Gospel for December 31, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Luke 2:22-40
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The childhood of Jesus, as recorded in the Four Gospels, was fairly unremarkable — with a few notable exceptions.

Luke makes us aware immediately of the Jewishness of Jesus.  His parents bring him to the temple according to the Law of Moses.  As the Apostle Paul wrote, Jesus was:

born under the law (Galatians 4:4).

According to the law of Moses, a woman who gave birth to a son was required to observe a term of purification for seven days, followed by the child’s circumcision on the eighth day.  Her full term of purification was set at thirty-three days before she could enter the sanctuary. Here, Luke focuses on the presentation of the newborn at the temple, as per Exodus 13:2, 12:

Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord.

There is poignancy to this dedication of Jesus.  Of course every firstborn Jewish male would be dedicated to the Lord, and belonged to the Lord in a unique sense.  How true this was especially of Jesus, who is uniquely holy as the Son of God!

Moreover, we note that a redemptive sacrifice was required in order to satisfy the requirement of dedication.  The wonderful irony is that Jesus is our redemption!  He ransoms us from our bondage to sin and death.

We can assume, because Mary comes with Joseph and Jesus to the temple, that her thirty-three days of purification have been fulfilled.  And we get a glimpse into the socio-economic level of Joseph and Mary as well.  Luke tells us that the parents of Jesus went to the temple to:

offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”

This law, from Leviticus 13:6-8, offers a graduated scale for sacrifices.  The typical requirement was the sacrifice of a lamb.  However, we see that Mary and Joseph were evidently short on cash:

If she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves, or two young pigeons; the one for a burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering: and the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean (Leviticus 13:8).

However, while these new parents are bringing their son to be presented before the Lord, and offering their meager sacrifice for the purification of Mary, there is an extraordinary spiritual encounter with a man named Simeon.

All that we know of Simeon is that he is a resident of Jerusalem, and is:

 righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him.

And there is also a hint that he has received a prophetic vision:

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

We note the centrality of the Holy Spirit in this passage — Simeon is filled with the Holy Spirit, he has received a revelation from the Holy Spirit, and then the Holy Spirit leads him into the temple at the moment when the parents bring Jesus:

that they might do concerning him according to the custom of the law…

There is an intersection here of two sources of God’s revelation to the people of Israel — the law and the prophets.  The latter is uniquely pneumatological, meaning that it relates to the Spirit.  Perhaps Simeon’s dependence on the Holy Spirit is an anticipation of Peter’s quote from the prophet Joel on the Day of Pentecost:

It will be in the last days, says God,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.
Your sons and your daughters will prophesy.
Your young men will see visions.
Your old men will dream dreams (Acts 2:17, emphasis mine).

We are also reminded of the interrelation of law and prophets as Jesus announces in the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew:

 Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill (Matthew 5:17).

Simeon’s prayer, known by some as the Nunc Dimittis, and used as a canticle in Christian liturgy, is both a prayer of thanks and a prophecy.  Simeon gathers the child into his arms and gives thanks that he has seen the Messiah, just as he has been promised by the Holy Spirit:

Now you are releasing your servant, Master,
according to your word, in peace;
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared before the face of all peoples;
a light for revelation to the nations,
and the glory of your people Israel.

Note the universal scope of Simeon’s prophecy.  Jesus is not merely the savior of Israel, but of the Gentiles (nations) as well.  His salvation is for all peoples.

Joseph and Mary are astonished by Simeon’s words, but when Simeon blesses them, he then makes a further prophecy pertaining to the child — and to Mary:

Behold, this child is set for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which is spoken against. Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

Simeon sees that Jesus will be a pivotal figure for the people of Israel — and really for all people.  Jesus will be controversial — spoken against — as Messiah.  But the decision that people make about Jesus will be determinative in their own lives.  As the Apostle Peter says:

You also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Because it is contained in Scripture,
“Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, chosen, and precious: He who believes in him will not be disappointed.”
For you who believe therefore is the honor, but for those who are disobedient,
“The stone which the builders rejected, has become the chief cornerstone,”
and, “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense” (1 Peter 2:5-8).

And Simeon also foresees the deep grief that will one day pierce the heart of Mary when Jesus suffers and dies before her very eyes.  But this sacrificial death will touch the lives of multitudes.

There is then yet another witness who is cited by Luke — Anna, a prophetess.  Like Simeon, she is old — very old.  She has been a widow for eighty-four years, after a marriage of seven years. She has spent her years in the temple, fasting and praying.  She also recognizes the significance of this holy child:

Coming up at that very hour, she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of him to all those who were looking for redemption in Jerusalem.

Anna’s brief appearance is a reminder of the significance of women in Luke’s Gospel.  Luke includes women in his narrative of Jesus’ life more than any other Gospel writer.  The Gospel is not merely for men, but for all people.

Having completed their ritual obligations, Mary and Joseph return — not to Bethlehem, but to Nazareth in Galilee.

And for now, the Gospel simply tells us that Jesus grows up — physically, spiritually and intellectually.  He is a human being, although he is also the divine Son of God:

The child was growing, and was becoming strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

APPLY:  

Jesus fulfils the law and the prophets from the very beginning of his life.  As Christians we can never lose sight of the fact that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah who is also our Savior.  He fulfills the law and the prophets by his perfect obedience, through his prophetic teaching, and through his sacrificial death and glorious resurrection.

We are able to identify with Simeon and Anna as we anticipate the work of Christ in our lives and in history, and as we respond to his coming.  Like these two, we are reminded that no matter how old we may be, the promises of Christ are still alive for us.

RESPOND: 

As I age, I am becoming aware of how much I don’t really know.  The certainties of my youth simply aren’t so certain anymore.  So I find it helpful to identify with the two “senior citizens” who recognize the holiness of Jesus in the temple.

Like Simeon, I am summoned to be righteous and devout, with openness to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.  Like Anna, I find it helpful to spend time in worship, to use the spiritual disciplines of fasting and prayer.

And like both Simeon and Anna, I am to keep my eyes open for the consolation of Israel — who is also the consolation of all of us.

Lord, may my eyes of faith be open as I look at the world today, so that I may see where you are present.  Amen.

PHOTOS:
“Saint Simeon with the Christ child. 2014. Oil on canvas.” by Andrei Mironov is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. 

