Gospel for December 13, 2020

“John the Baptist”
photographed by Romana Klee.

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
John 1:6-8, 19-28
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Prologue to the Gospel of John, which comprises John 1:1-18, is one of the more majestic passages in all of Scripture.  But in this selection the Gospel writer is seeking to clarify the relationship of John the Baptist with the Messiah.

There are many who believe that John’s followers formed an early rivalry with the disciples who followed Jesus.  This is understandable.  John was a dynamic, charismatic and prophetic fellow who spoke truth to power and summoned a spiritually hungry people to renewal.

However, as the Gospel of John makes clear, and then John the Baptist himself insists, he is not the Messiah.

As the Prologue makes clear, John the Baptist is not the light but only bears witness to the light.  The identity of the light has already been revealed as the preexistent Christ, who was present at the beginning and through whom and for whom creation was made:  

In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn’t overcome it (John 1:4-5).

John the Baptist himself insists that he is not the Christ.  Interestingly, verses 19-28 introduce the dialogue form that is so common in the Gospel of John.  There is in these dialogues a sense of debate — a conflict is introduced and then resolved.

In this case, Jewish leaders in Jerusalem have become aware of John’s ministry, and so they send a “Committee on Investigation” to ask him some questions.  Their first question is insinuating and indirect:

Who are you?

John’s response is direct — he tells them he is not the Messiah, nor even a prophet.  So then, they want to know, just who do you think you are?  And John answers with the prophetic text from Isaiah 40:3:

I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.

This is the text cited by the other three Gospel writers as well in reference to John’s unique relationship to Jesus.

John clearly sees his role as preparing the way for the Messiah by calling the people to repentance.

When asked then why he baptizes, he answers with a cryptic response. He doesn’t answer their question directly.  Instead, John tells them that the Messiah is already among them, and they don’t realize it.

The “Committee on Investigation” may have asked this question because baptism was certainly not unknown to the Jewish religion.  A Gentile who converted to Judaism not only had to be circumcised but also baptized as a sign that he was “born anew.”  And of course the Essene Community at Qumran by the Dead Sea practiced ritual washing.

But John was baptizing those who were already Jews!  They were already part of the covenant!  What authority did he have to do such a thing?  Again, John is making clear that his ministry is a preparation for the ministry of the Messiah. Therefore he doesn’t seem to find it necessary to explain himself to the priests and Levites.

APPLY:  

Perhaps the greatest service we can provide is to be a little like John the Baptist.  I don’t mean that we should wear camel’s hair and eat locusts and wild honey, or even that we should go around baptizing people willy-nilly.

No, perhaps one of the greatest services we can provide is to prepare others for the coming of Christ into their lives.  We can tell others that Christ is already among us — they need only turn to him in faith.  We, like John, can bear witness to the light that has come into the world.

What a difference it might make if each Christian made an effort to point others to Christ, and to say “I am not the focus here, Christ is!”

I recall years ago going into a restaurant and seeing on the menu words to this effect:  “If you meet me and forget me, you have lost nothing. But if you meet Jesus Christ and forget Him you have lost everything.”  It was signed by the late owner of the restaurant, who was still making a witness by that aphorism long after his own death!

RESPOND: 

I must remember that the goal of my life is to bear witness not to myself or my meager accomplishments, but to point only toward Christ as the meaning and purpose of life.

Our Lord, empower me to be a witness to your coming into the world.  I don’t need to argue with other people about my authority, or who I am.  I just need to direct their attention to you.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“john the baptist” by romana klee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.
 

Epistle for December 13, 2020

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians is likely the oldest piece of Christian literature in existence.  Paul had visited Thessalonike and established a church there after he had crossed the Hellespont channel into Europe from Asia Minor. This was one of his many stops on the second missionary journey (49-52 A.D.).

This passage is the conclusion of this letter.  It is a series of exhortations, followed by a blessing.  In some ways it is almost proverbial or aphoristic in nature, and full of good, solid advice.

