Christmas Eve/Day December 24/25

Prayer
Abiding with you forever in glory, O God, your only-begotten child is born among us in time..  May we ever welcome your Son to the warmth of an earthly home and so open for all earth's children a path that leads us home. We ask this through Christ, with whom you have raised us up in baptism, the Lord who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Luke  2:1-20

"This holiday familiarity is a particular problem for preachers. We must keep in mind that for some, the Christmas story has been regularly heard since childhood. And yet, these annual rehearsals have failed to reveal to contemporary audiences the jarring display of ancient culture the episode describes."

Commentary, Luke 2:1-14 [15-20] / Luke 2[1-7] 8-20, Joy Moore, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.

"Nonetheless, it is to these unlikely and unworthy shepherds that the first news of the birth of Jesus is given, and not to the Kings, Caesars, and Governors mentioned at the beginning of this passage."

Holy Textures, Understanding the Bible in its own time and in ours, Luke 2:1-20, David Ewart, 2010.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

The mystic Abu Hamid al-Ghazah once wrote, “Human perfection resides in this, that the love of God should conquer the human heart and possess it wholly, and even if it does not possess it wholly, it should predominate in the heart over the love of all things.”[1]  And so, the incarnation comes in Christ Jesus to conquer the human heart and to possess it wholly.  In an eternal return to the garden, God comes in Jesus to find us, once hidden on the eve of the day, amongst the flora of our garden world.  The goal, as in last week's epistle to the Hebrews, is that we might be about the work and will of God.

Today, we pause, we think, and we ponder.  What is the world around us like? What are our lives like?  We live in a time when we want to know God is present. We desire to be rid of our fear and our anxiety.  We hope, and we wish for a sign.  We don't know who to believe anymore because everything is relativized.  There seems no assurance that we won't hurdle off the fiscal and mental cliff of our time.  We feel shame and unworthiness, which we hide behind consumption and business.  We still long for some kind of love, acceptance, forgiveness, and understanding.  And, we offer our sacrifices to the God of our day, hoping perhaps this year will be different. 

I am most certain that this is not the same time and nor are these the same issues that faced the shepherds.  They were probably cold, hungry, and without shelter in the desert at night.  They were most likely a lot like most of the rest of the developing world that exists far beyond our concerns and thoughts this Christmas.

Yet into this ancient world and our world, today comes the message that the prophecy is fulfilled. God is in our midst. Do not be afraid. In fact, rejoice and be glad.  Look for God in the least of these, in the form of a child.  Here you will find him.

Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people:11to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.12This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”

And so all over the world, we gather on this holiest of nights to celebrate the mystical union of God and humanity in Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us, Savior, Messiah, Blessed One, Son of Man, Jesus the Christ Child born of a woman called Mary – Miryam of Nazareth.

I have for a long time been touched by this mystical poem from Ann Johnson’s collection of sacred poetry Magnificat of the Stable:

My soul rests confidently in the animal warmth
     And the lantern light of the simple place, Yahweh,

     And my spirit rejoices in the privacy of this time of birthing
     We share with you, O God of Creation,
     For you come alive again tonight
     In the blood and water of your people.
Yes, this is the time we have waited for.
     This is the moment of blessing.
Holy is birth,
     And you shall show yourself from age to age
     In those who enter into creation with you.
You have shown the power of a dream enfleshed
     And we are humbled.
You have pulled down all our strivings
     And lifted up this simple, common moment.
This stable is filled with good things,
     New life and happy people.
     Are those in the inn rooms as satisfied?

You have come to Israel,
Mindful of our shared nature,
     . . . according to the promise of Eden. . .
     mindful of our nature to seek the wisdom of new life together
     as long as we walk the earth.[2]

Rehearsing our sacred story reminds us of God's presence in our lives.  We are invited to this holy feast to remember that this God we believe in enters the world in human form and comes to the margins of life, to Mary and Joseph, who are essentially homeless and wandering.

We are invited on this day to retell the story of the nativity so that we may rehearse the beginning of the reign of God, where people without a coat are given clothing, where people with no roof over their heads find shelter, where people with nothing to eat are given good things.  We retell the story to remind ourselves that the work of Christians is kindness, gentleness, and hospitality, like the innkeeper.

We are invited to retell the story on this day so we remember what it means to discover a living God and how we, like the shepherds, will search for him wherever he will be; so tenacious is our hearts' hunger for God.

We are invited to retell the story so that we might be reminded of our work to be heralds of good news and glad tidings for our family, our friends, and our neighbours.

And, we are invited to retell the story because, in it, we are reminded that the child wrapped in linen and laid in a manger shall be our saviour wrapped in cloth and lain in a rock tomb.  

This is our God; this is our Messiah.  In this Christmastide, may we be aware that God has come and that we are his followers.  

For those who intentionally choose to remember, we recognize that the birth of Jesus was a prophetic challenge to the world order and that those who find they're being in his sacred story and follow his way are to challenge the world order with ethical and moral sensitivity.  We are to speak the truth and act in a world hungering for deliverance from greed, poverty, oppression, malnutrition, abuse, illness, war, and all the other dark and evil powers we have created and come to know.  It is not to Caesar Augustus or Quirinius that this God comes to, but the God we believe in comes to the lowly.  So it is that we are to open our hearts to this God that our own lowliness and shame may be transformed. So it is that we are to open our hands and lives to those around us.  We are like the angels, the shepherds, the innkeeper, and the holy family to make room for this God in our lives and, in so doing, to make room in the world for the kingdom of God.

---

[1] Quoted by Kabir Helminski in Knowing Heart, p. 4.

[2] Johnson, Miryam of Nazareth, p 81.

Some Thoughts on John 1:1-18

"If last week we met the camel hair wearing, locust and honey eating John the Baptist, this week we do a 180 degree turn and meet a whole different John."

Commentary, John 1:6-8, 19-28, Karoline Lewis, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011. 

"Much of the pain and suffering around us comes from people imagining that they are the light themselves. In psychological terms, my mind turns to Carl Jung when thinking about light and darkness within us. Jung warned of the dangers of trying to live only in our light. The shadow within is dangerous when ignored."

