Sunday, January 26, 2025 - 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Episode 9 January 24, 2025 00:09:52
Sunday, January 26, 2025 - 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sundays with Bishop Ken
Sunday, January 26, 2025 - 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jan 24 2025 | 00:09:52

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Little Books of the Diocese of Saginaw

Show Notes

What makes us Christians? Part of what makes our faith so incredible is the great truths of it are so magnificent, so immense, they can be larger than our minds. It is these same truths which we celebrate and continue to study with fresh minds each liturgical season. Today with Bishop Ken, we reflect on a truly magnificent truth - that God became one of us and stayed one of us. Join us and spend some quiet time with the Lord. 

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Episode Transcript

[00:00:04] Speaker A: For today's Gospel, we are sharing a beautiful Christmas Day homily from years past. Since Bishop Ken's archives did not contain a homily for this day, enjoy this special treat. [00:00:23] Speaker B: This is Sundays with Bishop Ken. Thank you for sharing some quiet time with the Lord for the next several weeks. Our guest reader is Deacon Eric Bissette, a permanent deacon of the Diocese of Rochester, New York. You may recognize Deacon Eric as a regular reader on the Little Books app. Let's listen now. [00:00:57] Speaker A: A reading from the Holy Gospel According to Luke. In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrolment when Quirinius was governor of Syria, so all went to be enrolled each to his own town. And Joseph, too, went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child while they were there. The time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, do not be afraid, for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David, a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord, and this will be a sign for you. You will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was a multitude of heavenly hosts with the angel praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace to those on whom his favor rests the gospel of the Lord. The great truths of our faith are not many in number. They're not complicated. It's just that each of them is immense, larger than our minds. They're colossal. They're so great we can scarcely take them in. We celebrate these great truths at every liturgy. But on the great feasts of Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, we look at them with fresh eyes. We ponder them, and we allow ourselves to be filled with wonder and awe. Each of these three great feasts celebrates the same great truths, but each has its own emphasis. On this feast of Christmas, we try particularly to let it sink in that Jesus is God, truly God, and that Jesus is truly one of us, a full fledged human being. How can a human being be God? How can God be a human being? It staggers the mind and the implications are immense. All four gospels teach that Jesus is God. Not just someone specially loved by God. Not just someone who lived God's will so perfectly that God adopted him as a son. Not just someone who was so faithful that when he died, he was raised from the dead and placed at God's right hand and became God's son. John does it in his magnificent prologue, which begins, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. Mark does it in the opening words of his Gospel when he says the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Matthew and Luke do it by telling the story of the birth of Jesus. Each tells the story differently as they draw from different traditions. But both make it clear that right from the beginning, Jesus is God. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, by God. In Matthew, the angel says to Joseph, do not be afraid to take Mary, your wife, into your home, for it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. In Luke, the angel says to Mary, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God. This child born in Bethlehem is God. In Matthew and Luke's account of the birth of Jesus, it's also clear that Jesus is a full fledged human being. He was born of Mary. Furthermore, he has stayed a human being. In Matthew, Jesus is referred to as Emmanuel, which means God with us. The last words of Jesus in Matthew's Gospel are, I am with you all days, even to the end of the age. The story of the birth of Jesus isn't just something out of the past. A nostalgic story of angels and Mary and Joseph and wise men and shepherds and how God touched down on this Earth for 30 years. This is a story about today. God became one of us and God stayed one of us. When Jesus dies, he is raised from the dead as a human being. In Luke's account of the resurrection appearances, Jesus says, touch me and see. Because a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you can see, I have. Jesus is a human being, our brother, part of our human family forever. Jesus is like us in all things but sin. Jesus, who is God, cried as a baby, pouted as a three year old, got bumped around as a teenager, had Joseph, his father die, had good days and bad days, experienced sickness, stubbed his toe now and then, was misunderstood by friends, was disliked by some of his own neighbors, suffered from time to time and died a real death. He can say to us on any given day, I understand. When we realize the colossal truths we celebrate at Christmas, it seems too good to be true. God one of us, God with us, God part of this earth. Why would we ever get down, depressed, sad or afraid? God is with us, not from a distance, but with us part of this earth. That's why we spend the whole season of Advent preparing for this. We try to let this great truth sink in. That's why the angel said to the shepherds and to us, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the City of David, a savior has been born for you. That's why Christmas is always Merry Christmas. It's the core of our faith. It's what makes us Christians. [00:08:47] Speaker B: Thanks for joining us today. This podcast is brought to you free of charge by Little Books to help support our ministry. Please donate by clicking the Donate button now. And of course, why not tell a friend about this podcast? We will begin our Lenten journey with the Little Black Book beginning March 2, the Sunday before Ash Wednesday. Sundays with Bishop Ken is produced by Little Books of the Diocese of Saginaw. For more information about Little Books and great resources for the whole family, visit littlebooks.org.

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