St. Johns Lutheran Church
Evangelical Lutheran Church of America
Know Christ. Love Christ. Serve Christ.
Gospel Message
January 5th:
SECOND SUNDAY OF CHRISTMAS
Beyond Boundaries
One difficulty with the Gospel of John as we read it in our own context is grappling with passages that draw boundaries between who is “in” and who is “out.” The gospel sometimes edges toward contempt, or at least uncharity, for those who reject Jesus’ identity and message. Historically, this gospel has been used to perpetuate anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic rhetoric, so we need to approach it with care and love.
The verses in our reading today reflect a concern with Jesus’ identity and the boundaries between those who do and those who do not accept him. Verses 10 and 11 refer to the ignorance and rejection Jesus faces on earth. The passage continues by lifting up the benefits of choosing to receive and follow Jesus: the power to become children of God (as Jesus himself is a child of God).
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Because Jesus, the Word made flesh, has come to earth to reveal the grace, truth, and glory of God—a God who pours out an abundance: “grace upon grace”! (John 1:16)—we read today’s passage not as guidance about who gets cut out of God’s inheritance but, rather, as assurance of the wideness of God’s love.
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Jesus will make God known to the world, despite conflicts and hostilities that might threaten this work. At many later places, the gospel also points to the expansiveness of this mission, whether the assurance in John 3 that “God so loved the [whole] world” or Jesus’ promise in John 10 that he has sheep from other folds.
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We cling to a Jesus who crosses boundaries—even the final boundary of death. There are no conflicts, powers, divisions, disagreements, or hostilities that can turn Jesus away from his message of abundant life for all
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January 12th:
BAPTISM OF OUR LORD
Filled with Expectation
At the beginning of the Epiphany season, we encounter John the baptizer, serving people who are filled with expectation. Curiosity is the birthplace of expectation. Many people were curious about whether John might be the expected messiah. They were hopeful that the dreams of their people were about to be fulfilled by this strange and solitary prophet.
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Sometimes we are exuberant when our expectations are fulfilled. We know this feeling when a new baby is born, a family member graduates from college or attains a new job, or a summer vacation is around the corner. Other times, we are devastated by unfulfilled expectations—when a loved one dies in hospice, a pink slip is given at work, or a house is foreclosed.
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Expectation can lead to great happiness or to depression. John’s followers’ expectations were correct but misplaced. John redirected their hopes to Jesus, who would baptize them with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
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In what ways can we joyfully expect God’s good work in our own lives? Have we put our hope in people or things guaranteed to disappoint us? How might life be different if we put all our hope for the future in the good plan of God?
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At Jesus’ baptism, the heavens opened and a dove descended. Then God spoke these life-changing and transformative words: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22).
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When we were baptized, God spoke words like these over us as well. As creations made in God’s own image, we are innately beloved and pleasing to God. May this truth change how we navigate through the world and fill us with joyful expectation for God’s good plan to come.
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January 19th:
SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
Jesus Does Care
There is humor to be found in the words “And his disciples believed in him” . . . because he could turn water into wine! Really? That’s it? This small miracle performed at a wedding was all that was required at the start of Jesus’ ministry to gain his disciples’ faith and trust?
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That such a minor event could prove so significant might sound silly if we are tempted to think God cares only about big things, such as war, environmental justice, and world hunger. But if we pay attention, we notice that many people encounter God in the most mundane moments of life: sitting quietly in a deer stand, floating on a calm lake while fishing, breastfeeding an infant and rocking in a chair, or holding the hand of an aged neighbor.
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Jesus cares about all manner of small things—the grief of one widow, dis-ease in the life of a teenager, the lack of wine at a wedding. While these things may seem small to an outsider, we know they are big to the one experiencing them. Thank God, no matter how large or small our concerns, Jesus does care!
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At all times, and in all places, God is at work using ordinary things and people to produce extraordinary results. At the Cana wedding, Jesus turned ordinary water into wine to provide an extraordinary blessing: continued joy and celebration among family and friends. Today Jesus often uses coffee and cookies to create bonds among people—just ask the fellowship committee in your congregation! Jesus does care about our fellowship with one another. We are even commanded to gather around tables, to break bread and drink wine to remember him.