John 1:6-8, 19-28, Rev. Todd Weir, bloomingcactus.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

As I walked out on the streets of Laredo, As I walked out in Laredo one day, I spied a young cowboy all wrapped in white linen Wrapped in white linen as cold as the clay. I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy; I see by your outfit you are a cowboy, too; We see by our outfits that we are both cowboys. If you get an outfit, you can be a cowboy, too. (listen to it here)

I grew up listening to the Smothers Brothers, and this was their version of The Streets of Laredo.  I have always loved it.

Who are you?  I can tell you who I am by telling you my life story. Ultimately, you will guess it by my clothes and by my car and by my house...the rings on my fingers and bells on my toes.  Today's Gospel lesson asks, who are you?

To get to the bottom of this, we must take a good look at what is going on this week in the Gospel Text, especially since we have taken a dog leg into John's Gospel from Mark!

This week's Gospel reading is really in two parts. Those of you preparing a sermon (if doing so on this text) will find that it is really two different parts of John's introduction.  The text for Sunday is 1:6-8 and 19-28.

The first piece falls well within what many scholars believe to be the greatest part of the New Testament.  Raymond Brown, in his first volume, writes this about the prologue, which stretches from 1:1-18.

"If John has been described as the pearl of great price among the NT writings, then one may say that the Prologue is the pearl within this Gospel.  In her ccomparisonof Augustine's and Chrysostom's exegesis of the Prologue, M. A. Aucoin points out that both held that it is beyond the power of man to speak as John does in the Prologue." (18)

I think it is important to think of these first verses well within this first piece of writing which has both a form and a purpose. Brown breaks it up this way...  The first section is 1:1-2, This is the Word of God section which offers a poetic vision of God's very being.  The second section, verses 3-5, reveals the Word's work in creation.  It is the light shining in the darkness, shining through man's sinfulness, shining in the birth that flows from the fallen woman Eve in Jesus.  Then, and only then, do we arrive at our piece, which is nestled quite nicely here.  The third portion is verses 6-9 and is John the Baptist's, witness.  As Brown points out the second part is about the Word's work throughout creation, here that comes to fruition in the proclamation of God's incarnate Word Jesus. (Brown, John, vol 1, 18-17)  Many bloggers this week noted the difference between the John of Mark and the John of this Gospel.  I think the reason for the striking difference is primarily this Gospel's tightly focused presentation of God in Christ Jesus. The only reason to even have John in this section is to make clear he is preparing the hearts of humankind for the incarnation, and proclamation of the Word made man.  Brown tells us that following this proclamation, we return to the fourth section (continuing the ancient hymn outlined in the text), which is about the Christ of God working his mission in the world.  This is followed by the community's response.   The last of the five sections is another few words by John the Baptist, but here in 14, 17-18, is John's proclamation that the Word spoken before time is this Jesus.  He is the pre-existent one.  A radical, revolutionary, and prophetic revelation is being offered in this last section, for in this time, the common person would have understood that God is invisible, so it makes sense that the Word spoken, the Son is the only one who has seen this God.  The unique relation between Son and God not only helps with the contemporary thought of the day but it gives rise to our common understanding of who Jesus is: God's only Son.  (For my theological followers, there is a great discussion in Brown's Vol 1 on pages 35 and 36 about this last section, and it is well worth reading.)

To summarize then, we have in the first two verses of our reading a very clear focus on God in Christ. Jesus is the Word, Jesus is the Word made manifest, and the Word at work in the world.  As if marching to a drum, we hear for the first time in these very first words what we have faithfully memorized as Christians and Episcopalians who have a Common Prayer Book, and that is that the only Son of God has come into the world to save the world.  Such comfortable and hopeful words. Everything in this first section of our reading verbally illustrates that John the baptist is someone they knew but now is so transparent to the Gospel that all they see now is the coming of Christ.

On the first day of John's ministry in the Gospel, he disappears as the living Word and Jesus take centre stage. On the second day, he offers a vision of who Jesus is; he is the transparent vessel of a living Christ - of light in the world.

In this third week of Advent, a number of things are going on in our context here in the U.S.  One is what I would call the holiday breather.  We began the holiday with a Thanksgiving mad dash to fill our bellies and our shopping carts.  We redoubled our efforts to get to church. And we are now in the slump; it is the week-long Wednesday between Holiday and Christmas Day.  Unfortunately, preachers are in the same predicament.

Into this slump, we re-read a passage about John the Baptist. Now, you and I both know that is not precisely true. This Sunday's passage is very different from the last.  Brown and practically all modern scholars recognize that John the Baptist in John's Gospel is completely different from the one portrayed in the Synoptics.  He looks different than the previous version we preached on last week.  This week he is the transparent vessel of God's grace - Jesus Christ. He points only to God and to Jesus.

Just as John the Baptist in John's Gospel, you and I are, as Christians, intimately tied to who we say God is.

You might remember Stephen Colbert's radical statement that caused so much attention recently:

"If [America] is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it."

I will tell you that not being who we say we are is a crippling missionary stumbling block in a world that is seeking some kind of authentic view of God and Grace and hoping someone will be a true voice of transformation and life in a world of gifts and purchases whose shimmer and shine will fade a few weeks after their delivery.

The truth is that as Christians, we proclaim and reaffirm that the pre-existent Word of God is Jesus Christ, who is God's only son.  And that we are, as a people and as individuals (as is proclaimed in the Isaiah passage for this Sunday), inheritors of a divine relationship with the unseen God through the waters of baptism.  And, that we DO believe we are related as brothers or sisters of God's family.  And, therefore we are to treat people in a certain way, with special attention to God's most intimate friends - the poor.

We say and affirm as a defining part of who we are that we, as Christians, believe we meet God in the text of scripture and in the faces of our neighbours.

We meet God in John's proclamation. We meet this unseen God in the very speaking and retelling of the story of the incarnation of God offered here on the other side of the Jordan, just as it is offered from the ambos and pulpits of our churches.

Moreover, like John, we meet God by venturing out across the doorway of our church onto the other side of the sidewalk, where we have the opportunity to meet the living Word in the storied lives of the people we find out in the world.  We encounter God and his Son in the words of scripture, which helps us to hear the same living incarnate God spoken in the story of our neighbour.

