• 31 Juan Bosco, Priest, 1888. Samuel Shoemaker, Priest and Evangelist, 1963

February

• 1 Brigid (Bride), Abbess, 523is one of Ireland's patron saints, along with Patrick and Columba. Irish hagiography makes her an early Irish Christian nun,^[3] abbess, and founder of several monasteries of nuns
• 2 The Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple
• 3 The Dorchester Chaplains: Lieutenant George Fox, Lieutenant Alexander D. Goode, Lieutenant Clark V. Poling and Lieutenant John P. Washington, 1943also sometimes referred to as the "Immortal Chaplains" or the "Dorchester Chaplains" were four United States Army chaplains who gave their lives to save other civilian and military personnel as the troop ship SS Dorchester sank on February 3, 1943, during World War II. They helped other soldiers board lifeboats and gave up their own life jackets when the supply ran out.^[1] The chaplains joined arms, said prayers, and sang hymns as they went down with the ship
• 4 Anskar, Archbishop of Hamburg, Missionary to Denmark and Sweden, 865
• 5 Roger Williams, 1683, and Anne Hutchinson, 1643, Prophetic Witnesses
• 6 The Martyrs of Japan, 1597were Christians who were persecuted for their faith in Japan, mostly during the 17th century.

OLD TESTAMENT: Jeremiah 1: 4 - 10 (RCL)

                                   Jeremiah 1: 4 - 5, 17 - 19 (Roman Catholic)

Jere 1:4 (NRSV) Now the word of the LORD came to me saying,

5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

and before you were born I consecrated you;

I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

6 Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." 7 But the LORD said to me,

"Do not say, "I am only a boy';

for you shall go to all to whom I send you,

and you shall speak whatever I command you,

8 Do not be afraid of them,

for I am with you to deliver you,

says the LORD."

9 Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me,

"Now I have put my words in your mouth.

10 See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,

to pluck up and to pull down,

to destroy and to overthrow,

to build and to plant."

17 But you, gird up your loins; stand up and tell them everything that I command you. Do not break down before them, or I will break you before them. 18 And I for my part have made you today a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall, against the whole land--against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land. 19 They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the LORD, to deliver you.

Genesis 2.4b-9,15-25 (C of E)

Gen. 2:4  (NRSV) In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; 6 but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground— 7 then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.’

18 Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.’ 19 So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,

‘This at last is bone of my bones

   and flesh of my flesh;

this one shall be called Woman,

   for out of Man this one was taken.’

24 Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.

PSALM 71: 1 - 6   (RCL)

Psalm 71: 1 - 6, 15, 17   (Roman Catholic)

Psal 71:1 (NRSV) In you, O LORD, I take refuge;

let me never be put to shame.

2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;

incline your ear to me and save me.

3 Be to me a rock of refuge,

a strong fortress, to save me,

for you are my rock and my fortress.

4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,

from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.

5 For you, O Lord, are my hope,

my trust, O LORD, from my youth.

6 Upon you I have leaned from my birth;

it was you who took me from my mother's womb.

My praise is continually of you.

15 My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,

of your deeds of salvation all day long,

though their number is past my knowledge.

17 O God, from my youth you have taught me,

and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.

71   In te, Domine, speravi   (ECUSA BCP)

1  In you, O Lord, have I taken refuge; *

     let me never be ashamed.

2  In your righteousness, deliver me and set me free; *

     incline your ear to me and save me.

3  Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe; *

     you are my crag and my stronghold.

4  Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, *

     from of the clutches of the evildoer and the oppressor.

5  For you are my hope, O Lord God, *

     my confidence since I was young.

6  I have been sustained by you ever since I was born;

from my mother's womb you have been my strength; *

     my praise shall be always of you.

Psalm 65 (C of E)

Psalm 65:1  (NRSV) Praise is due to you,

   O God, in Zion;

and to you shall vows be performed,

2   O you who answer prayer!

To you all flesh shall come.

3 When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us,

   you forgive our transgressions.

4 Happy are those whom you choose and bring near

   to live in your courts.

We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,

   your holy temple.

5 By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance,

   O God of our salvation;

you are the hope of all the ends of the earth

   and of the farthest seas.

6 By your* strength you established the mountains;

   you are girded with might.

7 You silence the roaring of the seas,

   the roaring of their waves,

   the tumult of the peoples.

8 Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs;

you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy.