Epistle for December 31, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Galatians 4:4-7
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

These verses from the letter to the Galatians might be called Paul’s Nativity Story. Unlike the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Paul doesn’t offer dramatic stories of stars and angels and Magi and shepherds.  However, like John’s prologue, Paul offers a profound theological interpretation of the birth of Jesus.

He begins with the intersection of time and eternity, and the intersection of the divine and human:

But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman…

The phrase that catches our attention is the fullness of the time.  The Greek phrase is pleroma tou chronou.  Pleroma — meaning fullness — has a rich philosophical and thelogical meaning.  It denotes perfect fullness, or completion.  And the word chronos — time — may have been understood by Paul as a span of time or even an epoch, or an age. In other words, there is more here than the mere fairy tale meaning “Once upon a time.”  Time has reached a preordained goal.

Paul recognizes that the birth of Jesus is the culmination of God’s plan for history.  No doubt he implies a connection between the Messianic prophecies of his own people’s Scriptures and the coming of Jesus.  In his letter to the Ephesians, he elaborates on this plan, exploring similar concepts. He says that God has:

predestined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire,  to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he freely gave us favor in the Beloved, in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,  which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him  to an administration of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, in him (Ephesians 1:5-10).

Paul also hints at the unique nature of Jesus as fully human and fully divine.  He is God’s Son, who is born of a woman. Once again, this theology of the incarnation is made clear elsewhere, not only in the Gospels but also in Paul’s epistles.  In John’s Gospel, Jesus is the eternal Word who is God, through whom all things were made, who also became flesh (John 1:1-2, 14).  And Paul tells us that Jesus is equal with God, but takes upon himself the form of human flesh (Philippians 2:5-7).

Paul then makes clear that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Hebrew covenant.  Jesus is:

born under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law…

Jesus is not only Son of God and Son of Mary, he is clearly the Jewish Messiah who has come to redeem not only the people of Israel but all who believe.

And his redeeming work creates a new relationship between God and those who are redeemed.  The legal covenant is replaced with a familial relationship:

that we might receive the adoption of children.

To be clear — only Jesus has a real, organic relationship with God the Father as God the Son.  He is, as the King James Version eloquently expresses it, the only begotten Son of the Father (John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18).  Those who are adopted as children of God are adopted for the sake of Jesus the Son of God.

And Paul further explores the Trinitarian nature of God.  Believers in Jesus are adopted as children of God for his sake, and they can know that they are children of God through the witness of the Holy Spirit.  Note that the Spirit here is called the Spirit of his Son. 

The Spirit bears witness in the heart of the believer in a vivid manner:

crying, “Abba, Father!”

Because the believer has been adopted as a child of God, he/she knows in their spirit through the inner voice of the Spirit of God that they belong to God.  They are made heirs of God through Christ, and have the privilege of calling the Sovereign Lord of the Universe Father!

There have been various interpretations of the Aramaic word Abba in Biblical scholarship.  Some have said that it is the affectionate term that a child might have called a father in ancient Judaism — like an American child saying “Daddy!” Others say it simply means father and nothing more.  But the intimacy of Paul’s description here, where the Spirit speaks in the heart of the believer, leads me to believe that something more intimate is meant.

The fact is, the believer has been transferred in status from a detached relationship as a bondservant to the intimate relationship of a child and heir of God.

APPLY:  

Through these brief verses from Paul’s unique Nativity Story, we receive a glimpse of many dimensions of Biblical doctrine.  There is an allusion to God’s plan for history, revealed in the fullness of time through the birth of Jesus. There is the work that God does in the heart of the believer through his Son and through his Spirit.  And there is a hint about the character and interrelation of God as Trinity — Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Paul clearly believes in God’s plan for history.  His references to the prophets throughout his letters make this faith clear.  History has a beginning, a middle, and an end.  History is not, as Shakespeare’s Macbeth might say “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”  This is comforting when so much in our world seems to make no sense. God has a purpose for his creation, and for us.

An enormous part of that plan is worked out in our lives.  The Son of God has been sent at the right time, born of a woman, to redeem those who are condemned by the rigorous standards of the law — which means all of us. Jesus fulfills the law on our behalf so that his righteousness becomes our righteousness (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21).  And because of the redemption of Jesus, we may be adopted as children of God.  Even more, we can know that we are adopted as children of God, because like children excited to see their Father, we can cry out Abba, Father!  The Spirit of God’s Son bears witness in our very hearts that we are his children!  As Paul writes in a passage that closely parallels Galatians 4:4-7:

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:16-17).

Perhaps the most astounding claim that we have is that we are co-heirs with Christ. This implies that whatever Christ inherits from the Father, we inherit — a glorified resurrection body, eternal life, and heaven itself!

And, finally, we gain an insight into the inner working of the Trinity.  God the Father sends his Son, who is God incarnate, to redeem us and provide the means of our adoption as his children. And God’s own Spirit testifies to us that God is our Abba, Father.  The work of salvation, redemption, and adoption, are the work of the Triune God from inception to consummation.

RESPOND: 

This passage seems appropriate for this season, as the calendar year comes to an end.  Paul’s poignant phrase — the fullness of the time — reminds us of the convergence of important dates in our season.  We have only very recently celebrated Christmas Day, the remembrance of the only begotten Son of the Father, born of a woman at Bethlehem.

And as the New Year begins, we look forward to the “great unknown” — the future.  The future is like a frontier which we will not understand until we experience it — when the future becomes the present with each passing day.  We have no idea what the weather will really be like this coming winter; or who will be elected in the coming year; or what loved ones we might lose.

And yet, we receive a forecast of the future in this passage from Paul — through Christ, and confirmed through the Spirit, we can know now that we have been adopted as children of God, and that we will one day inherit all that Christ has inherited.

Our Lord, in the fullness of time you came for us; and through your Holy Spirit you continue to come into our lives so that we are able to cry out, like excited children “Abba, Father!”  Thank you for adopting us as your children and making us a part of your family.  Amen.

PHOTOS:
“Fullness of Time” uses the following photo:
“Hourglass” by Nick Olejniczak is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for December 31, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 148
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

On this first Sunday in the liturgical Christmas season, the proper response to the birth of our Lord is celebration.  Psalm 148 certainly fills the bill!

