Isaiah 52: Exiles Lifted up from Babylon like the Magi on Christmas -- 2019/12/05

Rev. Curtis Deterding, pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Fort Myers, Florida, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 52. It’s Christmas and Good Friday at the same time—this remarkable chapter has both of the yearly readings, right next to each other: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news” right before “his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance.” The long winter’s night of exile finally was ending, and the exiles received the greatest Christmas present: their return home. The next time you see the magi, those “three kings of orient,” remember the Judean exiles who brought gifts back home to Jerusalem from Babylon. And remember the gifts flowing down to us from the Cross and from the right hand of God, where Christ has been lifted up.