The first series is positive — rejoice, pray, give thanks.  Note that Paul encourages them to do all of these all the time, and in all circumstances. He sees this attitude of gratitude and joy and prayer as the will of God for believers.

Then there are some “do nots”:

Don’t quench the Spirit. Don’t despise prophesies …. Abstain from every form of evil.

He doesn’t elaborate on what it means to quench the Spirit, but based on his other letters, as in 1 Corinthians 12, he truly believes that the Holy Spirit is at work in the Christian community providing gifts and empowerment for ministry.

Moreover, the prophecies to which he refers might be a reference to the Old Testament, but just as likely may relate to the active gift of prophesy that occurred in the context of worship in the early church:

But he who prophesies speaks to men for their edification, exhortation, and consolation. He who speaks in another language edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the assembly. (1 Corinthians 14:3-4).

The evidence for this is strengthened by the phrase:

Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good.

Paul, a former Pharisee who believed fervently in the inspiration of the Scriptures, would never have consented to “testing” the prophecies revealed in the Scriptures. However, he would definitely have been compelled to weigh the prophecies uttered in worship so that they might keep the good and reject the bad.

Ultimately, his prayer is for the total sanctification of the believers, that they might be blameless in spirit, soul and body until that time when Christ returned.  He holds out the prospect of total holiness in the lives of believers.

APPLY:  

As an Advent passage, this text reminds us that holiness and sanctification are not distant goals that are only accomplished in heaven.  No, God’s desire is to sanctify us “through and through” and present us blameless in every dimension of our lives — spirit, soul and body.

Salvation is not simply buying “fire insurance” until we finally arrive at the “sweet by and by of pie in the Sky.”  We are to be equipped to live holy lives in the present so that we may be ready for Christ’s return!

Rejoice, pray, give thanks at all times and in all circumstances because that is God’s will for us now, not just in the age to come.

Don’t ignore the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives now by quenching the Spirit or denying the possibility that God is speaking now in our lives through the prophecy of those around us.

We pray for holiness because God’s nature is holy.  If he can make us holy in the future, he can make us holy in the present.  Otherwise, he is not all-powerful. This is a statement of faithful confidence in God:

He who calls you is faithful, who will also do it.

RESPOND: 

I hear Christians quite often excuse their fallibility and their poor decisions by saying “nobody’s perfect until they get to heaven.”  I’ve made the same kind of excuses for myself.  But the claim of Scripture is that if God has called us to be holy, he can make us holy.  If I am lazy in my spiritual or bodily habits, keeping me from obeying God’s call to holiness, that’s on me not on God.

Our Lord, give me the sense of your presence that brings that constant joy, prayer and thanksgiving that helps me anticipate your coming. Be at work in my spirit, soul and body to render me blameless in your eyes.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“1 Thessalonians 5:16-18” by Charlotte Tai is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for December 13, 2020

“Bringing in the Sheaves”
Tim Green photographed this detail from Lindley Tower, Huddersfield

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 126
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

A Psalm of Ascents was typically sung by worshipers as they approached and climbed the hill and/or stairs at the temple in Jerusalem. The tone of this particular Psalm suggests a great sense of joy.

What’s interesting about this Psalm is that the language speaks of restoration and joy after a period of tears and grief.  It seems very likely, even on a superficial reading, that this Psalm reflects a post-exilic context.

Those who wept and mourned now laugh and sing; they are restored to the temple from which they had been exiled; moreover, they return with songs of joy.

Even the “nations” take note that:

Yahweh has done great things for them.

Remember that the word nations in Hebrew is goyim, also known as Gentiles.  The Jews had been exiles in Babylon, which became the Persian Empire, for more than 50 years. So the Gentile nations under which they had been oppressed, as well as other nations, took notice of their liberation!

The reference to streams in the Negev may be an historical allusion to the wandering of the Israelites nearly a thousand years earlier.  The Negev is the dry desert in the southern regions of Israel.  Streams in the desert would be welcome indeed!

