Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Jan. 4, 2015
First Reading: Jeremiah 31:7-14We are still in Christmastide: The 12 days of Christmas continue through Epiphany, January 6, and our readings speak of thanksgiving, hope, and joy. Even Jeremiah, often called “the weeping prophet” for the dire warnings of destruction that fill his prophecy, resounds with shouts of praise and joy today. The prophet offers hope for all of God’s people, even those weeping in sorrow and pain. God will comfort all, turn our sorrow into gladness, our mourning into joy.
Psalm: Psalm 84
The Psalmist, too, sings a hymn of joy, and specifically, the joy of worshipping in the rebuilt temple whose destruction and restoration the Prophet Jeremiah had foretold. Even amid the joy of having the building restored, though, the real exultation is not bound by bricks and mortar but rests on the grace and glory found in encountering God.
Second Reading: Ephesians 1:3-6,15-19a
Echoing in Ephesians the reassuring theme that we heard in last week’s reading from Galatians, Paul emphasizes that we are all adopted as God’s children through Jesus. Through this adoption we are freely given God’s grace, a glorious inheritance of great spiritual riches that gives us hope.
Gospel: Luke 2:41-52
The gospels tell us almost nothing about Jesus’s childhood and youth. This intriguing gap is filled only by this short, fascinating story that appears only in Luke’s Gospel. Twelve-year-old Jesus disappears while the family is in Jerusalem, to the horror of Joseph and Mary, who find him three days later in the Temple, impressing the elders with his intelligent discussion. The child reassures his frantic parents, declaring that his place is in his “Father’s house,” the Temple. In the next chapter, in Luke’s account of the baptism of the 30-year-old Jesus by John the Baptist in the Jordan, we will hear the voice of God announce that Jesus is God’s beloved Son.
Gospel: Matthew 2:1-12
One of the most memorable Christmas stories tells of the wise men from the East who followed a shining star to Bethlehem, the village that the prophets foretold as the birthplace of the Messiah. It might surprise us, though, to remember that Matthew doesn’t actually say there were three of them, or that they were kings. They came, following the star. They bore gifts. They knelt and paid homage to baby Jesus as if he were a king … and then they thwarted evil Herod’s plan by heading home by another road. How do we hear God’s voice? What leads us to Jesus?