Promise Kept
Epiphany 3
January 26, 2025
Fr. Tim Nunez
May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
This morning we pick up with Luke’s account of the onset of Jesus‘s public ministry. This passage comes immediately after his temptation in the wilderness, and he’s now empowered by the same spirit that both descended upon him at his baptism and drove him into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan.
But we can see this isn’t the very first thing he does. Luke tells us that when he came to Nazareth, it was after he had been teaching in some other synagogues and was praised by everyone. Perhaps that praise was in part because of the miracle at Cana, which we heard about last week from John’s gospel. We can’t know that for sure.
What we do know for sure is that Nazareth, his hometown, was very small. It has a population today of about 85,000, but in Jesus’s time it was a just about 500 people. Jesus comes to this place where everyone would know everyone, where everyone has watched him grow up from just after his birth.
The first half of our worship service is modeled on synagogue worship. It would have prayers, some singing, including the psalms, hear some scripture and some commentary on that reading, like a sermon. Then they would have some more prayers. They would pray the Shema, a core statement of their faith.
So Jesus is the guest preacher and he got to pick out what he wanted to preach on. He turns to this passage from Isaiah, which are the opening verses of Isaiah chapter 61:
The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of side to the blind, to let the oppressed, go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
Then he does something very curious. He hands the scroll back to the attendant and sits down. All the people’s eyes are fixed on him because they expect him to preach! He’s the guest preacher after all! They don’t get it, but Jesus has nothing more to say because the passage said it all about him. I have to think that some awkward time elapsed here. Jesus, sitting there all serene and peaceful, the people looking at him wondering what the heck is going on. My Jesus responds with this very curious statement, “Today the scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.“ Has been. Not, “is about to be fulfilled,” but “has been.”
As far as we can tell, Jesus has not done these things yet. He has not yet called his disciples. He has not begun his healing ministry. He has not confronted the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the lawyers, the scribes, or the Temple priests yet. He hasn’t fed the 5000. He hasn’t walked on water. He hasn’t had his triumphal arrival in Jerusalem. He hasn’t been arrested, gone to trial or been crucified. Nor has he risen from the dead. Not yet!
On one level we could take this to be a simple embrace of the prophecy that says “I’m here!” But we can also take that statement as a proclamation that the promise is being fulfilled, meaning it has been fulfilled simply because Jesus is here.
The Wednesday before last, we were blessed to host missionaries that we support in Southeast Asia, the Reverend Loren Fox, and his wife Linda. Lauren preached the Wednesday evening service and he and Linda shared about their ministry. (They coach and support missionaries who go into countries and regions where Jesus is not known at all, and in any cases, evangelism is illegal.)
In his sermon, Lauren made a very simple and profound point. He reminded us that God, seeing the root of our suffering and sin, didn’t send us an instruction manual. He didn’t send us a prescription. He sent us his Son.
With that in mind, the mere arrival of Jesus is the fulfillment of all of God‘s promises. Sure, he has lots yet to say and lots yet to do. But he’s here. And that is the good news. The kingdom of God is at hand. It’s not yet fully manifest, but the beginning is the onset of Hope and the rest is details.
There’s a dynamic in our lives and in our faith that very much flows this way. We can look this morning at this passage from Nehemiah. You will hopefully recall that Isaiah was writing to Israel when they were in exile and Babylon and longing to return to the promised land. When Cyrus of Persia conquered Babylon, and resolved to restore Israel to their homeland, Nehemiah felt a burning call from God to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem that have been broken down in the siege 70 years before. Cyrus supported his call and sent him to do the work.
When you build a wall, when you build anything, you have to start with the foundations and build up from there. There’s no point in building if you don’t do that first.
And the rebuilding of walls, while practical, was also symbolic of what the people truly needed when they were being reestablished. They needed to be reestablished in their covenant with the Lord. Nehemiah gathered the people together so that they could be re-grounded in the law that helped the shape and define them as a people before God.
They are so convicted of their need for this rebuilding of their foundations that they weep not in sorrow, but in love of their Lord, who has done this great thing for them. This is the outset, the work is just beginning on the walls and for them as a people. But the beginning, the groundbreaking, is the beginning of the fulfillment.
Whenever anyone, be it a family, a community or a nation is trying to reestablish its cohesion, it must do so around the core principles that give it life. We can see that at work in this passage from first Corinthians. That Christian community was at odds with itself, with people jogging for leadership and judging each other. Paul pulls them back together by reminding them of the fundamentals. They’re all baptized into one body, Jews or Greek, slaves or free, elsewhere he’ll say male or female, and all are bound together with one spirit. Their only reason to exist is as a body of Christ. They are to see themselves as indispensable individual parts of a hole bound together in him.
That’s why the core act of individual faith is prayer. You want to work on your faith, and start your day with prayer. What you’ll find is that the most important thing in life is not what’s going to happen today tomorrow or in the years ahead. What matters most, and what will carry us through, is the simple recognition that Jesus is here.
Yesterday at our diocesan convention, Bishop Holcomb inspired us to put a strong focus on rebuilding the body of Christ in our churches and in our communities. And one major piece that he emphasized is baptism. We had 11 baptisms last year and our first one for 2025 is this morning! The parents and godparents will make promises on behalf of little Remi to build her faith on the foundation of her relationship with Jesus. We will join them in that and reaffirm our own baptismal vows.
But remember, always remember, that while our life in this faith can feel like a difficult struggle as we continuously try to grow and our constantly aware of how far we have to go, the important thing is that he is here. And being with us is the very best assurance of the promise he holds for us.
AMEN