This season after Epiphany, may you catch sight of the ways Christ is present at your tables and in your gatherings, deepening relationships and spreading joy.
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January 26th:
THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
Praised by Everyone
Jesus’ ministry began in triumph. He had endured the testing in the wilderness and emerged victorious, ready to begin his good work in the community. One of the first places he stopped was in the synagogues, teaching in such a way that he “was praised by everyone” (Luke 4:15). One day, upon reading from Isaiah, Jesus revealed himself as the one who would bring good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, recover the sight of people who were blind, free those who were oppressed, and proclaim the Lord’s favor. Alleluia!
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As followers of this very same Jesus, we know that God is still at work accomplishing these glorious tasks in our communities. We also know people who long for us, Jesus’ followers full of the Holy Spirit, to bring good news to the poor.
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How are we, members of the body of Christ, called to be in such a deep relationship with our neighbors that they share with us their greatest needs? Have we established such profound trust that they are willing to allow us to accompany them as God produces solutions sufficient to their greatest crises?
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We have the most exhilarating mission—to proclaim the Lord’s favor in the neighborhood! We get to remind people that they are not forgotten. How we do this in our own contexts is as various as the number of churches represented around the world. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to Christian ministry. But in all cases, we are called to invite everyone to praise Jesus and live into his mission of freedom.
As we gather each week for word and sacrament, may we be filled with the Holy Spirit as we pray that Jesus’ fame will spread into “all the surrounding country” (Luke 4:14), as our neighbors experience God’s good work through each of us. Holy Spirit, reveal to us new ways to accompany our neighbors in this Epiphany season.
January 5th:
As was customary for a piece of Hellenistic literature, the Gospel of John, probably written about 100 ce, begins with a prologue that indicates the direction of what follows. Perhaps a hymn sung by the Johannine community, this poetic introduction relies on the Greek philosophical category of Logos, Word, to describe the being of Christ. This Word of God is the very God whose arrival, as at creation, brings light into the world, who manifests God’s grace, and who makes God known.
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Most of the biblical book of Jeremiah comes from about 600 bce and represents the poems and sermons of the prophet Jeremiah, as well as narratives about his sometimes bizarre behavior. According to Jeremiah, all the sufferings that the nations of Israel and Judah were experiencing were just punishments for their unfaithfulness to God. Today’s citation is a message of hope: God will save the people, bringing them back to the land and turning their mourning into joy.
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Ephesians, probably written in the late first century by a disciple of Paul, is a general sermon about the meaning of Christ and life in the church that includes both Jews and Gentiles. This introduction to the essay focuses on the author’s primary themes: the divine will, the mystery of Christ, our adoption as God’s children, and the holiness of the redeemed life.
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January 12th:​
Many religious communities, including first-century Qumran, conducted water rituals to signify the old life is washed away and a new person born. In first-century Judaism, water rituals prepared participants for the last day, and second-century converts to Judaism were baptized. As well, devout Jewish males immersed themselves before each Sabbath and Jewish wives immersed themselves after each menstrual period. Christians continued the practice of water rituals, and in Jesus’ baptism narrative, tied baptism to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and divine adoption. The Old Testament often depicts the presence of God with fire. Luke minimizes the account of Jesus’ baptism and does not explicitly name John as the baptizer, perhaps since the early church was conflicted about why Jesus had to be baptized. By “the heaven was opened” Luke repeats eschatological imagery about the coming of the messiah.
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Probably written about 550 bce, what scholars call Second Isaiah is addressed to the Israelites in light of the suffering of the exile. God is called Redeemer repeatedly in this passage: a redeemer was one who bought back a relative or property that had been sold to repay a debt. Just as God had redeemed Israel from Egypt, now God promises to redeem the people from Babylon. The Redeemer is also the Creator. Most surprisingly, these people can be called by God’s name, which in Jewish tradition is unspeakably holy.
