Luke 4:14–21

Third Sunday after Epiphany

¹⁴Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. ¹⁵He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. ¹⁶He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. ¹⁷The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: ¹⁸"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, ¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." ²⁰Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, ²¹and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

It was a beautiful, sunny day many thousands of years ago in the Garden of Eden. It was the greenest, most luscious garden the world has ever known. Teaming with life, flowers, trees, animals of every sort and man, all living in perfect harmony and peace.

Then it happened, there in that beautiful garden, man and Satan came face to face. They began to dual. The stakes were high, for Satan was going to war full force to conqueror mankind and make man his subject. Adam and Eve stood as the representatives of all mankind. It was an all or nothing fight.

Satan hurled his lies at man and tempted him to turn his back on God and rebel against his authority. The fight was fierce, but the tempter was strong. In the end he prevailed over man and Adam and Eve yielded to the temptation. They rebelled against God. They turned their back on God and ran away from him. They wanted no God but themselves.

Death was the result; death for all mankind. The luscious garden turned into a desert wilderness. Having yielded to Satan and temptation, they became slaves of Satan and temptation. Sin filled their hearts and those of their children and their children ever after. Satan now ruled this world spreading his darkness and despair to all corners of his kingdom.

And today we still live in the desert wilderness of Satan’s reign of terror. We feel it every day. We see the results of it everywhere we look. We see evil at work in our world in every corner. We see wars and rumors of wars. We see violence, hatred, murder, tyrants, and oppressors. We see poverty, sickness and death. We see natural disasters of every sort taking innocent lives by the thousands. We see the selfish depravity of mankind taking the lives of millions of unborn babies each year. We see political agendas that seek to destroy the institution of marriage as God intended it and try to distort the shape of families where children are nurtured and taught to fear the Lord.

But most of all, we see Satan’s dark reign of slavery and death in our own lives and hearts. The many unforeseen disasters that take place in our own life. An unexpected illness; an accident; an economic setback. One day we are healthy and think we will live forever, and the next we fall sick and find out we are about to die. We think we are sound of body and soul, and tomorrow we are handicapped and bedridden for the rest of our life. One day enjoying life and rejoicing in the presence of family and friends, and the next day our pain and suffering is so great we beg for death to take us out of this world. One day we are happy and comforted by our loved ones and the next day they are gone and we are left in loneliness and sorrow.

This is the reality of this world. The reality of the kingdom of Satan. For Satan’s kingdom is one of sin, death and despair.

But the most frightening and dangerous of all is the darkness of our own hearts. Our own fleshly lusts and desires. Our own thoughts and words and deeds. Our own selfishness and greed. Our own hearts are a wilderness. We are captives to Satan; under the power of temptation and sin. We are the cause of the great suffering and pain in our world. It is our own heart that makes this a world of doom and gloom. It is our own sinful nature that transformed the garden of Adam and Eve into a desert wilderness; dry and rocky; dusty and dead. Where there once grew garlands of flowers, now there are only thorns and thistles.

But on that day in the Garden of Eden, when the world and its inhabitants became the kingdom of Satan, and slaves of sin and death, there was hope. God himself cursed the tempter and pronounced his destruction. A Seed was promised, a Son, who would be anointed; chosen and set apart; to crush the head of Satan and destroy all that he had done. The promise of that Seed was the hope of the ages. It is the promise of a better day; a new life; when the destruction wrought by Satan in that garden would be undone. A promise that Satan would be crushed and his kingdom brought to an end. It is the hope of restoration when the creation of God will be restored to its original perfection; when the garden-turned-desert would again become a garden.

God promised that Seed and throughout the ages he made known more of his promise. He made a covenant with Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob that the seed would be their descendent. In the Psalms God spoke to his anointed and said, “You are my Son, this day I have begotten you.” And through the prophet Isaiah the promised Seed says of himself: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn.”

That was the promise. God would send a Seed, his only begotten Son, and anoint him to proclaim freedom from the tyranny of Satan. He would bring liberation from slavery of sin and death; healing from our diseases; and life from out of death.

That day when Jesus was in the town of Nazareth, He read these words of Isaiah and proclaimed: “Today these words have been fulfilled.” Jesus himself was the fulfillment of the promise. Jesus himself is the one anointed with the Holy Spirit to proclaim freedom from the power and kingdom of Satan. Jesus is the Seed who would crush the serpent’s head.

