Commentary on Lectionary for January 16, 2011

Epiphany 2A

Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 40:1-11; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1:29-34

The New Interpreter’s Study Bible says that 1 Cor. 1:9 indicates that “the trustworthiness of God guarantees that God is on the believers’ side” (p. 2039). As I watched the Rose Bowl this year, until I found out that Texas Christian University was a Disciples of Christ University, I was playfully and sarcastically wondering if the players were told in the locker room that God was on their side and the other team was evil to be vanquished. After I looked up TCU and found out they were a Disciples of Christ University, my prejudice and assumption shifted: Disciples would never hold that opinion of their opponents! Note that in both cases, I really had NO idea of what was said in the locker room to motivate the players.

With all of the college bowl games, the playoffs and the upcoming Super Bowl, many people must be praying for God to be on their side. Very little blood will be shed, although injuries are common. In ancient days and modern wars, football teams are and were analogs for armies and on battlefields blood flows freely and people (mostly young as those kids on the gridiron) die. Each army hopes that God is on their side.

Second Isaiah knew that God was on his side. He believed that God had called him from the womb; that God nominated him as His servant. So He was going to lead Israel to victory. Jacob (whose name was changed to Israel) would win. Moreover, the Lord says this is “too light a thing...to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles…” (Is. 49: 6). And so the task gets bumped up from saving a nation to saving the world!

The Psalmist knew that God was on HIS side. If he could be patient, he would come out on top. In fact, God would set his feet upon a rock; he would draw him “up from the desolate pit.”

John’s Gospel has Jesus being silent and John pointing to him as the Son of God: “After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” John takes a back seat, builds up his cousin, acknowledges his better, and knows from listening to the Sprit who will lead to victory.

It turns out that God is on EVERYONE’S side. Isaiah, the Servant to Come, John the Baptist, the Psalmist, Jesus all worked to bring about the peaceable kingdom. It turns out we are all chosen, you and me, too, to “set the captives free” and to exit whatever captivity we are in to resettle our kingdom, which has been devastated by wars and greed and neglect. If we are disciples of this God en-fleshed in Jesus and follow His way, then we are called to victory in this battle to transform our world into His peaceable kingdom.