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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr id="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403layout-row20537" class="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403layout m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403layout-row m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403widget m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403_widget_text m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403style20537" style="margin:0px;padding:0px"><td id="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403layout-row-padding20537" style="padding:30px 30px 20px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td id="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403text_div20096" class="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403td_text m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403td_block" style="color:inherit;font-size:12px;font-weight:inherit;line-height:1;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:Arial" valign="top" align="left"> <div style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:26px"> <div style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;text-align:center"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-style:italic;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-weight:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:26px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:italic"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-weight:normal;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:26px;font-style:italic"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:26px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:italic"><span class="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-aBn"><span class="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-aQJ">Sunday, January 14, 2018</span></span></span></b></b></b><br></div>
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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr id="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403layout-row20536" class="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403layout m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403layout-row m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403widget m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403_widget_picture m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403style20536" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)" align="center"><td id="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403layout-row-padding20536" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);padding:20px 30px 0px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td class="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403image-td" width="590" valign="top" align="center"><a href="http://wordonfire.acemlnb.com/lt.php?s=f4b404287914110dac7009c89e87fa0d&i=1516A1944A29A1266874" style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;color:rgb(237,119,34);display:block;min-width:100%" target="_blank"><img src="http://wordonfire.imgus11.com/public/7e2867fcaf0c2ddd581483e5e17f4d20.png?r=2109152913" alt="" style="display:block;border-color:currentcolor;border-style:none;border-width:medium;outline:medium none currentcolor;width:221px;opacity:1;max-width:100%" class="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-CToWUd" width="221"></a></td>
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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr id="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403layout-row20533" class="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403layout m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403layout-row m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403widget m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403_widget_html m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403style20533" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403layout-row-padding20533" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);padding:30px 30px 0px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td id="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403html_div20092" width="590" align="left"> <p style="color:black;font-family:Avenir Next;font-size:20px;font-weight:500;line-height:1.25;text-align:center;text-transform:uppercase">2nd <span class="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-aBn"><span class="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-aQJ">Sunday</span></span> of Ordinary Time</p>
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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr id="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403layout-row20534" class="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403layout m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403layout-row m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403widget m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403_widget_html m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403style20534" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><td id="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403layout-row-padding20534" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);padding:5px 30px 0px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td id="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403html_div20093" width="590" align="left"> <p style="color:rgb(237,119,34);font-family:Avenir Next;font-size:18px;line-height:1.25;text-align:center;text-transform:uppercase">John 1:35-42</p>
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<table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%;border-collapse:initial" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr id="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403layout-row20538" class="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403layout m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403layout-row m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403widget m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403_widget_text m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403style20538" style="margin:0px;padding:0px"><td id="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403layout-row-padding20538" style="padding:10px 30px 30px" valign="top"><table style="font-size:13px;min-width:100%" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td id="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403text_div20097" class="m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403td_text m_-9191543125887637777gmail-m_6230600366297354403td_block" style="color:inherit;font-size:12px;font-weight:inherit;line-height:1.5;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:Arial" valign="top" align="left"> <div style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:1.5"> <div style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-weight:normal"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-weight:normal"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">Friends, <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>in our Gospel for today, we hear John the Baptist proclaim, in response to meeting Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God!</b></span>”</span><br><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b><br></b></span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>One
of the earliest heresies that</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>the Christian church fought</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>was
Marcionism,</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>the conviction that Jesus should be interpreted in
abstraction from the Old Testament. </b></span>But the categories that the Gospel
writers used to present Jesus as the Christ were, almost exclusively,
drawn from the Hebrew Scriptures.</span><br><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>In
John’s prologue, the passage before today’s reading, we read that the
Word of God’s covenantal love, which was addressed to Abraham, Moses,
and David, has become flesh in Jesus of Nazareth.</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>Jesus is the covenant
in person.</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>But throughout Israel’s history, the covenant between God and
humanity is always accompanied by <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">sacrifice</span>.</b></span></span><br><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">That
brings us to <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>today’s reading, where John the Baptist offers one of the
most important interpretive keys of the New Testament: <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">Jesus will </span>play
the role of the sacrificial lambs offered in the temple, and through a
sacrifice, <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">take away <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">the sins of the world</span>. </span></b></span></span><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b><br></b></span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">One
reason that people today have such a difficult time appreciating Jesus
is that we have become, effectively, Marcionites. To really understand
the Christological language of John, we need to understand the great
story of Israel.</span></b></span></b></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br></div><div id="m_-9191543125887637777DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2"><br> <table style="border-top:1px solid #d3d4de">
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