Sunday Morning Greek Blog

December 21, 2022

SMGB Indices

Filed under: Greek — Scott Stocking @ 7:26 am
Tags: categorized posts, contact info, popular posts, site map, Top 10, Top posts, ToxicMasculinity

This is a “Site Map” of sorts for my more popular posts.

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IMPORTANT NOTE: I’ve now added an e-mail option to the blog so you can contact me directly. scott.stocking@sundaymorninggreekblog.com.

NOTE: Scroll down past this post to see the latest articles.

2025 Summary

The year of our Lord 2025 was a great year for the Sunday Morning Greek Blog. Views continue to increase year over year, so I’m grateful for that. While my viral math post views have dropped significantly this year, readers more than compensated for that by viewing more Bible posts. My message “Jesus the Good Shepherd” from 2022 showed up repeatedly as source in some search engines’ AI summaries of the topic, which boosted views on that article enough to put it in the top 10 posts for 2025.

Toward the end of the year, I signed up for the Google Console to try to learn more about how you are finding my material. However, I also noticed a significant dip in traffic around the same time. I’m thinking that may have been a mistake. If anyone out there has experience with that, let me know. Ostensibly I did that so I could increase traffic, but I think it may be downgrading me on the searches, even though I think my SEO skills are pretty good. My church used my posts on John’s gospel for its church-wide small-group Bible studies this past fall. Romans is up next for this spring, and I’ve been invited to kick off that study to the small groups in February.

Peace to all and Happy New Year! Thank you for reading.

PS: Look for a couple posts in the near future about our family trip to Poland and Prague over the Christmas holiday.

Romans

Gospel of John

Trending Up in 2025

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In late April 2023, I published a post on a non-Bible topic analyzing an oft-debated viral equation that is poorly understood. At the end of June of that year, the post went viral and has continued to dominate the top spot representing about half the views to my blog in the past two years. It is my most-viewed post of all time in the blog’s 14-year history. I have written several other blog posts on the subject and have made three videos for the Rumble platform. I list all the articles and videos here in reverse chronological order along with the dates they were published.

Baptism and Forgiveness

Intersection With Cultural Issues

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January 25, 2026

Desiring the Presence of God (Psalm 27; Matthew 4:12–23)

Filed under: 1 Chronicles,2 Chronicles,Ecclesiology,Epifanía,Epiphany,Evangelism,Faith, Faithfulness,Hebrew,Joshua,Matthew Gospel of,New Testament,Psalms,Repentance — Scott Stocking @ 4:06 pm
Tags: 1 Chronicles 6:32, 2 Chronicles 1:5, Confidence, Courage, John 16:33, Joshua 1:6-9, Matthew 23:23, Psalm 27, Seeking the Lord, Tabernacle worship, Waiting on the Lord

I presented this message on January 25, 2026, at Mount View Presbyterian Church, Omaha, NE. On the liturgical calendar, it was the third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year A.

Good morning! The Lord be with you!

Much of today’s gospel passage from Matthew is very similar to the events and themes we covered in last week’s Gospel passage from John. As such, I’m not going to spend much time in that passage today and instead want to look at our Old Testament reading, Psalm 27.

However, I will say a just a few words about the Matthew passage because there is a story in Matthew 4 that appears at first blush to disagree with John’s account about a similar encounter. Last week you may remember that Andrew was the first one of the disciples to want to follow Jesus, and he had meet Jesus at the place John the Baptist was baptizing in the Jordan River. He in turn went and got his brother, Simon Peter, to share the news that he had found the Messiah. After Peter met Jesus, John says they went and spent the day with Jesus.

Matthew’s account, as you heard, also has to do with the calling of Andrew and Peter, along with James and John, the sons of Zebedee as they’re fishing in the Sea of Galilee. However, in Matthew’s story, this comes immediately after Jesus spends 40 days fasting, praying, and being tempted in the wilderness. It seems clear then, that one of the things Jesus was praying about was who, among all the people he had met and interacted with during John’s “baptism revival,” would make the best choice for his band of 12 disciples. After all, Jesus had been in the wilderness 40 days, so it’s possible Andrew and Peter may have wondered what happened to him by that point. I’m guessing the four of them were pleasantly surprised to get the call from him, even if they didn’t yet understand the kind of commitment they were making.

The important takeaway for us in the choosing of Matthew is that Jesus wasn’t apparently looking for the well-educated scribes and well-respected, Pharisees, and Sadducees to be his followers. They surely would have argued with him the whole time given what we learn about them in the gospels and Jesus wouldn’t have gotten anything done. Although Jesus did come to preach repentance and a proper understanding of what our relationship to the Law and eventually Grace would look like, he was even more concerned about bringing people eternal hope, love, and joy in the midst of a religious structure that had grown increasingly legalistic and impersonal. The religious leadership of the Jews seemed to have a stranglehold on what the Jewish faith should look like, with hundreds of extra rules in place to keep you from even coming close to breaking the law.

This is where Psalm 27, a psalm of David, comes in. David’s leadership helped establish the nation of Israel as a regional powerhouse after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness and a few hundred years of rule by regional judges. It was during the period of Joshua and Judges where they conquered and in some cases wiped out nations that had “earned” the wrath of God for their wicked practices and animosity toward God’s chosen and beloved people.

Psalm 27 is filled with confident assertions and positive desires from David that he and perhaps the rest of Israel are in a right relationship with God. The Israelites were still adjusting to being a unified “kingdom,” not just scattered tribes ruled by local judges. But the attitude and the joy expressed by David in Psalm 27 seems to reflect a different mind set in his day than what comes across in the gospels. After all, you don’t see any of the Herods writing these kinds of psalms of praise! On the contrary, we get the impression that the Herodian Dynasty, which had descended from the Maccabees who had overthrown Greek rule almost 200 years prior to Jesus’s ministry, had become corrupt and heartless toward their own people in trying to appease their Roman overlords.

Our reading this morning left out a few verses from Psalm 27 this morning, so I would like to read through the whole Psalm a few verses at a time to talk about what it has to say to us this morning. We’ll start with vv. 1–3:

The Lord is my light and my salvation—

whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life—

of whom shall I be afraid?

²When the wicked advance against me

to devour me,

it is my enemies and my foes

who will stumble and fall.

³Though an army besiege me,

my heart will not fear;

though war break out against me,

even then I will be confident.^[1]

David didn’t have Pharisees and Sadducees telling him how to interpret God’s word and who added a “hedge” around the law. The “hedge” was a set of rules that rabbis had established much later in Israel’s history, probably sometime around 200 B.C. They were not strictly biblical commands, but they were guidelines intended to keep you out of situations that might increase the temptation to sin. It’s sort of like how some denominations today don’t want their members to dance because it might lead to “other things.” One such example from the Bible is when Jesus criticized the Pharisees because they tithed their mint, dill, and cumin—the smallest spices they knew about—but did nothing about justice, mercy, and faithfulness (Matthew 23:23).

David knew where his power and protection came from in Psalm 27: it came straight from God. He is emphatic that he has no need to fear. He knows his enemies will stumble and fall regardless of who comes after him. That is true faith, true confidence in God’s sovereignty. It’s no wonder he was called a man after God’s own heart.

⁴One thing I ask from the Lord,

this only do I seek:

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life,

to gaze on the beauty of the Lord

and to seek him in his temple.

⁵For in the day of trouble

he will keep me safe in his dwelling;

he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent

and set me high upon a rock.

