Sunday, February 2, 2025

Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
Jeremiah 1:4-10 (17-19)
Psalm 71:1-6 (7-11)
1 Corinthians 12:31b-13:13
Luke 4:31-44

‘Don’t say, “I am a child;” for you must go to whomever I send you, and you must say whatever I command you. Don’t be afraid because of them, for I am with you to rescue you,’ says Yahweh.

My husband is attending a retreat this weekend with a group of men from our church. They are going to discuss spiritual gifts. Everyone will take a gifts assessment, and then they will learn about how those gifts could be used in the church and in the world. I’ve done similar retreats with women, and it is always surprising to those who take the tests what gifts they have. It can even be frightening because some gifts seem too much for most of us. The lessons are designed to help us see how those gifts can be used in ways we might not expect.

Take, for instance, the gift of pastoring. None of the women ever wanted to become an ordained pastor, but the gift, which is about caring for the spiritual welfare of people, can be used in many other ways. A person with the gift can shepherd people as a lay person; they can be counselors, teachers, or sponsors. We have a woman in our group that is an ordained pastor but retired from the ministry to care for her children. It is obvious from the way she has raised them that she is still using her gift, but in a new vocation.

Spiritual gifts assessments can be a great way to discover the direction of your life and work in God’s kingdom. Some are questionable and lead to strange outcomes, but many are well written and informative. One assessment I have used is made up of sixty questions with five answers that range from “Very true of me, consistently” and “Rarely true of me.” The assessment looked for the more practical gifts like those found in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12. There are many other gifts, including the miraculous gifts, but when we are trying to discover the work to which God is calling us, the practical gifts help us see ways we can serve God and our neighbors in this world.

I once gave the assessment to a group of youth. Despite the fact that they were young, the assessments were amazingly accurate. They showed the gifts we were beginning to see in those students. It was interesting to watch them take the assessments. In many cases they have not yet had the opportunity to experience the things that were asked. No one had gone to them to ask their opinion about some issue in the church. They did not have a home from which to offer hospitality. They had not had the opportunity to become active with Bible studies, not realizing that their Sunday School classes were just studies geared to their age.

Many of their answers were timid. Several of them complained that they had no gifts. We know this is not true, but these young people had not yet discovered their talents or any opportunities to use them. Music, writing, and artistry are perhaps the easiest to spot, even at such a young age. But how would they fare when it came to hospitality, leadership, or the pastoral gift? We were excited to see that even these became obvious in the results of some of these teenagers. As a matter of fact, in the small sampling of students, we saw an incredible variety of gifts; each student had something to offer the congregation and the world.

Unfortunately, we do not always look at teenagers as active members of the body of Christ. They are new, fresh, and learning, seemingly not ready for the responsibilities of ministry. We give them the opportunity to serve as acolytes or have them rake the leaves. We don’t try to help them discern their gifts, to learn who they are in Christ and what He is calling them to do. So, they don’t hear His voice calling them to service. They don’t think they are old enough to have a say. Even our high school students, who have become individual members of our congregation through confirmation, do not think they have a voice, so do not speak. They don’t care much about the business of church, so they do not vote. They do not yet understand that God has called them to serve, to use their gifts for the sake of the community and the world.

I could hear them saying, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, I don’t know how to speak; for I am a child.” Yet, in our passage for today, God said to Jeremiah, “Don’t say, ‘I am a child;’ for you must go to whomever I send you, and you must say whatever I command you.” God calls all those whom He has anointed with the Spirit into ministry, young and old alike. It is our task to help everyone, young and old, grow in their understanding and in their faith, giving opportunities for service and the respect they deserve as they follow God’s calling in their lives.

Unfortunately, we are often too busy. We have activities that force us to miss gathering with the body of Christ, like sports practices or work. This is not about perfect attendance. There are certainly many ways to worship God, and some of those who seem to be too busy to attend Sunday worship find time to do other things. They are generous givers and active participants in the life of the congregation. It is true that God still loves them even if they aren’t there every week. We all miss a Sunday for one reason or another. However, many people justify their choice by saying, “God doesn’t care if I am in church or not.” God does care.

