Devotion for the First Sunday After the Epiphany, Year A (Humes)

Above:  The River Jordan

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-matpc-03260

Faithful Servants of God, Part I

JANUARY 8, 2023

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ,  who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Isaiah 42:1-9

Psalm 29

Philippians 3:4b-14

Matthew 3:13-17

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Book of Isaiah includes Servant Songs, the first of which is our first reading.  Biblical scholars have long pondered the identity of the servant.  Some see a prophecy of Christ, baptized in Matthew 3:13-17.  In real time, from the temporal perspective of Deutero-Isaiah, perhaps the best guess is that the servant is the personification of the Jews–the chosen people of God.

Recently, while browsing the extensive books section of a local thrift store, I saw a volume entitled How to Find God.  The author of that book was seriously mistaken, for we do not find God.  Rather, God finds us.  It has always been true that God, in whom is our only proper boast, is our strength and shield.  It has always been true that God’s call has imposed upon the recipients of (free) grace certain obligations, such as working for justice.  It has always been true that we, working with others, can be more effective in purposes (noble and otherwise) than when laboring in solitude.

“What is God calling me to do?” is a valid question.  A greater query is, “What is God calling us to do?”  May we identify and labor faithfully in that work, and succeed, by grace.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 19, 2018 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOSEPH OF NAZARETH, HUSBAND OF MARY, MOTHER OF GOD

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2018/03/19/faithful-servants-of-god-part-iii/

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Advertisement