⁶Then my head will be exalted

above the enemies who surround me;

at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;

I will sing and make music to the Lord. ^[2]

These three verses are interesting in that David speaks of God’s dwelling, his temple. Yet at this time, the first Temple had not been built yet. But twice, David references God’s “sacred tent.” This is a reference to the Tabernacle that the Jews had carried around in the wilderness for 40 years and was in use by David and the priests right up to the time Solomon built the Temple (1 Chronicles 6:32; 2 Chronicles 1:5)[3].

David understood the importance of a leader being present at worship regularly as an example to the people. David had brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem, so had been in the visible presence of God at least one time in his life. That is how he knows how awesome it is to gaze on the beauty of the Lord.

How does that apply to us today? We know when Christ died that the veil was torn in two, from top to bottom, so God’s presence no longer “hid” behind a thick curtain. God’s new way of working in his people after the death and resurrection of Jesus was to give each of us the Holy Spirit. So we most likely will not see a manifestation of the presence of God inside our four walls here, but we can see how the Holy Spirit is working in each of us as we fellowship, worship, and serve together in his name and for his glory.

⁷Hear my voice when I call, Lord;

be merciful to me and answer me.

⁸My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”

Your face, Lord, I will seek.

⁹Do not hide your face from me,

do not turn your servant away in anger;

you have been my helper.

Do not reject me or forsake me,

God my Savior.

¹⁰Though my father and mother forsake me,

the Lord will receive me.

¹¹Teach me your way, Lord;

lead me in a straight path

because of my oppressors.

¹²Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,

for false witnesses rise up against me,

spouting malicious accusations. ^[4]

David also realized in times of trouble that being in God’s presence allows him to call upon the Lord for mercy, protection, and strength. He asks God to “hear my voice” and for God not to “hid your face from me.” He desires to be taught continually so he is better able to serve God and lead his people away from and protect them from the dangers of the surrounding nations. He knows that people are out to get him. He knows God is the only one who can protect him from those aggressors.

We do this as well on Sunday mornings here, and throughout the week, by praying together for those things that are on our hearts. As a fellowship we can seek support from one another to receive comfort and strength. In all my years as a minister, I’ve lost track of how many people have told me they don’t have to go to church to be a Christian. Technically, that may be true, but it sure makes the Christian walk much easier when you have others around you who share the struggles and joys of human existence.

Finally, we have vv. 13–14:

¹³I remain confident of this:

I will see the goodness of the Lord

in the land of the living.

¹⁴Wait for the Lord;

be strong and take heart

and wait for the Lord. ^[5]

This is David’s concluding benediction, which seems to serve the same purpose in worship as something like our “Gloria Patri” or the Doxology choruses. David reaffirms the confidence he had in vs. 3. He calls on all the worshipers to “Wait for the Lord.” The most common translation for the Hebrew word translated “wait” [קָוָה qā wā(h)] is “hope.” David is waiting, hoping with confidence that the Lord himself will act to keep him and his people safe in the land of the living. David also calls the worshipers to “be strong and take heart,” something both Joshua and Jesus said in their respective ministries.

Early in Joshua’s account of taking the Promised Land, he writes to his fellow Israelites:

⁶Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

⁷“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.

……….

⁹Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”^{^[6]}

Jesus said in his final instructions to his disciples just before his prayer at the end of the Last Supper:

³³“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”^[7]

So I leave you with those words of encouragement this morning. May the peace of God reign in your hearts as you go from this place. Amen.

Pastor Scott Stocking, M.Div.

My views are my own.

^[1] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[2] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[3] In 1 Chronicle 23:26, David relieved the Levites of their responsibility to carry the Tabernacle since Israel was permanently settled in Jerusalem.

^[4] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[5] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[6] The New International Version. Joshua 1:6–7, 9. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[7] The New International Version. John 16:33. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

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January 19, 2026

Lectionary Help (Matthew 5:1–12 Beatitudes)

Filed under: Epifanía,Epiphany,Evangelism,Matthew Gospel of,Psalms,Soteriology — Scott Stocking @ 10:20 am
Tags: Beatitudes, Matthew 5:1-12, Psalm 37:8-11, Eugene Peterson on Beatitudes, Luck vs. Lucifer

Thank you so much for reading “Lectionary Help.” This installment is for the Fourth Sunday After Epiphany, Year A, February 1, 2026.

The following is an excerpt of my message on the passage from three years ago, along with a link to a one-minute video clip where Eugene Peterson tells the story I reference. The link for my full message is at the end of today’s article.

“Blessed”

Eugene Peterson, author of The Message, a contemporary paraphrase of the Bible, tells the story of how he wanted to translate this passage. He mentioned that after preaching one Sunday, a woman came up to him afterwards and mentioned how “lucky” she felt to have found his congregation.

Peterson ruminated on that a bit, as he was in the process of writing the paraphrase at the time, and thought “lucky” might be a more contemporary word that could be used in place “blessed.” However, when he floated that idea with his publishers, they shot it down pretty quickly because there’s a large segment of Christianity that associates the word “luck” with “Lucifer.” That might be a buzz kill for someone wanting to publish a Bible translation.[1]

Whether that connection [between “luck” and “Lucifer”] is true is not relevant to understanding the word μακάριος (makarios), however. The word “blessed” implies that something is coming from someone who has the power to give you something special or grant you a special permission in his kingdom. “Luck” has nothing to do with that. Peterson eventually accepted the word “blessed” here, because he recognized the word best represented the meaning of the text.

Respecting the Form of the Text

My textbook for Preaching class in seminary was Fred Craddock’s Preaching. Our seminary had a vast cassette tape library (yeah, that dates me, I know) of sermons from a variety of preachers, but I always loved to check out Craddock’s messages and consume them on my weekly drive to and from Lincoln, IL. One chapter in Craddock’s book was on the “form” of the sermon. He made the point that at no time in Christian history has there ever been a “standardized” form for the message given on Sunday morning (or whenever the saints gathered). But I do remember him talking about how it might be a good idea for the sermon to reflect the form of the passage it’s based on in certain instances.

When I preached on this passage three years ago, I had a choice, then, it seemed. I could robotically work my way through each of the individual Beatitudes and share the results of the appropriate word study for the key word in each, or I could shape the message more poetically as it seemed Matthew (or at least Matthew’s record of Jesus) had done. Most of the key words in the Beatitudes seemed to begin with one of three consonant sounds, so there was at least some hint of alliteration in the passage. I wound up crafting my own “amplified” version of the Beatitudes to capture some of the nuances of the various key words. It all came together rather quickly, as I recall, maybe two hours tops.

Here is the amplified form of the first Beatitude as I wrote it for my message that day. The entire message (including audio file) is found at the link at the end of this post.

When doubt creeps in

Because you see so much sin:

Blessed are the poor in spirit.

When your vision gets blurred

And you can’t see God’s word:

Blessed are the poor in spirit.

When life drains you

But God’s hope sustains you

And His people maintain you:

Blessed are the poor in Spirit,

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Meek”

Just a quick note on the Greek word for “meek” [πραΰς praus] in vs. 5. The word is used three other times in the NT (Matthew 11:29; 21:5; 1 Peter 3:4), all of which are translated “gentle” in the NIV. But if you look at the context of each of these verses, you’ll see that it has nothing to do with passivity. Psalm 37:8–11 is a good OT passage that parallels (and is perhaps the source for) Matthew 5:5.

Living in the Beatitudes Beat | Sunday Morning Greek Blog

As always, your comments and insights are welcome here.

Pastor Scott Stocking, M.Div.

My views are my own.

