I think over this past week and a half, we saw what happens when prophets are ignored, when truth is ignored. We saw what happens when we are too lenient with those privileged few. So we can learn from Eli in two ways—first of all, we can learn to admit to and take responsibility for our respective and collective failures. But second, thanks to the grace of God, and the love of Jesus, we can work to fix it. We don’t have to resign ourselves to be punished forever, with no hope of forgiveness for our inaction, for our complicity. We can work to make Martin Luther King Jr’s dream come true, still. We can work to right the wrongs of this nation, and by the grace of God, we will…

This is what this baptism is all about—this is what Jesus is all about. It’s about changing everything we thought we knew. It’s about subverting norms and bringing about the unexpected. It’s about hope, it’s about new beginnings. It’s about expecting the unexpected…

Let’s not be blind to Jesus among us this time. Let’s recognize him with his tent pitched among the nomads. Let’s recognize him sleeping on the ground and on park benches. Let’s recognize him in line with struggling families at food banks. Let’s recognize the difficult truths that Jesus brings to light…

“It is an interesting metaphysical as well as astronomical truth, that it is only when you have good darkness that you can see the faint lights, whether it is faint stars, or the little points of light, the thousand points of light that bring us hope even in darkness.”

God picks unassuming, kind, loving, humble people to show us that we are all capable—to show us that we can be like Mary… that we can be like Elizabeth… that with God, we can work to accomplish the impossible, and support and build each other up along the way.

Yes, this is a miraculous story, but these are not miraculous people. Nazareth was not a miraculous place...

But this passage isn’t about God making the path easier for us—it’s about us making the path worthy of God! With the tools that we are given by God, it is our job to prepare the way for God, for Jesus. It’s our job to build a world where we treat all those as we would treat Jesus. It’s our job to make sure everyone feels safe, feels protected, feels at peace.