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The Acts of the Apostles was written by the author of the Gospel according to Luke probably in the late 80s. In presenting the early decades of the Christian movement, the author, probably a Jewish Christian who was a skilled storyteller, proclaims that the Spirit of God who was active in Jesus is now active in the community. Luke’s interest in the Gentile mission is seen in this mission into Samaria. For Luke, only the original Twelve—here Peter and John—should function as authorities in the church.
January 19th:
In the Mediterranean world of the late first century, the Dionysus cult was popular. According to the myth, Dionysus, the god of the grape harvest and the son of the high god Father Zeus, provided vast amounts of wine for his celebrative followers who then joined in ritual ecstasy. The Dionysian feast was celebrated on January 6, on which date some Christians came to read John 2. Although some interpreters resist seeing Dionysus behind the narrative of Cana, others view this explanation as the most likely impulse behind this Johannine messianic “sign,” which is so markedly different from the miracles of divine healing. The jars contain about 175 gallons. The wedding occurs “on the third day,” a hidden reference to the resurrection, and on the seventh day in this gospel’s account of the new creation in Christ. For the fourth evangelist, it is Jesus Christ who is the true son of the true God. Yet the glory of this God will come on the cross, rather than in ritual ecstasy. As well, the fourth evangelist may be echoing the messianic poems by the Israelite prophets, in which plentiful wine will be served at the end of time.
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Third Isaiah, compiled in the fifth century bce, is filled with exuberant poetic imagery about the goodness of the return from exile. In today’s excerpt, especially the restored city of Jerusalem is lauded. Even without a king, the city itself and its residents will wear a crown. Verses 3-5 describe the people’s joy using the sexual imagery of the joyous married couple.
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In this section of the letter to the Christians in Corinth, written in about 54, Paul is advising the community about its life as the one body of Christ. The ecstatic spiritualities of some religious communities, for example the Dionysian cult, stand behind Paul’s call for spiritual gifts that are doctrinally sound and communally supportive. Paul’s description indicates his hope for a nonhierarchical community in Christ. The “tongues” of which Paul writes was glossolalia, which Paul stipulated must be followed by verbal interpretation
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January 26th:
Writing in the late 80s, Luke organized his stories about Jesus in a logical chronological order, and thus directly after Jesus’ temptation he teaches in the synagogue in Nazareth, his hometown. An optional aspect of Sabbath observance was attendance at a synagogue, where the Hebrew Scriptures were read and interpreted by a rabbi and the assembly sang psalms and prayed. Here the reading was from Isaiah 61:1-2, perhaps the second reading, after the Torah portion. The year of the Lord’s favor (v. 19) was the Jubilee (Lev. 25:1-17), a perhaps mythical time each fifty years when no crops were grown, all debts forgiven, all lands returned to their previous owner, and all slaves freed. Luke means to interpret the coming ministry of Jesus with the motif of liberation found in the Isaian oracle. Twice this excerpt mentions the Spirit, a strong emphasis in Luke.
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The book of Nehemiah was originally one book with Ezra, taking shape perhaps about 400 bce Editing may have disrupted the order of events described. The book of Nehemiah continues the story of the Israelites’ return to Jerusalem, when the city walls were rebuilt, becoming a symbol of Jewish reestablishment of the covenant and of separation from neighboring peoples, although scholars question the historicity of, for example, the demand for Jewish men to divorce their foreign wives.”I,” the narrator, purports to be Nehemiah, a servant of the Persian king, who assumed authority in the Jerusalem community. At a religious gathering, the scribe Ezra leads worship at which the Torah scrolls, perhaps those that had been formulated and edited during the exile, are proclaimed and interpreted. Hearing the word leads to both sorrow and the joy of a shared meal.
For Paul, the risen body of Christ is found in the one body of the Christian community. Paul develops the metaphor of the human body, which must avoid weakness and disease in each of its parts, to encourage communal care for one another. Paul’s assertion that in baptism Jews and Greeks, slaves and free, are all one sounds far more reasonable to us than it would have to first-century people. The metaphor of “the body of Christ” first appears in Paul’s writing in 1 Corinthians, perhaps as a response to the disunity in the Corinthian community. Hellenistic writers used this metaphor to describe social and political unity.
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