Revised Common Lectionary - Year C: Third Sunday after the Epiphany

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10; Psalm 19:1-14; 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a; Luke 4:14-21
Let us worship God.

What happens when God’s people ‘gather together’(Nehemiah 8:1)? – (a) We hear the Word of the Lord (Nehemiah 8:2-3, 8). We come to the Lord’s House, seeking a fresh understanding of His Word. We look to the Lord, speaking through His Word, to fill us ‘with great joy’(Nehemiah 8:12). (b) We thank God for His Son, our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ (8:13-18). In ‘the feast of the seventh month’, ‘the Lord’s Feast of Tabernacles’, God’s people remembered how much He had done for them (Leviticus 23:34,42). In the Lord’s Supper, we remember that Christ died for our sins (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). (c) We dedicate our lives to the Lord (Nehemiah 9:2). ‘Do not be conformed to this world’. ‘Be transformed’by God’s Word (Romans 12:2). (d) We worship the Lord (Nehemiah 9:5). Let us ‘praise the Lord our God…’.

Let us hear the Word of the Lord.

God reveals Himself in creation and Scripture. He speaks through His created world. He speaks through His written Word. God is always speaking. He is never silent. Through His created world, God is speaking to us – every day, every night. He is showing us His glory (Psalm 19:1-2). He makes us aware of His presence. He whets our appetite for His written Word. The Scriptures lead us to Christ. Through faith in Him, we receive salvation (2 Timothy 3:15). Christ is the high-point of God’s revelation. He is the living Word (John 1:1, 14). The testimony of the Psalmist – ‘The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul’(Psalm 19:7) – becomes real for us through faith in Christ – ‘I came to Jesus…My soul revived and now I live in Him’(Church Hymnary, 212). Make it real. Come to Christ. Come alive in Him!

With a thankful heart, let us dedicate our lives to the Lord.

Paul speaks about ‘gifts of the Spirit’. They are ‘given for the common good’(1 Corinthians 12:4-7). We’re not ‘to show off’: ‘Look at me. The Church can’t do without me’. When we draw attention to ourselves rather than Christ, we are not living ‘by the Spirit of God’. He moves us to say, with our whole heart, ‘Jesus is Lord’(1 Corinthians 12;3). We live in fellowship with one another: ‘the body does not consist of one member but of many’(1 Corinthians 12:14). ‘I’m happy – as long as I’m getting my own way’: We can do without this kind of attitude! What about ‘the common good’? Sometimes, things don’t go according to my plan. Perhaps, my plan needs revising – to take account of ‘the common good’. When self raises its ugly head – ‘It’s my way or no way at all’- let’s not forget the ‘still more excellent way’(1 Corinthians 12:3). It is the way of love – Christ’s love!

Let us follow Jesus in the pathway of victory.

Jesus was ‘tempted by the devil’(Luke 4:2). He was rejected by His enemies (Luke 4:28-29). When we look around us, we see nothing but temptations and rejection – What a negative way of looking at things! There is something more positive here – the presence of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:1,14,18). Do not be afraid. There is no need to be discouraged. We need not be defeated. The temptations may be many. The opposition may be fierce. We can ‘pass through the midst of them’(Luke 4:30): ‘God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control’(2 Timothy 1:7). Satan is persistent – They did not rest until they had crucified Him. Faced with such opposition, we – like Jesus – must walk in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:12,17-18).