9 You visit the earth and water it,

   you greatly enrich it;

the river of God is full of water;

   you provide the people with grain,

   for so you have prepared it.

10 You water its furrows abundantly,

   settling its ridges,

softening it with showers,

   and blessing its growth.

11 You crown the year with your bounty;

   your wagon tracks overflow with richness.

12 The pastures of the wilderness overflow,

   the hills gird themselves with joy,

13 the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,

   the valleys deck themselves with grain,

   they shout and sing together for joy.

NEW TESTAMENT: 1 Corinthians 13: 1 - 13 (RCL)

                                    1 Corinthians 12: 31 - 13: 4 (5 - 13) (Roman Catholic)

1Cor 12:31 (NRSV) But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

13:1 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

h/t Montreal Anglican

In response to a letter, Paul has further instructed the Christians at Corinth about the gifts of the Spirit. It seems that they value the gift of tongues too highly. Three groups of gifted people are especially important – “apostles” ( 12:28, spreading the good news), “prophets” (telling new insights into the faith) and “teachers” (of the faith) – but now he says that the most important gift is love, the expression in the community of Christ’s love for us. The statements in vv. 1-3 are all on the same model. Whatever is spoken, if said without love, is like the clatter of pagan worship. (At the time, rabbis debated what language “angels” spoke.) Prophecy is important but without love of one’s fellows it is “nothing” (v. 2). Even helping others to the extent of self-denial is worthless without love.
In vv. 4-7, he tells his readers how their behaviour contrasts with the qualities of this love: it is the reverse of their proud, contemptuous, divisive attitudes. “Truth” (v. 6) is integrity, ethical living. Love, he says, is different from God’s other gifts (v. 8); unlike them (“prophecies”, “tongues”, “knowledge”), it never ends: it is transcendent, continuing beyond this era, into the time when we will be fully one with Christ. In the present age, all that we do through the Spirit is “partial” (v. 10), incomplete, immature. Mirrors then, being polished metal, gave a fuzzy image, but in the age to come (“then”, v. 12) we will see God clearly. We will know him fully, as God knows Paul now. “Love” (v. 13) is the “greatest” because it will continue unchanged, while “faith” will become sight and “hope” will become certainty.

Paul’s discussion of spiritual gifts begins in 12:1-11. NJBC considers 13:1-13 to be a text Paul composed for another occasion and inserted here, based on the quality of the writing and the use of the Hellenistic literary form of praise of the greatest virtue.
Only by loving does the Christian exist authentically: see 1:30. “Love” here is agape. It is love for others, love that “builds up” ( 8:1). It is love in the community, inspired by the love of God in Christ for us, through the Holy Spirit (see Romans 5:5). [ NOAB]
Verses 1-3: Note the progression from the lowest gift (“tongues”, v. 1, see also 14:6-12), via intellectual gifts and miracle-working faith (“remove mountains”, v. 2), to acts of supreme devotion benefiting others. [ NJBC]
Verse 1: “tongues”: In 12:28, Paul writes: “God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues”.
Verse 1: “noisy ... cymbal”: In 12:2, in introducing the subject of “spiritual gifts”, Paul says: “You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak”. [ NOAB]
Verse 2: “prophetic powers ... faith”: In 12:8-9, Paul says: “To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit ...”. [ NOAB] “Faith” here is great faith, i.e. faith that God can work miracles. [ NJBC]
Verse 3a: See 12:28 (quoted above).
Verse 3: “boast”: To Paul, boasting is acceptable if one is sufficiently godly and blameless. See 9:15 (“no one will deprive me of my ground for boasting!”) and 2 Corinthians 1:14 (“we are your boast even as you are our boast”). The phrase in this verse can also be translated to be burned: burning was the most horrible of deaths.
Verses 4-7: Love is evident in actions rather than merely in feelings. Fifteen verbs in these verses show what love accomplishes for the upbuilding of the community.
Verse 4: The strong at Corinth are neither “patient” nor “kind”: see 8:1-13: “Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that "all of us possess knowledge." Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up ...”. [ NJBC]
Verse 6: “rejoice in wrongdoing”: As the Corinthian community did: see 5:1-8: “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not found even among pagans; for a man is living with his father's wife ...”. [ NJBC]
Verse 8: Prophecies, tongues and knowledge (in the Greek sense, i.e. unapplied) are time-limited, but love is forever.
Verse 11: In 3:1, Paul speaks to the Christians at Corinth “ as infants in Christ”. In 14:20, Paul writes “Brothers and sisters, do not be children in your thinking; rather, be infants in evil, but in thinking be adults”. [ NJBC]
Verse 12: “see face to face”: An expression used in the Old Testament to express the quality of Moses’ knowledge of God (see Exodus 33:11; Numbers 12:8; Deuteronomy 34:10) in this present life.
Verse 12: “as I have been fully known”: i.e. by God, in making Paul an apostle. In 8:3, Paul says: “anyone who loves God is known by him”. See also Galatians 4:9 and Romans 8:29.
Verse 13: 1 John 4:8-10 says: “Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins”.
Verse 13: “faith, hope, and love”: This triad is also in Romans 5:1-5; Galatians 5:5-6; Colossians 1:4-5; 1 Thessalonians 1:3, 5:8. [ NJBC]