This week we did a bible study with this passage at our meeting of the governing board of the diocese.  A friend and fellow clergyman said he had been praying and thinking about this passage. He realized and offered to the group that, quite frankly, we were simply to be at work being witnesses to Christ (like John the Baptist and John the Gospeller), and if we were not, then we were being witnesses for something or someone else.  In the latter, he had in mind those folks who travelled all that way to meet John the Baptist in the desert and to shut him down for not bearing witness to what they stood for.

This religious stuff is a dangerous thing.  The world right now is taking a breather from its holiday consumption. It is quiet before the holiday storm.  We have an opportunity to tell the truth.  The truth is that how we live out our holiday will reveal if we are bearing witness to God in Christ Jesus, or if we are representing something else.  Yes, what we say and what we do are incarnational symbols of the living God or something else entirely.

Religion on a Sunday like this is dangerous because when we don't tell the truth about the world we live in (the addictions we have, the way we attempt to purchase our belongings, and how we are stewards of God's things), we sell a little piece of our corporate soul to the secular world; creating a consumer faith.

How will the church, how will you, the preacher, how will the people answer the essential question asked on the shore of the Jordan River so many years ago, and which is still relevant today: "Who are you because you look like someone I once knew?"

Some Thoughts on Titus 2:11-14

"Living zealously, wisely, righteously, godly, and expectantly may, in some situations, appear as gentleness and align with the general mores of the wider society. At other times, however, that way of life may manifest as boldness and challenge to the narrative of the good life the present culture embraces."
Commentary, Titus 2:11-14, Amy L.B. Peeler, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

"This passage stands out as a theological gem in the midst of the moral exhortations of Titus."Commentary, Titus 2:11-14, Elisabeth Johnson, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

In the Epistle lesson from Titus, Paul is writing about the household code, a moral code by which the church is to live. They are to be a community. This community is to be acceptable to the society around it, and most scholars see parallels between Paul's code for community and the code for community espoused by the philosophical leaders of his day. In other words, much of what Paul offers is a reflection of basic ethics for individuals and morality for a community that is at work within a wider social construct.

That being said, there is an underpinning theology that is important and separates how the Christian community is to live from other communities.  Paul's prevailing theology looks back at God's acts and sees that our God is defined by his one saving act - the Exodus and the Sinai revelation. God is holy and we are to be God's people and God's people will be holy.  Moreover, the way of this community is defined at its foundation by God's commandments, which marks the group as special and of a higher household standard than the prevailing notion of such codes in Paul's day.  Paul adopts this saving action and the nature of God's people to the emerging Christian community.

In our passage appointed for Christmas day, we see this clearly. God in Christ Jesus has appeared in the incarnation.  Christ Jesus, in his own actions, has modelled a higher way of being in the world.  We, like the ancient ancestors of Israel, are to be formed by his example.  We are to "renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly.   God in Christ Jesus is himself redeeming us even in our failure to live this life.  We are given Christ, for he gave himself fully.  Christ is redeeming us, and we are being purified by his grace.

I would add then that we are to do the same.  We are to give ourselves over to the other, we are to give ourselves over to God and to our neighbor.  The very basic and essential work is to be "zealous for good deeds."

Paul's list (which comes above and below this passage)is filled with directions for the household code.  It is true that some we would agree with and some we would not.  Yet they offer us a challenging view of a life lived in the shadow of God's saving embrace.  Most of all, we are to live no longer for ourselves but for God and for God's people.  We are the gift to this world.  As followers of Christ, we are the gift to a world in need, and we are to be about our father's work: good deeds. 

A Christmastide bereft of giving to others and, most of all, to the poor, of eating while others go hungry, of warmth and merry cheer while even more are cold, lonely, and remorse is no Christmastide at all.  

Some Thoughts on Hebrews 1:1 - 2:12

"In the city of Macon, Georgia, the Harriet Tubman African-American Museum honors the memory of the 'Black Moses,' the best-known conductor on the Underground Railroad..."

Commentary, Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12, Pentecost 18, Bryan J. Whitfield, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.

"...Hebrews holds together a profound image of Jesus as God's very reflection with a very earthy and human figure just like us. That reinforces also our understanding of God and of the spiritual life not as something from or in another world, but as something which fully enters the here and now of flesh and blood."

"First Thoughts on Passages on Year B Epistle Passages in the Lectionary,"Pentecost 18, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

"The concept of incarnation is an affirmation that Jesus really and truly does show us what God is like. When we look at Jesus, we see him embracing the ones nobody else would embrace. We see him confronting the religious people with the falseness of their self-righteousness. We see him forgiving sinners and restoring people to their right mind. And we see him freely and joyfully playing with children!"

"We See Jesus," Alan Brehm, The Waking Dreamer, 2009.

Oremus Online NRSV Text

In seminary, we were taught that there is no such thing as a God of the Old Testament and a God of the New Testament. Yet, Christians have struggled to always put into context the reality of violence throughout the scripture, including in the New Testament. Somehow we have never really quite figured out how to deal with the various rules, covenants, demands, and variety of things God wants or doesn't want for us. Even Walter Brueggeman, when asked about such things, says something like, "I like to think God is getting over his use of violence." 

The author of Hebrews is certainly trying to figure out how to speak of these things and to parse clearly the trajectory of a God who is both alpha and omega while at the same time exhibiting different behaviours and desires. 

God communicates to Israel, and God communicates to us. We believe, as theologian Ben Johnson once remarked, a God who raised Jesus out of death and raised Israel out of Egypt. 

What is clear for the author of Hebrews and for Christians is that all is to be defined now through the words and actions of God through Christ Jesus. It is his work and words that are to define and radically focus our attention across the great expanse of God's communication with his creatures.

The Incarnation of God in Christ Jesus is a particular vision of God - revealing to us God's intent to be with us and to bridge the chasm between heaven and earth.  Sin and death will not be victorious over this divide. Moreover, this person of Jesus is a forerunner of our humanity.

We are in some miraculous and mysterious way to become like Jesus in this world making here heaven on earth - just like we pray in the Lord's Prayer. We are to make here God's neighborhood.

