2.2.2025
[Texts for the 4th Epiphany Sunday]
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Psalm 71:1-6
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Luke 4:21-30
[Message]
Epiphany blessings to each of you, holy and beloved siblings in Christ.
God in Jesus passed through the midst of those who were filled with rage toward him and went on his way. That’s how the story ends today in Luke 4. What is it like to encounter God and then push God away because of our own ignorant attitudes and behaviors?
The people in the synagogue thought that they knew God all along. They were raised to be faithful and religious like many of us. And supposedly, they knew God by heart through the scriptures. But sadly, they couldn't recognize God in Jesus. They didn’t just miss their epiphany. They wanted to kill Jesus after they heard something from him that they didn’t like.
Let's briefly recap what happened before the incident in the synagogue to see how our faith can be nurtured and strengthened from today's story.
Before Jesus started his public teaching ministry, the Spirit of God had been with him. In Luke 4:1, after his baptism, Jesus, full of the Spirit of God, defeated every temptation from Satan. In Luke 4:14, filled with the Spirit of God, his teachings amazed everyone. And in Luke 4:18, he openly let everyone know that the Spirit of God is indeed with him.
People at the synagogue did not object what Jesus was about to do with the power of the Spirit of God. Namely, bringing the good news to the poor, the captives, the blind, and the oppressed. But they didn’t like what Jesus said afterwards about their doubts toward him, just like their ancestors’ doubts toward the prophetic message that Elijah and Elisha brought to them.
Their ancestors didn't like what they heard from the prophets. They thought that they knew God all along, but they missed their epiphany. God showed His mercy to the Gentiles, not to them, the Israelites. The widow in Sidon was comforted, and the leper Naaman the Syrian was healed.
Their belief in God appeared quite delicate or fragile. Isn't our faith occasionally similar? When God doesn't act as we anticipate, our self-righteousness or ego interferes and starts to threaten our trust in God. In Jesus, God observes us in denial about our lack of trust in Him.
It’s easier to have our faith in God when God takes our side based on our prayers and wishes. Have you ever found yourself losing your ability to trust God fully? How much do we believe in God? How strong is our faith?
St. Paul mentioned that God gives us several spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, including the gift of believing in God. How does this gift function in our lives? In the following chapter, St. Paul continues articulating what kind of love Christians, the believers, should practice. Therefore, the better question might be: how does this gift of believing function in our lives so that we are enabled to love one another better?
For many, believing in God is an option; it is a choice among many other choices. For these people, believing functions almost like a value, a principle, or a moral ethic that can be contestable. Or it functions like a tradition that is to be kept simply because they were born, raised, baptized in a Christian environment. Once the tradition is outdated or becomes inconvenient, it can be replaced by another tradition.
For some, believing is not an option but the only way to live well and fully. These people seriously believe that God created them and gave them the breath of life, which is the Spirit of God. With the spirit of God, they stand out in the world. Having the Spirit of God is like a seal in their life as a shield to protect them whenever they couldn't sense God’s presence in the midst of chaos.
For these people, to stop believing is to stop breathing. They can’t live without faith in God. And they are convinced that gradually and eventually, people’s disbelief will lead them to stop living as children of God. Since their faith in God is not an option but a necessity, they expect to see the Spirit of God in every living being, breathing each day as the children of God. There is no way not to see God’s presence in all.
Don't we all desire to have God in Jesus be with us all the time? We wouldn't want Jesus to pass through us and leave us behind like he did to the people in Luke 4. Only abiding in the Spirit of God enables us to embody God’s love in all we say and do. Jesus said in John 13:34-35 that people recognize us as his disciples if we do love each other.
Let me ask you a rhetorical question: where would you like to be, a place where the Spirit of God is passing through and going away or a place where the Spirit of God is working in you and through you and people around you?
How does believing function in your life currently? Is it a choice among many other choices? Or is it the way to live well and fully? If it is still a choice, you might miss an epiphany moment from time to time. If it is the way to live well and fully, you are able to witness countless epiphany moments. And those epiphany moments enable you to love God even more and also love others as yourself. As a result, embodiment of God’s love in life becomes part of that necessity and is no longer an option that can be contested or replaced.
I believe that we, as the holy and beloved children of God, all desire to live life to the fullest. May we not miss opportunities to express our gratitude to God for loving us first, for loving our adversaries first, and for loving those we consider strangers first. May our faith guide us to recognize and feel the Spirit of God within ourselves and everyone, that energize us to love ourselves and others more deeply. Wishing you blessings of Epiphany. Amen.
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