So very often, the gospel passage appointed for a given Sunday contains one major theme, or one simple story. Not today. Today’s gospel is chock full of proclamation, imagery, and narrative. Let’s review the major themes in these dozen verses of scripture: • John the Baptist sees Jesus coming toward him and proclaims, “Here is…

In both Testament lessons and in the gospel of this second Sunday in Epiphany we sense a strong line running through them, like a rope that pulls us up to the realization that God calls us. We surface to the light of Epiphany and pray that this light will assist us in understanding the meaning…

Last Sunday’s readings talked about baptism and identity, and included that wonderful sentence from Isaiah, where God says to Israel, to Israel’s servant, and to us, three things: God says, “I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the…

Last Sunday we commemorated the Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ. We heard from St. Matthew’s Gospel how John the Baptist saw God’s Spirit alight upon Jesus, and a voice from heaven identify him as “my Son, the Beloved.” Today our lesson comes from the Gospel of St. John and the scenario of Christ’s baptism…

This is one of several reports of the testimony of John Baptizer about the true role of Jesus Christ. John Baptizer (who you may know of as John the Baptist) has been given the task of preparing the way for the Messiah. It has been revealed to him that he would know his task was…

Jesus was born into a troubled time, in a troubled place. The land of Israel, with all its proud history, was a subject nation, property of the Roman Empire. Rome’s only real interest in this holy land — which the elegant and eminent Romans considered a benighted backwater — was how much tax could be…