The Preaching of Jesus Christ
Text: Luke 4:14-32 The Rev. Ross M. Wright
The Third Sunday after Epiphany Church of the Good Shepherd
Jesus reads the text from Isaiah, rolls up the scroll and hands it to the attendant, sits down to deliver the message on the text and says: “‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’.” What does this mean? Jesus’ words and the words of life. The sound of his voice means that a new day has dawned for us.
Think about the power which certain sounds have to completely alter our situation: the sound of a newborn’s cry in the delivery room; the sound of a mother’s voice to a child who is lost; the sound of bagpipes to Allied troops dug in and under heavy fire – the proof that help is on the way; the sound of a rooster or of reveille, announcing the break of day. When Winston Churchill was buried at St. Paul’s in London, the service ended with the playing of Taps, that plaintive sound which conveys the end. But immediately, there followed the playing of reveille. Churchill understood that for the believer, death is not the end but a new beginning. As St. Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 15, “And the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised, incorruptible; and we shall be changed” (1 Cor. 15:52).
Certain words, when spoken by the right person, actually accomplish that to which the words refer. When a prison warden says to an inmate, “You are free,” from that moment, he is a free man. When someone you care about says, “I love you,” you are loved as you hear those words. When someone you have hurt says: “I forgive you,” you experience forgiveness; you are released.
Jesus says: “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Jesus Christ is the preacher of the good news. He is the one who announces good news to us in our poverty. He proclaims release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind. The voice of Jesus Christ releases us from the past, announces a new beginning for us, and rouses us to action. It has power to make us glad, to humble us and then to raise us up again and set us with princes, as Psalm 113 says. If the risen Christ comes to us this morning and speaks these words to us, then they are fulfilled.
Luke presents Jesus as the teacher, the rabbi who goes from synagogue to synagogue, teaching from Israel’s scriptures. But, so what? There were plenty of religious teachers in Jesus’ day, just as there are today. And even people who reject Jesus as the Lord frequently acknowledge that he was as an inspired prophet. What is the most often quoted comment by unbelievers who make a nod toward Christianity? “I believe that Jesus was a great teacher.” But look again. Jesus’ teaching is unlike that of any other teacher, because it has power to transform our situation. When Luke and the other gospel writers describe his teaching, they frequently associate it with his miraculous healings and exorcism of unclean spirits. His teaching as just as powerful and miraculous as these other mighty acts. Jesus taught with authority, Luke says, or power – not like the scribes and the Pharisees.
We have come to distrust the power of words, of teaching, of preaching. We have seen too many examples of empty speech. We have become cynical. We are apt to distinguish between words and action. “Don’t preach at me,” your teen aged son or daughter says to you. One of the most damning comments a critic can make about a literary work is that it preaches. The age of preaching is over, we are told. Our attention spans are too short. We have been exposed too long to TV and the internet. Who listens to a talking head any more? Isn’t this true?
Well, it all depends on who is doing the preaching. What if the risen Christ himself is present to us and begins to speak? What if he meets us as he met the disciples who were walking along the Emmaus Road on Easter Sunday? As they walked, reflecting bitterly on their disappointment over how Jesus’ ministry had ended, the risen Christ himself began to walk along with them and to interpret the Scriptures to them: “Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them all the things about himself in all the scriptures” (Luke 24:27).
What is preaching? Preaching begins as we examine a text of Scripture and interpret what it says about Jesus Christ. But at some point, a miracle occurs: Jesus himself is present, interpreting the text to us. At this point, he is no longer an object whom we discuss; he is the subject who addresses us.
In Woody Allen’s movie, “Annie Hall,” Woody is waiting in line to get into a movie, and gets in an argument with someone about Marshall McCluan, the communication theorist. Woody says: “You don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t know anything about Marshall McCluan. I know the man personally, and as a matter of fact, he happens to be right here.” At this point, Marshall McCluan suddenly appears from behind a plant and says: “Woody’s right – you don’t know what you’re talking about.” At the point that McCluan appears, he is no longer the object being debated. He is present as a speaking subject.
The preaching of Jesus Christ occurs when our talk about Jesus Christ gives way to Christ himself speaking. Every sermon, every Bible study, every devotion is done with the hope that this miracle might take place. Whether or not the miracle occurs is not under our control. However, what we do here this morning and every Sunday stands under the sign of God’s promise: when the baptized gather for reading of the word and the receiving of the sacrament, Jesus Christ draws near. The risen Christ may show up, identify himself with our words and thoughts, and actually address us.
Through the preaching of the word of God, Jesus Christ becomes our contemporary. When he speaks, the historical walls separating us from Good Friday and Easter disappear. The words which he spoke to his disciples cross the centuries and are addressed personally to us, here, today. A text of Scripture is exposited. Jesus himself moves among us through the power of the Spirit and begins to set us free. As we hear about Jesus the liberator, he moves into our present situation and sets us free from our particular forms of bondage. As we hear Luke’s description of Jesus as the opener of eyes, Jesus himself draws near and opens our eyes, so that we begin to see ourselves in a new light. And not only ourselves, but also each other, our families, the church, and human existence itself. As we hear the gospel or good news about Jesus Christ, what we have heard about all these years actually begins to sound like good news, actually becomes good news, so that it makes us glad. According to William Tyndale, who translated the New Testament into English in 1534, the gospel is good news, which, “when a man hears it, he laughs from the low bottom of his heart.”[1]
The question with which this passage ends is this: How will we respond? When the word of God in Christ speaks, it provokes a response – either resistance or humble acceptance; it either opens ears or closes them. This can be seen in Luke’s account of Jesus’ preaching in Nazareth. Initially, people responded with wonder and praise. But as the sermon progressed, they challenged Jesus for a sign. They were offended by his teaching. In the end, they tried to throw him off the brow of a hill. This conclusion of the episode in Nazareth is our gospel reading for next Sunday. Luke is presenting this account as an overview of Jesus’ teaching ministry. His preaching either set people free or provoked hostility. Remember that it was Jesus’ parables which finally provoked the religious leaders to arrest him.
Jesus Christ is the preacher of the good news. Through preaching, Jesus himself is present with us. Light moves into the darkness. The kingdom of God advances. The mission of the church is extended. The preaching of Jesus Christ is both profoundly comforting and deeply troubling. Sometimes, the grace of God must wound in order to heal. For this reason, hearing the word of God is a bracing encounter with the truth. It is like having a conversation with someone who tells you the truth about yourself, even though it hurts. Do you know how to tell the difference between a flatterer and a friend? A friend will tell you your faults. The preaching of Jesus Christ is just such an encounter with the truth.
In the end, there is nothing in heaven and earth more salutary for the church of Jesus Christ, nothing more effective for rousing us from slumber and sending us on our way in mission, nothing more transforming than the preaching of Jesus Christ, the word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit. When we hear his voice, his will is fulfilled in our hearing.
[1] “A Prologue to the Epistle of Paul to the Romans,” in Tyndale’s New Testament, ed., David Daniell (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989), 207.