The Psalmist uses the imperative praise! thirteen times, calling upon all the heavens and the earth, all the creatures therein, and all generations to praise the Lord in this litany of praise.

There is a kind of hierarchy that the Psalmist follows:

• He begins with the angelic realm at the highest level.
• He then descends to the next rung — the celestial bodies of sun, moon and stars.
• Then all of the forces of nature that contribute to the chaos of nature — sea monsters from the deeps, the fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind.
• He moves on to the grandeur of the mountains of the earth, and the trees and animal life that are sustained on the earth.

The Psalmist concludes his hierarchy of praise with the human voices that should worship the Lord, including the political powers of the day — kings and princes — as well as people of all generations, both men and women.

This pattern seems to parallel the pattern of Genesis 1, which moves from the creation of the fundamental elements of nature, to the water and the dry land, all the vegetative and animal life, and then the climax of creation with human beings who are made in the image of God.

The first section of the Psalm, from verses 1 to 4, is a kind of cosmic call to praise.  He summons first the heavenly, spiritual beings that inhabit the courts of the Lord:

Praise Yahweh from the heavens!
Praise him in the heights!
Praise him, all his angels!
Praise him, all his army!

This is a reminder to the Christian reader of the heavenly announcement in the Gospel of Luke 2:8-14, when the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds in the pastures and brought the good news — the evangel — of the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem, and the subsequent heavenly chorus:

Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army praising God, and saying,
 “Glory to God in the highest,
on earth peace, good will toward men.” (Luke 2:13-14).

The Psalmist then unapologetically refers to non-human aspects of creation in anthropomorphic terms, calling upon sun and moon, shining stars, waters above the heavens to praise God.

In verses 5-6, he explains the reason that these should praise the Lord.  All the celestial cosmos owes its existence to the Lord:

Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for he commanded and they were created.

The Psalmist continues to summon praise from the chaotic, unpredictable aspects of nature:

Praise Yahweh from the earth,
you great sea creatures, and all depths!
Lightning and hail, snow and clouds;
stormy wind…

Though they are chaotic, these natural forces are still subject to the control of the Lord,

fulfilling his word.

Praises are to ring forth from:

Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars!
Wild animals and all livestock,
small creatures and flying birds!

And finally, of course, with the human kingdoms, all generations and genders:

Kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all judges of the earth;
both young men and maidens;
old and children.

Again, this seems to echo the climax of Genesis 1:26-27. God announces his intent to make humankind in his own image.  What this means is that they would have dominion over all creation as God’s representatives on earth; and that both male and female are required to fully reflect the image of God:

God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.

This is a fascinating parallel with Psalm 148.  To be made in God’s image is to have the responsibility of rule in God’s name, and for men and women to reflect God’s nature.  And so people — rulers and men and women, old and young — are to praise God.

The Psalmist sums up this call to praise by acknowledging that the Lord is to be worshiped exclusively:

let them praise Yahweh’s name,
for his name alone is exalted.
His glory is above the earth and the heavens.

And at last the Psalmist returns to an ancient symbol, reflecting God’s blessing to Israel:

He has lifted up the horn of his people,
the praise of all his saints;
even of the children of Israel, a people near to him.

The horn hearkens back to a symbol of the bull, denoting strength in ancient Israel. Interestingly, as the focus of the Psalmist has narrowed from its height among the angels, it has finally come to rest on the saints who are defined as:

the children of Israel, a people near to him.

Praise, it seems, brings God’s people closer to him.

Clearly, all that exists is called upon to praise God, who is the source of all benefits and blessings.

APPLY:  

In this Christmas season, how appropriate that all creation, from the angels to the stars to the oceans and the mountains and the beasts and kings and all people everywhere, should praise God!

I would venture to say that the angels and the natural order do fulfill their calling to praise God.  They do so in part by simply fulfilling their purpose as part of God’s creation:

 For he commanded, and they were created.

With kings, rulers, men and women, this may be a bit more difficult to compel.  Because of human free will, people don’t seem to be joined in one voice today for the purpose of praising God.

This is the ongoing task of the church — to continue to proclaim and praise God by word and deed until the rest of the world catches on!

RESPOND: 

The Scriptures provide definitive guidance to my faith and practice.  Without them I’d be lost.

However, there are moments in my life when the mental fog rolls in and I find myself in a “gray night of the soul.”  So many different views of the Christian faith and the Bible can create confusion even after a lifetime in the Christian church, and more than 40 years as a committed Christian.

On occasions like these, I find the Psalmist’s summons to praise very helpful. To go outside on a clear night and look at the stars and the moon; or to stand on a mountainside and consider the distances of the valley below; or to stand at the edge of the ocean and watch the wild surf — these can be powerful reminders of the creative power of God.

As just one example of the power of nature to enkindle faith, I quote Eric Metaxas, a Christian writer:

There are more than 200 known parameters necessary for a planet to support life — every single one of which must be perfectly met, or the whole thing falls apart . . . Can every one of those many parameters have been perfect by accident?

Lord, I join the angels and the archangels, the stars and the planets, and all the creatures of the earth, in praising you.  May my praise join with the praise of all who live and move and have their being in you. And may my praise bring others closer to you.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Psalm 148:7" by KaleidoscopeEyesPhotgraphy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for December 31, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Isaiah 61:10-62:3
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Book of Isaiah has sometimes been referred to as the Fifth Gospel, although it is an Old Testament book. Christians have especially revered Isaiah because of the frequent references to the Hebrew prophetic oracles that are found in the New Testament Gospels, as well as several epistles.  New Testament writers have mined Isaiah for its treasury of prophecies. References to Isaiah occur in the New Testament a total of eighty-five times.

Many scholars believe that Isaiah 61:10-62:3 (our lectionary reading) was not written by the original Isaiah, the historic prophet who lived in Jerusalem in the eighth century B.C.  These scholars believe that there were at least three different writers of the book we know as Isaiah:

• Proto-Isaiah (i.e., First Isaiah, who wrote and was the subject of Isaiah 1-39)
• Deutero-Isaiah (i.e., Second Isaiah, who wrote Isaiah 40-55)
• Trito-Isaiah (i.e., Third Isaiah, who wrote Isaiah 56-66)

They argue that the works of multiple prophets were collected and edited as one work.

