Narrative Lectionary Program Year – Sermon at Nazareth
Luke 4:14-30
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Nazareth.
Furthering the Power of God’s Story – Narrative Lectionary Commentary
by Rev. Dr. Clint Schnekloth
Is it hubris for Jesus to proclaim himself as the fulfillment of Scripture? Is that even what he’s doing? For the sake of argument, let’s assume he is thinking as high of a Christology here as many assume. He’s reading the Scripture out loud, and then saying to those gathered, “The one standing before you is the fulfillment of this Scripture you have just heard.”
I happen to think that’s a good interpretation. But if we continue the high Christology motif, it pays off in intriguing ways. Because of course Jesus isn’t Jesus by himself. Jesus is the one for others. In fact, the whole community in Christ is gathered up in him, so that he is actually saying that he, and everyone in him, are the fulfillment of the text.
This means, if the hearers had taken it in the right way, they wouldn’t have been offended by his sermon at all, because he wasn’t saying just he himself is the fulfillment of the text in their hearing. They also are the fulfillment of that text.
I think this, or something like it, is the best direction for new sermons on this sermon. By the end of the sermon, the assembly should imagine themselves as the fulfillment. The year of the Lord’s favor is here, and it is us.
And then not just us, but all those we might otherwise other, who Jesus maps in by naming foreigners from the Old Testament who illustrated God’s favor in and through their lives.
The amazing part of Scripture being fulfilled is that it is always more than we imagined, and typically less parochial than we assume.
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Other Resources
Exegetical Links
Proclaiming the Righteous Reign of Jesus, David L. Tiede
Jesus’ Inaugural Sermon, E.D. Solomon
First to the Gentiles, Jeffrey Siker
Great Quotes
“You can never go home again.”
A Good Read
[Welcoming Justice: God's Movement Toward Beloved Community
by Charles Marsh
[Delete this] Commentary, if any, you can type here. Sometimes I will put information here, other times, it’s good to drop in a quick summary of the book you can find on Amazon.
Video Resources
Mitri Raheb’s Christmas Message from Bethlehem
Daily Devotional Feed
Free Dramatic Reading For This Text (NRSV)
Readers: Narrator, Jesus, Crowds
Narrator: Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
Jesus: “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 let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Narrator: And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them,
Jesus: Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.
Narrator: All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said,
Crowds: Is not this Joseph’s son?
Narrator: He said to them,
Jesus: Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, “Doctor, cure yourself!” And you will say, “Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.”
Narrator: And he said,
Jesus: Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.
Narrator: When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.