It is because He loves you that He cares. Have you ever gone to an event expecting to see someone that you love such as an old friend at a class reunion or a favorite cousin at a family gathering? You wait and watch, anxiously looking for them, only to be disappointed when they do not arrive? That’s how it is with your Father in heaven. He is there every Sunday, expectantly waiting for YOU to come through the front door. He sees you every day; He dwells within your heart and goes with you everywhere. But He wants to see you at the party each week and when you are not there, He is disappointed.

Unfortunately, we tend to choose the law-based options and set aside the grace based when deciding what to do about church attendance. What I mean is that we know that the coach will be angry if we do not show up for practice or the game, we might even be kicked off the team. Many youths are counting on their sports experiences to help them get into college. We know our job is at stake if we don’t show up, so we choose to go to work instead of gathering with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

God does not require our presence; He forgives our absence. So, we choose the things we think we have to do, knowing that this will not last forever and then one day we’ll be able to return to God and His loving mercy. We have no choice when it comes to our activities that are law-based. If we don’t go, we lose. With grace we know that God is patient and kind. He will forgive. So, we do what the law says, putting away grace until some free moment.

The trouble with this is that we have totally missed the reason we gather on a Sunday morning, or any time, with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We gather because we love God, and we choose to put Him ahead of everything else in our life. We gather because He loves us and has invited us to a great banquet. We gather because God has called us to be part of the body of Christ and if even one is missing, we are not whole. We gather because it is there in the body of Christ that we truly experience the presence of God.

We know God is always with us, but we are often so busy we do not pay attention to Him. We don’t take the opportunity to share Him with others. We are so familiar with Him that we don’t even notice when He is trying to get our attention. This happens with scriptures, too. We are sometimes so familiar with the words that we stop hearing them. Take John 3:16 for example. Everyone knows what John 3:16 says. If you see a sign at the end of a football field with “John 3:16,” you know what it means. We don’t even have to say the words for it to be understood. But it is not “John 3:16” that saved the world. The word must be heard, repeated, over and over again. Sadly, the passage has become so familiar that we do not say it anymore, even to those who need to hear it the most.

The same can be said about today’s Epistle lesson. The passage, known as “the love chapter,” is used at many weddings, even by those who are not active in a church. It is familiar. It is comforting. It is beautiful in its poetry, and it talks about love. Who would not want to identify their marriage with such a wonderful bit of wisdom. “Love is patient and kind.” This is so easy to say when you are in the throes of romantic bliss. What newlywed is not patient and kind? Love does not envy. Again, who would be envious when they are in the throes of passion? There is nothing better than the love between a bride and groom.

The other descriptions of love are true for all people, too. Love does not boast, and it is not proud. It is not rude, self-seeking, or easily angered. Love does not keep any record of wrongs. On a couple’s wedding day, that might be true. What happens a week, month, or a year later? What happens after the first fight? What happens after the first failure of a spouse? Does that romantic love so evident on the wedding day still stand? Can this scripture still refer to that couple at the seven-year itch? What about when their world changes, like when children enter the picture or their financial situation changes. What happens when someone strays? Is love still patient and kind?

While it is a beautiful passage to be read at a wedding and it our hope that those words will continue to be meaningful through the tough times, the passage is not really about the kind of love we find in that passionate relationship. As a matter of fact, this passage is about a deeper, broader type of love. In last week’s passage, Paul was talking about the spiritual gifts: the gifts given to the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit to build up the believers and the church for the sake of the world. While those gifts are wonderful - apostles, prophets, teachers, miracle workers, healers, helpers, administrators, tongues and interpretation - the people had begun to set themselves apart based on their gifts. Some thought they were better than others based on the things they could do. They were using their gifts in boastful and proud ways. They envied one another. They were not patient with each other. They were angry and rude and self-seeking.