From the perspective of the Christian church, this misses the point.  The Scriptures are the church’s book, intended to reinforce the revelation of God to his people, and to inspire faith.  The historical-critical method employed by Biblical scholars is interesting, but it risks the deconstruction of doctrinal foundations when it becomes the primary consideration of the text. More on that a little later.

In its present context, Isaiah 61:10-62:3 is a psalm of great joy.  The central metaphor is that of a wedding — the garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness, which are themselves metaphorical, are compared to the garland of a bridegroom and the jewels adorning a bride.  The prophet is decked out for celebration, as if for a wedding.

The prophet then transitions to a new metaphor, comparing the agricultural fruitfulness of the earth and the garden to the springing up of God’s righteousness:

 For as the earth produces its bud,
and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring up;
so the Lord Yahweh will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

We see one of the frequent themes of Isaiah — that Yahweh’s blessings aren’t meant merely for Israel, but also for all the nations.  The nations is a Biblical term for the Gentiles — God’s covenant is inclusive, not exclusive.

Nevertheless, Zion and Jerusalem continue to hold a central place in this scenario, as a source of spiritual enlightenment:

For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace,
and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest,
until her righteousness shines out like the dawn,
and her salvation like a burning lamp.

Though the blessings of salvation are to be extended even to the Gentiles, those blessings emanate originally from Jerusalem — i.e., the Jews.

And other nations and their political systems — all kings — will be aware of the centrality of Jerusalem.

The metaphors Isaiah uses describe the royalty inherent in Jerusalem — perhaps hearkening back to the royal dynasty of David himself:

 You will also be a crown of beauty in Yahweh‘s hand,
and a royal diadem in your God‘s hand.

APPLY:  

We never forget the intimate connection of the Old and New Testament when we read the Scriptures.  The restoration and salvation of Israel prefigure the restoration and salvation of even Gentiles, which describes the vast majority of Christians today.

On this Sunday, which is the first Sunday after Christmas, we share in the same joy that the exiled Israelites must have experienced when they returned from Babylon to Jerusalem.  Christians, who have been exiled by our “fears and sins” have been released by the coming of Jesus into our world and into our lives.

We are the bride of Christ — the church — and we rejoice in our union with him. We grow the fruit of righteousness in the fertile soil of God’s garden. Christ has become the light and lamp of our lives. And because we are now co-heirs with Christ, we are regarded as royalty because we are his brothers and sisters. As the Apostle Peter declares:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).

RESPOND: 

I promised to return to the discussion about the identity of Isaiah. The bottom line is, what difference does it make?  The writers of Scripture weren’t concerned with getting credit for their writing — they were bearing witness not to themselves but to the Living God.  It is their words and their witness that matters, not their identity.

As an English major, I was only mildly interested in the heated debates about the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays.  Some scholars have questioned whether the Bard of Avon wrote all of the plays attributed to him.  Some have suggested that Christopher Marlowe wrote some, or Walter Raleigh, or even Queen Elizabeth herself!

We won’t ever really know — and it doesn’t matter.  In this case, as in the case of Isaiah, the message is more important than the messenger.

Lord, you have come into our world, and we rejoice — like a bride and bridegroom at a wedding. Our own lives bear fruit in righteousness and praise because you are with us. Your light guides us. And we are your royal heirs, as sisters and brothers of Christ.  Amen.

PHOTOS:
“v11-Soil-Seed-Garden-Grow-Spring-Up” by Lex McKee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for December 30, 2018

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:
Psalm 148
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

(SELECTING PASSAGES FOR THE SOAR STUDY WAS COMPLICATED BY THE GLORIOUS CELEBRATION OF CHRISTMAS THAT INTERVENES BETWEEN THE LAST SUNDAY OF ADVENT AND THIS FIRST SUNDAY IN CHRISTMAS. HOWEVER, IF THE READER IS INTERESTED IN REFLECTIONS ON THE CHRISTMAS PASSAGES, I INVITE YOU TO CHECK OUT THE SOAR ENTRIES FOR DEC. 28, 2014)

OBSERVE:

On this first Sunday in the liturgical Christmas season, the proper response to the birth of our Lord is celebration.  Psalm 148 certainly fills the bill!

The Psalmist uses the imperative praise! thirteen times, calling upon all the heavens and the earth, all the creatures therein,  and all generations to praise the Lord in this litany of praise.

There is a kind of hierarchy that the Psalmist follows:

• He begins with the angelic realm at the highest level.
• He then descends to the next rung — the celestial bodies of sun, moon and stars.
• Then all of the forces of nature that contribute to the chaos of nature — sea monsters from the deeps, the  fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind.
•  He moves on to the grandeur of the mountains of the earth, and the trees and animal life that are sustained on the earth.

The Psalmist concludes his hierarchy of praise with the human voices that should worship the Lord, including the political powers of the day — kings and princes — as well as people of all generations, both men and women.

This pattern seems to parallel the pattern of Genesis 1, which moves from the creation of  the fundamental elements of nature, to the water and the dry land, all the vegetative and animal life, and then the climax of creation with human beings who are made in the image of God.

The first section of the Psalm, from verse 1 to 4, is a kind of cosmic call to praise.  He summons first the heavenly, spiritual beings that inhabit the courts of the Lord:

Praise Yahweh from the heavens!
Praise him in the heights!
Praise him, all his angels!
Praise him, all his army!

This is a reminder to the Christian reader of the heavenly announcement in the Gospel of Luke 2:8-14, when the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds in the pastures and brought the good news — the evangel — of the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem, and the subsequent heavenly chorus:

 Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army praising God, and saying,
 “Glory to God in the highest,
on earth peace, good will toward men.”(Luke 2:13-14).

The Psalmist then unapologetically refers to non-human aspects of creation in anthropomorphic terms, calling upon sun and moon,  shining stars, waters above the heavens to praise God.

In verses 5-6, he explains the reason that these should praise the Lord.  All the celestial cosmos owes its existence to the Lord:

Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for he commanded and they were created.

The Psalmist continues to summon praise from the chaotic, unpredictable aspects of nature:

Praise Yahweh from the earth,
you great sea creatures, and all depths!
Lightning and hail, snow and clouds;
stormy wind….

Though they are chaotic, these natural forces are still subject to the control of the Lord,

fulfilling his word.

Praises are to ring forth from:

Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars!
Wild animals and all livestock,
small creatures and flying birds!