What is an interesting part of this passage is the unique and important reality that the author offers a special place for humanity within the cosmos. Using the words of the psalmist (Psalm 8:4-6), the author reminds us, "What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them? You have made them for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned them with glory and honor..." I once mentioned that the angels are jealous of humanity for what we have in Jesus and in the holy communion and how special this is for us in the order of things. We are blessed as humans to experience God in and through Jesus in this world and through the inbreaking of God in the incarnation and in the bread and wine. I really got skewered online when I said this. People thought it was heresy. I am of course in good company with the psalmist, the author of Hebrews
and the Polish Roman Catholic St. Maximilian Kolbe, who once said, "If Angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion."

We are to see who God is and how God is moving in the world through Christ Jesus, as is present in scripture and in the communion itself. And what do we see? We see a God who lowers God's self and breaks God's self-open for the sake of those other than God or even godlike. God becomes one with the other and so raises the other up into the community. Here is the Gospel.

Some Thoughts Isaiah 9:2-7

"As far as I know, there is only one good reason for believing that he was who he said he was. One of the crooks he was strung up with put it this way: 'If you are the Christ, save yourself and us' (Luke 23:39). Save us from whatever we need most to be saved from. Save us from each other. Save us from ourselves. Save us from death both beyond the grave and before. If he is, he can. If he isn't, he can't. It may be that the only way in the world to find out is to give him the chance, whatever that involves. It may be just as simple and just as complicated as that."
"Messiah," sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog.

"Over the next couple of weeks leading from Christmas to Epiphany, the three readings from Isaiah come from all three sections of 'Isaiah' -- First Isaiah, Second Isaiah, and Third Isaiah. All three readings speak out of vastly different contexts.
Commentary, Isaiah 9:2-7, Dirk G. Lange, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

"This commentary will explore the interpretive history leading to its presence at this powerful moment of the Christian year."
Commentary, Isaiah 9:2-7, Patricia Tull, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

The beginning of Isaiah is not all sweetness and light, but this passage holds within it a spark of hope that is to be brought to God’s people in Babylon. Here, Isaiah prophesies that in time, that which is dark will be filled with light. That those who struggle and suffer will have the mantle of slavery lifted from their shoulders. The season wherein the powers of this world continue to inflict suffering upon God’s people will come to a close. This will all be brought about by a continuation of the Davidic royal line.

This passage is particularly important to Matthew in his gospel. He does something interesting with it. Matthew weaves this passage with Isaiah 42:7. He changes the “walking” (in the original passage) to “sitting” (from 42). By doing this, Matthew links the two passages. What he is doing is reading that the light is Jesus, that Jesus is the one to continue the Davidic line, that all the nations will know and bear witness to this light, and that God’s people (all people – universally speaking) are to be brought into the light by Jesus.

What originally was read as a prophecy about the Northern Kingdom of Israel and God’s deliverance of his people enslaved to foreign powers now is read through the eyes of the Gospel as identifying the work and mission of Jesus.

In other words, the passage is about revelation - it is about the mission to the Gentiles. The light that comes into the world is the brightness of the Christ who will draw not only the people of Israel to him but the light that will, in fact, draw all people into the embrace of God.

Christ in this way is not simply a Christ for Israel, or even for Christians in our own day...but a Christ that is present in the world as ruler of all, as king of all, as lord of all. His kingdom is marked with love, mercy, kindness, and peace for all who enter and become its citizens.

Sermons Preached

Jeffrey Steals the show

Dec 25, 2011

Christmas Sermon, Christ church Cathedral 2011

Christmas Eve: Awash in God's Love and Fruitcake

Dec 25, 2012

Read More

15 Songs that Define a Life

Dec 25, 2014

Christmas sermon at Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, 2014

Advent 4, Year A, December 21, 2025

Prayer

God of mystery whom no eye can see, you yourself have given us a sign we can behold: the virgin is
with child and bears a son whose name is Emmanuel, for God is with us. Plant within our hearts your living Word of promise, that, into a world grown weary of empty dreams and broken promises, we may bring forth the living presence of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.



Some Thoughts on Matthew 1:18-25

"Our lives are marked, since baptism, by the Holy Spirit, the sanctifier, who directs us continually to our neighbor, to the other to live in harmony, everyone attentive to the needs of others (as we have witnessed in the three previous pericopes from the epistles)."

Commentary, Romans 1:1-7, Dirk G. Lange, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.


"...our task as preachers is in part to help people identify the ways God is calling them to newness of life in service to Jesus Christ, and at the same time to see the ways God has never been absent from their lives."

Commentary, Romans 1:1-7, Susan Eastman, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2007.


"Anyway, it seems to me that the translation "God is with us" doesn't completely capture the sense of the Hebrew. The words suggest that "God is in common with us people" -- or "God is one of us." In this sense, John captures the sense with "The Word became flesh and lived among us" (1:14a)."
Exegetical Notes by Brian Stoffregen, at CrossMarks Christian Resources.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

The stage is set and Matthew is our guide: "Now the birth of the Messiah took place in this way." The Genesis of the Messiah took place in this way...

Daniel J. Harrington, a Roman Catholic priest, and scholar, in his text on Matthew's Gospel, points out a few important pieces of information that help to make sense of the Birth narrative.

1. Jews of Jesus' time understood marriage as a civil contract. Joseph and Mary and their families have rights.
2. Betrothal had legal consequences and was arranged through elders in families, and the two parties were in their early teens.
3. In Matthew's Gospel the two are living separately, Mary with her parents. Joseph visits from time to time.
4. Reviewing Deut 22:23-27, we understand that at first glance Mary has broken the betrothal and should be put to death. We don't know how often this was carried out.
5. Divorce proceedings were typically easy and included a written document.
6. An angel who is a messenger comes to visit Joseph.
7. Such a visit most often was described in ancient times through dreams. In continuity with other great leaders of Israel the angel gives a message with the identity of the child and the name. We see this with Ishmael, Isaac, Solomon and Josiah.
8. There are many questions about lineage and birth. Is the idea of Jesus' virginal conception a response to a charge of illegitimacy or is what leads to the charge? Regardless, early Christians believe in the virginal conception of Jesus and it remains one of the oldest and most ancient traditions about Jesus and his birth. (Matthew, Sacra Pagina, 36ff)

All of these things are important because the point is that Jesus is the fulfillment of the ancient tradition of Israel. Matthew, as an author, will use this theme throughout his text: 1.23, 2.5, 15, 17, 23; 3:3; 4:14; 8:17; 12:17; 13:14, 35; 21:4; 26:56; 27:9. (Harrington, Matthew, Sacra Pagina, 38) Just as in last week's comment from Jesus that John the Baptist belongs to a prophetic age, here in today's reading we see that Jesus himself is the culmination of and the new beginning for Israel.

