Lectionary Commentaries for January 26, 2025
Third Sunday after Epiphany
from WorkingPreacher.org
Gospel
Commentary on Luke 4:14-21
Mitzi J. Smith
First Reading
Commentary on Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
Helen Chukka
The book of Nehemiah continues to tell the story of the Judeans, including the support they receive from King Artaxerxes for rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2), and the opposition from Sanballat the Horonite from the north, Tobiah the Ammonite from the east, and Geshem the Arab from south of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 4–5). It concludes with a “covenant renewal” ceremony in Nehemiah 8–10 and “reforms” in Nehemiah 13.
Similar to the book of Ezra, Nehemiah also is fraught with challenges from “outsiders.” However, while “outsiders” in the book of Ezra include those who remained in the land and did not go into exile, often labeled as “peoples of the land(s),” in Nehemiah “outsiders” are “foreigners”: the Horonites, Ammonites, and Arabs in the earlier parts of the book, and the Ashdodites and Moabites in the later parts of the book. In a book predominantly discussing the efforts of rebuilding the wall and safeguarding Jerusalem’s boundaries, the reading of the Torah in Nehemiah 8 seems a misfit. It doesn’t seem to belong to Nehemiah 1–13 for several reasons.
For example, it does not thematically align with the material in Nehemiah 1:1–7:4, there are no references to the rebuilding of the wall, and moreover, Nehemiah is a marginal character in chapter 8. There is scholarly consensus that Nehemiah 8 appears to fit the context of Ezra 9–10 as Ezra is introduced as a scribe and skilled in the Torah (Ezra 7:6) but doesn’t teach the Torah in the book of Ezra. The reading of the Torah in Nehemiah 8, then, is a moveable piece edited into the Nehemiah memoir and relevant to multiple contexts, including ours, given the centrality of Torah and people’s responses to it.
Ezra’s reading of the Torah in Nehemiah 8 influences later Judaism, especially as a model for synagogal worship. With elements of reading of the Torah, lifting hands, responding with “Amen,” and bowing in worship (Nehemiah 8:6), Nehemiah 8 offers a glimpse into one of the worship practices in the Second Temple period.
Nehemiah 8:1 begins by narrating the unanimity of the people who gather as one. Read in its canonical position, this unanimity of people contrasts with the opposition and disagreements of people regarding rebuilding the walls in the previous chapters. The emphasis on oneness is crucial because the books of Ezra-Nehemiah engage in forging a new identity for the people returned from exile. By highlighting that all people—a term that includes men, women, and children—have gathered, the author underscores that there is one voice and one interest among the returned exiles: listening to the Torah.
Interestingly, the reading of the Torah happens outside the walls of Jerusalem in the square before the Water Gate (8:1). While rebuilding of the wall is central in the book of Nehemiah, in chapter 8 it plays a marginal role; however, reading the Torah in the public square implies that all interested in listening to it are welcome, whether they are defined as “insiders” or “outsiders.”
These people gather together and “say” to Ezra, the teacher of the Law, to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel (Nehemiah 8:1). The initiative to read the Torah comes from the people themselves, an initiative that disrupts the top-down model of religious authority and supports the communal desire to listen to the Torah.
Scholars wonder about the content of the Book of the Law of Moses, and there is no consensus on what collections it entailed. However, one should bear in mind that translating “Torah” as “law” can limit the broad functionality of the Torah. “Torah” includes myths, narratives, laws, songs, prayers, et cetera, useful for teaching, correcting, rebuking, and training in righteousness (1 Timothy 3:16), and should be appropriately translated as “instruction” or “teaching.”
The reading of the Torah in Nehemiah 8 does not discriminate based on gender, age, ability, ritual status, or role. Any person for whom the reading generates understanding, offers wisdom to discern, or brings back the memories of the good old days of living in community, as well as anyone who is listening to it for the first time and is excited about it, is welcome to listen. The reading goes on for six long hours, and everyone pays attention. Whether “Torah” here refers to Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy or a version of it, or just to Deuteronomy or a version of it, men, women, children, and all people gathered are excited to listen to it.
