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The larger context of these verses (see 51:17-23) vividly describes how the people of Israel have been devastated and depopulated in the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 587 BCE. These events are ascribed (...)

On this first Sunday of Advent, one cannot read the prophecy of a “righteous Branch” springing up for David in anything but a messianic light. And that is a theologically sound way of reading this (...)

Philippians 2:5-11 is one of the New Testament’s truly majestic texts. I encourage the preacher to consider this text for Palm Sunday instead of, or at least alongside, the Gospel lection of Jesus’ entry into (...)

As the synoptic gospels have it, Jesus symbolically cleanses the temple in Jerusalem as he nears the end of his ministry. In Matthew 21:12-17, Mark 11:15-19, and Luke 19:45-48, Jesus entered the temple, overturned tables, (...)

Chapters 30-33 constitute a distinct section of the book of Jeremiah, traditionally known as Jeremiah’s “Book of Comfort” or “Little Book of Consolation.” The date and origin of this material are unclear. However, the narrative (...)

Isaiah 62:6-12 is the first reading assigned for Christmas Day. Like the Isaiah 9:2-7 reading assigned for Christmas Eve, the commentaries, appropriately, see little connection between this particular proclamation of salvation and the birth of (...)

Preaching on Christmas Eve is an exercise in strong, gentle truth. Luke’s literary masterpiece is “the Christmas Gospel” even in secular minds and hearts far from God. The children, candlelight, and carols reach into lives (...)

With these opening words of Second Isaiah (chapters 40-55), the prophet offers a balm for the festering wounds of exile. Against the prophetic backdrop of First Isaiah and the experiential backdrop of the people’s life (...)

This pericope is simultaneously rooted in the rich memories of God’s saving acts and mired in the muck of dashed expectations and the experience of God’s absence. From this spot the prophet, speaking on behalf (...)

Luminous promises radiate from this passage in Ezekiel. Only here in this otherwise alarming book is God a nurturing Shepherd who rescues and heals God’s people. The preacher may be tempted to treat these lyrical (...)