It is out of this theme of fulfillment that Joseph becomes for us a major character of the Advent season. Joseph is almost the "everyman" of the Gospel. I imagine him not unlike many of the new members of the Matthean community or new members today. Like Joseph, they had some sense of the past. Like many others, Joseph is a good guy. He is wrestling with some pretty weighty stuff. He is struggling to understand and discern how to take the next steps in life. He has a religious experience. He becomes aware that God is with us - specifically with him. God is Emmanuel. Joseph awoke, and his awakening was in more ways than one. He decides to take different a course and to follow the Word of God that came to him.

Some might want to go into a discussion about the creed and belief in the virgin birth. I love that conversation - see the discussion below on Isaiah 7. But I think a more interesting conversation if you are preaching on Matthew 1:18, is a train of thought about how Joseph represents the life of one entering into community with other Christians and Jesus. I find it revealing to sit and ponder the idea that in this reception of the message that God is with him and the reception of the incarnation, Joseph goes from being a man who, within his rights divorces a woman, to the earthly father of Jesus and a key actor in his lineage and birth. What a precarious moment this is! What an amazing view of how one person's action determines the future. In this way perhaps was we see is Joseph playing the role of Ahaz in the Isaiah passage. Or, perhaps he plays the role of a Jew wrestling with the message of the Gospel. Still, perhaps Joseph becomes like you or me who wrestles with the prophetess' child and the message of his birth?

As N. T. Wright explains - it's complicated:

"If the first two chapters of Matthew and the first two of Luke had never existed, I do not suppose that my own Christian faith, or that of the church to which I belong, would have been very different. But since they do, and since for quite other reasons I have come to believe that the God of Israel, the world's creator, was personally and fully revealed in and as Jesus of Nazareth, I hold open my historical judgment and say: If that's what God deemed appropriate, who am I to object?"  "God's Way of Acting," N.T. Wright. 

I am sitting in my study at home as I write this and looking at one of the many manger scenes dotting our shelves and tables. It is Joseph who is there - not someone else.  He like us chooses to say, "yes."

As our Gospel began "Now the genesis of the Messiah took place in this way..." we can see how the genesis of the incarnation takes place in the life of Joseph. We might look at our own lives and see how the genesis of God was rooted in our lives or is taking place in our lives. How is the arrival of God in our lives remaking our own story and our own narrative? How is the incarnation of God the fulfillment of our life lived up until this moment?

God is with us; this is the foundation of the Good News of Salvation. God is in common, in communion, with his people.  The incarnation is the fulfillment of our past and the promise of our future. It changes our perspective on the world and changes what we do with our lives. The incarnation changes our relationship with others and causes us to act differently, perhaps even going against what is justly our right. The incarnation is a powerful revelation and in this season of expectation, Joseph stands before us as one transformed by its message, meaning and invitation and in that moment of action Joseph reshapes the narrative of Good News. Yes, Joseph is everyman and he is a symbol of our potential and possibility. He is a symbol of faithful action deeply rooted in the message, the Word of God, which proclaims: God is with us, together we are reborn, together the world is changed and the continuing narrative spun and re-spun.

Some Thoughts on Romans 1:1-7

"Our lives are marked, since baptism, by the Holy Spirit, the sanctifier, who directs us continually to our neighbor, to the other to live in harmony, everyone attentive to the needs of others (as we have witnessed in the three previous pericopes from the epistles)."
Commentary, Romans 1:1-7, Dirk G. Lange, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.


"...our task as preachers is in part to help people identify the ways God is calling them to newness of life in service to Jesus Christ, and at the same time to see the ways God has never been absent from their lives."
Commentary, Romans 1:1-7, Susan Eastman, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2007.


"Such transforming power, which Paul frequently associates with the Spirit (as in 1:4) and in which he experiences the living presence of Christ, draws its energy from God's compassion, which is so radical and far reaching in Paul's mind that it breaks down all barriers, including those erected on biblical principles."
First Thoughts on Year A Epistle Passages in the Lectionary," Advent 4, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.


"We watch God's redemptive work playing out in the arena of everyday life, this insistence God has on redeeming people to love God and one another (cf. Romans 13:10), and we realize it is something we can count on, something we can trust."
"Light Switches & the Obedience of Faith," Pilgrim Preaching, Mary Hinkle Shore, 2010.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

The passage appointed for Sunday is a typical introduction to a letter which is common in most writing of this time. Paul, of course, has added to the greeting revealing both who he is, who he believes God is and what he is to be doing.

In the first verses, Paul is clear that he is a servant to God.  His work is the work of serving and doing the work which God gives him. He is an apostle. He is chosen and the Holy Spirit is upon him and he is to give it to others.  He is in particular given such gifts not by his service (he did not earn them) but rather by and for the purpose of sharing God's Good News of Salvation.

Paul then offers a bit of preaching.  Scholars believe this is possibly early church confessional stuff. God has been at work bringing about this moment of Good News for a long time.  Jesus himself and Jesus' mission was foretold and revealed in the holy scriptures - here, of course, he is speaking about the Torah most likely and some of the traditional texts (there is not yet an Old Testament collection as we know it.)  Jesus is from the line of David and a royal king, and he is God in the flesh, God's very Son.  This is proven by the revelation of the Holy Spirit. It is proven by the resurrection from the dead.  This God in Christ Jesus is Lord of Lords.  (Romans, Fitzmyer, 228)

Paul then returns to the format with a continued greeting.  He offers grace to fulfill our work which is the sharing of God's Good News through the power of the Holy Spirit.  We respond to God's Grace with our own obedience to the work.  We do it all as a response to God's sacrifice for us and so we in turn sacrifice for the Gospel.  We belong to Jesus Christ, our lives and our ministry is Christ's. We are with grace to share this with others.  This is Paul's work and like Paul, this is the work of the people in the Roman Church.