And finally, of course, with the human kingdoms,  all generations and genders:

Kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all judges of the earth;
both young men and maidens;
old and children.

Again, this seems to echo the climax of Genesis 1:26-27. God announces his intent to make humankind in his own image.  What this means is that they would have dominion over all creation as God’s representatives on earth;  and that both male and female are required to fully reflect the image of God:

God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.

This is a fascinating parallel with Psalm 148.  To be made in God’s image is to have the responsibility of rule in God’s name, and for men and women to reflect God’s nature.  And so people — rulers and men and women, old and young — are to praise God.

The Psalmist sums up this call to praise by acknowledging that the Lord is to be worshiped exclusively:

let them praise Yahweh’s name,
for his name alone is exalted.
His glory is above the earth and the heavens.

And at last the Psalmist returns to an ancient symbol, reflecting God’s blessing to Israel:

He has lifted up the horn of his people,
the praise of all his saints;
even of the children of Israel, a people near to him.

The horn hearkens back to a symbol of the bull, denoting strength in ancient Israel. Interestingly, as the focus of the Psalmist has narrowed from its height among the angels, it has finally come to rest on the saints who are defined as:

the children of Israel, a people near to him.

Praise, it seems, brings God’s people closer to him.

Clearly, all that exists is called upon to praise God, who is the source of all benefits and blessings.

APPLY:  

In this Christmas season, how appropriate that all creation, from the angels to the stars to the oceans and the mountains and the beasts and kings and all people everywhere, should praise God!

I would venture to say that the angels and the natural order do fulfill their calling to praise God.  They do so in part by simply fulfilling their purpose as part of God’s creation:

 For he commanded, and they were created.

With kings, rulers, men and women, this may be a bit more difficult to compel.  Because of human free will, people don’t seem to be joined in one voice today for the purpose of praising God.

This is the ongoing task of the church — to continue to proclaim and praise God by word and deed until the rest of the world catches on!

RESPOND: 

The Scriptures provide definitive guidance to my faith and practice.  Without them I’d be lost.

However, there are moments in my life when the mental fog rolls in and I find myself in a “gray night of the soul.”  So many different views of the Christian faith and the Bible can create confusion even after a lifetime in the Christian church, and more than 40 years as a committed Christian.

On occasions like these, I find the Psalmist’s summons to praise very helpful. To go outside on a clear night and look at the stars and the moon; or to stand on a mountainside and consider the distances of the valley below; or to stand at the edge of the ocean and watch the wild surf — these can be powerful reminders of the creative power of God.

As just one example of the power of nature to enkindle faith, I quote Eric Metaxas, a Christian writer,

There are more than 200 known parameters necessary for a planet to support life — every single one of which must be perfectly met, or the whole thing falls apart . . . Can every one of those many parameters have been perfect by accident?

Lord, I join the angels and the archangels, the stars and the planets, and all the creatures of the earth, in praising you.  May my praise join with the praise of all who live and move and have their being in you. And may my praise bring others closer to you.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"DSC_0198" by Ted is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for December 31, 2017

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Luke 2:22-40
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The childhood of Jesus, as recorded in the Four Gospels, was fairly unremarkable — with a few notable exceptions.

Luke makes us aware immediately of the Jewishness of Jesus.  His parents bring him to the temple according to the Law of Moses.  As the Apostle Paul wrote, Jesus was:

born under the law (Galatians 4:4).

According to the law of Moses, a woman who gave birth to a son was required to observe a term of purification for seven days, followed by the child’s circumcision on the eighth day.  Her full term of purification was set at thirty-three days before she could enter the sanctuary. Here, Luke focuses on the presentation of the newborn at the temple, as per Exodus 13:2, 12:

Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord.

There is poignancy to this dedication of Jesus.  Of course every firstborn Jewish male would be dedicated to the Lord, and belonged to the Lord in a unique sense.  How true this was especially of Jesus, who is uniquely holy as the Son of God!

Moreover, we note that a redemptive sacrifice was required in order to satisfy the requirement of dedication.  The wonderful irony is that Jesus is our redemption!  He ransoms us from our bondage to sin and death.

We can assume, because Mary comes with Joseph and Jesus to the temple, that her thirty-three days of purification have been fulfilled.  And we get a glimpse into the socio-economic level of Joseph and Mary as well.  Luke tells us that the parents of Jesus went to the temple to:

offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”

This law, from Leviticus 13:6-8, offers a graduated scale for sacrifices.  The typical requirement was the sacrifice of a lamb.  However, we see that Mary and Joseph were evidently short on cash:

If she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves, or two young pigeons; the one for a burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering: and the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean (Leviticus 13:8).

However, while these new parents are bringing their son to be presented before the Lord, and offering their meager sacrifice for the purification of Mary, there is an extraordinary spiritual encounter with a man named Simeon.

All that we know of Simeon is that he is a resident of Jerusalem, and is:

 righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him.

And there is also a hint that he has received a prophetic vision:

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

We note the centrality of the Holy Spirit in this passage — Simeon is filled with the Holy Spirit, he has received a revelation from the Holy Spirit, and then the Holy Spirit leads him into the temple at the moment when the parents bring Jesus:

that they might do concerning him according to the custom of the law…

There is an intersection here of two sources of God’s revelation to the people of Israel — the law and the prophets.  The latter is uniquely pneumatological, meaning that it relates to the Spirit.  Perhaps Simeon’s dependence on the Holy Spirit is an anticipation of Peter’s quote from the prophet Joel on the Day of Pentecost:

It will be in the last days, says God,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.
Your sons and your daughters will prophesy.
Your young men will see visions.
Your old men will dream dreams (Acts 2:17, emphasis mine).

We are also reminded of the interrelation of law and prophets  as Jesus announces in the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew:

 Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill (Matthew 5:17).

Simeon’s prayer, known by some as the Nunc Dimittis, and used as a canticle in Christian liturgy, is both a prayer of thanks and a prophecy.  Simeon gathers the child into his arms and gives thanks that he has seen the Messiah, just as he has been promised by the Holy Spirit:

Now you are releasing your servant, Master,
according to your word, in peace;
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared before the face of all peoples;
a light for revelation to the nations,
and the glory of your people Israel.

Note the universal scope of Simeon’s prophecy.  Jesus is not merely the savior of Israel, but of the Gentiles (nations) as well.  His salvation is for all peoples.

