Joh 1:14 The Word became a human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us. We saw his glory, the glory which he received as the Father's only Son.
This verse takes us back to Christmas Day. At Christmas God, the creative force of the world, entered time and space as a man, the Word made Flesh. The religious leaders of the day felt their authority threatened and had that man crucified leaving it to the priesthood of believers, His body the Church to carry on his ministry of teaching, healing, and spreading the Gospel. Word and Witness.
In a world where food is increasingly equated with a 'Happy Meal' that is pulled out of disposable containers or a frozen dinner popped into the microwave agricultural references have lost a great deal of their impact. Even for those of us who still insist on making our meals from scratch the ingredients magically appear on grocery store shelves and increasingly have been so processed before we buy them that the original source is often hard to identify. Most food we eat has been processed and warehoused and traveled hundreds and thousands of miles before it reaches our tables if we actually sit down to a family meal.
In Isaiah a group of community leaders who have endured Babylonian Captivity are assured that if they return to faithfulness in the God of their Salvation they will be returned to Israel and the Land itself will respond in joy to their return.
The Psalm affirms that those who are faithful to their God and turn from their sinful ways, who rejoice in the Lord and give Him thanks will experience the Lord's bounty:
Psa 65:9 You show your care for the land by sending rain; you make it rich and fertile. You fill the streams with water; you provide the earth with crops. This is how you do it:
Psa 65:10 you send abundant rain on the plowed fields and soak them with water; you soften the soil with showers and cause the young plants to grow.
The alternate OT text is the story of Esau, the hunter selling his birthright to Jacob, the farmer for a bowl of soup. Is the moral of this story the fact that we too often take God's gifts too lightly, for granted?
Our Epistle continues following the letter to the Romans. Jesus, the Word made Flesh supplanted the Law of the Old Testament with the Gospel of the Forgiveness of Sins. Those who repent of their sins enter the spiritual realm, they are given new life by the Holy Spirit.
And so we come to the parable of the Sower. Jesus the Word Made Flesh is both the sower and the seed. His Word is planted in our flesh and it is we who bring forth the fruits of that planting. In turn it is our duty to see to it that the Word is spread and new seed take root.
This verse takes us back to Christmas Day. At Christmas God, the creative force of the world, entered time and space as a man, the Word made Flesh. The religious leaders of the day felt their authority threatened and had that man crucified leaving it to the priesthood of believers, His body the Church to carry on his ministry of teaching, healing, and spreading the Gospel. Word and Witness.
In a world where food is increasingly equated with a 'Happy Meal' that is pulled out of disposable containers or a frozen dinner popped into the microwave agricultural references have lost a great deal of their impact. Even for those of us who still insist on making our meals from scratch the ingredients magically appear on grocery store shelves and increasingly have been so processed before we buy them that the original source is often hard to identify. Most food we eat has been processed and warehoused and traveled hundreds and thousands of miles before it reaches our tables if we actually sit down to a family meal.
In Isaiah a group of community leaders who have endured Babylonian Captivity are assured that if they return to faithfulness in the God of their Salvation they will be returned to Israel and the Land itself will respond in joy to their return.
The Psalm affirms that those who are faithful to their God and turn from their sinful ways, who rejoice in the Lord and give Him thanks will experience the Lord's bounty:
Psa 65:9 You show your care for the land by sending rain; you make it rich and fertile. You fill the streams with water; you provide the earth with crops. This is how you do it:
Psa 65:10 you send abundant rain on the plowed fields and soak them with water; you soften the soil with showers and cause the young plants to grow.
The alternate OT text is the story of Esau, the hunter selling his birthright to Jacob, the farmer for a bowl of soup. Is the moral of this story the fact that we too often take God's gifts too lightly, for granted?
Our Epistle continues following the letter to the Romans. Jesus, the Word made Flesh supplanted the Law of the Old Testament with the Gospel of the Forgiveness of Sins. Those who repent of their sins enter the spiritual realm, they are given new life by the Holy Spirit.
And so we come to the parable of the Sower. Jesus the Word Made Flesh is both the sower and the seed. His Word is planted in our flesh and it is we who bring forth the fruits of that planting. In turn it is our duty to see to it that the Word is spread and new seed take root.
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