"To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

Paul is clear about who he is. He is clear about who God is. He is clear about what his work is and he is clear about what that work is for the church.  We are Christ's and we are to be at work for Christ.

Some Thoughts on Isaiah 7:10-17

"Whenever we rush to attach ourselves to another protector out of fear that we will lose what we so desperately wish to retain -- our way of life, our nation state, our individual safety -- our hopes in these intermittent protectors are forever destined to be dashed. The hope of the birth at Christmas is that God is with us in the midst of our greatest fears. "
"The Hope of the Birth," John C. Holbert, Patheos, 2010.


"The lection for this week reminds us this week that God indeed is with us. Even in this day and age when fear runs amuck, we have no need to fear for a small child has proven to us that God is with us and that God is faithful to his promises.
Commentary, Isaiah 7:10-16 | Brent Neely | Pastor, Cape Elizabeth Church of the Nazarene | A Plain Account, 2016.

"God's sign of a child surprised a king and an unwed father named Joseph. This sign matters in a world that continues to worship a vengeful God who can crush our enemies."
Commentary, Isaiah 7:10-16, Barbara Lundblad, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"This is a very challenging chapter to interpret, much less to preach, in part because it requires that one be familiar with a number of related texts (Isaiah 7:1-9; 8:1-8; 2 Kings 16)."
Commentary, Isaiah 7:10-16, Barbara Lundblad, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

Oremus Online NRSV Text

"Isaiah 7:15-17 is a bundle of ambiguities, ambiguities that pose some of the most baffling problems of interpretation in the bible. Do curdled milk and honey symbolize plenty and felicity or want and adversity? Should the vv 15 and 16 be construed in the sense, "when he knows," or "in order that he may know"? Do good and evil in vv 1 and 16 refer to moral right and wrong or to that which is pleasant and painful? Is the age at which one learns to reject the evil and chose the good at one, twelve, or twenty years of age? Is the sign given to Ahaz one exclusively of threat, one exclusively of promise, or does it embrace both? If it embraces both, are the threat and the promise relate sequentially or do they happen concurrently? (Gene Rice, Journal of Biblical Literature
Vol. 96, No. 3 (Sep., 1977), pp. 363-369)

By the fourth century, the Christian theologians were arguing over the texts. Eusebius of Caesarea's writings reveal this and that this is one of the passages they discussed and argued about.

So let us take this passage carefully, respectfully, and with an eye to our text's history and tradition and see where it leads us.

Rabbis teach that in this text God gives a sign to Ahaz in the midst of the threat of war. The sign promises that the kings who oppose Ahaz will not be victorious. Here we then get the verse: “before the child knows enough to refuse evil and choose good the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken” Isaiah 7:15

If you read the "whole book" as my professors used to tell me, you will find out that the prophecy is fulfilled in the following chapter! The child is the prophet Isaiah's son, “he (Isaiah) approached the prophetess and she conceived (tahar) and bore (taled) a son and God said to me: Name the child “Maher-shalal-hash-baz” which means (the spoil speeds the prey hastens). For before the child shall know how to cry my father my mother the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Sammaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.” Isaiah 8:4 This is brilliant by the way because Isaiah and the Prophetess have a son. Hold on to that gem for a bit.

It is clear that the woman, the prophetess, is a young woman, a maiden, she may be a virgin, she may not. The text does not make that clear. We will come back to this nugget too. 

The child will quickly mature and at a young age, he will know the difference between good and evil. It will be in those times that the prophecy will be fulfilled to Ahaz and those who threaten will threaten no more. 

“Behold I and the children whom the Lord has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel.” Isaiah 8:18

The passage includes amazing texts like God is with us, the child will be born to a young woman  (Immanuel –עמנואל).[4] Although this name mean ‘God is with us” it does not mean that the child will be divine. It is very common for biblical personality to have names that include God and part of their name. For example, (Daniel –דניאל) means “God is my Judge.” The implication was that God would be with Ahaz and the Kingdom of Judah in their fight against their enemies.

Isaiah refers to this when he says, “Contrive a scheme, but it will be foiled; conspire a plot, but it will not stand, for God is with us (Emanu El).” Isaiah 8:10  “Thus God saved Hezikiah (son of Ahaz) and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria.” 2 Chronicles 32:22

We must be wise and understand that the text has a biblical history and meaning in the time in which it is read. It is a revelation to Ahaz and Isaiah. It has deep meaning all on its own. Even without a new testament.

The text is clear, the God who created the world, who gives breath to its every day, the God who was with Abraham and Moses, the God who freed the people of Israel, and the God who was with them as they wandered in the desert and eventually returned home is the very same God that is with Ahaz and speaks through both the prophet Isaiah and the prophetess. The message is purposeful and it is part of the overarching theology of Israel and Christianity. God is with God's people Israel.

But here is where we must understand a larger revelation. It is a revelation that does not set Israel's revelation aside but understands clearly that Israel's revelation was not the whole story. It is a revelation that understood that indeed God has been and was with the people. That this prophecy not only was given but came true. And, that the prophecy itself continued. In other words, the prophecy had meaning in that day when it was given to Ahaz and it continued to have meaning. Just at the prophecy revealed who God had been and how that revelation was being played out in the life of Ahaz and Isaiah, so too the prophetic message continued to be revealed - God is with us.

As the people of Israel tried to make sense of the birth and life of Jesus of Nazareth they looked towards the scripture that they so well knew. It Matthew the gospeller who picks up this thread and weaves it well into God's story. It is Matthew's gospel that looks back and lifts this text up and brings it into the narrative.

