3 Epiphany, Yr C (2025) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
3 Epiphany, Yr C (2025) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
I Corinthians 12:12-31a St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
Luke 4:14-21
In the name of the one, holy, and living God:
in whom we live, and move, and have our being. Amen.
In today’s gospel story we hear that:
“Jesus,
filled with the power of the Spirit,
returned to Galilee.”
Where had he been?
Well, he had been out in the wilderness for 40 days,
immediately following his baptism,
being tempted by the devil while at his weakest moment….
If you remember, the devil was tempting Jesus with power…
the power of earthly authority and honor…
a haughty power to set himself over and above others…
a power to perform great feats.
And we hear that indeed Jesus returns from his sojourn in the wilderness with power,
yet his power is this:
“to bring good news to the poor…
to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free.”
The power of the Spirit that fills Jesus is a power to unbind…
to set people free and build them up!
It is this power of the Spirit that we are given in our own baptisms,
and this power of the Spirit that we are called upon to live out in our own lives.
I share with you a story as told in the movie, The Spitfire Grill:
Percy,
a young woman who has spent five years in prison for manslaughter,
arrives at a town called Gilead, Maine when she is released.
During her time in prison,
she has seen pictures of this town
and thinks it is the most beautiful place on earth.
When she arrives in Gilead,
the sheriff helps her get a job as a waitress at the local diner – the Spitfire Grill.
There she helps the elderly owner whose physical ailments are limiting her function.
Rumors start flying around town
so that when Percy is serving food to the customers,
they mumble behind her back.
Everyone stares at her with suspicion.
One day she can’t stand it anymore and speaks loudly across the restaurant to the owner:
“Hey Hannah,
did I tell you that before I came here,
I just finished serving five years in the State Penn,
and I only got sent to solitary confinement three times?”
Jaws dropped,
but the truth was confronted.
A little while later, the owner of the restaurant falls and breaks her leg,
leaving Percy in charge of running the restaurant.
Percy learns how to cook,
works long hours,
runs errands,
and takes care of Hannah as her leg heals.
Now, before going to bed every evening,
one of her tasks is to take a burlap sack,
fill it with canned goods
and put it out by the stump used for splitting firewood.
She has no idea who collects the food or why.
One day she gets curious and decides to hide behind the log pile to see who comes.
It is dark outside,
but by the light of the moon
she sees a rather rough-looking man dressed in burlap with long hair and a long beard.
He comes and picks up the bag.
Just then she stands up.
Being startled,
the man runs off back into the woods.
Percy runs after him,
speaking to him,
telling him her name
and asking him what his is.
The man is long gone,
but she keeps running after him,
continuing to talk to him:
“I was wondering if you might like something different in your sack.
“I keep putting the same list of food in every day.
“I know what it’s like to keep eating the same food every day,
wishing I had something else to eat.
“Would you like me to put in a little something different?
“Well, I’ll just do that tomorrow.”
She returns to her room and goes to bed.
The next evening as she is packing up the burlap sack,
she pulls out a freshly baked loaf of bread
and carefully wraps it up in paper and puts it in the bag.
She puts the bag out on the stump and goes to bed.
It turns out that the man in the woods has suffered such great trauma
that he can no longer be around people…
at least not right now.
Perhaps through the power of the Spirit that flows through Percy
he may, one day, be unbound by his deep pain.
Percy cares for this man as she cares for herself,
putting herself in his shoes,
considering what his needs may be,
without judgement.
Jesus,
filled with the power of the Spirit,
returned to Galilee.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me….
he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor…
to proclaim release to the captives,
recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free….
Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
The Scripture has been fulfilled.
Today.
Jesus tells us that we are free!
In today’s reading from I Corinthians, Paul says,
“You are the Body of Christ and individually members of it.”
The body does not consist of one member but of many;
we are mandated to care for one another as we care for ourselves.
Paul even says that greater honor is given to the inferior member.
If one member suffers,
then we all suffer.
Likewise if one member rejoices,
we all rejoice.
Jesus says, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Jesus has brought good news to the poor.
He has proclaimed release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind.
He has brought word of freedom for the oppressed.
It is our task to join in such proclamation of healing and wholeness.
Perhaps all it takes is putting a loaf of bread in a burlap bag on a tree stump
to let someone know that they are seen and loved.
Jesus’ healing is already taking place in the world.
We are not without hope…
despite how our county, or country, or world appears right now.
And we, too, are filled with the very same Spirit of God!
It is our calling to participate in caring for the Body of Christ –
in caring for all our neighbors:
in caring for those we know and those we do not yet know.
We already have all the gifts we need.
So…in these troubling times,
let us go forth to proclaim God’s healing love, forgiveness, and Grace…
embodying such power of the Spirit through our very lives.
Let us pray:
Give us grace, O Lord,
to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ
and proclaim to all people the Good News of his [healing],
that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works.
Amen.
