Lectionary Texts of the Week
Sunday, December 14, 2025
Second Sunday of Advent—Advent, Year A
Overview
There are a few puzzling phrases in this week’s Gospel, perennially debated by interpreters. The occasion for John’s disciples request for clarification of Jesus’ mission is nowadays taken to mean that the Baptist himself was puzzled or disheartened while in prison, often leading to homiletical reflections on how even the strongest believers sometimes find themselves in doubt. (More likely, the bemusement came from John’s disciples, with their master electing to put them in direct contact with Jesus himself).
Verse 7 sees a tantalizing allusion to the reed symbol found on Herodian coinage of the time, sparking preachers to harp on a favorite theme of Jesus’ superiority to political authority and God’s operation on the margins of imperial power. Still more argued over is Jesus’ meaning of “the Kingdom of Heaven subjected to violence and the violent take it by force” of verse 12. This is probably a positive comment on how sinners came rushing to John’s message of repentance, bypassing all of the proper religious channels.
A more foundational sermon will focus on verses 11-15 and replace the Psalm with the Magnificat in Luke. Choosing this will cause the readings to resemble the great <i>Deisis</i> icon, used in the Eastern traditions since late antiquity, which sees Mary and John the Baptist flanking Jesus, gesturing toward him.
The message of the image is verse 13, which may also be the main idea of the sermon: That the spoken Word of God of the Prophets is passed through John to its perfection, the Incarnate Word born of Mary. The sermon can be an opportunity to instruct the congregation on the relationship between the Old and New Testaments. The Gospel’s pride of place in liturgical services sometimes scandalizes believers who, rightly, consider all Scripture to be “God-breathed and profitable for teaching.” It may seem stranger still that the peak of the liturgy’s crescendo comes after the ministry of the word at Holy Communion. God’s Word written in the scriptures is perfected by God’s Word Incarnate: Jesus himself. Therefore, all Scripture finds its proper place by pointing to him.
This theme was especially important to the Jewish audience of Matthew’s Gospel. The Law came directly from God and the Jewish peoples’ fidelity to it defined them as a people. Then as now, honest devotion to Yahweh was nagged by the temptation to reduce God himself to the script. Modern believers, tempted in the same way toward a bare textualism in their worship, will benefit from the same reminder: That Christ is not a literary construct or on vacation in heaven, but immanent to his church by the Holy Spirit, who communes with them in a special way by way of the sacraments. All words point to the Word made flesh for us.
