Tuesday Lectionary Thoughts

Isaiah 9.1-4
1. "the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light." Light and Epiphany go together like ham & cheese. Peanut butter & bananas. Pretzels & Nutella. 'scuse me a second - I need a snack...
2. One historical reminder from earlier in Isaiah is that Judah found itself under a yoke of oppression because they bought their "freedom" from the Assyrians to protect his reign from Israel and her co-conspirators. (see Second Kings ch. 15-17). God said "do not fear human conspiracy," but Ahaz made self-protective deals and thus sealed the fate of Judah as well.
3. Continuing through Isaiah 9.7 gives us the "Wonderful Counselor" text that is so familiar from Advent readings. Possibly this was kept out of the pericope to keep the focus on Matthew and the "land of Zebulun & Naphtali" connection.

Psalm 27
1. There are a ton of hymns with this psalm at their core - might be a good Sunday to sing the psalm in an entirely different way.
2. 27.13 is not in this year's pericope, though it was in the past. The "land of the living" is the opposite of Sheol, a place of darkness & shadows = God's light intrudes where darkness reigns.
3. This is one of the more poetic psalms - our local text study group spent some time talking about the beauty of what God provides "in the shelter of the sanctuary" (ELW translation), and also the evil that comes when we do evil to one another in the holy place.

First Corinthians 1.10-18
1. Baptism is not Paul's goal (and all the Lutherans gasped in horror) - for Paul, baptism serves as a means for PROCLAMATION. Paul's ministry was focused on the spread of the gospel and the planting of churches, not initiation rites and sacramental theology. There is some evidence that baptism was far more visionary and far less initiatory in the early centuries of the church.
2. I had a note to myself to preach a series involving last week's epistle, this week and next week, since the first chapter of First Corinthians is so potent. Due to the liturgical schedule and our move, I elected not to do it this year, but I might in 2011 (once I convince myself that 2011 is a real date. Sheesh this new millenium bit is a lot to handle sometimes!).

Matthew 4.13-25
1. Ties to John's ministry:
a. there's a chiasm with 3.1-2, where John and Jesus proclaim, but John decreases while Jesus increases.
b. the word used for John's arrest, "paradidomai," is the same word used when Judas "hands over" Jesus at the end of the gospel.
c. In Matthew 14.13, Jesus also withdraws "anachoreo" when John is killed.
2. Ties to Isaiah: Nazareth is in the land of Zebulun, Capernaum is in the land of Naphtali.
3. M. Eugene Boring draws a parallel between the Exodus and Jesus:
Israel = Red Sea birth - Wilderness Wandering - Nation
Jesus = Baptism - Wilderness Temptation - Messianic Community

Big Long Wrap-Up Thought: Fishing with nets is not fly-fishing, and what Jesus does to the disciples, though Norman Maclean suggests otherwise in A River Runs Through It. Fishing with nets is disruptive, intrusive and non-coercive; so, also, is faith that comes through the intrusion of the Holy Spirit. Boring, again, says that Jesus is "not filling a vacuum or meeting an obvious need." I don't know how that fits with modern faith, though - most intrusive forms of evangelism tend to be pretty offensive to me these days. Somehow I think character might be wrapped up in it as well: I'm certainly not Jesus, nor have I met Him face to face, but I have met folks whose faith and discipleship has shaken up my own. Maybe that's the disruptive part of living in the church today.