While we do not do enough to help our brothers and sisters in Christ discover their spiritual gifts, we also neglect to help them use their gifts in ways that glorify God and lift up the body of Christ.

The passage this week continues the thoughts from last week, beginning with 12:31b, “But earnestly desire the best gifts. Moreover, I show a most excellent way to you.” Paul tells the Corinthians that the way they were missing was the most important gift of all: love. Everything else was meaningless if they did not lay it on the foundation of love. Prophecy was a noisy gong without love. In other words, prophecy was meaningless - unheard - if given without love. “John 3:16” is meaningless to the millions of viewers of those football games, because it is not accompanied by active, tangible love. It is not prophecy to hold up a card at a football game. It is prophecy to speak those words of love to a sinner who needs forgiveness from the very person they hurt, to touch their hand and their heart with deep love, to share with them the love of God through Christ Jesus.

The Old Testament lesson this week is about Jeremiah’s call from God to be a prophet. Jeremiah trusted God enough to argue with Him. “I can’t do this,” he said. He, like Moses, did not feel he was eloquent in speech and therefore was unqualified for the task. “I am too young.” We don’t know how hold Jeremiah was at this time; most of the commentaries give the possibility that he may have been just in his teens, but all suggest that “young” in this case may simply mean that he was not old enough to take on such an important role in God’s kingdom. Priests became priests at about thirty years of age, although they may have been working in the Temple as apprentices for many years. How could a teenager, or even a young adult, ever hope to be heard by his elders?

God answered. He listened to Jeremiah. You have probably had a similar experience, as a child tugged at your pants or skirt. You looked down to see a small child with a face full of expectation. You acknowledged them, but went on to doing whatever it was you were doing when they interrupted. They tugged a little harder to get you to pay attention. They wanted to tell you something, so you bow down or kneel to look them in the eye. It might have been hard. It might have hurt your back or knees, but it is always worth every ache to hear a child say something delightful like “I love you.” I can imagine that you wrapped your arms around that child and said, “I love you, too,” because it is impossible not to respond to their overflowing heart with an overflowing heart.

We might be tempted to ignore those children when they tug on our pants or skirt because they are just children. What could they possibly say that would be worth bowing down to them? Sometimes, though, the most important things we need to hear come from the mouths of babes. Their words can even be prophetic.

God heard Jeremiah’s concern and answered him. “Youth and inexperience do not disqualify you for the job to which I have called you. Do not be afraid, I am with you.” See, God does not call us to do something without providing everything we need to accomplish it. God’s prophets do not speak from age or experience, but from the heart and will of God. God then touched Jeremiah’s mouth and said, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. Behold, I have today set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

If you’ve ever read the book of Jeremiah all the way through (it is hard), you’ll know that he was a prophet of doom (that’s why it is hard.) His words were not well received. He had few friends. It isn’t a life anyone would choose, made even worse by the lack of authority by human standards. Who is Jeremiah to speak these words? The false prophets gave a much better sounding message. We would all rather hear about peace than destruction. We would rather go about the status quo than hear the need for repentance. His warnings about the wrath of God were so uncomfortable that they did not hear that grace and mercy could be found in humble submission to God. Even though Jeremiah warned that they would face God’s judgment, he also promised that there was hope. Forgiveness and cleansing would come, a new day would dawn, and God would restore His people.

Jeremiah loved God and he loved God’s people. He warned the people about the coming doom because he wanted them to live the blessed life that God intended for them. They were God’s people; how could they not respond? Even though Jeremiah was young, how could they ignore him when even God bowed down to listen to his concerns. He had the most important words that they needed to hear, words from God meant to bring them back into a relationship with Him who loved them.