[1] Eugene Peterson: Translating the Beatitudes, accessed January 19, 2026.

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January 18, 2026

Introducing: Jesus (John 1:29–42; Isaiah “Servant” passages)

Filed under: 1 Corinthians,Baptism of Jesus,Christology,Chronology,Epifanía,Epiphany,forgiveness,Immersion/Baptism,Isaiah,John Gospel of,Life of Christ,Reliability of Scripture,Soteriology — Scott Stocking @ 6:22 pm
Tags: Acts 2:38, Call of Andrew, Call of Peter, Isaiah 40:4-6, Isaiah 42:1, Isaiah 42:5-7, Isaiah 49:6-8, Isaiah 61:18-19, Isaiah 9:1-2, Romans 6:2-3, Second Sunday after Epiphany

Good morning and Happy New Year. The Lord be with you.

Wow, what a crazy month our family has had! Thirty days ago we were all getting on planes across the country and headed to Europe. What an amazing time of togetherness between our family and Alec’s in-laws-to-be in Poland. A horse-drawn carriage ride in the woods with a meal and a trio of Polish musicians singing songs of joy we couldn’t begin to understand. Dancing and drinking hot tea and yes, even some hot wine in the winter chill. We went to a resort that has a heated outdoor pool and played around in that for about an hour while it was snowing on our heads! And that was just the first three days.

We went to Auschwitz one day; powerful. I don’t think I ever want to drive in Poland again! The speed limit changes five times in a mile. We spent a couple days in Wrocław, then took a train to Prague to finish our stay in Europe. Prague is an amazing historic city untouched by the ravages of World War II. But there was a price to pay. Almost all of us came back with some kind of bug, mainly influenza-A. I think we’re all past that now, but the trip was totally worth it.

But now to John’s gospel. After the apostle John’s introduction of Jesus as the incarnation of the Word of God and the true Light of the World, which I believe is a connection to the first act of creation, we move immediately to John denying that he himself is the Messiah, the Christ. John explains the difference between his baptism and the baptism Jesus. The gospel of Mark tells us that John’s baptism represents repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Mark 1:4), while only Jesus, after he’s revealed, can add the extra element of being filled with the Holy Spirit upon that event (Act 2:38).

It’s interesting here that neither John the Evangelist nor John the Baptist ever directly says the Baptist baptizes Jesus, but he does say Jesus is in the crowd that’s around him on that first day we meet him. Luke does say Jesus gets baptized along with everyone else in the crowd, so it’s a safe assumption to say that Jesus was baptized that first day. But John doesn’t do anything special to call attention to Jesus just then.

Whether John the Baptist knows it or not, the phrase “for the forgiveness of sins” will come up later in Matthew and in the book of Acts. Jesus uses that exact same phrase at the Last Supper with respect to the cup, the blood of the covenant (Matthew 26:28). Acts 2:38 says this: “³⁸Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”^[1]

In Romans 6, Paul makes baptism a permanent part of Christian theology in that it is the connection we have with the death (i.e., the blood of the covenant), burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

³Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.^[^2]

In the gospel of John, all of what we just talked about happened on the first day John the Evangelist chose to write about. Our gospel passage starts “on the next day” after that. This is where we see John the Baptist call out Jesus as he’s coming toward him. He claims to see the Spirit descending like a dove upon Jesus; it’s not clear from John’s gospel whether the others see it as well. John closes out this “next day” by saying that Jesus is “the Chosen One.”

The translator’s choice here of “Chosen One” is intentional here. Most of the early Greek manuscripts we have of the Gospel of John have “Son of God” here, and so most of our modern English translations have “Son of God” here. In fact, “Son of God” is probably the most popular title for Jesus after “Christ/Messiah” in the NT.

However, the most reliable copy we have of the Greek New Testament and a couple other descendants of that have the phrase “the Chosen one of God,” presumably borrowed from parallel language in Isaiah 42:1: “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, / my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, / and he will bring justice to the nations.”^[3] By making this connection to Isaiah 42, John also hints that Jesus is the Messianic “Servant” of Isaiah chapters 42 and 49 through 53. Isaiah 49:3 says, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.”^[4]

The next day after that, John, while he’s still out baptizing, introduces Jesus essentially the same way as he did the day before: “Look, the Lamb of God!” Only this time, some in the crowd perk up. Perhaps they had heard about Jesus having been revealed the day before and were hoping to catch a glimpse of him. But they wanted more. They wanted to follow their new Rabbi, the Lamb of God.

Andrew was the first disciple to be mentioned by name in our passage. It’s not clear who the other one was; perhaps it was one of the sons of Zebedee, James or John. Andrew immediately went to find Simon, whom Jesus would rename Peter, “the Rock,” to let him know he’d found the Messiah. But it doesn’t seem like they follow him just yet. The most we can say for sure is that they spent the day with Jesus. But the introductions have been made. Jesus is starting to gain a following.

So just what were the Jews expecting from their Messiah when he appeared? We can detect an underlying current that some people thought Jesus would overthrow Roman rule and restore the theocracy. But the prophetic passages from Isaiah in the early chapters seem to paint a different picture.

For example, the first four chapters of John’s gospel seem to have a pretty solid connection with Isaiah 9, which is just a couple chapters after the “Immanuel” prophecy Matthew cites. Here’s Isaiah 9:1–2:

Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—

²The people walking in darkness

have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of deep darkness

a light has dawned.^[5]

Jesus’s family is from Nazareth in Galilee, so it’s natural that the gospel writers would make this connection. The concept of “Light” is mentioned several times in John 1–4. Jesus was the light of the world and was there in the beginning participating in the creative process with God. That sounds like a direct reference to Day 1 of creation: “Let there be light!” He’s the Son of God, firstborn over all creation.

John 3:19–21 seems to be a summary statement or conclusion for the first half of chapter 3:

¹⁹This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.^[6]

The gloom and darkness of Isaiah 9:1 is laid bare: it’s because people hate the light and the goodness and transparency it represents. Jesus is coming to break through that, however. Jesus is the “light to the Gentiles” as well as to the Jews. This is why in John 4, the gospel writer says that Jesus “must go through Samaria” to get to Galilee. He’s going to bring hope to his ancestral (from an earthly perspective) home where Jacob’s well is still a prominent feature of the landscape.

Another popular Isaiah passage is chapter 40. This is the passage that John the Baptist cites about himself:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make straight paths for him.

⁵Every valley shall be filled in,

every mountain and hill made low.

The crooked roads shall become straight,

the rough ways smooth.

⁶And all people will see God’s salvation.’ ”^[7]

Jesus is going to level the playing field for everyone. No more ethnic distinctions or privileges. No more legal scorekeeping as to who is more righteous than whom. No more obstacles like the veil of the temple to impede access to God. Jesus is the Waymaker.

We also see this as Jesus takes to the podium in the synagogue when he quotes Isaiah 61 about himself:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free,

19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”^[8]

No more distinctions between economic status; no more discrimination based on your health status. Jesus is here to set you free from the things that keep you from hearing and receiving the good news with joy and gladness in your hearts.

Isaiah 42 and 49 both hint at the Servant-Savior’s connection to Isaiah 9:

^42:5This is what God the Lord says—

the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out,

who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it,

who gives breath to its people,

and life to those who walk on it:

⁶“I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness;

I will take hold of your hand.

I will keep you and will make you

to be a covenant for the people

and a light for the Gentiles,

⁷to open eyes that are blind,

to free captives from prison

and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.^[9]

^49:6 It is too small a thing for you to be my servant

to restore the tribes of Jacob

and bring back those of Israel I have kept.