They carry their sheaves with them because it is a festive day. It was quite common on feast days like the feast of Tabernacles, etc., to cut off palm branches or willows and wave them as a sign of celebration.  Note that this is how the crowds in Jerusalem heralded Jesus when he rode into Jerusalem at the beginning of Passover week.

APPLY:  

Only those who have been in bondage can fully appreciate the transformation from grief and tears to joy and laughter.

I think of accounts I’ve read of the masses of slaves who followed the Union armies during the Civil War, or who greeted Abraham Lincoln when he visited Richmond, Virginia after the surrender of the Confederacy.  Or of film I’ve seen of Holocaust survivors as their camps were liberated by American G.I.’s.  Those folks could certainly have understood Psalm 126!

Can we?  Certainly.  As a friend of mine pointed out years ago when someone spoke derogatorily of the wealthy members of a mega church, “Even rich people are in bondage without Jesus.”

We all can identify with the sense of joy that comes when we have been delivered from addictions, depression, disease, and guilt.

RESPOND: 

May I never lose the sense of joy that comes from the knowledge that I have been restored and returned to God through Jesus Christ.  May I never take that liberation for granted.

Our Lord, fill my heart with the joy of knowing that you have restored and returned me to your side.  May my worship and praise of your mighty deeds be unselfconscious and unrestrained!  Amen.

PHOTOS:
“Bringing in the sheaves” by Tim Green is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for December 13, 2020

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

A famous preacher has said that the purpose of preaching is to “afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.”  In this passage, the purpose of Isaiah is to comfort those who have been afflicted.

As part of the section of Isaiah called by some the “Third Isaiah” this passage is possibly written after the exile of the Jews from Jerusalem, which occurred in 587 B.C., at the hands of the Babylonians.

The prophet is claiming divine inspiration for his oracle:

The Lord Yahweh’s Spirit is on me;
because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble.

Therefore, what follows describes the focus of his ministry — the poor, the brokenhearted, the captives, the prisoners.  This confirms his word of comfort to those in exile.

There is also the reference to the Year of Jubilee declared in Leviticus 25 — that is, the year of the Lord’s favor that occurred every 50 years. In this year slaves were freed and the possession of ancestral land reverted to its original owners.  This would be very poignant to people who were captives and exiled from their homeland.

He calls for a time of celebration, signified by festive symbols:

to provide for those who mourn in Zion,
to give to them a garland for ashes,
the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness…

And the rebuilding of cities that have been destroyed confirms the interpretation that the Prophet is envisioning a return of the Jews to their homeland, where they will rebuild what has been razed.

Yahweh himself then speaks, in verses 8-11.  Yahweh makes it clear that his standard of righteousness for the returning community is extremely high:

For I, Yahweh, love justice.
I hate robbery and iniquity.
I will give them their reward in truth,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

The language that Yahweh uses is restorative.  He will be restoring the covenant that Israel had broken.  This was the covenant established in obedience to the law, that guaranteed a holy heritage in the past, and will restore that legacy:

Their offspring will be known among the nations,
and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge them,
that they are the offspring which Yahweh has blessed.

Isaiah’s oracle then returns to symbols of celebration.  He describes the scene in terms of a wedding:

 I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh!
My soul will be joyful in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation.
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Weddings, and wedding feasts, are a frequent symbol in Scripture of the eschatological hope of Israel and the New Testament church.  Here, the bridegroom and bride represent the joyful community of exiles who will return to their ancestral home in Israel.

Finally, Isaiah compares the restoration of Israel to a fertile garden, which will benefit not only the chosen people but all nations.

The bottom line, is that the restoration of Jerusalem  will be as prosperous and peaceful as it had been devastating and violent when Judah was destroyed in 587 B.C.

APPLY:  

While we can easily see the post-exilic hope of return for Israel, we have to ask ourselves why this passage shows up in our Advent cycle of readings.  While there are people and ethnic groups that can testify to feeling like exiles from their homeland, why does this particular passage speak to all of us?