GOSPEL: Luke 4: 21 - 30 (RCL, Roman Catholic)

Luke 4:21 (NRSV) Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, "Is not this Joseph's son?" 23 He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, "Doctor, cure yourself!' And you will say, "Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Caper'naum.'" 24 And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. 25 But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Eli'jah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26 yet Eli'jah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zar'ephath in Si'don. 27 There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Eli'sha, and none of them was cleansed except Na'aman the Syrian." 28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

At Nazareth, Jesus attends the synagogue service on the sabbath. He has just read some verses from Isaiah. He now tells worshippers that he fulfils them: he is the expected messiah; he will rescue all those who are in need; God’s promises made to Israel are “fulfilled” in the new age. All are “amazed” (v. 22), they keep wondering: at (as a scholar puts it) Jesus’ words of grace, of God’s freely given gift of love. An Old Testament usage suggests the “words” are the word of God.
Probably vv. 22ff describe a subsequent visit to the synagogue. Isn’t this the person we have known since he was a child? In v. 23, as often in Luke, Jesus takes the offensive: people want him to perform miraculous deeds to satisfy their curiosity, and for their benefit. In vv. 25-27, Jesus reminds them of instances where God has helped foreigners (both women and men) rather than Israelites. (In 1 Kings 17-18, a “famine”, attributed to God cutting off Israel, lasts 3 years; in contemporary books about the end times, the period of persecution and disgrace lasts three and a half years.) The people are “filled with rage” (v. 28) because they begin to realize that Jesus is for others as well as for them. Nazareth, being on a hillside, has steep slopes down which a person might fall to his death. Jesus escapes the lynch mob: they let him go because they think he might just be the messiah. He continues his mission in accord with God’s plan.
The parallels are Matthew 13:53-58 and Mark 6:1-6.
Verse 21: “Today”: Luke uses this word to introduce important themes elsewhere too: see 2:11 (“to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord”); 22:61; 23:43. It should not be taken as a reference to the historical then of Jesus’ time, but to the now, the time of fulfilment. [ NJBC]
Verse 22: “gracious words”: Words of salvation/grace is suggested by Acts 14:3; 20:24, 32 – where the same Greek phrase also occurs. [ NJBC]
Verse 22: “came from his mouth”: Deuteronomy 8:3 says “... one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord”. [ NJBC]
Verse 22: “‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’”: The local people are surprised that a person they have known since he was a child is the messenger of such news. This question would sound ironic to the first readers who had read 1:32 (“He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David”), 1:35 (“The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God’”); 3:21-22; 4:1-13.
Verses 24-27: See 1 Kings 17:1, 8-16; 18:1 (the widow of Zarephath); 2 Kings 5:1-14 (the healing of Naaman). Luke universalizes Isaiah 61:1-2 (part of Jesus’ reading in vv. 18-19). For the rejected prophet, see also 6:22-23; 11:49-51; 13:34-35; Acts 7:35, 51-52. The pattern of the rejected prophet theme is found in Nehemiah 9:26-31. The stages are:

• The people rebel, and kill a prophet
• God punishes the perpetrators
• God shows mercy through sending a new prophet
• The people sin and reject the prophet. [ NJBC]

One might note that, unlike Jesus, Elijah and Elisha were not rejected by the Israelites.
Verse 25: “three years and six months”: 1 Kings 18:1 says that the famine lasted three years. Luke (and James 5:17) extend this to three and a half years, giving it eschatological significance. [ JBC] For the duration of the eschatological struggle, see Daniel 7:25 (“ a time, two times, and half a time”); 12:7; Revelation 11:2 (“forty-two months”); 12:6 (“one thousand two hundred sixty days”, i.e. 3 ½ years), 14 (“a time, and times, and half a time”).
Verse 30: This is not necessarily a miracle.

