On the 8th day after the birth of Jesus: “When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord” (v. 22). And then in just a few verses Luke presents a host of religiously themed actions: circumcision, naming, purification, presentation, consecration. The Holy Family is obedient to the Laws and are people of the Covenant. This means that that are also faithful in observing the piety of Passover in Jerusalem. Our gospel recounts the story of Mary and Joseph finding the child Jesus in the Temple speaking with Wisdom about the Word of God. The people are amazed.

Did you know that this is the first time Jesus speaks in Luke’s gospel?  Did you know that the familiar phrase, “did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” does not actually have the word “house?” There is a lot more to this gospel. Sit with it for a moment on the back porch.

Full Text of the Sunday Readings

Detailed Commentary on the Gospel

Jesus among the Doctors | Heinrich Hoffman, 1884 | Hamburg Museum | PD-US

Soon after Christmas western Christianity celebrates the Epiphany of the Lord. The word comes from the Greek epiphaneia meaning “manifestation” or, “striking appearance.” The feast had its origins in Easter Christian Churches and was a general celebration of the manifestation of the Incarnation of Jesus. Originally its scope was more broad. It was a celebration of a number of events in scripture that revealed Jesus to the world.  Those events included: the commemoration of his birth; the visit of the Magi to Bethlehem; all of Jesus’ childhood events, up to and including his baptism in the Jordan by John the Baptist; and even the miracle at the Wedding of Cana in Galilee. In western Christian Churches the focus has rested primarily upon the Visit of the Magi.

Who are the Magi? They are not kings, probably not from Persia, and yet there was something that drew them to visit the Christ child. St. Matthew, writing to Jewish audience, makes all kinds of Old Testament references that would be familiar to the 1st century audience – but not necessarily to us. It is all part of Matthew’s overall narrative intent: Jesus is the fulfillment of all that was promised by the prophets.

There is a lot more to this gospel. Sit with it for a moment on the back porch.

Full Text of the Sunday Readings

Detailed Commentary on the Gospel

The detailed commentary has lots of information about King Herod, the Magi, the star and lots more!

Image Credit: The Adoration of the Magi by Edward Burne-Jones (1904) | Public Domain- US

If asked to imagine the scene of John baptizing Jesus in the Jordan River, style aside, most people would describe something akin to the scene shown on this page. But if one is attentive to the text from the Gospel of Luke, it simply says: “After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened and the holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:21-22)

You might have noted that Luke has no description of Jesus coming out of the water. In an element of the baptismal account found only in Luke we simply find Jesus in prayer. At that point, the “heaven was opened”and there is a “voice from heaven.”  Did any other person except Jesus hear the voice or see the Holy Spirit descend? This is a very different description than in Matthew’s gospel.  Why?

As always, there is a lot going on in these gospels. Take a moment with a cup of joe and the bible on the back porch.

Full Text of the Sunday Readings

Detailed Commentary on the Gospel

Baptism of Christ |Pietro Perugino, 1482 | Sistine Chapel, Vatican City | PD-US

This is the first Sunday in the New Year, outside of the Church’s Christmas Season. In Liturgical Year C the gospels normally come from Luke, but the first gospel of “Ordinary Time” is taken from the Gospel of John, Chapter 2, The Wedding Feast at Cana. It is a familiar story and if you do a tour of Israel, you will no doubt stop at Cana and have the opportunity to renew your marriage vows… or propose! But there is so much more to the reading. Notice that it is not the “Wedding at Cana” but the “Wedding Feast.” Even in modern western life, there is the wedding ceremony and then there is the feast, the reception, following the ceremony. When reading this passage, think of “reception” rather than ceremony.

Even more, the sacred author, John, has packed the telling of the feast with layers and layers of meaning, symbols, and “signs.”  John never uses the word “miracle” and that is believed because John uses this and six other “signs” to point to something greater – the final sign, Resurrection. There is a lot to unpack in these 11 verses, so grab your favorite beverage and take some time on the back porch.

Full Text of the Sunday Readings

Detailed Commentary on the Gospel

The Marriage Feast at Cana | Bartolomé Estebán Murillo, 1672 | The Barber Institute of Fine Art | PD-US | Photograph by DeFacto – Wiki Commons | CC-SA-4.0

The gospel is actually a combination of two different parts of Luke’s gospel. The reading begins with the opening verses of Luke’s gospel. It promises to compile a narrative of the events that have been fulfilled among us that has been passed from the eyewitnesses from the beginning and the ministers of the word that handed the accounts onto Luke’s generation (ca. 85 CE). This is coupled to the start of Jesus’ public ministry which began in the synagogue in his hometown. “He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read 17 and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me’” 

What is about that particular Old Testament passage?  This is not the first appearance of the Spirit in Luke’s gospel. The anointing? What is its purpose? Is it for a role, a mission, or other purpose? Jesus tells the people that in their very hearing, this prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled! He then announces “a year acceptable to the Lord.”  What might that mean?

There is a lot to unpack in these verses, so grab your favorite beverage and take some time on the back porch.

Full Text of the Sunday Readings

Detailed Commentary on the Gospel

Eleventh century fresco of the Exorcism at the Synagogue in Capernaum | Wiki Commons | PD-US