A Famine Not of Bread

Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! The hymn we just sang stands as a faithful paraphrase of the comforting words of Isaiah in our Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 9:1-2, and its quotation in Matthew 4:15-16. The people that in darkness sat     A glorious light have seen; The light has shined on them who long     In shades of death have been,     In shades of death have been. LSB #412 A valuable addition to the Epiphany section of our hymnal, this text embodies much of what is celebrated during this season: God has revealed Himself in the person of Christ, and we have been brought into His light. It puts the words of Isaiah’s prophecy into our mouths, helping us to realize not only what has been done for us in Christ, but also what we look forward to in His second coming. With the arrest of John the Baptist, Jesus relocates to Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee. ...

Click here to listen to this sermon. “But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time He brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time He has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone” (Isaiah 9:1-2). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! With the arrest of John the Baptist, Jesus relocates to Capernaum on the sea of Galilee. It’s the north country, despised by the Judeans in the south, the ancient equivalent of what the political elite today call “flyover country.” It was once some of the most beautiful, fertile land in the region, but by Jesus’ day, it had been decimated by centuries of warfare. Time and again, foreign kings had invaded Israel from the north, making Zebulun and Naphtali their first victims...