The answer is found in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 4. Jesus returns to his hometown in Nazareth and, as is the custom on a Sabbath day, attends synagogue. As a visiting rabbi, he is given the scrolls of the prophets. He reads publically from this great text:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to heal the broken hearted,
to proclaim release to the captives,
recovering of sight to the blind,
to deliver those who are crushed,
and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord (Luke 4:18-19).

This must have been a comforting text, to the Jewish brethren of Jesus in the synagogue. Since the defeat of the Hasmonean kings by the Romans in 63 B.C., Israel had been occupied territory, and they had been like exiles in their own land.

So, the congregation that day may have expected Jesus to say a word about their future hope for deliverance — when one day the Messiah would come. But to their shock Jesus says very simply:

Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing (Luke 4:21)

In other words, they need wait no longer for the Messiah to come, who would bring good news to the poor, bind up the hearts of the brokenhearted, and free the captives.  He had come to do just that!

Instead of words of comfort, these had become words of either heresy or faith!  Either Jesus is who he says he is, or he is a fraud.  And subsequent events would provide conclusive evidence that Jesus is the real thing!

If Jesus is our prophet, who proclaims good news to the poor; if he is our priest who binds up the wounds of the brokenhearted; if he is our king who liberates all of us from our addiction to sin and our imprisonment to oppression, then indeed his words are fulfilled in our hearing as well!

RESPOND: 

When I hear the words of Scripture I can react one of two ways — I can simply listen as though they are the words of some ancient, dusty dead men that have no relevance to me; or I can realize that those words come alive when I hear them in faith.  If the latter, then Jesus proclaims good news to my poor spirit, binds up my broken heart, and releases me from captivity to sin and death!

Our Lord, may I listen for your living word in my own heart, and know that I too have been liberated and healed.  You have fulfilled your promises for me and all who trust in you. Amen.  

PHOTOS:
“Isaiah 61” by Tim Jones is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for December 13, 2015

Author’s Note:  I encourage all of my readers to prepare for the Christmas season with the Choose This Day Family Bible Study for the Advent season.  It’s a fun, short (10-15 minutes) Bible study that the whole family can enjoy daily from December 1 to 25.  You can visit that website  by clicking this link.

And now, back to today’s lectionary reading:

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Luke 3:7-18

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

We have been introduced to John the Baptist as the transitional figure who prepares the way for the coming of the Messiah.  Now, we catch a glimpse of his message.

This passage may be divided into three sections: John’s austere message of repentance; his specific instructions to answer the people’s question “What then should we do?”; and his announcement that his role is to prepare the way for one who is mightier than he is.

John begins his message without any sugar coating.  He denounces the very crowd who comes to hear him and insults them:

“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come”

He then tells them that their credentials as children of the covenant  and their Jewish pedigree means nothing without true repentance:

Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.

John uses a metaphor that would have spoken to their memory of the Hebrew bible.  Israel is often compared to an olive tree or a fig tree:

Like grapes in the wilderness,
I found Israel.
Like the first fruit on the fig tree,
in its first season,
I saw your ancestors (Hosea 9:1-10).

But the tree is to bear fruit, or it will be cut down:

Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

John’s words hit their mark.  The people respond:

“What then should we do?”

John takes this opportunity to bear down on his theme of repentance and give specific examples.  In general, he says to all that they must be generous to the poor:

“Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.”

Note this next group:  

Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?”

Luke gives a broad hint here that tax collectors were universally despised, not just because of taxation but also because they were in league with the hated Roman conquerors.

John recognizes that a large part of the tax collectors’ revenue was derived from collecting over and above even what the Romans demanded, and keeping the excess for themselves:

 “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.”

And, speaking of the hated Romans, even  soldiers came to him!  Luke doesn’t make clear whether these were Jewish soldiers from Herod’s army or Roman legionnaires — but we will see in Luke’s Gospel that there were several Roman soldiers who would be drawn to the ministry of Jesus.  And John’s answer to them reveals that he understands the reality of corrupting power:

Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”

John is obviously very keenly aware of the social and political realities of his time, and he isn’t hesitant to name the oppression he sees in his culture.

