Christ in the synagogue of Nazareth, Anonymous c.1350, Visoki Decani Monastery, Kosovo.

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[Jesus said] “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”   Luke 1:21

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Firstly today’s gospel is in two parts, the first verses are from the very beginning of Luke’s gospel, and the second part taken from chapter 4. Luke begins by assuring his reader, Theophilus, that everything that follows are the testimonies of eyewitnesses, checked by Luke himself, assuring him of the source of the teaching he had already received. One small point here. The Acts of the Apostles begins in a similar way, also addressed to Theophilus, and so this gospel and the Acts came from the same hand. Additionally, Luke begins his gospel with the birth not of Jesus but with the earlier drama of the birth of John the Baptist. Acts ends with St. Paul arriving in Rome where he lived in a place “he rented for himself” and preached boldly and freely about the Kingdom of God (Acts 28:30-31). That makes Luke the second longest book of the New Testament. Mark is the shortest, beginning with Jesus’ baptism and ending with the empty tomb (in the opinion of most scholars). And John, which begins before all things (“In the beginning was the Word”), and with the same author writing the Book of Revelation, ends with the ending of all things, is the longest in time. And Matthew fits in after Mark and before Luke, with the birth of Jesus and ending with the Risen Lord commanding his followers to go preach to the world. There also seems to be a temporal sequence here too, with Mark the earliest and John the last, again the the opinion of most scholars.

Now, when Jesus arrived back in his home town of Nazareth, he was fresh from the revelation that he was the Son of God, declared so by a voice from heaven no less at his baptism, and his lengthy meditation on what had happened for 40 days in the wilderness. So it can be assumed he had come to some understanding of what had happened at his baptism, which is probably why he said what he said in the Synagogue on one of the earliest Sabbaths after his return. There he announced that he was the incarnation of the prophecies of Isaiah with the boldness, not to say innocence, of youth. Well, it is hardly surprising that this was greeted with incredulity, even violence as they tried to throw him over a cliff! He was the son of Joseph, not the Son of God! Such arrogance! Such sinful pride! Such blasphemy! Clearly Jesus learned the hard way how to reveal truths, but clearly the hand of God protected him at this time, saving his entire ministry, as he “walked through the middle of the crowd and went his way” (Luke 4:30). But he had spoken the truth…

Jesus’ boldness had come straight from Scripture, as we can see from today’s first reading. Here Ezra the priest read from the book of the law of God to the universal approval of the people who “bowed down and prostrated themselves before the LORD, their faces to the ground”, (possibly the origin of the Muslim tradition of honoring God). There was nothing but approval and honor in what Ezra, Nehemiah and the Levites, the assistants in the Temple, all received from the people. Clearly Jesus was expecting a similar reception, but… It was a pretty brutal beginning which was to be echoed at the end of his ministry with total rejection, opprobrium and violent death. However, it was the vocation God had given him, and it was his duty to fulfill it completely to the best of his ability. But faced with God’s universal gift of freedom, which we all enjoy to this day, even the Lord could not make people believe in him.

And then there is Paul’s teaching in today’s second reading, where he compares the Christian community to the human body. When all parts are in harmony, then there is peace and happiness (clearly not to be found in today’s gospel). He likens each individual Christian as responsible for keeping the Christian body alive and well. Each person has a role to play, some great, some not so great, but all in a way dependent on each other to make the whole thing work properly. Disputes, such as found in today’s gospel, are dangerous to the whole body and should be addressed to prevent chaos. And Paul points out that we should not complain if we do not have a very prominent role to play. I like to think of an example here. Suppose you bash your little toe against the doorway getting up in the morning…. But it’s only a little toe…. Er- yes! But… We all have an important part to play and should be happy playing it. And I think this image came straight from his experience when, as Saul, he was trying, successfully, to destroy the first Christian communities of converted Jews beginning in Jerusalem. Traveling to do the same in Damascus, a flash of light threw him from his horse and a voice said “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me” (Acts 9:4). It was Jesus’ voice, and he identified all Christians as his body. Attack one and you attack all and you attack Jesus! Saul/Paul must have contemplated that experience deeply, and arrived at the conviction that we are all part of the Body of Christ, each with an important part to play from the Pope on down. And we should be at our best when everything is working properly, when we feel well and healthy and able to do that which God calls us to do. That will depend on God’s gifts to us – our talents. They are the engine which drives us through life, doing what God wants us to do. So harmony seems to be the key here, a very happy and content life, fulfilling God’s will by serving God, then our neighbor and then ourself. That’s the Christian life plan, that is the source of happiness for us and the pathway to eternal peace.

The Body of Christ, Pastor Jason Flores 2025, Gospel Light Bible Baptist Church, Auckland, New Zealand.

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