• 2 THE PRESENTATION OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE (Candlemas) – may be celebrated on the Sunday between 28 January and 3 February
• 3 Anskar, Archbishop of Bremen, Missionary in Denmark and Sweden, 865  also known as Anskar[1] or Saint Anschar, was a Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen – a northern part of the Kingdom of the East Franks. The See of Hamburg was designated a mission to bring Christianity to Northern Europe, and Ansgar became known as the "Apostle of the North".[2][3]
• 4 Gilbert of Sempringham, Founder of the Gilbertine Order, 1189
• 6 The Martyrs of Japan, 1597  were Christianmissionaries and followers who were persecuted and executed for being more loyal to Jesus than the Shogunate, mostly during the Tokugawa shogunateperiod in 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.


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.


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.

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.
© 1996-2019 Chris Haslam

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.
© 1996-2019 Chris Haslam