As we recall the events leading up to that day in Nazareth when Jesus read these words about himself, we remember that first he was baptized. At his baptism the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove. That was his anointing. He was anointed with the Spirit of God to preach good news to the poor; to proclaim freedom; and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

We often talk about the offices of Christ. We learn them in catechesis as the office of prophet, priest and king. This text stresses his prophetic office. He says it was to preach the good news, proclaim freedom and recovery of sight, and to proclaim the year of Jubilee. Proclamation is the office of prophet. It was his office to announce this good news.

But Jesus did more than just announce the good news. The word “proclaim,” means more than just to be say mere words. He also was the one who made it a reality. Remember, he had just been baptized and the Holy Spirit had just descended upon him. But he did not go straight to Nazareth to read this text. After his baptism he first went to the wilderness. There, just like in the Garden of Eden, Satan and man met face to face. The first time Satan met Adam in the garden and Adam lost the battle and brought slavery and death upon mankind. The garden became a desert. Now, in the desert, Satan again met man, the man Jesus. The battle once again raged for dominion over mankind. But this time Jesus, the Second Adam, won the battle on our behalf. He fought the battle, he suffered the temptation, and he was victorious. The desert would change back into a garden. Death would be swallowed up by victory. The captive would be released, and Satan’s rule would come to an end.

Then Jesus came to Nazareth and read this prophecy of Isaiah in order to present himself to the world as the anointed one of God, the prophet who would speak good news to the poor; the priest who would offer the sacrifice for sin; the Seed who would crush the head of the serpent.

He offered up the sacrifice for our sin. He was the Passover Lamb who was slain and by whose blood we are set free from slavery to sin and death. He not only offered the sacrifice, but was the sacrifice. He became our slave to set us free from slavery. He became brokenhearted in order to bind up the brokenhearted. He became a captive to give liberty to the captive and he became a prisoner in order to open the prison doors to us.

He came to crush the head of Satan under his feet. He was the Son of God who appeared in order to destroy the devil’s work. He died in order to destroy the one who holds the power of death. Just as by one man sin entered the world and death through sin, so by one man, Jesus Christ, eternal life reigns through righteousness. By one man the garden was turned into a desert; so by one man, Jesus Christ, the desert is transformed into a garden.

So today, on account of the innocent and bitter sufferings of Jesus Christ, we are set free from the captivity of sin and death which reigned in the world. We can scoff in the face of death. We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus our Lord. As we face the darkness of this world, the corruption, the temptations, the agony and sorrow, the sickness and death that afflicts our bodies, our minds and our souls, we scorn them, for we can lift up our heads in hope and assurance that in the end we shall overcome all these things in Christ Jesus. For even though we face death all day long, we are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ and nothing can separate us from the love of God; not death nor life, not angels or demons, not the present of the future, nor any powers, nor height or depth or anything else in all creation.

Jesus is the resurrection and the life. And though we die today, tomorrow we shall be raised! Death is swallowed up in victory. The power of Satan is broken! We are free! One day we shall leave this world where sin and death reigns. The Epiphany of our Lord is the revelation of Jesus Christ, that Seed who came to crush the head of Satan. He is revealed today around our world; a light shining in the darkness of Satan’s domain. That light of Epiphany shines in our lives as we live in Christian obedience and love one for another. That Epiphany light shines as we speak out against the sins of our society, like the atrocity of abortion, and as we work for the sanctity of life. That Epiphany light shines as we invite others to hear God’s word and as we tell others of Christ’s forgiveness by his death on the cross. That Epiphany light shines in our church and community as we share our faith with our neighbors and especially with those who have come from other lands and cultures and speak other languages but are now our neighbors we meet on the streets. Let us pray for opportunities to share the light of Christ with the people next door and across the street. This is the Epiphany of our Lord. This is that light of the Gospel which is dispelling the darkness of evil. It is the good news preached to the poor; it is liberty proclaimed to the captives; it is sight to the blind and freedom for the oppressed. Yes, the Epiphany light is the proclamation of the year of the Lord’s favor; the great Jubilee.

Amen.