I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,

that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”^[10]

Just like God told Moses at the burning bush, the prophets are telling us that Jesus has got this. All we need to do is heed the prophets and go forth in faith and in faithfulness proclaiming the Good News wherever we roam. In fact, Isaiah 49:8 tells us God will make a covenant with us the Servant-Savior will be with us to strengthen us for the challenge.

In the time of my favor I will answer you,

and in the day of salvation I will help you;

I will keep you and will make you

to be a covenant for the people,

to restore the land

and to reassign its desolate inheritances,

⁹to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’

and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’^[11]

We’ve met Jesus. We know what he wants to do through us. But we need to know who we are to him as well. Yesterday in our men’s group study at my home church, one of the guys was saying he was just “dung.” I know what he meant; he didn’t have a self-esteem problem. He’s a faithful saint who is on fire for the Lord. He’s in his 70s and takes care of his wife at home who is slowly deteriorating from Alzheimer’s. But I felt I had to correct him. I don’t think we’re being fair to ourselves to be so self-deprecating when God has told us who we are to him.

Psalm 139 says we’re fearfully and wonderfully made. Peter tells us that we’re a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, a people who belong to God! God redeems us! Paul says in Romans that Christ died for us even in our “ungodly” state. Paul says in Ephesians that we are God’s handiwork, just like all your beautiful quilts!

Paul’s greeting to the Corinthians in his first letter to them puts it succinctly and beautifully: “to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:

³Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”^[12]

This is who we are in Christ! As we go forth from here this morning, let us bear that in mind so we can be shining lights in a dark world that surrounds us. Amen!

^[1] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[2] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[3] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. From a text-critical perspective, if ὁ ἐκλεκτὸς τοῦ θεοῦ comes from the original hand of John, then it does make some sense that numerous other copyists of the day would have tried to harmonize that with all of the other references to ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ in the four gospels. In other words, the guiding principle here to restore “Chosen One” is that it is the more difficult reading of the passage and thus more likely to have been “adjusted” or edited out. Then again, the phrase may have been so familiar as to cause the copyists to hear ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ instead of ἐκλεκτὸς. However, I should note that Metzger and the GNT editors chose with [B] confidence to side with the majority text and use υἱὸς(Metzger, Bruce Manning, United Bible Societies. 1994. A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Second Edition a Companion Volume to the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament (4th Rev. Ed.). London; New York: United Bible Societies.) NOTE: I think I may have said “Psalm 42” here instead of the correct “Isaiah 42.”

^[4] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[5] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[6] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[7] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[8] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[9] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[10] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[11] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[12] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Link to the corresponding Lectionary Help post: Lectionary Helps for John 1:29–42 | Sunday Morning Greek Blog

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January 17, 2026

Lectionary Help (Matthew 4:12–23)

Lectionary Helps for the Third Sunday After Epiphany, Year A, January 25, 2026.

[NOTE: As a bonus, the following addresses The Skeptic’s Annotated Bible’s (SAB) contention that the presumed discrepancy described herein and seeks to harmonize the two accounts. Reference ≠337 in SAB.]

If you read last week’s Lectionary Help post (Lectionary Helps for John 1:29–42 | Sunday Morning Greek Blog), you’ll remember that I mentioned the time sequence in John 1:29ff (repeated use of “the next day”). I believe this is important to help sort out what appears to be a discrepancy in John’s story of Andrew and Peter meeting Jesus on the same day they’re introduced to him (John 1:40) versus Matthew’s account of calling Andrew and Peter to follow him as they’re fishing in the Sea of Galilee in this week’s passage (4:12–23).

Matthew’s account comes after Jesus’s temptation in the wilderness for 40 days, and it indicates that after the temptation, Jesus went into Galilee in fulfillment of Isaiah 9, which is also one of this week’s lectionary passages. A careful comparison of the language between John’s and Matthew’s accounts should clear this up. In John’s gospel, Andrew and Peter are introduced to Jesus, but they were not “following” in the sense of having committed themselves to be his disciple. They simply wanted to know where he was staying and did happen to spend at least part of the day with Jesus.

On “the next day,” John says Jesus went to Galilee, where he called Philip and Nathaniel to follow him. Note that Jesus had NOT explicitly asked Andrew and Peter to follow him on the previous day, so Philip and Nathaniel are the first ones to get asked directly in John’s account. Perhaps it is in this time frame (“a few days”) that Jesus also makes his formal call to Andrew, Peter, James, and John, as described in Matthew’s account.

So how do we reconcile this? John, like Matthew, seems to have Isaiah 9 in mind as he writes the opening chapters of his gospel, especially with several references to Jesus as the “light.” In one sense, especially in John 1:1–5, this “light” is a reference to the first day of creation. But as Jesus moves into Galilee, “light” takes on the added significance of the prophetic declaration in Isaiah 9:2:

²The people walking in darkness

have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of deep darkness

a light has dawned.^[1]

John 2:12 is where the time references start to get vague. We have the story of Jesus clearing the Temple, which in other Gospel accounts happens near the end of Jesus’s earthly ministry.[2] I believe John may be dropping that story in here to fit another theme from Isaiah 9, especially vv. 4 and 7d: “You have shattered the yoke that burdens them.” Regardless, the text does say he returned to Jerusalem. When Jesus cleared the Temple will have to be the subject of another post.

It seems reasonable to assume that John 3 is still in sequence with the chronology of the first two chapters. John uses the Greek particle δε to introduce the chapter, which suggests a continuity of the narrative.[3] The “verdict” in vs. 19: “Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil,”^[4] because it seems to be some sort of climactic statement or hinge verse, ties into Isaiah 9:2, so its inclusion here is both thematic and chronological. In 3:22, we have a reference to Jesus and his disciples spending some time in the Judean countryside “before John was put in prison” (3:24). What’s interesting here, and this is key, is that Matthew 4 doesn’t actually use the Greek noun for “prison,” φυλακή (phylakē), that John uses in 3:24. Matthew uses the verb παραδίδωμι (paradidōmi), which is more like an arrest or a detainment. It isn’t until Matthew 14 that he says Herod threw John in φυλακή.

In John 4, then, we are still contemporaneous with the first three chapters, because John says that Jesus “went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria.” John introduces chapter 4 with οὖν (oun), which implies the events of chapter 3 have prompted him to return to Galilee. This again raises the connection between Isaiah 9 and these early chapters of John’s gospel. It is in John 4 where Jesus first declares that he is the Messiah in John’s gospel. This is how he honors “Galilee of the Nations” (Isaiah 9:1b). (See my post from 2011 Honoring Galilee | Sunday Morning Greek Blog.)

We do not have any record of John the Baptist’s death or actual imprisonment or arrest in John’s gospel, so it is difficult to harmonize that aspect of Matthew’s account. The closest he hints at it is in John 5:35, where he speaks of John the Baptist in the past tense. But the fact that Matthew uses a different term to indicate John’s legal status does NOT conflict, then, with John 3:24. John may be detained or under “house arrest” (remember, Herod used to like to listen to John preach), but he’s not technically “in prison” in John’s account or in Matthew’s account in chapter 4. Once he’s in prison, it would seem, his fate is sealed.

The evidence presented here is sufficient, then, to resolve the apparent discrepancy and debunk SAB‘s contention that this represents an irreconcilable contradiction.

Wow, this one got a lot more involved than I expected once I started diving into it. I’m already halfway done, it seems, with next week’s sermon prep and I still haven’t finished tomorrow’s message! I do hope you find these Lectionary Help articles useful. I got what I considered to be a decent response to the first one last week, so I’m motivated to keep going. Peace to all of you, and if you’re in the Midwest, stay warm!