·  24 Ordination of Florence Li Tim-Oi, First Woman Priest in the Anglican Communion, 1944

·  25 The Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle

·  26 Timothy, Titus, and Silas was a leading member of the Early Christian community, who accompanied Paul the Apostle on parts of his first and second missionary journeys., Companions of Saint Paul

·  27 Lydia, Dorcas, and Phoebe, Witnesses to the Faith

·  28 Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Friar, 1274

·  29 Andrei Rublev, Monk and Iconographer, 1430

·  30 Charles I of England, King and Martyr, 1649.

·  31 Juan Bosco, Priest, 1888. Samuel Shoemaker, Priest and Evangelist, 1963

Nehemiah 8:1-3,5-6,8-10

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah form one story. Ezra begins with Cyrus of Persia’s decree, in 538 BC, permitting the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild the Temple, a venture in which they are to be materially aided. Cyrus orders that the sacred vessels taken from the Temple in 587 be returned. More than 42,000 leave Babylon for Judah. The altar is erected on the site of the destroyed Temple; the priests again offer burnt offerings. Construction of the new Temple begins: a more modest structure than Solomon’s.
But subversion arises among local people; they succeed in convincing the Persian king that the Jews plan a rebellion against his rule, so he halts rebuilding. Eventually construction is allowed to continue. Ezra, the scribe and priest, enters the picture in Ezra 7. Commissioned by King Artaxerxes, he travels to Jerusalem with a wave of exiles; he is “to study the law of the Lord ... and to teach the statutes and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7:10), and to prepare the Temple for worship. He is to appoint “magistrates and judges” (Ezra 7:25). Many scholars say that Nehemiah 8 (and 7:73b) follow here (although Nehemiah 6:15-7:4 tell of the building of the walls of the city, including the “Water Gate”, Nehemiah 8:1). The people who have come from Babylon are now “settled in their towns” (Nehemiah 7:73b).
The “book of the law of Moses” (v. 1) is most likely an earlier version of the biblical Leviticus: it is quoted in vv. 14-15. Note the stress on “understanding” (vv. 2, 3, 7). V. 4 says that Ezra stood on a “wooden platform” or tower. The people agree to obey the law (“Amen”, v. 6). Ezra reads in Hebrew (v. 8); the Levites (priestly assistants) translate into Aramaic (the common language) and “gave the sense”, interpret it in the current context. Nehemiah is not listed elsewhere as a “governor” (v. 9): here this is probably a prestige title. Ezra declares the day “holy”, a sabbath. It seems that what Ezra reads makes the people sad, but he commands that they celebrate a feast: vv. 14-15 tell us that this is the Festival of Booths (Tabernacles, Sukkoth ).

36   Dixit injustus     (ECUSA BCP)

5          Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, *

     and your faithfulness to the clouds.

6          Your righteousness is like the strong mountains,

your justice like the great deep; *

     you save both man and beast, O Lord.

7          How priceless is your love, O God! *

     your people take refuge under the

                        shadow of your wings.

8          They feast upon the abundance of your house; *

     you give them drink from the river of your delights.

9          For with you is the well of life, *

     and in your light we see light.

10         Continue your loving-kindness to those who know you, *

     and your favor to those who are true of heart.

Psalm 19

To the Israelites, the “firmament” was a giant pudding bowl over the earth, beyond which was a hierarchy of “heavens”. God’s glory is told “day” (v. 2) and “night”, yet silently (v. 3a), to all people. He has created the sun as his agent (v. 5); it rises early in the morning, as does the “bridegroom” from his night’s rest, traverses from one edge of the heavens to the other, making God’s presence known with its “heat” (v. 6). Vv. 7-9 present the wonders of the law, as an expression of God’s will for Israel. Here we find synonyms for the Law, characteristics of it, and its benefits for humankind, e.g. it makes “wise the simple”, those immature in understanding and judgement. It warns the psalmist (“servant”, v. 11). If he accidentally break it (“hidden faults”, v. 12), may God forgive him. May God protect him from those who intentionally go against God’s ways (“the insolent”, v. 13), lest he be influenced into sinning intentionally (“great transgression”). May his words and his thoughts be acceptable to God, who restores him to godliness (v. 14).