As he tells it the new prophetess is Mary who will make claims of God's presence with the people once again. In Luke, she will be the one who says:

I’m bursting with God-news;    I’m dancing the song of my Savior God.God took one good look at me, and look what happened—    I’m the most fortunate woman on earth!What God has done for me will never be forgotten,    the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others.His mercy flows in wave after wave    on those who are in awe before him.He bared his arm and showed his strength,    scattered the bluffing braggarts.He knocked tyrants off their high horses,    pulled victims out of the mud.The starving poor sat down to a banquet;    the callous rich were left out in the cold.He embraced his chosen child, Israel;    he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high.It’s exactly what he promised,    beginning with Abraham and right up to now.

That is the translation of Luke 1:46ff from the Message...love that version! But, while Luke's testimony gives Mary the words, it is Matthew's version that reveals that God is with Mary, this young woman, this virgin, and so is with God's people again. Moreover, as the new testament sought to understand Jesus and write theology they saw that this revelation was more than a word to a prophetess but that it had new meaning. As they understood the resurrection and God's presence in a new way they understood the message was more than a prophet's words and a prophetess' child to Ahaz - this was about God being birthed into the world in the very unique person of Jesus.

In Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, Richard B. Hays writes,

The reader who recalls the context of the prophet's words in Isaiah is drawn to recognize the analogy: Israel at the time of Jesus' birth also stands under foreign imperial domination. Matthew's identification fo Jesus as Emmanuel signifies that his birth is a sign: those in Israel who trust God's promise will see in Jesus a harbinger of salvation (the heir who will restore the Davidic line)...(163-164)

Just as Ahaz has no faith in this prophetic birth so shall many not understand the broader and greater revelation of the person of Jesus. Just as Ahaz didn't imagine God was present or that he and the kingdom of Israel could truly be delivered by God...so too people reading Matthew for the first time, or today, may not imagine this is true - that God came into the world to save it.

Paul understood this in the broadest sense as he explained theologically that God's promise of presence belonged to Israel and the new people of Israel through the gentile mission. God's presence in the world in the unique person of Jesus and God's continuing presence meant that the promise had come true that God would gather all people to God's self.

Advent 3, Year A December 14, 2025

Prayer

Give us strength for witnessing, that we may go and tell others what we see and hear. Give us patience for waiting, until the precious harvest of your kingdom, when the return of your Son will make your saving work complete. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Matthew 11:2-11

"The undercurrent of the entire text is the difference between people's expectations, even John's, and the reality of who Jesus was and the actual character of his ministry."

Commentary, Matthew 11:2-11, Advent 3A, Ben Witherington, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.

"The challenge for us in Advent is to allow Jesus to restore our senses, to have him open our eyes and ears so that we can go and tell others what we hear and see."

"Hear and See," Blogging Toward Sunday, Erin Martin, Theolog: The Blog of The Christian Century, 2007.

"...tell John about change and transformation in people?s lives. That is what we are here for and that is what excites us. Spiritualities excited by anything else (like the magic of miracles, like overcoming the enemies of God by judgment, like getting all the rules right) miss the point."

"First Thoughts on Year A Gospel Passages in the Lectionary: Advent 3," William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

We have skipped to the end of the second major section of the Gospel of Matthew in order to continue with the theme of John the Baptist and his relationship with Jesus. While our reading for today does not include the whole pericope it is important to note that Jesus has been offering his missiology, his missionary vision for the reign of God. The framework of Jesus’ teaching was to go to the “lost sheep of Israel.”(10:6) Jesus is giving instruction and continuing the overarching Gospel message that the Word and its proclamation include action. As we saw in last week’s reading the action was repentance: change of heart, mind, and place. Now in the preaching of the reign of God we see action as proclamation of the reign of God, healing, raising, cleansing, and casting out. Jesus has finished giving his orders and he has sent the disciples out to teach and preach – to act out the mission.

It is in this important framework of mission, the word is spreading from city to city, that we arrive at the first verse of today’s Gospel reading. John is in prison. He hears of the work being done. John the Baptist sends his disciples to ask: “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we wait for another?” Most every scholar I read this week showed an interest in how out of sync this question seems to be with the proclamation made by John the Baptist. The pre-modern scholars too ask similar questions. The themes of doubt, disappointment, and disillusionment are present throughout the scholarly wrestling with the text. Perhaps it is a crisis of faith. Maybe it is the narrator’s desire to distance John from Jesus’ ministry. It seems to me though to go too far down this road of inquiry (while biblically fascinating) can lead us to miss Jesus’ answer: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

Jesus then continues teaching them and reminds them of the image of the prophet and the message of transformation. He says:

“What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Our translation does something interesting here in verse 11. Perhaps you are using a bible that translates it differently too. In the translation by Daniel J. Harrington (Luke, Sacra Pagina, 157) he believes Jesus is saying, “Amen.”  John the Baptist is the greatest prophet of the past, but he remains in the past.

Harrington also writes:

The assessment of John is prefaced by “Amen” – an indicator of special solemnity on Jesus’ part. His saying assumes that John does not participate in the kingdom of heaven, that is, he belongs to a different stage in the history of salvation (see Luke 16:16 [The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until the time of John] for a similar schema). John may be the greatest figure of the past. But from Jesus’ perspective he belonged to another age.

As I meditated on this passage this week I wondered what age has passed for our church. I too think it is the age of prophecy. We have for many recent years spent our time prophetically calling the world to change. This era of prophecy was captured best when one political leader remarked the world had changed from the time when the Presiding Bishop was sitting in the Oval Office to a time when the Presiding Bishop was across on the lawn picketing the actions of the Oval Office. To everything, there is a season. John’s question and Jesus’ answer tell us of a season of proclamation and prophetic work that prepared the way for the incarnation. Jesus is saying that season is over, this is the season of incarnation, of the reign of God. Perhaps the challenging message for our congregations today is the message that as communities that have received the prophetic Word, we are to be at work in the world.

You and I are to be in the world and at work in the world incarnating Christ’s love, community, and transformation. It is time for action on behalf of God’s people. It is a time when the church must enter a new age, an age where it is known not for what it says but for what it does.

