Sunday 24th January - 3rd of Epiphany (white)
Theme: Open the Book
Readings: Nehemiah 8:1-3,5-6,8-10 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
Luke 4:14-21 Ps 19
Theme: Open the Book
Readings: Nehemiah 8:1-3,5-6,8-10 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
Luke 4:14-21 Ps 19
Collect:
God of all mercy,
your Son proclaimed good news to the poor,
release to the captives,
and freedom to the oppressed:
anoint us with your Holy Spirit
and set all your people free
to praise you in Christ our Lord.
Comment
Epiphany means ‘manifestation’, and during this season our Gospel readings look at how Jesus was revealed as the promised Messiah, God’s appointed King and Saviour of the world. We began with the revelation to the magi by the star; we continued with the manifestations at Jesus’ baptism, and last week we read about how his glory was revealed through turning water into wine. This week the reading highlights the role of Scripture.
Scripture reveals God. God cannot be known by observation or logic or philosophy. He is spirit. We cannot get to know him unless he chooses to reveal himself, giving us information about himself in an accessible way. The most accessible way is through words – especially words which can be heard or read widely. That’s what we believe God has done in inspiring the writing of the Bible. There we see several different ways in which God reveals himself – through the created world, through events, through prophets proclaiming a message from him, through people writing as inspired by the Spirit, through appearances of angels, above all through his Son becoming a human being. We have to decide whether the writings are from God, and if so, how we should interpret them and respond to them.
Jesus regarded the Scriptures of his day (our Old Testament) as the written words of God. What the Scripture said, God said. He quoted Scripture against the devil when tempted by him. He explained what they meant. In any discussion, what the Scriptures said carried the greatest weight. And he showed how all that he was doing was in accordance with the Scripture, and how the prophecies about the coming of the Messiah were being fulfilled through him. When he preached good news to the poor, delivered people from bondage to evil spirit and healed those who were blind or sick, the prophecy in Isaiah was being fulfilled, and that showed that he really was the one Isaiah prophesied would come.
Our Scriptures include alongside the Old Testament the records of Jesus’ life (the gospels), the record of the early church, and inspired letters from his earliest followers. Through them Jesus is manifested in a far clearer light than before. God still speaks through the Bible in a much clearer way than through the events of history or our own circumstances. We need to work out for ourselves what God is saying; and we need to respond appropriately.
Questions
1) How important is the Bible to you?
2) How can you know God better?