Needless to say, his dynamic ministry begins to raise the expectations of the Jewish people, and they begin to speculate about his role:

all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah . . .

But John is very quick to differentiate between his own ministry and that of the Messiah. His role is to baptize for the sake of repentance. And he acknowledges his subordination to the Messiah:

“I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals.

Again, John returns to vivid metaphorical language in order to illustrate what the Messiah will do:

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

The imagery is borrowed from the harvest and the process of separating wheat from chaff.  The winnowing fork was used to throw the wheat into the air at the threshing floor.  The unwanted chaff blew away, and the heavier grain fell back down to the floor so that it could be gathered into the granary.

John is unblinking in his description of judgment: not only is the Messiah to baptize with the Holy Spirit — the presence of God — but also with fire which will destroy the rejected chaff.

APPLY:  

Today’s lectionary passage concludes with this statement:  

So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

We may be permitted to wonder, “where’s the good news?”

John has been extremely direct with the crowd, the tax collectors and the soldiers.  They must repent or face the consequences.  “Turn or burn,” as the cliche goes.

And repentance is not merely a sense of remorse, or a “spiritual” feeling.  His definition of repentance applies to social justice and relationships with the poor, to fair practices, and to the abuse of power.  True repentance produces fruit that makes a difference in society.

Furthermore, we must be aware that our relationship with God doesn’t depend upon how many generations our families have been Christian, or on our church membership.

Here’s the paradox: repentance is an individual decision, but it has social consequences.

When we repent, our lives are amended and other people will see and experience the difference.

And that is good news!

RESPOND: 

I wonder what would happen if pastors across the world began to preach more like John the Baptist.  Oh, I know that many pastors will declare that they are “hell-fire and brimstone” preachers.

But John is not merely a “turn or burn” preacher.  He applies the message to the real circumstances of the lives of his audience.  He gives them something concrete to do when he describes repentance.

We hear so much these days about the need for “revival.”  But so many churches, especially in the U.S., try to be “seeker sensitive,” and make people feel comfortable and welcome when they come to church.

Not John! What if we were to greet people the way he does?

“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”

This can’t be described as spiritually warm and fuzzy!

One thing seems very clear to me.  Historically, I can’t think of a single instance of true revival in the Christian movement that did not include true repentance, both personal and social, among Christians.  And that is what will be needed today if we are to be

baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Our Lord, I confess that I may well fall into the categories that John the Baptist denounces — relying on my past spiritual experience, and not repentant of my current sins.  Convict me of sin, lead me in true repentance that bears fruit, and fill me with your Holy Spirit and purify me with celestial fire.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Repent and believe” by Cathy Stanley-Erickson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for December 13, 2015

 

Author’s Note:  I encourage all of my readers to prepare for the Christmas season with the Choose This Day Family Bible Study for the Advent season.  It’s a fun, short (10-15 minutes) Bible study that the whole family can enjoy daily from December 1 to 25.  You can visit that website  by clicking this link.

And now, back to today’s lectionary reading:

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Philippians 4:4-7

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The theme of joy, peace and trust prevail throughout Paul’s letter to the Philippians.

Again, we are reminded that when Paul is writing this letter to the first church he established in Europe, he is likely in prison.  Realizing his context makes this passage all the more poignant.

His exhortations that the Philippians are to rejoice, be gentle, and not worry are all grounded in the reality that

The Lord is near.

This is both an eschatological statement about the expectation of the Lord’s return and a statement that the Lord is also present among them through the Spirit.

Note that Paul doesn’t merely tell the Philippians to be joyful.  Their joy doesn’t come from within themselves but from their union with Christ:

Rejoice in the Lord always.

This is also consistent with Paul’s personal discovery of the sense that he is always at peace with God, no matter what the circumstances in his life (such as imprisonment!):

I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me (Philippians 4:11-13).

