Sunday, January 26, 2025

Hearing and responding to the Word

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10; 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a; Luke 4:14-21

Today, what strikes me about the readings is how people respond to the words they hear.

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah record the efforts to rebuild the temple and the community of Israel – by then called Judah – after the return from the Babylonian exile. In 580BCE, Babylon conquered Israel and destroyed the temple. The soldiers took the leaders and hundreds of thousands of people to Babylon, where they stayed in captivity for about 50 years. Cyrus the Persian conquered Babylon and sent the Israelites home, and even paid for the rebuilding of the temple. Most of the people had made new lives for themselves in Babylon, but around 50,000 returned to Jerusalem.


So, here we are in the mid-400s BCE. The temple has been somewhat rebuilt, and Ezra and Nehemiah are working to restore worship of the Israelite God instead of all the Babylonian and Greek and whatever gods. They gathered the people and read to them the Law of Moses for several hours a day, pausing from time to time to explain what they had just read.

The people responded by worshiping God. I note that they use their bodies in worship, sometimes standing, sometimes raising their hands, sometimes bowing with their faces to the ground. And afterwards, they went to eat.


… In Luke, we hear Jesus’ sermon to the folks in his hometown. Jesus has been baptized, spent time wrestling with temptations, and done a solo preaching and teaching tour of Galilee. I think that by now he has a home in Capernaum, in Simon Peter’s house. He has come home to Nazareth, perhaps to visit family, and he’s been invited to preach in the synagogue.

It may be that the reading for the day is the Isaiah text, or that Jesus chose it. Either way, Jesus proclaims that the reading is about him. 18 “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 set free those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Many listening that day are amazed, because they consider themselves to be the poor and oppressed – since Rome taxes everything they have and controls the power.  So far in the story Luke tells, the people are amazed, and all eyes were upon him. But we will see next week that not all present were happy with Jesus’ statement. Some are proud that this hometown boy has made a name for himself, but most are outraged that this nobody kid is claiming to be sent by God!

… It’s been a while since Paul was in Corinth, and he is keeping in touch with them by snail mail, or perhaps by special courier. He has heard that there is some conflict in the congregation. It seems some think they are better than others, and Paul wants to correct this immediately. In last week’s reading, Paul used the image of giftedness, saying, “You all have gifts, and you are called to use them for God’s purposes.” In today’s reading, Paul tells the Corinthians that the variety of gifts and abilities present in the congregation is necessary in the same way that all the parts of the body are essential to the functioning of the body.

Hopefully, when this letter arrived at the church, and it was read aloud to all the members, there would have been a change in attitude there. In a later letter, Paul writes to encourage the believers to continue in the faith despite the challenges of persecution and congratulates them for having paid attention to his previous letter.

… So, when people heard the word of God, heard Jesus’ declaration, read and heard Paul’s letters, the folks involved responded to what they heard. At least some responded positively, changing their ways toward belief and obedience.

How do you respond to what you hear and read? When you read the Bible, do you think, “Oh, I need to stop – or start – doing something?” After a sermon, do my invitations to follow up during the week cause you to do something or think differently about something?

How do you respond when you think about Jesus’ claim that he is sent by God to bring good news to the poor and freedom for the oppressed?

How do you respond when you hear Paul say that whether you think of yourself as any eye or a hand, or one of the body parts usually covered by your underwear?


… I know that probably some of you are very happy to have Donald Trump as our new president, and some of you are very unhappy. As many have said, elections have consequences.

Last Monday, there were a number of speeches and prayers given before and after the inauguration. It struck me that some of the speakers spoke about President Trump as if he were the God they were praising, and others prayed that God would guide those in the new administration to be merciful. It is not surprising that the reception of these words was mixed, with some angry, and others joyful, and still others worried.

I want to go on record as praying along with Bishop Budde that our new leaders would be merciful to all. Mercy is what God calls us to do through the Ten Commandments. Mercy is what Jesus demonstrated through his words and deeds, his life and his death. And it is what Paul encourages the folks in Corinth and Philippi and Galatia to do with each other and the members of the community.

How, then, this week, will you respond to the words I have given you today? Amen




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