For Christians in the contemporary context for whom Torah is often a burden and sometimes considered obsolete, this reading is an invitation to embrace the edifying and unifying power embodied in listening to or reading Torah. This reading is not a monologue; people respond to it in various ways: people stand up, lift their hands, respond with “Amen,” bow down, and worship (8:6). And it has multiple effects:
- The reading of the scripture generates in the people a sense of belonging.
- Listening to the stories of their ancestors bridges generational gaps.
- The stories of their liberation offer hope for a restart in Yehud.
- God’s act of care in the past connects with their experience of return.
- God’s empathy is made recognizable.
- They celebrate their communal journey by singing songs of worship.
- Sitting in the pit with the ones ritually unclean brings back memories and creates new memories.
For those who do not understand the Torah, the meaning is made plain and explained. For those to whom the Torah is new and those who had heard Torah in the form of stories from their mothers, sisters, brothers, fathers, or leaders, it evokes a sense of commitment and recommitment. The pericope assigned for today ends with Ezra, Nehemiah, Levites, and leaders encouraging the people not to weep. In listening to and receiving the Torah, the people are invited to dwell in the feeling of trust and the expression of hope.
While the passage presents beautiful imagery of the edifying and unifying power of the Torah and the centrality of people in listening, receiving, and responding to it, the preceding and succeeding passages are not as empowering as we would like them to be. The book of Nehemiah ends with violent acts against people engaged in mixed marriages. This presents an unpleasant picture of the treatment of those who do not have one voice and one interest. Preaching this text should pay attention to those unpleasant presentations as well and not avoid them.
Psalm
Commentary on Psalm 19
W. H. Bellinger, Jr.
“I take this to be the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world.” So wrote C. S. Lewis in his Reflections on the Psalms in 1958. Many hearers and readers of the text would resonate with that judgment.
Scholars of the Older Testament in recent centuries have, however, had a different perspective on the psalm. Several 20th-century commentators treated the text as two separate psalms on different subjects. Psalm 19A is a creation psalm as delineated as verses 1–6; Psalm 19B is a Torah psalm taken up with verses 7–14. The psalm is distinctive in that it is very difficult to settle the question of what type of psalm it is; it deals with three different subjects: creation, Torah, and the concluding section of the psalm (verses 11–14) articulating a powerful prayer.
Most recent interpreters of the text have concluded that the psalm is most meaningfully interpreted as a single lyric. The sections of the psalm are unified by themes that connect with each other and by common vocabulary. The recent treatment of the text by Rolf Jacobson in the New International Commentary on the Old Testament (2014) provides a fine example of this approach and aligns with the C. S. Lewis quote above.
The subject in verses 1–6 is creation and fits with the praise of God in the Psalms. Verses 7–10 emphasize Torah as divine instruction for covenant living, and the concluding verses 11–14 reflect on this instruction, leading to a petition for help from the covenant God. The psalm teaches about divine revelation—in creation, in Torah, and in prayer. We will consider the psalm in its three parts and how they connect to design a meaningful poem.
Part I: Revelation in creation
The psalm begins directly with an artful example of Hebrew poetic parallelism: The skies are revealing the glory of God (line 1), and the sky declares the divine handiwork (line 2). The term “glory” indicates the presence and activity of God in the world. The name used for God is, interestingly, the generic title El. In a remarkably artistic way, these lines proclaim that creation reveals God.
The broad introductory statement moves to images unfamiliar to contemporary hearers/readers. The days and nights of creation gush forth speech to communicate, and yet there is no speech, no word, no voice. The beauty of creation goes throughout all the earth in the midst of silence and reveals the Creator who makes this beauty possible. The power of the silence of the amazing creation communicates divine presence and activity.
Verses 4–6 move to an additional creation word-picture. The focus is now the sun. The image is of God’s having placed a tent in the skies above for the sun, who is now acting out the part of the groom who comes from the tent as a wedding canopy and celebrates marriage, and now in strength the sun, as a hero, joyfully runs the whole course from sunrise to sunset, covering all of creation. The creation reveals God even when there is no speech to declare it and reveals God to the whole of the world even when there is no vision to see it, for nothing is hidden from the heat of the sun.