Corinthians 12:12-31a

Paul has told the Christians at Corinth that spiritual gifts come through the Holy Spirit and are given by him, as he chooses, for the benefit of the whole community. Now he turns to the nature of the Church – using the analogy of the human body. Whatever our ethnic or social origins, “we were all baptised into one body” (v. 13), into the risen glorified body of Christ, and empowered by the same Holy Spirit acting in the Church. V. 14 is key: the body needs various members; so too the Church needs various spiritual gifts, each making its own contribution. In vv. 15-20, Paul makes the point that all members contribute in various ways to the welfare of the whole. Diversity is rooted in, and contributes to, unity. In vv. 21-25, he says that each member needs every other member, whether he or she be strong or weak (v. 22). Vv. 23-25 say that the instinct of modesty reveals part of God’s plan, e.g. by respecting our “less respectable members”, we make them equally respectable. This applies in the community as it does in the body. In this way, the community is peaceable, without “dissension”; each cares for others. When one suffers the whole community does (v. 26).
In vv. 27-28, Paul applies these principles: “you”, Corinthian Christians, are both one body and individually its members. Three groups with God-given and -appointed spiritual gifts are especially important:

·  “apostles” chosen to continue spreading the good news;

·  “prophets”, those with new insights into God’s plan; and

·  those who teach the faith.

He then lists some other gifts: some help the poor and needy; others are leaders, managers, in church affairs. The questions in vv. 29-30 must surely be answered no. Perhaps v. 31a suggests that all seek to grow in the use of the gifts, great or small, given to them.

h/t Montreal Anglican

12:1-14:40: “Now concerning ...”: As in 7:1; 7:25; 8:1 and 16:1, Paul addresses an issue raised by the Corinthians in an earlier letter to him. [ CAB]
12:12-31: Although widespread in the ancient world, the idea of society as a body is unlikely to have been the source of Paul’s analogy. He saw society as, above all, characterized by divisions (see Galatians 3:28: “There is no longer Jew or Greek ...”), and he predicated “body” of the Christian community to emphasize its organic unity. [ NJBC]
12:13: The Church is the manifestation and extension of the Lord’s body in this world. The Church is the body of Christ because it is composed of members who share in the life of the Risen Lord. [ JBC]
12:13: “baptised into one body”: In Romans 12:4-5, Paul writes: “For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another”. See also Ephesians 4:14-16. [ NOAB]
12:13: “made to drink of one Spirit”: In 3:16, Paul asks, probably rhetorically: “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?”. See also 6:19. The tense of the verb mitigates against this being a reference to the Eucharist. [ NJBC]
12:23-25: In terms of clothing, the genitals receive more attention than the ears or the nose. The instinct of modesty reveals the divine plan to ensure that the eyes (for example) should not command all consideration. [ NJBC]
12:27-30: An enumeration of the roles essential for the ongoing life of the church and the range of tasks that they are empowered to perform for the benefit of the whole. Each one has a role “appointed” by God. [ CAB]
12:28: “apostles ... prophets ... teachers”: These constitute the fundamental three-fold ministry of the word by which the church is founded and built up. [ NJBC] For the one Church, God provides a variety of leadership. For another list of gifts and of those who have particular functions as a result, see Romans 12:6-8.
12:28: “apostles”: See also 4:9 (“... I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all ...”) and 9:5 (“Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?”). [ NOAB]
12:28: “prophets”: In 14:5, Paul says “those who prophesy speak to other people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation”. [ NOAB] Prophecy is defined by its effect on the community. Revelation, in the sense of a new insight into the mystery of salvation is actualized in pastoral guidance and instruction.
12:28: “teachers”: These may have exercised ministry outside the liturgical assembly, while “prophets” exercised it within. [ NJBC]
12:28: “assistance ... leadership”: Only later linked with deacons and bishops. [ NOAB]
12:28: “tongues”: Perhaps “tongues” are mentioned last to counteract a tendency to overemphasize this gift in the Corinthian church.
12:31a: “greater gifts”: Other interpretations:

• The first three mentioned in v. 28 – if the verb strive is in the imperative
• Those gifts especially esteemed by the Corinthian Christians – if the verb is in the indicative [ NJBC]
• Love: the “still more excellent way” (v. 31b; 13:1ff; 14:1). [ NOAB]