Joseph and Mary are astonished by Simeon’s words, but when Simeon blesses them, he then makes a further prophecy pertaining to the child — and to Mary:

Behold, this child is set for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which is spoken against. Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

Simeon sees that Jesus will be a pivotal figure for the people of Israel — and really for all people.  Jesus will be controversial — spoken against — as Messiah.  But the decision that people make about Jesus will be determinative in their own lives.  As the Apostle Peter says:

“Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, chosen, and precious:
He who believes in him will not be disappointed.
For you who believe therefore is the honor, but for those who are disobedient.
“The stone which the builders rejected,
has become the chief cornerstone,”  and,
“a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense” (1 Peter 2:6-8).

And Simeon also foresees the deep grief that will one day pierce the heart of Mary when Jesus suffers and dies before her very eyes.  But this sacrificial death will touch the lives of multitudes.

There is then yet another witness who is cited by Luke — Anna, a prophetess.  Like Simeon, she is old — very old.  She has been a widow for eighty-four years, after a marriage of seven years. She has spent her years in the temple, fasting and praying.  She also recognizes the significance of this holy child:

 Coming up at that very hour, she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of him to all those who were looking for redemption in Jerusalem.

Anna’s brief appearance is a reminder of the significance of women in Luke’s Gospel.  Luke includes women in his narrative of Jesus’ life more than any other Gospel writer.  The Gospel is not merely for men, but for all people.

Having completed their ritual obligations, Mary and Joseph return — not to Bethlehem, but to Nazareth in Galilee.

And for now, the Gospel simply tells us that Jesus grows up — physically, spiritually and intellectually.  He is a human being, although he is also the divine Son of God:

The child was growing, and was becoming strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

APPLY:  

Jesus fulfils the law and the prophets from the very beginning of his life.  As Christians we can never lose sight of the fact that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah who is also our Savior.  He fulfills the law and the prophets by his perfect obedience, through his prophetic teaching, and through his sacrificial death and glorious resurrection.

We are able to identify with Simeon and Anna as we anticipate the work of Christ in our lives and in history, and as we respond to his coming.  Like these two, we are reminded that no matter how old we may be, the promises of Christ are still alive for us.

RESPOND: 

As I age, I am becoming aware of how much I don’t really know.  The certainties of my youth simply aren’t so certain anymore.  So I find it helpful to identify with the two “senior citizens” who recognize the holiness of Jesus in the temple.

Like Simeon, I am summoned to be righteous and devout, with openness to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.  Like Anna, I find it helpful to spend time in worship, to use the spiritual disciplines of fasting and prayer.

And like both Simeon and Anna, I am to keep my eyes open for the consolation of Israel — who is also the consolation of all of us.

Lord, may my eyes of faith be open as I look at the world today, so that I may see where you are present.  Amen.

PHOTOS:
“Saint Simeon with the Christ child. 2014. Oil on canvas.” by Andrei Mironov is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. 

Epistle for December 31, 2017

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Galatians 4:4-7
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

These verses from the letter to the Galatians might be called Paul’s Nativity Story. Unlike the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Paul doesn’t offer dramatic stories of stars and angels and Magi and shepherds.  However, like John’s prologue, Paul offers a profound theological interpretation of the birth of Jesus.

He begins with the intersection of time and eternity, and the intersection of the divine and human:

But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman….

The phrase that catches our attention is the fullness of the time.  The Greek phrase is pleroma tou chronou.  Pleroma — meaning fullness — has a rich philosophical and thelogical meaning.  It denotes perfect fullness, or completion.  And the word chronos — time — may have been understood by Paul as a span of time or even an epoch, or an age. In other words, there is more here than the mere fairy tale meaning “Once upon a time.”  Time has reached a preordained goal.

Paul recognizes that the birth of Jesus is the culmination of God’s plan for history.  No doubt he implies a connection between the Messianic prophecies of his own people’s Scriptures and the coming of Jesus.  In his letter to the Ephesians, he elaborates on this plan, exploring similar concepts. He says that God has:

predestined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire,  to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he freely gave us favor in the Beloved, in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,  which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him  to an administration of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, in him (Ephesians 1:5-10).

Paul also hints at the unique nature of Jesus as fully human and fully divine.  He is God’s Son, who is  born of a woman. Once again, this theology of the incarnation is made clear elsewhere, not only in the Gospels but also in Paul’s epistles.  In John’s Gospel, Jesus is the eternal Word who is God, through whom all things were made, who also became flesh (John 1:1-2, 14).  And Paul tells us that Jesus is equal with God, but takes upon himself the form of human flesh (Philippians 2:5-7).

Paul then makes clear that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Hebrew covenant.  Jesus is:

born under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law…

Jesus is not only Son of God and Son of Mary, he is clearly the Jewish Messiah who has come to redeem not only the people of Israel but all who believe.

And his redeeming work creates a new relationship between God and those who are redeemed.  The legal covenant is replaced with a familial relationship:

that we might receive the adoption of children.

To be clear — only Jesus has a real, organic relationship with God the Father as God the Son.  He is, as the King James Version eloquently expresses it, the only begotten Son of the Father (John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18).  Those who are adopted as children of God are adopted for the sake of Jesus the Son of God.

And Paul further explores the Trinitarian nature of God.  Believers in Jesus are adopted as children of God for his sake, and they can know that they children of God through the witness of the Holy Spirit.  Note that the Spirit here is called the Spirit of his Son. 

The Spirit bears witness in the heart of the believer in a vivid manner:

crying, “Abba,  Father!”

Because the believer has been adopted as a child of God, he/she knows in their spirit through the inner voice of the Spirit of God that they belong to God.  They are made heirs of God through Christ, and have the privilege of calling the Sovereign Lord of the Universe Father!

There have been various interpretations of the Aramaic word Abba in Biblical scholarship.  Some have said that it is the affectionate term that a child might have called a father in ancient Judaism — like an American child saying “Daddy!”.  Others say it simply means father and nothing more.  But the intimacy of Paul’s description here, where the Spirit speaks in the heart of the believer, leads me to believe that something more intimate is meant.

The fact is, the believer has been transferred in status from a detached relationship as a bondservant to the intimate relationship of a child and heir of God.

