Category Archives: Advent

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For Sunday, 12.22.19

Readings

Isaiah 7:10-16  •  Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19  •  Romans 1:1-7  •  Matthew 1:18-25

Backstory

Isaiah 7:10-16

Before the Israelites ever entered the Promised Land they were human; when the Israelites received their label of ‘Israelite’ – as their ancestor Jacob was renamed Israel – they were human; when the ‘father of the faith’ of the Israelites, Jacob’s grandfather Abraham, found out that he was going to have the label of ‘father’, Abraham, the ‘father of the faith’, was human. Humans disagree, they argue, they fight, they split and separate….they are human just like us.  So, it should be no surprise that the Israelites, in very human fashion, demanded that God let them have a king and then eventually argued, fought, and eventually split over who should be the King (the split was after just three Kings of the united Israel).  This typical, and expected, human behavior brings us to the backstory of our Isaiah passage.  The Israelites had split into two different nations, the kingdom of Israel was the northern consisting of ten of the tribes and the southern kingdom, Judah, consisted of two tribes. Isaiah is talking to the twelfth king of Judah, a guy named Ahaz, who was also very human, actually an extraordinarily bad human.  Ahaz, along with all of Judah, ad just been attacked by Israel and their temporary ally – Syria.  The attack and consequences of the attack were devastating and Ahaz knew that they were facing further aggression from the north.  The prophet Isaiah goes to Ahaz and suggests that the King ask God for a sign as to what steps he should take to avoid another loss.  Ahaz refuses to ask God for a sign because he has already made up his mind without God, he has decided that he will also recruit an ally, he joins forces with Assyria (also a group of very bad humans, led by another bad human). Ahaz does not want to wait for God’s answer, and does not want to trust God. Even though Ahaz refuses to seek God, God speaks to him anyway.  God tells Ahaz that the next King has already been born (which is the next King, Hezekiah, a much better human).  Even though Ahaz finds immediate victory in his unwise alliance with Assyria, two years later, after defiling the temple and debasing himself, he is no longer King and Hezekiah is. Echoes of this story, the story of a child savior already being born for those who would wait, abound in the angel’s message to Mary in the gospel of Luke as well as the message to Joseph in the gospel of Matthew.  Echoes of ‘Peace’, ’wait’ and ‘trust God’ are the beginning of the encouragement to Mary and Joseph as they choose to accept God’s path laid out before them.

Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19 (responsive reading)

In this small collection of verses, the phrase ‘Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved,’ is seen three times.  The phrase is a key to the state of mind of the targeted readers of the verses.  It is a key to our frequent cries out to God as we are confronted with the misery of our own humanity.  As we saw the Israelites, during the exile, come to a realization that their actions had brought about their misery – they then were faced with the reality of waiting on God instead of making their own rash and unwise decisions.  Turning back to God was the right choice but it was not an immediate solution to their misery, they still faced waiting on, and trusting in, God.  The honesty of their wait is dialogue of Psalm 80; a dialogue that always takes them back to ‘Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.’

Romans 1:1-7

Paul’s letter to the Romans can be boiled down to a primary address/confrontation of the issues that divided the church at Rome.  These issues were social, economic, and religious dividing the rich and the poor, the Jews and the non-Jews, and basically every social grouping of the believes.  We will be reading through the letter to the Romans over the coming weeks to see how Paul uses these elements of division to teach us many basics of our beliefs.

Matthew 1:18-25

It is in the gospels of Matthew and Luke that we find the birth story of Jesus Christ.  While Luke takes one and a half chapters – one hundred and eighteen verses – to tell the story of Jesus’ birth, Matthew takes two chapters – but only a total of forty-eight verses – of which, seventeen verses are a genealogy of the lineage of Abraham to Joseph. In Luke we see the story mostly from the experience of Mary, while in Matthew we see the story more through the experience of Joseph.  Matthew was written with a Jewish readership in mind wishing to prove the the lineage of Abraham to Joseph (the Davidic lineage), while Luke was written more to the Gentiles with the intention of proving the humanity of Jesus Christ.  In this reading, Joseph, defined as a good human with the best of intentions, finds that his reality and future are taking a very unexpected and inexplainable turn into the weird and onto an unprecedented path.  Both stories (Matthew’s and Luke’s accounts) of the radical news delivered by an angel bear the common refrain – ‘do not be afraid’ and ‘peace’.