Pastor Scott Stocking, M.Div.

My views and interpretations are my own unless otherwise attributed.

As always, your comments and feedback are welcome.

^[1] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[2] See, for example, Blomberg, Craig L. 2001. The Historical Reliability of John’s Gospel. England: Apollos, p. 87, where he notes the passage is “somewhat unconnected to its immediate context.”

[3] δε. BAG-D: “3. Resuming a discourse that has been interrupted.”

^[4] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

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January 16, 2026

A New Song of Victory

Filed under: Ecclesiology,Ephesians,Evangelism,Faith, Faithfulness,Joy,Prayer,Psalms,Thanksgiving — Scott Stocking @ 8:25 pm
Tags: Ephesians 5:19-21, New song of victory, Psalm 33:3, Psalm 98, Sing a new song, Sing a new song anecdote, Sing a new song to the Lord

I’m coming up on the 25th anniversary of my very first full-length article published in Christian Standard, February 4, 2001. When I wrote the article, I had been working with the Paxton (IL) Church of Christ (Instrumental) to help get a new contemporary service going. It was also a time when “worship wars” were prevalent in many denominations as contemporary music was starting to enter the “sacred” Sunday morning service scene. Do we even have worship wars anymore? I’ve been in a large, contemporary church for so long now I’m out of touch with what’s going on in smaller churches that have a mixed demographic.

I’m including a link to the Christian Standard archive site below for the article. If you wish to comment on it, you can do so on this post.

Christian Standard | February 4, 2001 by Christian Standard Media – Issuu Pages 10–12

If you’ve got a story about dealing with worship wars, I’d love to hear it here. Peace.

Pastor Scott Stocking, M.Div.

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My Nondenominational Creed

Filed under: Ecclesiology,Evangelism,Faith, Faithfulness — Scott Stocking @ 7:57 pm
Tags: "Not the only Christians", Bearing the name of Christ, Unity of the body, Unity of the church

Christian Standard, a once weekly publication for Christian Church (Instrumental) goers of the eponymous publication house, published this article I wrote for their May 26, 2002, issue with the theme “Not the only Christians…” I had been teaching for a Missouri Synod Lutheran high school at the time I wrote it, but I only taught for one year there. I’ve provided the link for it below. If you want to comment on it, you can do so on this page. This has been sort of my life, having taught Bible in the colleges of several different denominations over my teaching career and now preaching half-time at Mount View Presbyterian Church in Omaha where I grew up and where my mom still attends.

Christian Standard | May 26, 2002 by Christian Standard Media – Issuu Pages 12–13.

Thank you for reading!

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January 13, 2026

Lectionary Helps for John 1:29–42

Filed under: Baptism of Jesus,Christology,Chronology,Epifanía,Epiphany,Immersion/Baptism,John Gospel of,Liturgical Calendar,Textual Criticism — Scott Stocking @ 11:04 pm
Tags: Chronology in John 1 & 2, Jesus the Chosen One of God, John 1:29-42, John 1:34 variant

Second Sunday After Epiphany, Year A, January 18, 2026.

Welcome to Lectionary Helps! I’ve been wanting to do this for a while now, so I think I just need to bite the bullet and make it happen. Each week, or at least each week that I’m preaching, I want to offer a couple insights on the Lectionary gospel passage for the following Sunday. Time permitting, I’ll include anything relevant for the other three readings for that Sunday. My purpose is to offer some “grist for your mill” if you’re a busy pastor and need a jump start for your lectionary-based message that week. My goal would be to get a couple weeks ahead of the game eventually for those who are able to plan ahead more. Let me know what you think, and feel free to offer any insights you may have in the comments as well. Thank you for reading! Who knows? I might even make these into videos.

Just a couple quick notes here.

Parallel Structure of John 1 & 2

I found this interesting note about the parallel structure of the major sections of John 1 and 2 in my Logos files I made a while back.

John 1:29, 35, 43 all begin with Τῇ ἐπαύριον (“The next day”), then 2:1 begins with τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ τρίτῃ. I’ve often heard John is not necessarily chronological, but does this put a lie to that argument, at least in the early chapters? John 2:12 says that after the wedding in Cana, they stayed in Capernaum (Jesus’s hometown) for a few days, but vs. 13 is more generic: “When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover.”

After that there are very few specific time references like this. What do you think?

Textual Variant in John 1:34

John 1:34 has an interesting textual variant. According to Metzger’s Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, the committee chose, with a certainty of [B], to follow the corrector of Sinaiticus and a majority of other witnesses and use οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ[1] (“this is the Son of God”) because the terminology is consistent with John’s usage.

Most modern translations follow this and translate it “Son of God.” However, the NIV and NLT chose to follow the original hand of Sinaiticus and use ἐκλεκτὸς τοῦ θεοῦ (“Chosen One,” LXX) instead of υἱὸς, which ties back to Isaiah 42:1. It surprises me a bit that the NLT, which reads more like a paraphrase at times, would follow the NIV rather than the majority of the other English translations.

My thoughts are my own unless otherwise attributed

Pastor Scott Stocking, M.Div.

[1] Aland, Kurt, Matthew Black, Carlo M. Martini, Bruce M. Metzger, Maurice A. Robinson, and Allen Wikgren. 1993; 2006. The Greek New Testament, Fourth Revised Edition (with Morphology). Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft.

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December 14, 2025

The 6:7 Study (You know you’ve been thinking about this!)

Filed under: Biblical Studies,New Testament,Numbers (Cardinal & Ordinal),Old Testament — Scott Stocking @ 8:05 pm
Tags: 6/7, 6:7, 6:7 Bible Study, Kids' Bible study, six-seven, six-seven Bible study, viral 6-7

This isn’t typical for my blog, but I’ve wanted to do this for a couple week. It’s just for fun, but you might find some of the passages have meaning to you.

Youth ministers: Proceed with caution! :-D Don’t knock this! Several 6:7/1:6–7 verses are popular verses or study topics. Parental guidance or permission might be needed for a couple of them (Song of Songs & Jude come to mind).

Parents (esp. Home School Parents): Keep your kids busy with this over the Christmas break.

Just for the fun of it, here are all the 6:7 verses in the Bible (NIV 2011 version). The parameters for selection are as follows.

If the book has at least 6 chapters, I picked the 7^th verse (English numbering) from the 6^th chapter.
If the 6^th chapter of a book does not have 7 verses, then I picked the entire 6^th and 7^th chapters (I don’t think anything fits this category).
If the book has fewer than 6 chapters, I picked verses 6 & 7 from the first (or only) chapter.

Guidelines for your 6:7 study:

Always consider the context of each verse when studying it.
Talk through your initial thoughts on the verse and what it might mean or how it might apply to your life before looking up other resources.
Use whatever resources you may have available (Bible app, print resources, etc.) to fine tune your understanding.
For an extra challenge, hold a “6:7” party/outreach and have selected students present their own study of a 6:7 verse.
Share your results in the comments and something about your ministry.

OLD TESTAMENT

Genesis 6:7

⁷So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.

Exodus 6:7

⁷I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.

Leviticus 6:7

⁷In this way the priest will make atonement for them before the Lord, and they will be forgiven for any of the things they did that made them guilty.”

Numbers 6:7

⁷Even if their own father or mother or brother or sister dies, they must not make themselves ceremonially unclean on account of them, because the symbol of their dedication to God is on their head.