Paul’s own experience of faith in the face of both joy and adversity shapes his view of prayer, as he exhorts the Philippians:

Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

There is a kind of “cause and effect” relationship connecting the life of prayer with the peace that results:

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Peace in the Biblical sense is more than simply an absence of conflict, or a general sense of well-being.  Paul the rabbi might have had in mind the Hebrew sense of peace — shalom — which implies a sense of wholeness and abundance as well.

This is the peace of God ­— and therefore it is beyond mere human intellectual capacity.  It surpasses all understanding.  We are reminded of Paul’s recognition of human limitations when it comes to understanding the things of God:

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Paul says this peace will

guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The word guard has military connotations that remind us of his description of the full armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-17.

Significantly, Paul also includes prayer in Ephesians 6 as an essential for the Christian as he ends his allegory of spiritual weaponry:  

Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints (Ephesians 6:18).

APPLY:  

The Christian is able to rejoice always in the Lord because the Lord is near.  Notice that Paul doesn’t say the end is near.  No, the Lord is near. 

This is especially poignant in this Advent season.  We are reminded in the birth account from Matthew’s Gospel that Jesus is Immanuel — God with us.  And Jesus reassures his disciples at the end of Matthew’s Gospel that they will be able to make disciples of all nations because,

I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).

Therefore, we don’t need to be anxious about anything.  Paul outlines a kind of “golden chain,” a cause-and-effect that leads from anxiety to serenity:

in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Submit all things to prayer and supplication; give thanks in the knowledge that a loving Father hears our requests.  And as a consequence,

the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

RESPOND: 

I was raking my leaves when my neighbor came over to my yard for a chat.  We began talking, as neighbors sometimes do, about how bad things seem to be today, and how there don’t seem to be any solutions.

Finally, I just had to say “Well, as a Christian I can say that no matter how bad it may seem, I’ve seen the end of the book, and I know that it will all work out in the end.  It’s a little like watching a ball game that you have taped.  You know the final score; you know your team wins; and yet, you can see all the turnovers and injuries, and you can see that your team falls way behind at one point.  But you don’t need to be nervous because you know how it comes out.”

The same is true of the day of the Lord. We know that no matter how difficult our times, or how contrary it may seem to God’s will, God will be victorious!

Our Lord, prompt me to pray about everything in my life; to turn everything over to you, and to give you thanks no matter the circumstances, knowing that you will grant a peace that surpasses understanding, and will guard my heart and mind.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Philippians 4:5-7" by Tyler Neyens is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Psalter Reading for December 13, 2015

Author’s Note:  I encourage all of my readers to prepare for the Christmas season with the Choose This Day Family Bible Study for the Advent season.  It’s a fun, short (10-15 minutes) Bible study that the whole family can enjoy daily from December 1 to 25.  You can visit that website  by clicking this link.

And now, back to today’s lectionary reading:

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Isaiah 12:2-6

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

It is important to remember that Isaiah is prophesying in a time of peril and uncertainty.

The Northern Kingdom of Israel has fallen in 722 B.C. at the hands of the Assyrian Empire.  The Southern Kingdom of Judah, where Jerusalem is ruled by a descendent of David, is still intact but it is under constant threat from the Assyrians and other surrounding nations.

Moreover, Isaiah and the other prophets are  frequently critics of their own culture, which has become morally lax and religiously faddish. Isaiah perceives a drift among his people away from their God.

So, the context of this particular passage is embedded among passages that warn of God’s judgment that will be carried out by the Assyrians whom the Lord calls

. . . the rod of my anger—
the club in their hands is my fury!
Against a godless nation I send him,
and against the people of my wrath I command him (Isaiah 10:5-6) . . .

But in our current passage, Isaiah has received an oracle that is part of a longer message of hope and promise to God’s people.  The message is that despite their rebellion and its consequences, the Lord will save a remnant.

The phrase on that day  is repeated several times preceding our current scripture, and usually refers in Isaiah to a day of judgment or of redemption that is to come.

