Year A, Epiphany 3

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In this episode, we discuss the readings for the third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year A in the Lectionary cycle: Matthew 4:12-23; 1 Corinthians 1:10-18; Psalm 27:1, 5-13; Isaiah 9:1-4.

We consider Jesus' ministry of teaching, preaching & healing the suffering, particularly in light of conversation within the disability community. We look at Paul's correction of schism and what it means for the Body of Christ throughout the ages. We discuss David's emotional plea in the midst of fear for nearness and intimacy with the Lord. We wonder at Isaiah's gorgeous imagery of the promised light of God's salvation dawning on the darkness and gloom of the individual and collective human condition.

Notes:
The Bible Project
--Bible Project's overview of Matthew
--Bible Project's overview of 1 Corinthians
--Bible Project's overview of Isaiah 1-39

--To Be a Christian: The Anglican Catechism in a Year podcast
--The Bible and Disability: A Commentary

QUOTE FROM N.T. WRIGHT

I was convinced it was a helicopter. It was a dark night, and a bright light was shining just above the nearby town. Surely, I thought, the police must be out looking for a criminal; or perhaps there had been an accident. We had just come from the city, and our eyes weren’t yet adjusted for the dark night-time out in the country. But there, plain for all to see, was a light in the sky: a bright, almost dazzling light that could only have come, I was convinced, from a man-made searchlight attached to an aeroplane or helicopter.

But I was wrong, as our taxi-driver took delight in pointing out to me. It was the planet Venus. It was at one of its closest points to our planet, Earth; it was hanging in the evening sky, brighter than I would ever have imagined. My eyes were too used to the city streetlights. I had forgotten just how bright, and how beautiful and evocative, the night sky can be.

The ancient world, innocent of streetlights, never forgot the night sky. Many people, particularly in the countries to the east of Palestine, had developed the study of the stars and the planets to a fine art, giving each one very particular meanings. They believed, after all, that the whole world was of a piece; everything was interconnected, and when something important was happening on earth you could expect to see it reflected in the heavens. Alternatively, a remarkable event among the stars and planets must mean, they thought, a remarkable event on earth.

 Wright, T. (2004). Matthew for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1-15 (p. 10). London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

Commentaries on 1 Corinthians:
--NT Wright's For Everyone Study Guide on 1 Corinthians
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Our outro music is an original song by our friend Dcn. Jeremiah Webster, a poet and professor whose giftedness is rivaled by his humbleness. You can find his published works, including After So Many Fires, with a quick Google.