“Learning About Jesus is a Life-Long Journey” – Isaiah 60:1-6, Matthew 2:1-12
2024 is over. 2025 has begun. We stand in a line of souls who loved, love, and will love, because of God’s unconditional love. I’m in the midst of reading Richard Rohr’s newest book, Eager to Love. I’m learning about Jesus and it’s a lifelong journey of discovering the depth of God’s love for me and others. Richard writes this about love,
Francis and Clare (St. Francis and St. Clare) died into the life they loved instead of living in fear of any death that could end their life. They were both so very eager to love, and they somehow knew that dying to the old and unneeded was an essential part of living this love at any depth.[1]
Let us not forget the past year too quickly. Have we recounted the gracious deeds of God, the Lord, in our lives? Our past has a profound impact on the present and the future.
The movie Les Misérables, based on the novel by Victor Hugo, opens with a vagabond curled up on a stone bench on a desolate French street corner. His bedraggled appearance makes him seem dangerous and causes the townspeople, from whom he sought food and shelter, to snub him. Finally, he slumps over in dejection—until a passerby points to a place where he can find refuge.
He goes to the door and knocks. The homeowner, the town’s bishop, is startled by the late-night visitation but attentively listens to his story. His name is Jean Valjean, and he reveals that he is a recently released convict and marked by the authorities as dangerous. Even so, the bishop welcomes him into his home and serves him dinner.
Later, in the middle of the night, despite the bishop’s kindness, Valjean double-crosses him. Valjean remembers the sparkling silver spoon he used to eat his soup at dinner and sneaks to the dining room to steal the bishop’s valuable silverware. The clanking of metal arouses the bishop, who rises to inspect the clattering below. When they meet face to face, Valjean strikes the bishop, leaving him unconscious, and escapes with a heavy knapsack of silver.
The following morning the bishop’s domestic servant laments the loss of her silver, but the bishop seems unperturbed, telling his domestic servant, “So we’ll use wooden spoons. I don’t want to hear anything more about it.” Moments later, authorities appear at the bishop’s manor with the stolen silver and Valjean handcuffed. Looking deeply into the thief’s eyes, the bishop says, “I’m very angry with you, Jean Valjean.” Turning toward the authorities, he asks, “Didn’t he tell you he was our guest?” “Oh, yes,” replies the chief authority, “after we searched his knapsack and found all this silver. He claimed that you gave it to him.” Stooping in shame, Valjean expects the bishop to indict him. A new prison sentence awaits him. But the bishop says, “Yes. Of course, I gave him the silverware.” Then, looking intently at Valjean he asks, “But why didn’t you take the candlesticks? That was very foolish. They’re worth at least 2,000 francs. Why did you leave them? Did you forget to take them?” The bishop orders his domestic servant to hurry and fetch the candlesticks, while the authorities stand dumbfounded. They ask, “Are you saying he told us the truth?” The bishop replies, “Of course. Thank you for bringing him back. I’m very relieved.” The authorities immediately release Valjean, who is shocked by the turn of events, and the bishop thrusts the retrieved candlesticks into Valjean’s knapsack.
Once the authorities leave, the bishop drops the heavy bag of silver at Valjean’s feet. After peeling away Valjean’s hood, which was cloaking his guilty face, the bishop sternly looks him in the eyes and orders Valjean, “Don’t forget don’t ever forget you’ve promised to become a new man.” Valjean, trembling, makes the promise and with utter humility asks, “Why are you doing this?” The bishop places his hands on Valjean’s shoulders, as an act of blessing, and declares, “Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil. With this silver, I’ve bought your soul. I’ve ransomed you from fear and hatred. Now I give you back to God.”[2]
The Danish theologian and philosopher Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) reflects on the importance of the past, but not losing focus on moving forward in the present to the future when he writes, “Life can only be understood by looking backward, but it must be lived looking forward.”[3] This is the thrust of our reading in Isaiah 60:1-6. Isaiah describes what he sees. He sees a broken community being restored. Isaiah see the City filled with light. Isaiah in 60:4 “Look around, and you will see your children coming home.” The nations of all the earth make a procession to the city all the while praising God and bringing the very best gifts fitting to be placed in the house of God.