Here, that day is a word of hope.  Isaiah describes a time when the people of God will testify that they have no other source of salvation but God:

Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid,
for the Lord God is my strength and my might;
he has become my salvation.

The message is clear — the people of God need not be afraid because God is with them.

Isaiah uses a metaphor that certainly would have spoken to a people living in a dry land that was subject to drought:

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

Salvation is compared to deep waters that give life and refreshment.

The appropriate response to this salvation is prayer and worship:

And you will say in that day:
Give thanks to the Lord,
call on his name;
make known his deeds among the nations;
proclaim that his name is exalted.
Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;
let this be known in all the earth.
Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

The community of faith is called upon not only to receive the gift of salvation, but to bear witness to that gift.  This is a Biblical pattern — the recipient of salvation in turn shares that salvation with others.

A notable example is Psalm 51:12-13:

Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.

And it is notable, especially in Isaiah’s prophecies, that this gift of salvation is almost invariably available not only to Israel, but to all the nations (i.e., the Gentiles).

Though the Lord has revealed himself to Israel, Israel is called upon to be God’s ambassadors to the world concerning the salvation offered by God.

APPLY:  

Like Isaiah, we also live in times of peril.  Jihadists in the Middle-East slay Moslems, Christians, Jews and others, and proclaim a “caliphate.”  Acts of terror make free citizens everywhere uneasy.  Refugees stream away from their homes in the Middle-East, seeking sanctuary for their families from violence.

And this in the same geographical region to which Isaiah addresses many of his oracles! The places he mentions are still in the news today: Jerusalem, Damascus, Lebanon, Egypt, Ethiopia.  And some are the same regions under different names.

Here’s the point: our source of salvation today is the same as it was 2700 years ago.  In this season of Advent, we are always reminded that:

Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid,
for the Lord God is my strength and my might;
he has become my salvation.

RESPOND: 

Recently, following a horrible mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, the New York Daily News featured this headline: “God won’t fix this.”  The headline was a provocative reaction to the political candidates who were offering their “thoughts and prayers” to the victims of the shooting and their families.

The editors seemed to be making the point that simply offering cliches wasn’t enough to stop the bloodshed.  They were suggesting that human beings need to take responsibility for safety and security.

But what is misleading about the headline is the implication that God is somehow detached from our human problems, or is unable to do anything.

I believe that God has endowed human beings with free will.  This freedom creates the possibility of complex, intricate interactions between human beings. Some of those interactions are negative, and some are even lethal.  And innocent people are often hurt as a consequence of the bad will of others.

However, God has also promised that his ultimate will is our well-being — in a word, salvation.  That is the theme of Advent — that despite edicts from far away despots that make refugees out of expectant mothers; and despite the ruthlessness of rulers whose political insecurity leads them to kill  whole villages of children; despite all the San Bernardino massacres, or terror in Paris — despite all of this, God is our salvation, and God will fix all of this on that day. 

Our Lord, sometimes I’m tempted to be very fearful in these uncertain times.  And then your Word reassures me that you will bring good out of evil, and that you are my source of salvation.  Thank you for that assurance, and the sense of peace that you provide.  Amen.

PHOTOS:

"Isaiah 12:2" by Sapphire Dream Photography is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for December 13, 2015

Author’s Note:  I encourage all of my readers to prepare for the Christmas season with the Choose This Day Family Bible Study for the Advent season.  It’s a fun, short (10-15 minutes) Bible study that the whole family can enjoy daily from December 1 to 25.  You can visit that website  by clicking this link.

And now, back to today’s lectionary reading:

Start with Scripture:

Zephaniah 3:14-20

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Zephaniah, one of the twelve so-called “minor prophets,” was likely writing during the reign of King Josiah  (640-609 B.C.), and was a contemporary of the more prolific prophet Jeremiah.

