Good News – 24 December 2017 – Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we look at all of the signs of hope that are so richly described. The darkness will be eradicated and there will be joy. The yoke of their burden will be broken, and all of the signs of war will be burned and thrown away. A child is born whose authority will grow. There will be endless peace for David’s throne. Justice and righteousness will reign forevermore. . . These are wonderful things we should continue to expect.  –– Carrie Lewis

Luke 2:1-14(15-20)

Luke places Jesus’ birth in the midst of imperial edicts that affected occupied Israel and in the context of political struggle, taxation and the imperial and religious claims of Rome. While Luke’s point is clearly theological—having Jesus born in the city of David and born in poor circumstances as the manger becomes the bed for the Savior—the details of the historical presentation are problematic. If Jesus was born in the days of Herod, the registration was not until at least ten years later, the registration was not for the whole world, but for Judea, and it was not the practice of Rome to have the people go back to their hometown. Ultimately, however, the historical details are not what is important, but the good news that comes from the setting.

. . . Jesus’ meager beginning, wrapped in bands of cloth and laid in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn, previews Jesus’ own statement in 9:58 that ‘‘the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’’

In Luke’s version of Jesus’ birth, it is not kings who come to visit Jesus, but shepherds, a group of people who were thought to be the lower class in Hellenistic society. This fits with Luke’s desire to show God’s affirmation of the poor and the despised and fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah 61:1 where the poor have good news proclaimed to them. . .

For Luke, this is a story that, while starting in Galilee and Judea, will extend to all the nations of the world. –– Carrie Lewis

Isaiah 9:2-7

The names of ‘‘Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace’’ (v 6) were also used as coronation names for Egyptian kings at the time of their accession. . . . However, this royal psalm has been transformed to carry a messianic tone. . . no longer . . . looking back to a king who is the familiar royal figure. . . Now, this hymn is being used to provide messianic hope for the period after the exile, the period of darkness that is described in 8:21–22. –– Carrie Lewis

Titus 2:11-14

For the writer of Titus, it is important that God’s salvation is for all. . . It is also important for the people to realize that God’s grace has transforming qualities enabling God’s people to ‘‘renounce impiety and worldly passions. . . ’’ (v 12). . . . Salvation has come through Christ giving himself for our redemption, and we still wait for our Savior. It is this salvation through the life of Christ and the expectation of Christ’s Second Coming that give this night of Jesus’ birth its power—otherwise this is just another sentimental birth of a baby. –– Carrie Lewis

Carrie L. Lewis La Plante is pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Indianola, Iowa.

Homily Service 39, no. 1 (2005): 51-60.

We, like Sheep – 19 July 2015 – Lectionary 16/ Proper 11

Our nation has experienced in the last three weeks tremendous shifts in our understanding of ourselves. One horrific event showed us the divisions that pull us apart as witnessed in the racial violence that took the lives of nine people studying the Bible together. The other showed a new form of unity among us evidenced by the decisions of the nine Justices on the Supreme Court; we have agreed to abide by their rulings rather than the mere impulses of our habituated vision.

In these stark events, we heard – even from people with differing perspectives – a call for calm and reconciliation, for forgiveness and new pathways to follow toward greater understanding and more enduring peace. These recent crucial moments have made clear both how hard it is to root out old prejudices and how possible it is to take the promise of unity to heart, changing our ways.

Jesus looked at the people who brought him their needs as “sheep without a shepherd.” We, too, are in need of the shepherd who can pull us out of our entrenchments, out of our self-importance, out of our complacencies, because we are unable to heal ourselves without the one who protects us by breaking down dividing walls.

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Anticipating the very full treatment the Great Multiplication (vv 35–44) and Jesus' walking on water (vv 45–52) will receive during the next five weeks of lectionary readings from John 6, this week's Gospel lection skips over the telling of these two stories in Mark 6. We do, however, set the stage by hearing what happened immediately before (vv 30–34), and we receive a brief report about how people responded to Jesus' power to heal (vv 53–56…).

As the apostles return from their mission (6:6b–13), Jesus offers to take them to a deserted place for a rest. However, there is one situation from which Jesus, in his compassion, will not withdraw: when he is confronted with people who are “like sheep without a shepherd.” In contrast to the leaders who fail to provide their people with leadership, guidance, and sustenance (cf. Jeremiah 23:1–2), Jesus is the Good Shepherd who never abandons his sheep…. Jesus is presented as the source of wisdom, and this wisdom is so vital and necessary to human life that Jesus was willing to forego his time of rest to provide this wisdom to the directionless people. – Steven H. Fazenbaker

Jeremiah 23:1-6

Following a chapter of oracles against the rulers of Israel, who have failed to execute justice, Jeremiah employs shepherd imagery to foretell the fate that awaits these rulers. Jeremiah accuses the “shepherds who shepherd my people” of “scatter[ing] my flock, and [driving] them away, and … not attend[ing] to them” (v 2). God, through Jeremiah, promises to drive out the “evil” shepherds, gather the scattered sheep and “raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them” (v 4). – Steven H. Fazenbaker

Ephesians 2:11-22

If we understand this letter as addressed to several different churches, we can see the very Pauline message of “unity in Christ made manifest through a diversity of gifts” (cf. 1 Corinthians 12–14) expressed through this letter. In this week's lection, the author begins by emphasizing two very distinct and mutually exclusive groups: the “uncircumcision” (Gentiles) and the “circumcision” (Jews).

Indeed, before Christ, there was “no hope” that the divided creation of Jews and Gentiles could ever be reconciled. But, in and through Christ, “you who were once far off have been brought near,” and “he has made both groups into one.”

As a circular letter to a number of different churches, the invitation is for each individual faith community to grow beyond thinking of itself as separate from each another, and to realize that each local church is part of one universal act of salvation in Christ Jesus….

Each church is not an individual household of God; there is one universal household in which God dwells, and Christ Jesus himself is the cornerstone of this universal household (v 20). And, in and through Christ Jesus, each local church is “built together spiritually into [one] dwelling place for God” (v 22). – Steven H. Fazenbaker

God’s Word shows us the possibility for healing divisions. It is the great work of the Church to use the power of the Holy Spirit and the hope that we have in Christ Jesus to lead us into the truly green pastures where God has set the table for feasting with all people.

Steven H. Fazenbaker is director of the Wesley Foundation at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Homily Service 42, no. 3 (2009): 79-87.