The Third Sunday after the Epiphany-The Rev Melanie Lemburg

The Very Rev Melanie Dickson Lemburg

The Third Sunday after the Epiphany-Year C

January 26, 2025

        You might have noticed that I’ve done something a little different with our readings today.  Our gospel passage assigned for today was actually the first half of the reading—Jesus’s first sermon back in his hometown of Nazareth at the beginning of his earthly ministry just after his baptism.  Normally, next Sunday, we’d have the second part of the reading which we heard today, which is Jesus’s extrapolation of his sermon and how his hometown friends and family received it.  But instead, next Sunday, we will have the Feast of the Presentation—when Jesus as a baby is presented in the temple, which is a major feast of the church that when it falls on a Sunday, we commemorate it.  So we weren’t going to get to hear about the fall-out from Jesus’s sermon at all this year.  So, we have a double gospel reading today, and I just went ahead a cut the other readings to accommodate that change.

        This past week, I got to hear the Rev Dr. Bertice Berry, who is a deacon serving at Christ Church, preach at the MLK eucharist at St. Matthew’s.  Bertice preached about Jesus’s sermon on the plain and how it was a “leveling” which included the golden rule.  She spoke eloquently about all the ways that we “other” each other, drawing lines between we who are in and those who are out, and how those lines can constantly shift.  I’ve been thinking about this concept of “othering” this week as I’ve watched the news swirling around the Rt Rev Marianne Budde, the bishop of the diocese of Washington DC and her sermon at her cathedral earlier this week.  I’ve watched as she has been heralded as a champion by many and also demonized by many who question both the validity of her ordination as a woman bishop and even her right to American citizenship.  And I have become so very curious as to how a sermon about unity has become so deeply divisive.[i] 

        It’s an interesting juxtaposition that our gospel readings for today give us a glimpse into Jesus’ first sermon back in his hometown of Nazareth.  It’s unclear if Jesus himself picks the scripture or if, like us, he preaches on what is assigned for that day’s reading.  (Scholars suggest it could be either option.)  Jesus’s reading threads together several different passages from the book of the prophet Isaiah saying, "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 sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."  Then he sits down and says, (in what may be enviably the shortest sermon ever) "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

        Jesus is proclaiming how his work flows out of his baptismal anointing as God’s beloved, and he shows through the words of the scriptures how his ministry will be one of restoration and reconciliation for the lost and the least. 

        And his hometown folks are understandably proud.  But Jesus doesn’t leave it at that.  In the second part of the gospel, we see him give his hometown folks, who are feeling quite proud of their hometown hero, a bit of a jab which almost gets him thrown off the cliff.  He reminds them that in the past, the prophets of God have shown up most frequently for those who are considered other—not the hometown folks but the foreigners and the enemies of Israel.  When his hometown crowd is feeling proud because of their connection with him, Jesus immediately sides with the “other.”  And they become angry and unsettled by what appears to be a shift in his allegiance.

        But here’s the thing.  Jesus is reminding the crowd and us that in the Kingdom of God, there is no “other.”  All are God’s children, and as God’s people, we are called to recognize our kinship with everyone.  There is no “other” in the Kingdom of God, no matter how much we might want there to be. 

        Think for a moment about who you might consider to be an “other” in this moment.  And hear Jesus proclaiming that even that person is a beloved child of God, a part of Jesus’s mission of healing, reconciliation, and restoration for all.  Noone is outside of that mission. 

        Today, Jesus is reminding us of the inclusive embrace of God, and he is showing us how the Holy Spirit is so often willing to use “others” or “outsiders” to unfold new narratives for God’s people and all of creation. 

        I wonder how God is inviting us here at St. Thomas to live more fully into this reality?  I wonder how God will continue to be revealed here in our midst through people and places we might not expect? 

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