"What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!" (Luke 4:36)

“Don’t preach to me,” the teenage daughter says to her mother. “Pardon me for preaching,” we say when we’ve gotten on our soapbox and overused our word quotient. “My, the president was terribly preachy,” I heard a critic say of Pres. Obama’s 70-minute state of the union speech. You see, preaching has a bad name, doesn’t it? Even the dictionary can’t help. To preach - to give advice or urge a course of action, especially in a meddlesome or tedious manner. Terrific. This is my chosen vocation. I’m a preacher. You don’t hear a carpenter saying, “Please excuse me for building.” Or a mechanic say, “I’m sorry for tuning this engine,” or an accountant say, “Pardon me for balancing these books.” Imagine a lawyer saying, “Sorry for arguing your case.” But preaching? That’s another story. I almost want to say, “Pardon me for preaching this morning, but I am standing in a pulpit and this is the time for a sermon and I am, yes, a preacher.”

“Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:20)

You may as well admit it because we’re all thinking it anyway. Last week’s Gospel was a whole lot of fun. Jesus’ changing of 180 gallons of washing water to the finest wedding wine there ever was. Man what fun that was! And what fun that must have been in Cana of Galilee too. Let’s face it. If we could have this kind of Jesus every Sunday, every day, Christianity would be great fun. A party. Lots of wine and even a divine excuse to drink it. What fun!

“On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee.” Mary, the mother of Jesus, is there along with her Son and His new disciples. On the third day - the creative day in which the Word called forth vegetation, including the grape, from the earth. “And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so.” The third day, the day of fulfillment and resurrection. “After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up.” “Destroy this temple and in three days, I will raise it up again.” On the third day big and important things happen. Got it? Good!

Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River. If that doesn’t strike you as strange, then you need to think a bit more about what John’s baptism meant. John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. Of what did the sinless Son of God need to repent? John’s baptism was for the forgiveness of sins. Of what did the sinless Son of God need to be forgiven? John was the lesser; Jesus the greater. John’s baptism was with water; Jesus’ baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Yet here, in the baptism of our Lord, the greater is baptized by the lesser, the sinless One is treated as a sinner. And when you comprehend this, you have comprehended the Gospel of your salvation.

The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.
And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

Can you imagine losing the Son of God? It’s bad enough losing your car keys, your wallet, some important papers. But losing the Son of God? You parents know the anxiety all too well. You turn around at the grocery store, and your child has wandered off. Or your attention is diverted for just a moment at the mall, and you lose your kid in the crowd. Well, Mary and Joseph lost Jesus for an anxious three days in Jerusalem. That is one of several paradoxes in today’s Gospel, and they all revolve around the great grand mystery of the eternal Son of God come in human Flesh to save us.