a little too far. First, he predicts that they will reject him because they knew him as a child. Then, suggesting that his good news might be for all the poor and not just our friends, he recalls two Bible stories in which God’s grace was given to Gentiles. At this they rise up, drive him out of town and threaten to throw him off a cliff. “No prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town,” indeed! But Jesus slips away, and goes back to Capernaum in Galilee to continue his work.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013.

First Reading: Jeremiah 1:4-10
If not us, then who? If not now, when? This call to mission goes back to Rabbi Hillel, not long before Jesus’s time. We hear it echoed in today’s readings, beginning with Jeremiah, another Old Testament prophet who foresaw destruction and exile coming for Israel because the people had forgotten their covenant to follow God’s way. Jeremiah thought he was too young for such a chore, and feared his message would anger his hearers. But God put words in his mouth and strength in his spine and sent him out. How do we listen for God’s call? Do we act in fear or trust?

Psalm 71:1-6
The full psalm from which today’s verses are taken is thought to represent the view of a poet-elder, looking back over life and singing thanks for God’s constant presence and protection. We hear cries for God’s help: “Deliver me! Rescue me! Listen! Save me!” And then, trust in God’s strength gives us hope. Sturdy rock and refuge and fortress; trustworthy rescuer and protector. Praise God, the Psalmist sings, for God has been there since the beginning.

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Here is Paul’s familiar celebration of love! Many of us think of this as a wedding reading, but it might surprise you to know that Paul is not speaking of romantic love but another emotion, translated from a different Greek word (“agape”). This is the gentle but powerful love that binds us all as worshipers in Christian community, giving us the strength to carry out God’s work together. Look around in church today. Think about the challenges we face. Then think about this reading again.

Gospel: Luke 4:21-30
We pick up right where we left off last week in Luke’s Gospel, with Jesus in his home-town synagogue. At first he wins the people’s applause, but then he gets himself in trouble right away, reminding them that Scripture’s call is to care for widows, lepers, outsiders. Jesus will go to “the least of these,” not just hang out comfortably with his friends and neighbors. Echoing Jeremiah’s plight, Jesus gets an angry, threatening response. But this doesn’t turn him from God’s call.