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For Sunday, 12.15.19

Readings

Isaiah 35:1-10  •  Psalm 146:5-10  •  Luke 1:46b-55  •  James 5:7-10  •  Matthew 11:2-11

Backstory

Psalm 146:5-10 (Responsive Reading)

Psalm 146 has been called a summary of the entire Bible.  If you back up to the beginning of the chapter you see a call to worship God followed by an explanation why we worship the unseen God instead of a King, Prince, or any Person – because those humans are just like us….we/they all come from the dust and will return to the dust. Then we have an explanation what it means to us when our trust is in God and our praise is to God.  A preparatory statement about the coming Messiah (Jesus) rounds out the Psalm which ends where it starts – Praising God.

Isaiah 35:1-10

While most of Isaiah is a call to the people to turn back to God, chapter 35 seems to give them a glimpse of what is waiting when they return. Their eventual is described as a desert blooming after a long drought which will back every element of life that has been absent.  The prophet speaks of the return involving a ‘highway’ which is a holy path where there is no wickedness – a highway that will be clear and understandable for those who choose to travel on it.  While the ‘highway’ was a description of what was awaiting the people after their time of correction and return, it is an equally a portrayal of our salvation journey.

Luke 1:46b-55

Our Luke passage is a song penned, and sung, by the young teenager – Mary, as she settled into the reality of God’s radical plan for her life.  While this is often portrayed, and sung, in a very passive and sweet tone, it is actually very bold and a defiant message of a young girl as she sits at the intersection of God’s plan and the expectations of her world.  Mary, singing or voicing, her inward submission and acceptance of God’s will, is following a long tradition of defiant speaking/singing (see Exodus 15:1bc; 13, 1 Samuel 2:4-5, 7; and verses 7-9 of our Psalm for this week). In voicing her acceptance of God’s plan, Mary says that ‘God has done’ great things for me’ – a statement that is surely bizarre for a young teenager who is about to see her life turned upside down.  Facing rejection, isolation, loneliness, humiliation, judgement, condemnation, and hatred, Mary’s faith and acceptance of God’s path is based on what she knows of God and her trust in him.  Mary has an amazing grasp on God’s love and is able to surrender the entirety of her life to his will.

James 5:7-10

This passage from James may seem oddly placed in the middle of the Advent season.  James is calling the readers, a people who were clearly facing their own times of difficulty and trials, to wait patiently for the return of Christ.  While it may be odd, the message is very clearly a call to believers from the time of creation.  The question ‘where is my hope, where is by strength, where is my rescue?’ is the question of humanity.  It was the quest of the Israelites as they waited for God’s rescue from the exile and slavery, it was the quest as the faithful looked forward to the coming Messiah, and it is our quest as we await the return of Christ.  James’ call to the people is to be patient while they continue on with life, treat others with love and respect, and to trust God throughout their trials, victories, and life.

Matthew 11:2-11

Our gospel passage takes us over three decades beyond the nativity to John the  Baptist who is at an extreme low point.  A ruler (Herod) has imprisoned John and, unbeknown to John, will soon have him beheaded.  John is wondering about everything, doubt and desperation are present as he is asks if he was right to trust that Jesus was, and is, the promised Messiah.  In his own reality of exhaustion and fear, John, understandably, needs affirmation that he has not followed the wrong path; he needs to know that he has been on the correct highway (see our Isaiah passage).  The interesting response of Jesus Christ is not to proclaim the miracles he has performed, he does not point to the attention of powerful and rich people he has received, nor does he list the ways in which he has fulfilled the prophecies – instead, Jesus says ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.’  Jesus proves himself by reminding John of the life and acts of love, mercy, compassion, and grace.  Jesus then gives John a gentle affirmation in reminding him of God’s love that has been, in particular, directed at John throughout, and even before, his life, and in no lesser way; Jesus reveals to John that this love is even more at work during this time of isolation.  Sometimes we need a reminder of love when hope and peace seems fleeting.