APPLY:  

Through these brief verses from Paul’s unique Nativity Story, we receive a glimpse of many dimensions of Biblical doctrine.  There is an allusion to God’s plan for history, revealed in the fullness of time  through the birth of Jesus. There is the work that God does in the heart of the believer through his Son and through his Spirit.  And there is a hint about the character and interrelation of God as Trinity  — Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Paul clearly believes in God’s plan for history.  His references to the prophets throughout his letters makes this faith clear.  History has a beginning, a middle, and an end.  History is not, as Shakespeare’s Macbeth might say “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”  This is comforting when so much in our world seems to make no sense. God has a purpose for his creation, and for us.

An enormous part of that plan is worked out in our lives.  The Son of God has been sent at the right time, born of a woman, to redeem those who are condemned by the rigorous standards of the law — which means all of us. Jesus fulfills the law on our behalf so that his righteousness becomes our righteousness (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21).  And because of the redemption of Jesus, we may be adopted as children of God.  Even more, we can know that we are adopted as children of God, because like children excited to see their Father, we can cry out Abba, Father!  The Spirit of God’s Son bears witness in our very hearts that we are his children!  As Paul writes in a passage that closely parallels Galatians 4:4-7:

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God;  and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:16-17).

Perhaps the most astounding claim that we have is that we are co-heirs with Christ. This implies that whatever Christ inherits from the Father, we inherit — a glorified resurrection body, eternal life, and heaven itself!

And, finally, we gain an insight into the inner working of the Trinity.  God the Father sends his Son, who is God incarnate, to redeem us and provide the means of our adoption as his children. And God’s own Spirit testifies to us that God is our Abba, Father.  The work of salvation, redemption, and adoption, are the work of the Triune God from inception to consummation.

RESPOND: 

This passage seems appropriate for this season, as the calendar year comes to an end.  Paul’s poignant phrase — the fullness of the time — reminds us of the convergence of important dates in our season.  We have only very recently celebrated Christmas Day, the remembrance of the only begotten Son of the Father, born of a woman at Bethlehem.

And as the New Year begins, we look forward to the “great unknown” — the future.  The future is like a frontier which we will not understand until we experience it — when the future becomes the present with each passing day.  We have no idea what the weather will really be like this coming winter; or who will be elected in the coming year; or what loved ones we might lose.

And yet, we receive a forecast of the future in this passage from Paul — through Christ, and confirmed through the Spirit, we can know now that we have been adopted as children of God, and that we will one day inherit all that Christ has inherited.

Our Lord, in the fullness of time you came for us; and through your Holy Spirit you continue to come into our lives so that we are able to cry out, like excited children “Abba, Father!”  Thank you for adopting us as your children and making us a part of your family.  Amen.

PHOTOS:
“Fullness of Time” uses the following photo:
“Hourglass” by Nick Olejniczak is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for December 31, 2017

 

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 148
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

On this first Sunday in the liturgical Christmas season, the proper response to the birth of our Lord is celebration.  Psalm 148 certainly fills the bill!

The Psalmist uses the imperative praise! thirteen times, calling upon all the heavens and the earth, all the creatures therein,  and all generations to praise the Lord in this litany of praise.

There is a kind of hierarchy that the Psalmist follows:

• He begins with the angelic realm at the highest level.
• He then descends to the next rung — the celestial bodies of sun, moon and stars.
• Then all of the forces of nature that contribute to the chaos of nature — sea monsters from the deeps, the  fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind.
•  He moves on to the grandeur of the mountains of the earth, and the trees and animal life that are sustained on the earth.

The Psalmist concludes his hierarchy of praise with the human voices that should worship the Lord, including the political powers of the day — kings and princes — as well as people of all generations, both men and women.

This pattern seems to parallel the pattern of Genesis 1, which moves from the creation of  the fundamental elements of nature, to the water and the dry land, all the vegetative and animal life, and then the climax of creation with human beings who are made in the image of God.

The first section of the Psalm, from verse 1 to 4, is a kind of cosmic call to praise.  He summons first the heavenly, spiritual beings that inhabit the courts of the Lord:

Praise Yahweh from the heavens!
Praise him in the heights!
Praise him, all his angels!
Praise him, all his army!

This is a reminder to the Christian reader of the heavenly announcement in the Gospel of Luke 2:8-14, when the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds in the pastures and brought the good news — the evangel — of the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem, and the subsequent heavenly chorus:

 Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army praising God, and saying,
 “Glory to God in the highest,
on earth peace, good will toward men.”(Luke 2:13-14).

The Psalmist then unapologetically refers to non-human aspects of creation in anthropomorphic terms, calling upon sun and moon,  shining stars, waters above the heavens to praise God.

In verses 5-6, he explains the reason that these should praise the Lord.  All the celestial cosmos owes its existence to the Lord:

 Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for he commanded and they were created.

The Psalmist continues to summon praise from the chaotic, unpredictable aspects of nature:

 Praise Yahweh from the earth,
you great sea creatures, and all depths!
Lightning and hail, snow and clouds;
stormy wind….

Though they are chaotic, these natural forces are still subject to the control of the Lord,

fulfilling his word.

Praises are to ring forth from

Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars!
Wild animals and all livestock,
small creatures and flying birds!

And finally, of course, with the human kingdoms,  all generations and genders:

Kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all judges of the earth;
 both young men and maidens;
old and children.

Again, this seems to echo the climax of Genesis 1:26-27. God announces his intent to make humankind in his own image.  What this means is that they would have dominion over all creation as God’s representatives on earth;  and that both male and female are required to fully reflect the image of God:

God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.

This is a fascinating parallel with Psalm 148.  To be made in God’s image is to have the responsibility of rule in God’s name, and for men and women to reflect God’s nature.  And so people — rulers and men and women, old and young are to praise God.

The Psalmist sums up this call to praise by acknowledging that the Lord is to be worshiped exclusively:

let them praise Yahweh’s name,
for his name alone is exalted.
His glory is above the earth and the heavens.

And at last the Psalmist returns to an ancient symbol, reflecting God’s blessing to Israel:

He has lifted up the horn of his people,
the praise of all his saints;
even of the children of Israel, a people near to him.

The horn hearkens back to a symbol of the bull, denoting strength in ancient Israel. Interestingly, as the focus of the Psalmist has narrowed from its height among the angels, it has finally come to rest on the saints who are defined as:

the children of Israel, a people near to him.