The Babylonian sun god is Shamash; the Hebrew word for “sun” is shemesh; both terms come from the same root word. The play on words suggests that the poetic image here is a mild polemic indicating that while the Babylonians worship the sun, God created the sun. Creation teaches about God.
Part II: Revelation in Torah
Verses 7–9 provide six terms as synonyms for Torah, best translated as “covenant instruction,” and the impact of this instruction for persons. These six lines again illustrate Hebrew poetic synonymous parallelism. The six terms for divine instruction are all associated with the Hebrew proper divine name YHWH. God’s teaching revives the person; God’s decrees bring wisdom. God’s precepts bring rejoicing to the mind; God’s commandments enlighten vision. Fear of God is the term for reverence for YHWH; it endures. Whom one reveres, one obeys. And God’s ordinances support right relationship with God and neighbor.
Verse 10 imagines the value of Torah as that of much fine gold and its sweetness as that of the honeycomb. My imagination goes back to the sweet honey from the honeycombs my grandfather dripped on the delicious biscuits my grandmother served from the wood-burning stove in her delightful kitchen. Divine instruction is even sweeter than such delicacies! This instruction again reveals God and the wholeness of life God gives.
Part III: Revelation in prayer
The final section of the psalm moves to the worshiper’s petition to YHWH, who is now “my rock and my redeemer.” God’s Torah helps worshipers avoid missteps, and the two final verses petition God to keep worshipers from hidden troubles and to make possible wholeness in relationship with God and neighbor. The final petition is that the worshiper’s words and thoughts be acceptable. The term is the one for an acceptable sacrifice. In the psalm, the plea is that the prayer will be an acceptable sacrifice.
Reflections on Psalm 19
Psalm 19 appears in Book I of the Hebrew Psalter. This first book is dominated by lament psalms. The first hymn readers/hearers of the Psalter encounter is Psalm 8, a creation psalm. The next one is Psalm 19, the first part of which is about creation. This psalm is surrounded by royal psalms (Psalms 18, 20, and 21). Perhaps the placement of the psalm suggests that the Davidic kings attend to creation, Torah, and prayer for divine aid. Creation, divine instruction, and prayer weave together a remarkable prayed poem with the focus on divine revelation. It inspires, and teaches, and petitions the covenant God. The psalm renders poetic beauty and caring words; the psalm calls us all into full relationship with God and neighbor.
Second Reading
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
Frank L. Crouch
This week’s epistle lesson continues last week’s conversation, as the apostle Paul continues to address two central concerns he has for the Corinthian congregation: (1) They have become such a conflicted, internally embattled congregation that (2) they have strayed from their essential identity and purpose—to be the church of God that was created by the Spirit to serve Christ and the people of Corinth.
This week, the conversation shifts its emphasis. Paul has already reminded them that God abundantly offers a variety of gifts, with different combinations of gifts for different people, according to the Spirit’s choosing. There’s plenty of wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, powerful deeds, prophecy, discernment, “tongues,” and “interpretation of tongues” to go around (12:4–10). Rather than expecting everyone to be like you and your friends, Paul said, celebrate the differences graciously provided by the Spirit, the Lord, the God who called you all together.
Now Paul flips the perspective: Keep in mind though, just as your own human bodies each contain many different parts, together they make up your one body (12:12). All the different members live and move and have their being as part of a greater whole. “For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body … and we were all made to drink of one Spirit” (12:13).
Paul had made this point earlier in the letter, where he said, “In every way you have been enriched in [Christ] … so that you are not lacking in any gift” (1:4–7). In fact, “you were called,” not into a relationship limited to yourself and your own faction, but into “the partnership of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1:8).
Paul expounded on that theme in an extended exhortation (1:9–3:9) that concluded, “For we are God’s coworkers, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building” (3:9). His very mixed metaphor points to a singular purpose: We are God’s coworkers. It’s God’s church. By working together, you serve as God’s field, God’s fertile ground, producing an abundant harvest. You, together, are God’s building, God’s shelter, God’s gathering place for all who seek fullness of life.
In chapter 12, Paul uses a different metaphor to describe how differing gifts strengthen the community and increase its capabilities: If the whole body was just an eye, how could it hear? If it could only hear, how could it smell? The eyes can’t say to the hands, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you” (12:14–19).
