Let us live by walking with Jesus, so that our Neo-Pagan neighbors, the witch, and frankly a lot of us Christians, can put down our crystals, our superstitions, our vision boards, and our bound sage in order to live out a liturgy of life, with rituals, practices, and behaviors that reflect who we are as followers of Christ.
As Jesus hung on the cross there would be no last second escape. No Greek goddess would swoop in to rescue him. He suffered alone. And yet even in that suffering he declared his victory on the spiritual battlefield to be your victory.
God can handle grief, rage, and cries for justice. God can handle the victim who cannot yet forgive. God can handle the prayer that comes out jagged and wounded. The good news is that God is holy and merciful enough to handle all our prayers.

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Each of these little epiphanies in Middle-earth are like the star the magi saw arise in the sky, a light that reflects and points to Jesus who is the Light of the world.
This text teaches us about concepts found in the Third Article of the Creed; concerning the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, and the communion of the saints (or of holy things). I would suggest, along with your study of the text, a devotional study of the Large Catechism on the Third Article this week.
And there is Jesus to save the day. With a little prodding from His mother, and some help from obedient servants, He swoops in and solves the problem before anyone even knew it existed. That is what we are looking for from God, right? To swoop in. To save the day. These are good reasons to like this text, but they all miss the point.
When people are baptized, time is transcended. They go back to the Jordan and the Jordan comes forward to them. In a single splash, or a single dunk, they enter the war.
If I were granted three wishes, one of them would not be to know what the future holds.
The other day on Twitter, I saw someone insult their theological opponent with the term "free-gracer."
Even after Jesus made it clear in His actions and commands that God’s grace is for all sinners, the apostles forgot the promises they received from their Savior.
I grew up playing baseball – mostly “street” baseball, with a bunch of friends. It was one of my passions in life.
Epiphany teaches us that when God’s peace advances, spiritual warfare against the powers of darkness does not decline. It increases.
The location of this text, its context, is quite interesting. Preceding this text is the very strong language of Isaiah 42 which is a judgement speech of Yahweh which proclaims a brutal rebuke of Israel which includes the destruction of the country of Judah, the city of Jerusalem and the Temple. But now, beginning in 43:1, we have what Reed Lessing calls “the oracles of assurance.”
The location of this text, its context, is quite interesting. Preceding this text is the very strong language of Isaiah 42 which is a judgement speech of Yahweh which proclaims a brutal rebuke of Israel which includes the destruction of the country of Judah, the city of Jerusalem and the Temple. But now, beginning in 43:1, we have what Reed Lessing calls “the oracles of assurance.”
Having Romans 6 as the Epistle for the Baptism of our Lord, and paired with Luke’s account of Jesus’ baptism and Isaiah’s prophetically rich baptismal language in Isaiah 43, allows preaches to proclaim Romans 6 in a more appropriate liturgical context. It could only be better, were someone in your congregation to be baptized on this day. If that’s your situation, the sermon will almost write itself.