January 23, 2022
3rd Sunday After The Epiphany – Katharine Armentrout
JESUS AND HIS BLUEPRINT
We have just heard Jesus layout what I would call His “blueprint for ministry”. He was filled with the Spirit that morning, as he read the powerful promises from Isaiah 61:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
And when he sat down and all eyes were upon him, he said, “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
At the time that passage was written, faithful Hebrews had prayed for their long-awaited release from Exile and the rebuilding of Israel.
And, at the time of Jesus, faithful Jews were praying for God to release them from Roman domination, release from their crushing taxes, their poverty and oppression that had been created by that Roman system.
Jesus, when he said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing,” is announcing that through his ministry those promises, promises made especially to the least in the kingdom, will be fulfilled and that the coming of God’s kingdom is upon them.
When he arrived at the synagogue in Nazareth that day,
January 16, 2022
Epiphany 2C – By George Yandell
Weddings in Palestine were major celebrations with extended family and friends. They typically lasted a week or more. In today’s gospel reading about the marriage feast there is more than meets the eye.
As today’s Gospel passage opens, Jesus’ mother is attending a wedding at Cana in Galilee to which Jesus and his disciples also have been invited. Food and wine were plentiful at such festivities. When the supply of wine runs out it was a social disaster for the host family. Jesus’ mother informs him of the shortage. Jesus replied to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come”. That seems harsh and abrupt, doesn’t it? Referring to his mother as “woman” is not an indication of a lack of affection or respect, but rather is how Jesus often addressed women. (Throughout John’s Gospel, Mary is not called by name but is referred to as the mother of Jesus.) [Adapted from “Synthesis, a Weekly Resource for Preaching and Worship following the Revised Common Lectionary” for this Sunday.]
Symbolically, a marriage feast points to the banquet associated with the coming messianic era as Isaiah portrays it in that passage for today. It was a joyful and extravagant event. When Jesus says, “Fill the jars with water”, the ordinary event of a wedding takes on cosmic proportions, as water becomes wine. The words of Jesus accomplished it. Acceptance of Jesus’ words is a crucial theme in John’s Gospel,
January 9, 2022
1st Sunday after the Epiphany – Byron Tindall
On this, the first Sunday after the Epiphany, the church in the west remembers the Baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan by His cousin, John the Baptist.
From the Merriam Webster website, we get the following definition of epiphany:
“Full Definition of epiphany
1:capitalized: January 6 observed as a church festival in commemoration of the coming of the Magi as the first manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles or in the Eastern Church in commemoration of the baptism of Christ
2: an appearance or manifestation especially of a divine being
3a(1): a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something
(2): an intuitive grasp of reality through something (such as an event) usually simple and striking
(3): an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure
b: a revealing scene or moment”
We’ll spend a little time this morning on the first definition provided by Merriam Webster, but first we need to explore the Baptism some.
All three of the synoptic gospels have the account of Jesus being baptized in the Jordan, albeit they are somewhat different. The writer of John completely ignored this part of Jesus’s life. Mark 1:4-11 and Matthew 3:1-17 record the other versions of the baptism. A full version of the baptism is found in verses 1 through 22 in Luke’s third chapter.
January 2, 2022
Christmas 2C – By George Yandell
Where did Jesus get his uncanny knowledge of God’s wisdom? It wasn’t all book-learning from the rabbis. Even children understood clearly what the adult Jesus said when he taught. I believe Jesus learned much of his attentiveness to God from Joseph, and also from Mary. Her acceptance of the angel Gabriel opened the way for Jesus. We learn most from what our parents do, not what they say. I imagine the young Jesus learned how to be attentive to God from watching Joseph, as well as learning from Mary and his brothers and sisters, and his rabbi. But learning to trust God from dreams- that was Joseph’s contribution.
Joseph couldn’t go to an analyst to work through his dreams. He had only his heart, his trust in God, and his willingness to take action. This was the second time Joseph had received a dream visit from an angel. The first visit was when Joseph had discovered Mary, to whom he was newly engaged, to already have conceived a child. Joseph had decided to dismiss her away quietly instead of marrying her. The angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him the child in her womb was from the Holy Spirit. Joseph was to marry Mary and name the child Jesus, the angel said. And Joseph followed the angel’s instructions to the letter, and now the Son of God was born, with him the step-father.
As we hear in the gospel,