GOSPEL:  Luke 4:14-21

Jesus has been tempted by the devil in the wilderness (vv. 1-13) to misuse his power for his personal benefit, for worldly domination, and for protection from God’s plan fulfilled on the cross. Now he returns to Galilee. Jesus customarily attends synagogue services to worship and present his message; it is there that Luke tells us who Jesus is: he stands in continuity with God’s promises of old. Jesus is a great teacher; he has great authority in telling people about God and his plan. Jesus begins with one part of the scroll (Isaiah 61), then rewinds to another: vv. 18-19 emphasize his mission to those who are “poor” in any way, be it financially, in spirit, in health. In “the year of the Lord’s favour”, the jubilee year, debts were forgiven and slaves were set free. Jesus applies these verses to himself: he performs the works of the Messiah then expected. He then sits to interpret the readings: he says that God’s plan is now being completed (“fulfilled”, v. 21).

The events and teachings in 4:14-9:50 are all in Galilee. [ NOAB] Then, in 9:51, Jesus turns towards Jerusalem.
The parallels are Matthew 13:53-54 and Mark 6:1-2.
This passage gives us a glimpse of synagogue worship in the first century, as does Acts 13:15 (in Antioch in Pisidia). [ NOAB]
Verse 14: “filled with the power of the Spirit”: The Spirit descended on Jesus at his baptism: 3:21-22 tells us: “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased’”. His proclamation in word and deed stems from God’s creative Spirit. [ NJBC]
Verse 15: “teach”: The word in Greek is didaskein; it is also used in 4:15; 5:3, 17; 6:6; 11:1; 13:10, 22, 26; 19:47; 20:1, 21; 21:37; 23:5: 14 times, in all. Luke also uses didaskale (teacher) frequently. [ NJBC]
Verse 16: “sabbath”: For Jesus’ activities on the sabbath, see also 4:31-37 (teaching and casting out a demon ); 6:1-5 (his disciples pluck some heads of grain), 6:6-11 (restores a man’s withered hand); 13:10-17 (heals a crippled woman); 14:1-6 (heals a man who had dropsy). [ NJBC]
Verse 16: “as was his custom”: Matthew 4:23 tells us that Jesus taught in synagogues in Galilee. See also Matthew 9:35. [ NOAB]
Verse 17: “the scroll ... was given to him”: i.e. by “the attendant” (v. 20) or chazzan of the synagogue. [ NOAB]
Verses 18-19: This prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus’ ministry: see 13:10-17 (cures a crippled woman) and 23:39-43. (This is the only clear indication that Jesus knew how to read.) The quotation is Isaiah 61:1-2 and 58:6. “To bind up the broken-hearted” ( 61:1c) and “(to announce) the day of vengeance [vindication], to comfort all who mourn, to provide for those who mourn in Zion – to give them a garland instead of ashes” ( 61:2b-3a) are omitted – thus extending his mission beyond Israel. [ NJBC]
Verse 18: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me”: The reader already knows that Jesus has the Holy Spirit: in 1:35, an angel tells Mary: “‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God’”. After Jesus is baptised, “the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove” (see 3:22). [ NJBC]
Verse 18: “release”: The Greek word is aphesis. Aphesis appears in the Septuagint translation of Leviticus 25:10 as the translation of the Hebrew for jubilee, and in the same translation of Deuteronomy 15:1-11, aphesis is used to refer to the sabbatical year. In literature roughly contemporary with Luke, the Qumran community associated Isaiah 61:1 with Leviticus 25:10-13 and Deuteronomy 15:1-11 in a text reflecting on the end-time, and identified the “release” as being that of debtors during a jubilee year. But Luke also uses aphesis for forgiveness in 24:47. “Let go free” also translates aphesis. [ NJBC]
Verse 19: “proclaim”: In the then current Greek translation of Isaiah (the Septuagint) the word is call. It appears that Luke has changed this verb to emphasize the proclamation that, in Jesus, God has fulfilled his promises of old. [ NJBC]
Verse 20: “sat down”: The sermon was given sitting. It seems that the first-century synagogue service consisted of: singing a psalm, reciting the Shema and the Eighteen Benedictions, a reading from the Torah, a reading from the prophets, a sermon on the meaning of the readings, and the priestly blessing: see Numbers 6:22-27. [ NJBC]
Verse 23: “‘cure yourself’”: The sense is: cure people in your own home town.
Verses 25-27: Many ordinary people praise Jesus (v. 15) but those present in the synagogue try to cause his death – for reminding them that it was among non-Israelites that Elijah and Elisha were able to heal. [ CAB]