Deuteronomy 6:7

⁷Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Joshua 6:7

⁷And he ordered the army, “Advance! March around the city, with an armed guard going ahead of the ark of the Lord.”

Judges 6:7

⁷When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian,

Ruth 1:6–7

⁶When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. ⁷With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.

1 Samuel 6:7

⁷“Now then, get a new cart ready, with two cows that have calved and have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up.

2 Samuel 6:7

⁷The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God.

1 Kings 6:7

⁷In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built.

2 Kings 6:7

⁷“Lift it out,” he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.

1 Chronicles 6:7

⁷Meraioth the father of Amariah,

Amariah the father of Ahitub,

2 Chronicles 6:7

⁷“My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

Ezra 6:7

⁷Do not interfere with the work on this temple of God. Let the governor of the Jews and the Jewish elders rebuild this house of God on its site.

Nehemiah 6:7

“⁷and have even appointed prophets to make this proclamation about you in Jerusalem: ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now this report will get back to the king; so come, let us meet together.”

Esther 6:7

⁷So he answered the king, “For the man the king delights to honor,

Job 6:7

⁷The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”

Psalms 6:7

⁷My eyes grow weak with sorrow;

they fail because of all my foes.

BONUS! Psalm 67:6–7 (I put this psalm to music many years ago)

⁶The land yields its harvest;

God, our God, blesses us.

⁷May God bless us still,

so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.

Proverbs 6:7

⁷It has no commander,

no overseer or ruler,

Ecclesiastes 6:7

⁷Everyone’s toil is for their mouth,

yet their appetite is never satisfied.

Song of Songs 6:7

⁷Your temples behind your veil

are like the halves of a pomegranate.

Isaiah 6:7

⁷With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

Jeremiah 6:7

⁷As a well pours out its water,

so she pours out her wickedness.

Violence and destruction resound in her;

her sickness and wounds are ever before me.

Lamentations 1:6–7

⁶All the splendor has departed

from Daughter Zion.

Her princes are like deer

that find no pasture;

in weakness they have fled

before the pursuer.

⁷In the days of her affliction and wandering

Jerusalem remembers all the treasures

that were hers in days of old.

When her people fell into enemy hands,

there was no one to help her.

Her enemies looked at her

and laughed at her destruction.

Ezekiel 6:7

⁷Your people will fall slain among you, and you will know that I am the Lord.

Daniel 6:7

⁷The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next thirty days, except to you, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lions’ den.

Hosea 6:7

⁷As at Adam, they have broken the covenant;

they were unfaithful to me there.

Joel 1:6–7

⁶A nation has invaded my land,

a mighty army without number;

it has the teeth of a lion,

the fangs of a lioness.

⁷It has laid waste my vines

and ruined my fig trees.

It has stripped off their bark

and thrown it away,

leaving their branches white.

Amos 6:7

⁷Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile;

your feasting and lounging will end.

Obadiah 6–7

⁶But how Esau will be ransacked,

his hidden treasures pillaged!

⁷All your allies will force you to the border;

your friends will deceive and overpower you;

those who eat your bread will set a trap for you,

but you will not detect it.

Jonah 1:6–7

⁶The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.”

⁷Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.

Micah 6:7

⁷Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,

with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?

Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

Nahum 1:6–7

⁶Who can withstand his indignation?

Who can endure his fierce anger?

His wrath is poured out like fire;

the rocks are shattered before him.

⁷The Lord is good,

a refuge in times of trouble.

He cares for those who trust in him,

Habakkuk 1:6–7

⁶I am raising up the Babylonians,

that ruthless and impetuous people,

who sweep across the whole earth

to seize dwellings not their own.

⁷They are a feared and dreaded people;

they are a law to themselves

and promote their own honor.

Zephaniah 1:6–7

⁶those who turn back from following the Lord

and neither seek the Lord nor inquire of him.”

⁷Be silent before the Sovereign Lord,

for the day of the Lord is near.

The Lord has prepared a sacrifice;

he has consecrated those he has invited.

Haggai 1:6–7

⁶You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

⁷This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.

Zechariah 6:7

⁷When the powerful horses went out, they were straining to go throughout the earth. And he said, “Go throughout the earth!” So they went throughout the earth.

Malachi 1:6–7

⁶“A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the Lord Almighty.

“It is you priests who show contempt for my name.

“But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’

⁷“By offering defiled food on my altar.

“But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’

“By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible.

NEW TESTAMENT

Matthew 6:7

⁷And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.

Mark 6:7

⁷Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.

Luke 6:7

⁷The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath.

John 6:7

⁷Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

Acts 6:7

⁷So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

Romans 6:7

⁷because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

1 Corinthians 6:7

⁷The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?

2 Corinthians 6:7

⁷in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left;

Galatians 6:7

⁷Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.

Ephesians 6:7

⁷Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people,

Philippians 1:6–7

⁶being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

⁷It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me.

Colossians 1:6–7

⁶that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. ⁷You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf,

1 Thessalonians 1:6–7

⁶You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. ⁷And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

2 Thessalonians 1:6–7

⁶God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you ⁷and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.

1 Timothy 6:7

⁷For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.

2 Timothy 1:6–7

⁶For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ⁷For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

Titus 1:6–7

⁶An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. ⁷Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.

Philemon 6–7

⁶I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. ⁷Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.

Hebrews 6:7

⁷Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God.

James 1:6–7

⁶But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

1 Peter 1:6–7

⁶In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

2 Peter 1:6–7

⁶and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.

1 John 1:6–7

⁶If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. ⁷But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

2 John 6–7

⁶And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

⁷I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.

3 John 6–7

⁶They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. ⁷It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans.

Jude 6–7

⁶And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. ⁷In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

Revelation 6:7

⁷When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!”

Pastor Scott Stocking, M.Div.

I researched all verses on my own and copy/pasted them. If someone else has done this, I did not copy their work.

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Advent Joy: Jesus Breaks the Power of Sin and Suffering (Matthew 11:2–11; Isaiah 35:4–6)

Filed under: Advent,Adviento,Biblical Studies,Christology,Christology,Eschatology,Evangelism,forgiveness,Isaiah,Joy,Liturgical Calendar,Matthew Gospel of — Scott Stocking @ 5:21 pm
Tags: Advent Joy, Bible Study, Corruption of Pharisees, Isaiah 35:4-6, Jesus and John the Baptist, Jesus and John the Baptizer, John the Baptizer, Matthew 11:2-11, New Testament Prophet, NT Prophet

Good morning! The Lord be with you!

As you know, today is the third Sunday of Advent, where we focus on the Joy for what Christ brings to our lives. I’m sure most of you know that there’s a difference between joy and happiness. Happiness comes from the things that happen around us. The word comes to us through the Middle English word hap, which in that time meant luck, fortune, fate, or one’s lot in life. The word had either a positive sense (“good fortune”) or a negative sense (“hard times” or a “hard lot” in life) depending on context. In modern English, of course, it’s been entirely infused with the positive meaning “happy as a lark.” It may be more of a surface feeling as well. It’s a feeling that can come and go depending on life’s circumstances.

Joy, on the other hand, is happiness on steroids if you will, at least according to Merriam-Webster. Their dictionary defines it as “a feeling of great happiness or pleasure; delight”; “a state of great happiness”; and “a source or cause of delight.” It comes from a Latin word that means “rejoice.” No surprise there. It does imply something much deeper than happiness, as the definitions suggest, something intangible, something you can’t quite put your finger on.

