Isaiah 43:1-7

Technically, there is just one book of Isaiah, but I've mentioned before the commonly used term "Second Isaiah". Chapter 40 begins a new era with an unnamed author who picks up the pieces of Judaism after returning from Babylonian exile. He does it with these wonderfully healing words. He melds the first creation story where God created everything with the second creation story where God is more involved with the world, shaping it. And though they have been conquered, God will redeem them. From this, Christians picked up the title "Redeemer" for Christ. This Isaiah author calls on history to show what God has done before. He probably didn't know those were legends, not actual history. They weren't freed from Egypt and didn't conquer new territory with God's help. But the idea of that being how you spread ideas, by "calling" them into your nation, is pretty well ingrained in the culture of the time.

Acts 8:14-17

The Book of Acts is scattered throughout the Lectionary so I never cover it any depth. Today, we get this snippet that sounds like a teaser for the evening news. Acts focuses on persecution, and how the word of God stands up in the face of it. In this short account, we see that you can get baptized, but not receive the Holy Spirit. The apostles know how to fix this; just pray. It works, although exactly how it worked or how you can tell it worked, we're not told. Also not explained is this word "only" in verse 16. Nowhere else is it implied that baptism is not enough, that there is still more to be done.

Reading the verses around these might help add some context, but it doesn't provide any details on the mechanism of receiving Jesus. One little gem in verse 12 notes men and women were getting baptized. This may have been one of the lucky circumstances of history that helped Christianity survive. Other fledgling religions that only allowed men into the inner circles would have suffered in times of war when those men left and didn't return.

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

This is "Baptism of the Lord" Sunday, the first Sunday after the Epiphany, so of course we get a baptism passage. It's a classic for hellfire and brimstone preachers, with the winnowing fork clearing the floor. Exactly who gets winnowed is not mentioned here, as is almost always the case. Note also that hell is not mentioned here, not even Gehenna. This is not a "sin and go to hell" passage. This is an opening up of heaven passage.

A friend of mine has a ritual involving a fire on New Year's Eve every year. It has some pagan roots but she makes no specific references to any particular god or tradition. Part of it involves writing down something from the previous year that you want to let go of, to leave behind. When the fire is going and everyone is gathered around it, you throw that piece of paper in there. No one is harmed in this ritual, just as no people are mentioned in verse 17 and there is no reason to think that the wheat and the chaff represent people. It's more likely they represent ideas, some of which will be challenged in the chapters to follow.