There are more-honored parts of the body—the eyes, hands, head, and feet—and less-honored parts of the body—diplomatically described in a doctor’s office brochure as “the parts of your body usually covered by your underwear.” But in both public and private, we depend on those less-honored parts of the body to do their jobs (12:22–25). Drastic consequences can follow when they do not, affecting the capabilities and vitality of the whole body.
Paul then abruptly jumps out of the metaphor, applying it to the literal world of the Corinthian church: God creates and arranges the one body of this church with the intention that everyone find equal respect and honor and that people don’t constantly fight with one another (12:24b–25).
His admonition that “there be no dissension” within the body (12:25) does not mean members will not or should not disagree or have conflicts. Conflict is inevitable and in most cases is solvable to the benefit of the whole. “No dissension” means not letting conflicts devolve into opposing, armed camps. God calls a diverse, variously gifted body of believers together so that “the members may have the same care for one another,” so that “if one member suffers, all suffer together … if one member is honored, all rejoice together” (12:25–26). This dynamic stands as an essential element of congregational life that enduringly matters.
Over the last four decades, different foci have captured the spotlight as “the” necessary center of a congregation’s efforts. “Church is about church growth. Increased numbers increase a congregation’s ability to fulfill its mission.” Okay, sure, an often-overlooked focus (though often seized upon more for budget-balancing than for mission). “Church is about justice. Focusing on justice increases a congregation’s ability to fulfill its mission.” Again, yes, an essential, often-overlooked focus.
Paul, though, celebrates seeking a diversity of gifts in the same body because God creates bodies of believers capable of sustaining multiple points of focus. All those gifts mentioned above apply to, inform, and energize action for church growth and for justice, and for many other important ministries. Anything that a member or a congregation does will be improved with wisdom, knowledge, healing, discernment, and so on. A multiplicity of gifts and attention pointed in the right directions, according to the Spirit’s choosing, also increases a congregation’s ability to fulfill its mission, whatever it may be.
Paul does not say that every congregation should be everything to everybody. He does affirm, however, that in order to sustain its ministries, a congregation’s members must focus on attending to each other. God’s gifts certainly empower congregations to minister to and in the world around them. They also energize a congregation’s capacity to care for one another in the midst of all the ways the world resists them and beats them down.
On any given day or night, we have no idea of the weariness and heavy-ladenness that accompany those who walk through God’s churches’ doors. Every congregation—from among the totality of its gifts—remains called to provide a setting where people can find the care they need. The Spirit will gift the congregation as needed to do just that.
Epilogue
After noting all the ways the gifts described so far can make our ministries thrive, Paul promises to show us (next week) “a still more excellent way,” the most essential way of all.
“God’s time [Emancipation] is always near. He set the North Star in the heavens; He gave me the strength in my limbs; He meant I should be free.” —Harriet Tubman1
After his baptism, as John predicted, Jesus begins his public ministry “in the power of the Spirit” (Luke 4:14). At his baptism, in the genealogy, and in the wilderness, it has been affirmed that Jesus is the Son of God (3:22, 38; 4:3). The 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness have demonstrated the kind of Son he is, his character, and how he will perform his ministry in relation to the temptations of unbridled power, authority, wealth, and risk (4:1–12).
Jesus had already built a reputation for himself in his hometown and surrounding regions by the way he lived. To this point, everyone had only good things to say about him (Luke 4:14–15). He had not yet announced his ministry agenda. He had not yet leveled a critique in the synagogue against his own people. Jesus had attended synagogue on a regular basis, but perhaps in previous visits he only listened, watched, reflected, analyzed, and even read scripture, but had not yet provided a contemporary critique or deconstructed the scriptures.
According to Luke-Acts, the following activities regularly occurred in the synagogue, not necessarily in this order: An attendee brings in the scroll; the scroll is unrolled; there is teaching from the Hebrew Scriptures (Torah, Prophets, and the Writings), reading from the sacred scroll, and brief midrash/interpretation of the sacred text; the scroll is rolled up; there is a response to the reading; and the attendant leaves with the scroll (Luke 4:16–17; Acts 13:15).