Praise, it seems, brings God’s people closer to him.

Clearly, all that exists is called upon to praise God, who is the source of all benefits and blessings.

APPLY:  

In this Christmas season, how appropriate that all creation, from the angels to the stars to the oceans and the mountains and the beasts and kings and all people everywhere, should praise God!

I would venture to say that the angels and the natural order do fulfill their calling to praise God.  They do so in part by simply fulfilling their purpose as part of God’s creation:

 For he commanded, and they were created.

With kings, rulers, men and women, this may be a bit more difficult to compel.  Because of human free will, people don’t seem to be joined in one voice today for the purpose of praising God.

This is the ongoing task of the church: to continue to proclaim and praise God by word and deed until the rest of the world catches on!

RESPOND: 

The Scriptures provide definitive guidance to my faith and practice.  Without them I’d be lost.

However, there are moments in my life when the mental fog rolls in and I find myself in a “gray night of the soul.”  So many different views of the Christian faith and the Bible can create confusion even after a lifetime in the Christian church, and more than 40 years as a committed Christian.

On occasions like these, I find the Psalmist’s summons to praise very helpful. To go outside on a clear night and look at the stars and the moon; or to stand on a mountainside and consider the distances of the valley below; or to stand at the edge of the ocean and watch the wild surf — these can be powerful reminders of the creative power of God.

As just one example of the power of nature to enkindle faith, I quote Eric Metaxas, a Christian writer,

There are more than 200 known parameters necessary for a planet to support life — every single one of which must be perfectly met, or the whole thing falls apart . . . Can every one of those many parameters have been perfect by accident?

Lord, I join the angels and the archangels, the stars and the planets, and all the creatures of the earth, in praising you.  May my praise join with the praise of all who live and move and have their being in you. And may my praise bring others closer to you.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"DSC_0198" by Ted is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for December 31, 2017

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Isaiah 61:10-62:3
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Book of  Isaiah has sometimes been referred to as the Fifth Gospel, although it is an Old Testament book. Christians have especially revered Isaiah because of the frequent references to the Hebrew prophetic oracles that are found in the New Testament Gospels, as well as several epistles.  New Testament writers have mined Isaiah for its treasury of prophecies. References to Isaiah occur in the New Testament a total of eighty-five times.

Many scholars believe that Isaiah 61:10-62:3 (our lectionary reading) was not written by the original Isaiah, (the historic prophet who lived in Jerusalem in the eighth century B.C.).  These scholars believe that there were at least three different writers of the book we know as Isaiah:

• Proto-Isaiah (i.e., First Isaiah, who wrote and was the subject of Isaiah 1-39)
• Deutero-Isaiah (i.e., Second Isaiah, who wrote Isaiah 40-55)
• Trito-Isaiah (i.e., Third Isaiah, who wrote Isaiah 56-66)

They argue that the works of multiple prophets were collected and edited as one work.

From the perspective of the Christian church, this misses the point.  The Scriptures are the church’s book, intended to reinforce the revelation of God to his people, and to inspire faith.  The historical-critical method employed by Biblical scholars is interesting, but it risks the deconstruction of doctrinal foundations when it becomes the primary consideration of the text. More on that a little later.

In its present context, Isaiah 61:10-62:3 is a psalm of great joy.  The central metaphor is that of a wedding — the garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness, which are themselves metaphorical, are compared to the garland of a bridegroom and the jewels adorning a bride.  The prophet is decked out for celebration, as if for a wedding.

The prophet then transitions to a new metaphor, comparing the agricultural fruitfulness of the earth and the garden to the springing up of God’s righteousness:

 For as the earth produces its bud,
and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring up;
so the Lord Yahweh will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

We see one of the frequent themes of Isaiah — that Yahweh’s blessings aren’t meant merely for Israel, but also for all the nations.  The nations is a Biblical term for the Gentiles — God’s covenant is inclusive, not exclusive.

Nevertheless, Zion and Jerusalem continue to hold a central place in this scenario, as a source of spiritual enlightenment:

For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace,
and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest,
until her righteousness shines out like the dawn,
and her salvation like a burning lamp.

Though the blessings of salvation are to be extended even to the Gentiles, those blessings emanate originally from Jerusalem — i.e., the Jews.

And other nations and their political systems — all kings — will be aware of the centrality of Jerusalem.

The metaphors Isaiah uses describe the royalty inherent in Jerusalem — perhaps hearkening back to the royal dynasty of David himself:

 You will also be a crown of beauty in Yahweh‘s hand,
and a royal diadem in your God‘s hand.

APPLY:  

We never forget the intimate connection of the Old and New Testament when we read the Scriptures.  The restoration and salvation of Israel prefigure the restoration and salvation of even Gentiles, which describes the vast majority of Christians today.

On this Sunday, which is the first Sunday after Christmas, we share in the same joy that the exiled Israelites must have experienced when they returned from Babylon to Jerusalem.  Christians, who have been exiled by our “fears and sins” have been released by the coming of Jesus into our world and into our lives.

We are the bride of Christ — the church — and we rejoice in our union with him. We grow the fruit of righteousness in the fertile soil of God’s garden. Christ has become the light and lamp of our lives. And because we are now co-heirs with Christ, we are regarded as royalty because we are his brothers and sisters. As the Apostle Peter declares:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).

RESPOND: 

I promised to return to the discussion about the identity of Isaiah. The bottom line is, what difference does it make?  The writers of Scripture weren’t concerned with getting credit for their writing — they were bearing witness not to themselves but to the Living God.  It is their words and their witness that matters, not their identity.

As an English major, I was only mildly interested in the heated debates about the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays.  Some scholars have questioned whether the Bard of Avon wrote all of the plays attributed to him.  Some have suggested that Christopher Marlowe wrote some, or Walter Raleigh, or even Queen Elizabeth herself!

We won’t ever really know — and it doesn’t matter.  In this case, as in the case of Isaiah, the message is more important than the messenger.

Lord, you have come into our world, and we rejoice — like a bride and bridegroom at a wedding. Our own lives bear fruit in righteousness and praise because you are with us. Your light guides us. And we are your royal heirs, as sisters and brothers of Christ.  Amen.

PHOTOS:
“Isaiah 62:2” by Sapphire Dream Photography is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.