THEOLOGICAL CLUE

The liturgical/homiletical clue provided for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany combines manifestation and ministry within the overall Christmas Cycle clues of incarnation and Parousia. Jesus comes as the light of the world in his ministry. As the Epiphany Season progresses, however, some of the sharpness of definition is lost, not so much because the theological framework of the church year is blurred, but mostly because the lectio selecta method for the selection and reading of the Gospels changes to a modified lectio continua - semi-continuous system on this Sunday in the Second Lessons. The preacher ought to be aware that this Sunday's second reading begins where last Sunday's lesson left off, and that next Sunday's text skips from the twentieth verse of 1 Corinthian…