I experienced this feeling of joy recently, and I’d like to share it with you. Jill’s daughter Rebecca moved in with us almost three years ago when she was struggling trying to find her way in the COVID mess. Within about a year, she managed to land a job working for the Hilton Hotel downtown scheduling reservations for large events at the hotel or downtown. As it turned out, she found her niche. This past year, one of her biggest projects was working with teams and large fan groups coming for the College World Series. She was feeling the success.

In the meantime, she also rekindled her love for singing and performing by auditioning for and joining the River City Mixed Chorus, the largest chorus of its kind in the Omaha area. Last Saturday they had their annual Christmas/Holiday concert at the Holland. After the concert I paid attention to how family and friends of the chorus were excited about the evening. That really touched me to witness that. The evening was extra special in that Rebecca found out just before the concert that her bid on a house was accepted. That was the icing on the cake for the evening.

As you might imagine, when Jill and I first got together 12 years ago, it was a bit of a rough go for me and for her two teenage girls at the time. But as a man of God, I was determined to prove my mettle and stay the course by showing them just how much I loved their mom and how willing I was to support her girls in their various pursuits. Today, I have a great relationship with her grown-up and fully employed daughters. I told Rebecca last Saturday night how proud I was of her success, and I got choked up trying to get the words out of my mouth. To me, that was true joy. I felt in my heart, and I could see it in Rebecca as well. For me, that was a real moment of joy.

In our gospel passage this morning, Jesus’s cousin John the Baptizer was looking for a “sign” or a reason to be joyful in the midst of his struggles in prison. He already knew Jesus was the Messiah but he still, apparently, didn’t understand what that would look like. He sent his own messengers to ask Jesus if he was the Messiah, and Jesus’s answer did not disappoint. John may have had the same expectation others had about the Messiah when he came, that he would overthrow Roman rule and restore the theocracy.

But when Jesus offers up the “evidence” that he wants John’s disciples to take back to John, none of it has to do with political power. It has to do with restoring joy and hope to oppressed people or those gravely impacted by life’s circumstances. Think about the emotional reaction of the people who benefited from Jesus’s ministry.

The blind receive their sight: Imagine not being able to see anything, then all of the sudden one day, Jesus shows up in your town and gives you back your sight. This would be more than just a “happy” moment: you would be filled with joy to discover all that you’ve been missing: the blue sky; the beauty of the human form; the colors of flowers and birds; and so forth. You would be leaping for joy! Our neighbor when we lived in Aksarben had a color-blind son. A company called Pilestone developed a series of lenses that allow color-blind people to better distinguish colors, and he happened to get the glasses. His mom posted a video of him experiencing the vividness of color for the first time wearing these glasses. That was truly a joyful moment for that young man and his family.

How about the lame walking? A few chapters earlier in Matthew, we see Jesus tell a lame man that his sins are forgiven, and to prove that he has the power to forgive sins, Jesus also heals the man and tells him to pick up his bed and walk away free of his disability. Not only was the man overjoyed, but the text in Matthew 9 indicates “the crowd was filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.” We see this early in the book of Acts as well, when the apostles effectuate God’s healing: Peter speaks healing to a lame beggar in Acts 3, and the man “jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.”^[1]

Jesus had healed 10 people with leprosy at one point. The Bible commanded that people healed of leprosy show themselves to the priest to be declared clean. The 10 did that, but for whatever reason, only one was joyful enough to return to Jesus and give him thanks. This story is certainly relevant today: how many of us miss out on joy by failing to realize or acknowledge that God himself is the source of that joy. Even joy, though it tends to affect us deeper in our souls and lasts longer, can fade if we don’t recognize the everlasting joy we can have from our heavenly father.

The deaf hear. Just like the blind man; being able to experience any of your senses for the first time as an adult. Imagine being able to hear and understand words you’ve only experienced by sight on a page. Think about that for a minute: if you were completely deaf and suddenly could hear someone speaking for the first time, how would know what sounds go with each letter? If you can read lips, that might help you make the connection. That challenge would pale, I think, when compared next to the joy of hearing again.

The dead are raised. Lazarus wasn’t the only dead person Jesus brought back to life. He also raised Jairus’s daughter. I’ve come close to experiencing that several times in the past few years. My friend Jim contracted hepatitis at a family Thanksgiving meal a few years ago and his liver began to fail. He had gotten to the point where he was asking me to do his funeral. But something divine happened to him to change his mind about getting a liver transplant, and he’s still with us today. My sister Lindee recovered from her complicated liver issues after a liver transplant as well this year. She still has a couple challenges left to navigate, but she’s well on the road to full recovery. Another Jim who’s a good friend was at death’s door in the first year of COVID. His wife had talked to me about funeral arrangements. But he’s recovered now and still leads our men’s group study today. I and the families of these friends are glad to still have them around. Each in their own way represents what joy is all about.

The final thing Jesus mentions to John’s disciples is that the good news, the gospel, is preached to the poor. All these things are a direct reference to the Messianic prophecy in Isaiah 35:4–6:

³Strengthen the feeble hands,

steady the knees that give way;

⁴say to those with fearful hearts,

“Be strong, do not fear;

your God will come,

he will come with vengeance;

with divine retribution

he will come to save you.”

⁵Then will the eyes of the blind be opened

and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

⁶Then will the lame leap like a deer,

and the mute tongue shout for joy.

Water will gush forth in the wilderness

and streams in the desert. ^[2]

John the Baptist understood why Jesus responded the way he did. The passage from Isaiah is the precursor to the messianic sections of Isaiah that speak of a suffering servant. John was beginning to understand what Jesus certainly already did: Jesus would ultimately die for the sins of the whole human race. Jesus didn’t come to break the power of Rome. He came to break the power of a corrupted religion that enslaved people to a legalistic, punitive view of God. The power of religious leadership was in holding this threat of the judgment of God over the heads of the people.

But Jesus turned that on its head. John realized that Jesus came so people could have their sins forgiven, not to be judged for them. The “vengeance” Isaiah speaks of is not against all mankind generally, but against those who had corrupted the message of the Bible. God loves us. That was Jesus’s message as well. But not only that God loves us, but that God wants us to spend eternity with him in a glorified state. He wants us to experience true healing and true joy for all eternity.

In the last part of our gospel passage this morning, Jesus asks the crowd about John the Baptist: why did you come out to see him? What did you expect? The answer was straightforward. John the Baptist wasn’t a sharp-dressed man who gave pep talks. He was the one who preceded Jesus to prepare the way for him. He was the first prophet in 400 years, except instead of prophesying to and about the kings of Judah and Israel, he was prophesying about the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The people flocked to him because John had the courage to stand up to them and tell them what many Jews to that time had been harboring in their hearts: “Your ways, O Pharisees, sap our strength and rob us of hope. Someone is coming who has a much better way than yours.”

Let me flip this question around and ask it in the context of our world today, December 14, 2025. Many people come to church at Christmas (and Easter) that don’t come to church regularly. What are they looking for when they come to church? Being with family may be part of that, but are they perhaps coming because they want to hear that message of hope and joy for themselves? Are they coming because they think Jesus as a baby and the whole manger scene is cute and not in the least bit threatening? Or are they coming because they want to experience awesome, transformative power of forgiveness from a risen Savior who has conquered death? Are they coming out of a sense of obligation, or are they coming because they want to experience a vibrant and encouraging fellowship with other Christ-followers? The Christmas season isn’t the only time of the year where we consider why and how Jesus came to dwell among us. Many Christians look for that weekly and practice that weekly year-round. Why? Because they find a continuous source of joy, help, hope, and strength in their church communities.

