In his Sermon on the Plain Jesus tells us that God is our Father, and that our Father is merciful; and because we are children of God, we should be merciful just as our Father is merciful. Jesus calls us to mercy, not merely because mercy is a superior ethic or because mercy tends toward peace, as true as that is; rather, Jesus calls us to be merciful because that is what God is like!

There is no easy alliance between the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God, and all attempts to create an easy alliance between these two kingdoms are misguided and doomed to failure. The kingdom of the world is founded on greed and war—Mammon and Mars. The kingdom of God is founded on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, these two kingdoms are organized around irreconcilable values. The kingdom of the world values economic power and military might, while the kingdom of God values co-suffering love and divine mercy.

When Simon Peter first got a glimpse of who Jesus really is, his initial reaction was one of fear. The transcendent and holy otherness of Jesus simply overwhelmed Simon Peter. But the Lord’s response to Peter’s fearful reaction can be understood as something like this: Don't be afraid of me, follow me. If you follow me, I will make you into a new person—the person you were always meant to be.

It’s astonishing how angry some people will get if you try to take away their religion of revenge. They’re terribly upset by the idea that God might give divine favor to those they deem unworthy of it—to those who do not belong to their kind of people. The very idea that God might have mercy on all is condemned as blasphemy. This is exactly what Jesus encountered when he preached in his hometown of Nazareth.

Jesus is the fulfillment of Scripture, and all Scripture is fulfilled in Christ.

This may sound like a simple statement, but it’s actually an essential foundation for good theology.

Scripture is not fulfilled by “biblical principles applied to your life.”

Scripture is not fulfilled by geopolitical events speculated as “end time signs.”

Scripture is not fulfilled by the modern nation of Israel or any other nation.

All Scripture is fulfilled in the Word of God made flesh who is Jesus Christ.

Most of Jesus’ miracles involve dire circumstances—disease, death, danger, demons, and so on. But in Jesus’ very first miracle there is none of that—no deadly storm, no one is dying, there are no demons; it’s merely a wedding feast that is running low on wine. Some would dismiss this as “first world problems.” But Jesus doesn't do that, and we're surprised by a gratuitous miracle. There's an element of whimsy in the miracle story of Cana of Galilee that makes it particularly endearing.

Why was Jesus baptized for repentance by John the Baptist? (Yes, Jesus is willing to participate with us in our repentance. But there is something deeper.) Jesus is not so much being baptized by the waters, as he is baptizing the waters. Jesus is sacramentally consecrating the waters so they become mighty waters—the mighty waters of salvation.

To actually celebrate the Twelfth Day of Christmas may seem strange and overly religious to some, but in a secular age determined to rush past the holy, it’s an act of sacred resistance. And the final day of Christmas is a good time to meditate on the Logos in adolescence.

"Hope builds a bridge across the abyss into which reason cannot look. It can hear an undertone to which reason is deaf. To the hopeful, the world appears in a different light. Hope gives the world a special radiance; it brightens the world."

–Byung-Chul Han, The Spirit of Hope

Shepherds, though now romanticized in Nativity scenes, were at the bottom of society. These were not landowners but hired hands who watched over the sheep by night; sleeping, if they did, on the cold hard ground. That these simple shepherds and not the high and mighty were the first to know the greatest news of all was entirely in keeping with Mary’s prophetic song:

He has shown the strength of his arm,

He has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

And has lifted up the lowly.