The text in Matthew 2:1-12 articulates the role of the wisemen in Herod’s attempt to trap the baby Jesus. The wise men had nothing to do with it. They gave gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The wisemen paid homage. Herod attempted to spread terror and fear. The wisemen affirmed a new king was coming and Herod would come unhinged.[4]
All of us have a past. All of us are living in the present. All of us have a future. The past, present, and future are all part of what God is doing in and with your life. If you do not believe in God through God’s son Jesus Christ, then I invite you to eavesdrop on the following discussion. And those of you who have trusted your life to the love, care, and mercy of Jesus Christ listen too. Nothing has happened in your past, is happening in your present, and will happen in your future took place, takes place, or will take place outside of the presence of God. God was, is, and will be with you. The gracious deeds God has done, is doing and will be doing in your because you have believed God and God’s promises made in and through Jesus Christ.
We can do this my friends in the freedom we receive in Jesus. Again Richard Rohr writes,
Once we can accept that Jesus has given us an illuminating lens by which to see and measure all things, we can no longer treat Christianity as a threat—or allow it to be a threat—to human or cultural freedom. In fact, it is true freedom’s greatest ally. The gospel is a process much more than a product, a style more than a structure, a person more than a production. It is a way of being in the world that will always feel like compassion, mercy, and spaciousness—at least to honest and healthy people. How different and healing Western history could have been if we had received such gospel freedom and modeled it for others![5]
But it is not too late to continue rewriting the story by learning that loving God and loving others is a game changer. Every day in 2025 asks you to walk in the interval between birth and death by recounting the gracious deeds of the Lord. As Martin Thielen writes, “…forgiveness is a major biblical theme and a huge emphasis of Jesus. I’ve concluded that at heart, forgiveness is a gift, in at least three ways. First, forgiveness is a gift to others…Second, forgiveness is a gift to God…Finally, forgiveness is a gift to ourselves.”[6] Yes, forgiveness is the greatest act of connecting God’s love and your love to others. By recounting the gracious deeds of the Lord, we are embraced by forgiveness. By recounting the gracious deeds of the Lord, we participate in the ends that God desires.[7] Liberation for humanity is at the heart of God. Happy New Year! Amen.
This sermon was preached on the Second Sunday after Christmas, Sunday, 5 January 20245
in the Great Room and Sanctuary by the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh
at Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas
Copyright Ó 2024
Steven M. Marsh
All rights reserved.
[1]Richard Rohr, Eager to Love (Cincinnati, OH: Franciscan Media, 2024),
[2]Taken from http://www.preachingtoday.com/ Les Misérables, rated PG-13, released 1998, based on the novel by Victor Hugo; written by Rafael Yglesias, directed by Bille August; submitted to Preaching Today by Melissa Parks, Des Plaines, Illinois | posted 4/16/2001.
[3]Soren Kierkegaard, as quoted in David Bouchier-Hayes, “’Life Can Only Be Understood by Looking Backward; but It Must Be Lived Looking Forward’ –Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855),” Irish Journal of Medical Science 174 (March 2005).”
[4]The exegesis in the two paragraphs above was influenced by Glen Bell, Melissa Browning, Joel Marcus Lemon, John C. Holbert, Rodger Y. Nishioka, Ronald J. Allen, and Michael L. Lindvall in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery and Cynthia L. Rigby, editors, Connections, Year C, Volume 1, 143-145, 146-147, 148-150, 151-153, 153-154, 155-157, and 157-159.
[5]From Richard Rohr’s daily meditation, January 1, 2025.
[6]Martin Thielen, Searching For Happiness (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2016), 69-70.
[7]Idea gleaned from Emily Askew in David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, Feasting on the Word, Year A, Volume 1, 150.
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