What is interesting about this passage is its tone.  It differs significantly from most of the rest of the book.  This excerpt appears near the end of the book, but it has been preceded by stark warnings of doom for Judah and the other nations.  Zephaniah is pleading for Judah to repent before the great day of the Lord, which the prophet says will be a day of judgment:

That day will be a day of wrath,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness,
a day of trumpet blast and battle cry
against the fortified cities
and against the lofty battlements (Zephaniah 1:15-16).

In contrast, the tone of today’s passage is very positive and optimistic about God’s ultimate triumph:

Sing aloud, O daughter Zion;
shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter Jerusalem!
The Lord has taken away the judgments against you,
he has turned away your enemies.
The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
you shall fear disaster no more.

When Zephaniah speaks of the Lord who is in your midst , this is a reminder of the language of  the prophet Isaiah quoted by Matthew’s Gospel:

“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel”
which means, “God is with us.”  (Matthew 1:23).

The prophet promises that Jerusalem will not need to fear because

The Lord, your God, is in your midst,
a warrior who gives victory . . .

In the cosmic struggle of good and evil, the Lord will win the war.  Furthermore,

he will rejoice over you with gladness,
he will renew you in his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing
     as on a day of festival.

The language Zephaniah uses is reminiscent of celebratory wedding imagery, as in Isaiah 62: 4-5:

…you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,
and your land Married;
for the Lord delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
 For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your builder marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you. 

In other words, this passage seems to be a kind of “epithamalion,” which is a wedding hymn or poem.  The imagery of a wedding is often used to describe the joy and celebration of the ‘end of days’ when God’s kingdom comes.

And  Zephaniah also describes the positive changes that God will bring: disaster is removed; oppressors will be punished.  And those who are considered marginal will be blessed:

I will save the lame
and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise
and renown in all the earth.

This is reminiscent of the Magnificat of Mary in the Gospel of Luke, when she speaks of  God turning the world upside down:

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty(Luke 1:52-53).

And finally, Zephaniah seems to forecast the exile of Judah, which wouldn’t happen until 587 B.C., and the ultimate return of the Jews to Jerusalem, which wouldn’t occur until 538 B.C.

Zephaniah likely wrote this passage prior to Josiah’s reforms in 622  B.C., at least 84 years before the return:

At that time I will bring you home,
at the time when I gather you;
for I will make you renowned and praised
among all the peoples of the earth,
when I restore your fortunes
before your eyes, says the Lord.

Clearly, from Zephaniah’s perspective, the ultimate advent of the day of the Lord will be a day of restoration and renewal, healing and wholeness for the people of God.

APPLY:  

It is easy to understand why many of us would be somewhat ambivalent about the day of the Lord.  We’ve certainly heard the fulminations of some celebrated preachers, warning us of the impending disasters of the end of time.  And we’ve likely seen some movies that have scared us witless.

But there is another side to the day of the Lord. That this day, although a day of judgment, is also a day of rejoicing. It will be like a wedding, the completion and consummation of our hopes and dreams.

For the people of God and for those who are often marginalized in many societies — the disabled, the outcasts — the day of the Lord is something to be hoped for and welcomed.

RESPOND: 

My wife is a very gifted musician, and her primary instruments are the piano and the organ.

When she was in college she had an organ lesson early in the morning with an organ teacher who was very hard on her, and very demanding. She found this to be a very stressful, tense experience.

As a devout Christian, she of course would pray that she would do well, as any of us might.  But what makes me smile is her honesty.  She said she can remember praying, “Lord, you have promised that you are going to return one day.  If you’re going to return soon anyway, could you come before I have to endure this organ lesson today?”

She definitely saw the coming of the Lord as a positive thing!  Seriously, the day of the Lord will provide resolution to the ancient conflict between good and evil, and will turn sorrow into joy. Stress and fear will be no more.

Our Lord, I do not fear the coming of the end, no matter how dismal or dangerous the interim time may be in my life or in the world around me.  I do not fear because you are with us, and you will be victorious!  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Zephaniah 3:17" by Charlotte Tai is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.