Some Thoughts on James 5:7-10

"In the light of the story of Job, we return to the passage of James with perhaps a bit more wisdom. Using a language that might sound distant and removed, James asks his addressees to consider God as in charge, as paying attention."
Commentary, James 5:7-10, Advent 3A, Valerie Nicolet-Anderson, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"So to wait for Christ to come in his fullness is not just a passive thing, a pious, prayerful, churchly thing. On the contrary, to wait for Christ to come in his fullness is above all else to act in Christ's stead as fully as we know how. To wait for Christ is as best we can to be Christ to those who need us to be Christ to them most and to bring them the most we have of Christ's healing and hope because unless we bring it, it may never be brought at all."
"Be Patient," sermon discussion from Frederick Buechner, Frederick Buechner Blog.

"None of what James proposes here is possible through human strength, will or power. The patience and the hope are both grounded in faith, that gift of the Holy Spirit."
Commentary, James 5:7-10, Advent 3A, Dirk G. Lange, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2010.

"...patience is essential to the process of becoming a peacemaker. The premature resolution of conflict usually inflicts some kind of violence on one of the parties involved, by silencing them. The patience to listen, to withhold judgment, to attend to each person's or group's or country's concerns, is a major part of diplomacy..."
Commentary, James 5:7-10, Susan Eastman, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2007.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

So...what is missing?  In James 5:4-5, just before this we are told that God opposes the arrogant, the oppressive rich, and is interested in the cries of the laborer.  What a great passage! Wow! One has to wonder why we don't read that part on Sunday morning.  

Yet it is important because we don't arrive at our passage today without knowing who it is addressed to and why.  The author is telling those who are poor and oppressed to be patient and faithful.  God is very much the judge - and this is not an abstract judge either.  James believes that God will return as judge and this is out of a deep sense of hope and desire for justice.  God will oppose the wicked and reward the good.  

James says, not unlike the farmer who is patient so the poor and oppressed need to be patient.  He writes, "Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord, is near. Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord."  

Depend upon those who have come before you and their stories to understand the present age of oppression is where our text ends. So...what is missing?  Here at the end of the passage, we are missing the last verse which helps to interpret vs 10.   Specifically, Luke Timothy Johnson and others, believe that this last little bit is a reference to Job from vs 11. (James, LTJ, 1995, p 324)  

Which prophet, which story? Specifically: Job.  Look to his endurance, his faithfulness, and his waiting.  "God rewarded the one who, despite his suffering, stayed loyal to God."  (IBID) So too you must wait and be faithful.



Some Thoughts on Isaiah 35:1-10

"Czech dissident and first post-communist president Václav Havel said it so well: "Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it will turn out.""
Commentary, Isaiah 35:4-7a, Patricia Tull, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.

"Isaiah dares to speak a word out of place. A word that refused to wait until things improved."

Commentary, Isaiah 35:1-10, Barbara Lundblad, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"To preach this passage, then, you will need to exegete not only text but also context. The oracle gives no sure clues as to its own originating context. The contexts it calls you to interpret are your own and those of the people who have called you to preach."

Commentary, Isaiah 35:4-7a, Anathea Portier-Young, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

"God in Isaiah 35 now promises a new and fresh wilderness, filled with lovely blossoms, rather than jackals and ostriches, ringing with the sounds of joy and singing rather than the hoots and screeches of owls and buzzards."
"The Hope of New Vision," John C. Holbert, Patheos, 2010.

NRSV Old Testament Text

God's garden social imaginary is a creation abundant. In it, there is community and relationship. It rejects sibling rivalry, mimetic desire, and violence as tools to deal with scarcity. In fact, God's narrative rejects scarcity.

In our Isaiah passage, we hear a prophecy that the world will be made new. The people living in the land and in relationship with others. Desert flowers blossoming, alive with creatures, all reflecting the abundance of God.

God is an interested party and will free the people. He will not withhold his hand from the accountability that comes when responsibility is shirked by authorities and those in power.

The passage we are given is the passage that Jesus likely reads in the synagogue. It is a key image of a renewed social imaginary that is proclaimed in word and deed by God in Christ Jesus.

Isaiah cries to the people on God's behalf: "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way."

Truly a way is made in the desert. We know this way because we have been reading about it in Mark's Gospel. This is the way that John the Baptist says is coming, this is the path that Jesus follows, it is the road upon which the disciples are invited to walk. Jesus, in fact, opens the eyes of the blind. The people who can not hear justice hear again as if for the first time. The lame walk. Jesus feeds the people and brings living water to the woman at the well.

Isaiah is, of course, speaking of the imminent return of the people of Israel from the wilderness of Babylon back to their home. He is showing that God has heard their cry and they have suffered long enough. Isaiah, as he will do in chapter 40, is literally bringing comfort to the people.

It is true that we cannot remove the context of violence from the passage. Isaiah and his prophetic school cannot help but suggest that God will bring a violent end to the people's persecutors. This is not the full revelation that Jesus brings as peacemaker. Isaiah can only imagine a world where the lion is no longer there. Instead, we have in Jesus an image of lion and lambs together.

Isaiah does offer something beautiful. The rejection of violence and scapegoating will end - he suggests. The lion and ravenous beast will not be anymore, instead, there will be a people who are redeemed. Rejecting violence, they will sing, and be glad and sorrow will be no more.

As always, we read the text backward with the first and second commandments and Jesus as our hermeneutical lens. This helps us to understand the eagerness of vengeance placed in the mouth of God as merely a human's desire for repetitive violence - a continuation of scapegoating. When we see clearly the greater vision of Isaiah, we not only see revealed in the passage the revelation of Jesus himself who will come and preach the message of peace and healing. We also see the great potential for a society built upon peace and healing that brings joy and gladness into the world.

This is a passage filled with good news for those who need it. It is also a passage filled with vision for those who have lost theirs. Prophetic leadership always points to our participation in God's narrative. The prophet invites us to find our place within it.

Sometimes I think preaching is described as finding the context that you are in and preaching into it. But this fractures the narrative and reorients it. I think preaching may more be the work of the prophet to invite people into God's narrative, to invite them to hear God's words of freedom and hope for others like them. The scripture is not a medicine kit with salve for this or that issue. Instead, the scripture is a pool in which to wade, swim and dive. It is living and abundant water in which we are invited so we may root ourselves and be like the blossoms in the midst of the desert.