Jesus was a grown man by the time He entered the synagogue in His hometown, but He was still a son of the community. Of all the people in the world, we might expect family and friends to believe Him the most, but as He said, a prophet is not accepted in his hometown. They didn’t have faith because it was all too impossible to believe. How could this boy be the One? They were especially angry because Jesus refused to prove Himself with miracles. They wanted to throw Him off a cliff, but Jesus escaped and went to teach another congregation in the synagogue at Capernaum. They, too, were astonished by His lesson but they heard the authority in His voice and in His word. Reports about Him spread and the people came to Him to hear Him and be healed.

In the congregation was a man who had a demon. The demon spoke out against Jesus; it identified Jesus as the Holy One of God. In the previous passage, Jesus identified Himself as the Messiah when He knew that they wouldn’t believe, but then in Capernaum He rebuked the demon for saying the same thing in a place where people might believe. Jesus was careful about who revealed that He is the Messiah. While God chose Jeremiah to be His spokesperson, Jesus did not choose a demon. Would you believe a demon?

The demon left the man at the word of Jesus, and the people were amazed. “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” The word got out into the region about the things Jesus could do, and the people came to Jesus for more. The demons kept crying out “You are the Son of God,” but Jesus did not allow them to tell the people that He was the Christ. Jesus was not yet ready to be identified as the Messiah, certainly not by a demon. He had too much work to do.

After Jesus left the synagogue, He visited the home of Peter. Simon Peter’s wife’s mother was ill with a fever. She was sick in bed, separated from her family and her work by her illness.

Jesus went to her. I can almost imagine this scene as Jesus bowed down before the woman, perhaps kneeling on the ground beside her bed to be close to her. A child he loved needed to know He was listening and that He was with her. He rebuked the fever, and she was made well. Jesus felt the tug and responded to the faith of those who prayed for her with an overflowing heart. This story is almost a side note in today’s text, two verses about someone so important to Peter, bookended by the casting out of a demon and the healing of so many.

It must have been overwhelming for Jesus to have so many people seeking His healing touch. I think about the scene from “Jesus Christ Superstar,” when Jesus is confronted by lepers, cripples, and beggars, all wanting to be healed. In the play Jesus was crushed by their need, and he angrily told the crowd to heal themselves. I am not sure what Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber intended with this scene, but I see it as having come from the stories from Luke 4. Was Jesus overwhelmed? Perhaps. But there’s something more to these stories about Jesus being unable in Nazareth and being overwhelmed in Capernaum.

In verse 43, Jesus said, “I must preach the good tidings of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for therefore was I sent.” The people of Nazareth rejected Jesus, but the people of Capernaum did not want Jesus to leave. He was making a real difference in their lives. He was healing their sick and He was casting out the demons. I wouldn’t want Him to go, either. However, Jesus knew that His work was more than healing, which is why He refused to prove His power in Nazareth. He came to preach the Kingdom of God. The Good News is more than what God can do for us today, in this world. It is more than what God can give to us. It is more than how God can protect us.

God’s Word says we are His children and inheritors of His Kingdom. Yet, we do not take Him at His Word; we desire physical blessings as proof. We are more concerned with flesh and blood than we are eternal promises and consequences. Jesus did not want the people to know He was the Messiah at that time because they were looking for a Messiah who would sit on a throne and lead their nation into a new golden age like David’s reign. They wanted a king who would fill their bellies and fight their enemies. Jesus was not that kind of Messiah. The message of God’s kingdom was different. It was eternal. He came to restore God’s people to their Father, not return the nation to a glory day.

He doesn’t call us to make things golden; He calls us to make things right. And He gives us everything we need to do what He is calling us to do, including gifts that we do not always expect we might have.

God calls us to be like Jesus, to share the Gospel with the world. He has called us to heal and restore, to warn people to repent, to invite them to confess and to offer them the promise of God's forgiveness. He doesn’t choose us because we are perfect for the job. He doesn’t call us because it fits into our schedule or because He thinks we are strong enough. He doesn’t choose us because we are old or experienced enough. He chooses us, young and hold, and gives us everything we need to make His work happen. Even when we complain, however, He bows down to hear us, and He responds with an overflowing heart. “Do not be afraid, I am with you.”