Above: The Baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch by the Deacon Philip, by Lambert Sustris
Image in the Public Domain
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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
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Isaiah 12:1-6
Psalm 29
Acts 8:26-39
John 1:29-34
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Isaiah 12:1-6 flows from Chapter 11. The two chapters are the final section of a poem about the ideal king in a peaceful future. As elsewhere in the Bible, divine judgment and mercy remain in balance.
Psalm 29 praises God. It is also an adaptation of a hymn to Baal Peor, the Canaanite storm god. Rewriting pagan stories and texts for Jewish theological purposes was a fairly common practice. Doing so was one way of asserting the sovereignty of God and affirming faith in the one true deity. Rewriting pagan texts also constituted an argument against the original texts’ validity. In this case, rewriting a hymn in praise of Baal Peor was rebutting the legitimacy of his cultus.
Acts 8:26-39 and John 1:29-34 point to Jesus, as they should.
The ideal future remains an unfulfilled prophecy. Nevertheless, I, as a Christian, affirm that the Incarnation was a game changer. I hold that the reality of God’s presence became obvious in a way it was not previously obvious.
The presence of God is evident in many ways in our deeply flawed societies. There are no gods; there is God. God is sovereign, despite all appearances to the contrary.
May we–you, O reader, and I–keep the faith and work to make the world resemble more closely the fully realized Kingdom of God. Only God can save the world and usher in the fully realized Kingdom of God, of course. Yet we–you, O reader, and I–have a divine mandate to leave the world better than we found it.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 27, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS, YEAR B
THE THIRD DAY OF CHRISTMAS
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Adapted from this post:
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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