Synagogue attendees included Jewish people (ordinary folks, synagogue leaders, Pharisees, and other religious leaders), Gentiles, men and women, people with various diseases, and those considered possessed by demons or unclean spirits (Luke 4:16–33, 44; 6:6; 12:11; 13:11; Acts 14:11). Some scribes, Pharisees, and other leaders and wealthy people occupied privileged seats in some synagogues (Luke 11:43; 20:46). According to Luke, synagogues could be places of judgment and arbitration (12:11; 21:12). According to the Acts of the Apostles, a synagogue of Freedmen (formerly enslaved persons) existed in Jerusalem (6:9). The synagogue could be a diverse space and a site of struggle.
After the attendee hands Jesus the sacred scroll, he unrolls it. He does not begin reading at an arbitrary point; he selects the particular scripture he desires to read that day, in the hearing of that audience. After opening to the words of the prophet Isaiah (61:1–2 and 58:6), Jesus reads the scripture perhaps in a tone that emphasizes its application to him, inflecting the pronoun “me”:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he anointed me to bring good news to the poor. [The poorest among the poor are the enslaved whose masters are poor.] He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives [those captured in war were enslaved] and recovery of sight to the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Luke 4:18–19, New Revised Standard Version, emphasis mine)
The Spirit anoints and commissions Jesus to announce good news about imminent physical and spiritual transformation: release from captivity, recovery of lost vision, freedom from oppression. The enslaved and oppressed cannot be absolutely free without a recovery of lost vision or a reimagining or envisioning of a life and mind free of physical and psychological chains. Perhaps bringing good news parallels proclamation of the Lord’s favor.
In Nazareth of Galilee, to a synagogue audience of men, women, leaders, noble folks, the poor, the diseased and possessed, the wealthy, freedpersons, masters, and enslaved, Jesus preaches an abolitionist message. I imagine that Jesus read the text passionately, boldly, and with conviction, bringing the text to life. With all eyes glued on him, Jesus rolls the scroll up, returns it to the attendant, and takes his seat. From his seat, he states resolutely and unapologetically, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).
Jesus selected a text that confirmed what John the Baptist said about him and what the narrator of Luke’s Gospel has already testified, that Jesus is full of the Spirit and will baptize with the Spirit (Luke 1:34, 80; 3:16; 4:1, 14). The Spirit had descended on Jesus in the form of a dove at his baptism; it had anointed his body for miraculous acts and for proclamation (3:22–23).
Initially, the audience’s response is positive. Proud and amazed, they somewhat incredulously inquire, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” (Luke 4:22), with no mention of his mother Mary. Jesus responds, in a nutshell, “Since you know my background, of course you will expect me to free myself and perform the powerful deeds here that you have heard I performed in Capernaum” (4:22–23). According to this text, Jesus had already performed miracles in Capernaum, a city in Galilee about 20 miles northeast of Nazareth. Otherwise, Luke’s narrative does not explicitly mention Capernaum before Jesus’ abolitionist speech.
Significantly, however, Jesus performs miracles in Capernaum immediately after leaving Nazareth. In a synagogue in Capernaum, with words alone, Jesus will free a man of unclean spirits that recognize him as “Jesus of Nazareth” (Luke 4:31–37). In Capernaum, Jesus will heal the centurion’s skilled, loyal, and very sick slave by words alone, without being in the slave’s presence (7:1–10).
Jesus states that the reality is that prophets are rejected in their hometowns (Luke 4:24). He provides two examples to support his claim (4:25–27): During the three and a half years of famine, Elijah was sent not to the many widows in Israel but to one widow residing in Zarephath of Sidon. And during Elisha’s time, he cleansed Naaman the Syrian of leprosy but healed not one of the many lepers in Israel. Jesus deconstructs the scriptures. Deconstruction is good news for those it frees from physical ailments, spiritual delusions, and harmful theologies that enslave and harm.
On that day, everyone in the synagogue is enraged by Jesus’ words to the extent that they transform from a proud and amazed audience to a murderous crowd (4:28–29). But like a ghost, Jesus saunters on his way to free those who want freedom.
Notes