This Christmas season, reach out to those who need to know and experience the fellowship of the body of Christ. Let us go forth from here and be beacons of hope and light. May God richly bless you this Christmas season, and merry Christmas to all! Amen.

^[1] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[2] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

My views are my own.

Pastor Scott Stocking, M.Div.

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November 23, 2025

The Reign of Christ the King (Luke 23:33–43; Colossians 1)

I preached this sermon at Mount View Presbyterian Church on November 23, 2025. It was the last Sunday of Year C of the Lectionary Calendar, commonly known as Reign of Christ the King Sunday. It was also the Sunday before Thanksgiving and the Sunday before the first Sunday in Advent. I had not checked the advanced copy of the church bulletin thinking they would have the Lectionary gospel reading for the day printed, but as it turned out, they had a Thanksgiving Service planned (more music), so I hadn’t prepared a message based on the reading. I went ahead preached the message I had prepared, which worked out find, because with more music, the service was a little longer than usual, and my message had been shorter than usual. I’ve also included some links to past Advent messages since the season is upon us.

We had a soup lunch afterwards and had a drawing to give away a few of the quilts our ladies had made. I won what I’m calling my Joseph Quilt. It is a nice sized quilt worked on by several of the ladies. My mom provided the stitching/decoration around the border.

Have you ever seen one of those movies where they start with some dramatic scene. In the cop shows, it’s usually a murder or finding someone badly injured in an unexpected place. In a Hallmark movie, it might be a wedding scene or a passionate kiss (we all know that’s coming in the Hallmark movie, so no need to put it off until the end!). But then in the next scene, the graphic pops up: “Six months earlier.” The opening scene has gone by so quickly that you didn’t even get a chance to figure out much about who the characters are, then you’re thrust back in time and have to figure it out all over again.

Today we come to the conclusion of the liturgical calendar: “Reign of Christ the King” Day. It’s hard to believe Advent (and the new liturgical year) starts next week. The Lectionary is kind of like those movies I mentioned earlier. Even though we read about the crucifixion of Jesus this morning, we’re not going to get back to that dramatic event of the Resurrection that kicked off the last eight months of the calendar until Easter next year.

This past year, we’ve journeyed through the gospel of Luke, which has the most material on the life of Jesus. Five months ago, we read in Luke 9:51 that Jesus “resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” The rest of Luke’s gospel from that point on is set in that context of Jesus knowing his life would be cut short. Yet he continued loving, healing, and teaching the masses about God’s true love for them. He also did not shy away from confronting the religious leaders of his day for their abuse of the spiritual authority God had entrusted to them. That violation of God’s trust brings us to where we are today in the gospel, the crucifixion.

Luke has details in this story that the other three gospel writers do not have. Luke is the only one who has Jesus saying “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” He wasn’t just talking about how the Roman soldiers were treating him either. Matthew and Mark tell us that the criminals who were crucified with Jesus were BOTH hurling insults at him, but Luke indicates that one of them must have had a change of heart after hearing Jesus say “Father forgive them” and asked Jesus for forgiveness in his last hour. Jesus, of course, granted it.

The religious leaders were jeering and sneering at him as well. “He saved others, or so he claims! Let him save himself if he’s the Messiah!” One might expect that kind of behavior from criminals, but from those who had presumably dedicated their lives to serving God at the Temple or in the local synagogues? You know you must be getting close to the corruption and hardness of heart when the people who should be on your side are rejecting you for your teachings.

Even though our gospel reading stops just short of the final moments of the crucifixion, we are all familiar enough with that story to finish it from memory. And we know that because Christ defeated death and rose again into his heavenly glory, he lives and reigns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. While his kingdom is here on earth, it is not of this world. Paul says in Ephesians 1:3 that God has “blessed us [i.e., Christ followers] in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. It was evident from the moment of Pentecost that God had begun a new work in his people through the empowering of the Holy Spirit sent to us by our risen Savior.

As Christ followers, then, we are by default emissaries of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. In the rest of the New Testament we see Paul and the other apostles planting and shepherding churches that are growing by leaps and bounds in various places. In many cases, the word of God has already spread to places where Paul had yet to travel because other believers were doing that missionary work as well. In the first chapter of Paul’s letter to the Colossians, we get a glimpse at Paul’s heart for them in the first chapter. Paul praises them for having a faith that is “bearing fruit and growing” in their hearts and around the world. Let’s pick up his praise for them in verse 9:

⁹For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, ^t ¹⁰so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, ¹²and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. ¹³For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. ^[1]

Paul has incredible respect for the Colossians and wants to ensure they continue on the path of growing in righteousness and faithfulness. This is significant in that Colossae was an incredibly diverse town in south-central Asia Minor. He wants them to be filled “with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives.” Paul has a similar thought for the Ephesians in the opening of that letter: “¹⁸I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, ¹⁹and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”^[2]

In Colossians 1:6, Paul affirms that the gospel is “bearing fruit and growing through the whole world. He reassures the Colossians are doing their small part to contribute to that in vs. 10.

Being strengthened in all power means that they understand the working of the Holy Spirit in their lives. They do have some challenges, apparently, with some coming among them making “fine sounding arguments” against the gospel. But Paul has confidence that their knowledge will help them discern false teachings and stay the course of the true gospel with patient endurance.

They are also continually giving thanks because they’ve been rescued from darkness. They believed the gospel and have been living it out boldly because they know they’ve been forgiven and redeemed.

After praising them, Paul continues from verse 15 talking about the supremacy of Christ and why he reigns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords:

¹⁵The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ¹⁹For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. ^[3]

The concept of Jesus being the “firstborn” here seems to have a dual meaning. In verse 15, Paul says Jesus is the firstborn over all creation. That seems to suggest what we learn from John, that Jesus, the light of the world, was the “light” that God created on Day One of creation. A few verses later, in verse 18, Paul calls Jesus “the beginning,” which would seem to confirm the Genesis theory, but the then also calls Jesus “firstborn from the dead.” John also uses the phrase “firstborn from the dead” of Jesus in the opening chapter of Revelation (1:5). This of course is a reference to his resurrection.

Even though there are a few others in the history of the Bible who were raised from the dead, they all came back to life in their original human bodies. Jesus is the first one whose body was raised from the dead AND transfigured into its heavenly version. That earns him the title of head of the church—King of Kings and Lord of Lords—having supremacy over everything. This supremacy is not only for this world, but in the heavenly realms as well as Paul indicates.

Harkening back to Ephesians 3:10, we see that we have a role in proclaiming the gospel not only here but also in the heavenly realms. “¹⁰His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.”^[4] The passage in Ephesians 6 on the armor of God reaffirms our role in fighting the good fight not only against flesh and blood, but against the powers in the heavenly realms. We have the divine protection and strength to stand firm in those battles because of Christ’s victory over death and the redemption he won for us. Not only does he reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords in our lives, but he has also provided the means for us to walk faithfully in this world.

As we wrap up the liturgical year and look toward Advent and the Christmas season, we can take comfort and courage in having citizenship in the kingdom of Christ. A blessed Thanksgiving to all of you this week, and please join us for the meal after service. Amen.

Pastor Scott Stocking, M.Div.

Here are some of my other Advent messages.

Advent Hope

Advent Love (Luke 1:39–55; 1 Samuel 2:1–10)

Advent Peace: John’s Message of Baptism and Repentance (Luke 3:1–12)

Waiting for the Messiah…Again (Matthew 24:36–44)

^[1] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[2] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[3] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[4] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

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