000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

224 Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany/Year C
today’s community would do well not to drift into arrogance for we can easily
mistake our own biases for divine leading. The congregation should think
critically about how to interpret God’s call. The book of Jeremiah implies useful
criteria. A community’s interpretation of its call has a high degree or probability
of authenticity when it seeks to move the community in the direction
of covenantal blessing, but has a less likely degree of claim when the community’s
self-understanding legitimates acts of unfaithfulness, such as idolatry,
alliances that work against God’s purposes, and injustice.
The call of Jeremiah is paired with Luke 4:21–30. Although Luke does
not directly invoke the call of Jeremiah in Luke 4, and a passage from
Isaiah would have been a better pair with today’s Gospel, the choice of
Jeremiah can help the preacher. In ways similar to Jeremiah (and other
prophets) the Lukan Jesus pronounces judgment and salvation, encounters
hostility (Luke 4:18–21), and experiences God’s support (Luke
4:29–30). Paul draws on the calls of Jeremiah and Isaiah to interpret his
own vocation as missionary to Gentiles (Gal. 1:15). Luke draws on the
same prophetic calls to authenticate Paul’s ministry to Gentiles in Acts
(Acts 9:15–16; 22:14–15; esp. 26:16–17). From the perspective of Luke
and Paul, then, the ministries of Jesus and Paul are not breaks with
Judaism, nor even dramatic innovations, but continue the traditions of
Jeremiah, Isaiah, and other prophets.
Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany/Year C
Isaiah 6:1–8, (9–13)
For comments on this passage, please see Trinity Sunday/Year B.
Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany/Year C
Jeremiah 17:5–10
After the exile, a redactor likely inserted Jeremiah 17:1–4 and 5–13 into
the part of the book of Jeremiah that portrays the prophet’s early ministry,
to help explain why the exile took place. The redactor hopes that the postexilic
community will avoid the mistakes that led to the exile.
The prophet claims that the sin of Judah is “written with an iron pen,”
that is, that the people had become so accustomed to the life of idolatry
that it was an indelible part of their lives. This life is evident not only in
their participation in fertility religion (e.g., “sacred poles beside every