Advent 2A

Posted on December 2, 2019 by Robin Garr

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Dec. 8, 2019

Repent! In our Advent readings this SundayListen to a bold call to repent and await the Messiah. But don’t think of repentance in its modern idea of deep regret and remorse.

Saint John the Baptist Preaching to the Masses in the Wilderness (unknown date); oil painting on oak by Pieter Breughel the Younger (1564-1638). Galerie de Jonckheere, Paris. (Click image to enlarge.)

Hear it rather in its ancient sense, as “change one’s mind” in New Testament Greek, or “turn back” in Old Testament Hebrew. If we are on the wrong path in our relationships with God and our neighbors, now is the time to turn back and watch for the light of God’s Kingdom. In our first reading, the prophet Isaiah envisions a time when the Messiah, the descendant of King David (whose father was named Jesse), will reign from Zion’s Holy Mountain. The lion and the lamb will lie down together, peace will reign, and the poor will receive justice.

Psalm: Psalm 72

Sunday’s Psalm – perhaps originally intended to be sung at a royal coronation – offers support and counterpoint to the Isaiah reading. Subtitled “Prayer for Guidance and Support for the King” in our New Revised Standard Edition, it hammers home the Hebrew Bible’s consistent call for justice and righteousness for all the people, including the poor, the needy and the oppressed. Jesus surely knew these verses, too, and proclaimed them in his commands to love our neighbors, shun riches, and bring good news to the poor.

Second Reading: Romans 15:4-13

Paul wrote this letter at a time when all of Rome’s Jews, who had been banished to exile for a decade by the Emperor Claudius, were finally able to come back home after the emperor died. But there was tension in the young church as returning Jewish Christians rejoined Christian communities that had become entirely Gentile. Paul turns to the Isaiah passage that we heard in the first reading, and calls attention to the Root of Jesse, Isaiah’s prophecy of the Messiah coming as king over all humanity.

Gospel: Matthew 3:1-12

In this Gospel reading we encounter John, the cousin of Jesus. John has become – as his father, the temple priest Zechariah, had foreseen in the canticle we sang two Sundays past – a great prophet in the spirit of Isaiah and Jeremiah. John is a loud and angry prophet indeed, dressed in camel’s hair and eating locusts and honey. He insults the Pharisees and Sadducees as “a brood of vipers,” and calls on the people to be baptized in the Jordan river as a sign of repentance from sin. John, too, invokes the Prophet Isaiah as he declares himself the prophet who Isaiah said would cry out in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord. John says that while he baptizes with water, the coming Messiah will throw away the old traditions and baptize not with mere water but the fire of the Holy Spirit.

Advent 1A

Posted on November 25, 2019 by Robin Garr

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Dec. 1, 2019

First Reading: Isaiah 2:1-5

Advent begins, and with it a new Lectionary year. We have completed our year with the Gospel of Luke, and now turn to Matthew’s Gospel for the next 12 months. Advent begins the church year as a time of preparation and expectation for the coming celebration of the birth of Jesus.

Christ in Glory (c.1660), oil painting by Mattia Preti (1613-1699). Museo del Prado, Madrid. (Click image to enlarge.)

As we look forward to Christmas Day, our readings foresee a bright Messianic future. In verses of poetic beauty in the first reading, the prophet Isaiah foresees Jerusalem and its Temple restored. It will be the highest of the mountains, the center of a world that recognizes it as the house of God. It will be a world of peace, a time when swords have been beaten into plowshares and there is no more war.

Psalm: Psalm 122

This Psalm, attributed by legend to King David, sings counterpoint to our Isaiah reading. It looks toward a glorious future, too, a time of triumph and peace for Jerusalem, the city of God, the throne of the new King David, the Messiah. The house of David is a city at peace, a city on a mountain where all the tribes of Israel go up with gladness to praise God’s name. At David’s throne, all the people can expect fair judgment; there the love of God is rewarded with security, prosperity and peace.

Second Reading: Romans 13:11-14

We will read Paul’s letter to the Romans in three of the four Sundays of Advent. His last letter, written to introduce himself to the young church in Rome just before he sailed there some 25 years after the death and resurrection of Christ. In this passage we hear Paul exhorting the people to be prepared for the return of Jesus, an event that Christians of that time expected to come very soon. “The night is far gone, the day is near,” Paul assures his flock. In the meantime, he calls on them to “put on the armor of light” by behaving well, living abstemiously, and avoiding quarrels and jealousy.

Gospel: Matthew 24:36-44

In this passage from Matthew’s Gospel, we see Jesus talking with the apostles on a hillside on the Mount of Olives, looking across a small valley toward the Temple. In preceding verses Jesus has told them – in words similar to those told by Luke two weeks ago – that the temple will be torn down amid a time of war and great suffering, before Christ comes to usher in a new age. Now, in Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus warns them that only God knows when the last days will come, just as sinful humans in Noah’s time had no warning of the coming flood. This frames a simple Advent message: Be ready. Be prepared. Live as if Christ might return at any hour.

Advent 4C

Posted on December 18, 2018 by Robin Garr

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Dec. 23, 2018

First Reading: Micah 5:2-5a

God’s active, liberating preference for the poor and the oppressed is made manifest in Sunday’s readings. This theme may seem surprising at first, but it is in fact a deeply significant message for the impending birth of Jesus, who will hold up the poor, the hungry, the ill and imprisoned and oppressed as the central focus of his good news.

Madonna del Magnificat (Madonna of the Magnificat), tempera painting on panel (1483) by Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510). Uffizi Gallery, Florence. (Click image to enlarge.)

We begin with a reading from Micah, one of the earliest Old Testament prophets. Micah has warned the people of Jerusalem that their injustices against the weak and the poor will bring down God’s wrath. In Sunday’s verses, Micah foretells that a new ruler would come from the village of Bethlehem – the birthplace of King David – to reunite the surviving remnant as a shepherd leads his flock, all under God’s protection in peace.

Psalm: Canticle 15 (Luke 1:46b-55)

The Magnificat, Mary’s song of praise, may either be sung as Sunday’s Psalm or read as the second portion of the Gospel of the day. In this beloved song as told by Luke, the pregnant Mary sings out grateful praise for God. She rejoices in all that God has done for her, celebrating a powerful yet merciful God who loves us and calls us to acts of mercy and justice. God has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly, she sings. God has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. God’s justice is restorative – taking from those who have much and giving to those who have none.

Alternate Psalm: Psalm 80:1-7

This Psalm was likely written during or recalls a time of exile and destruction – the place names in the second verse suggest that it relates to the loss of the Northern Kingdom, Israel, to the Assyrians. In verses of sorrow, it calls on Israel’s God to come and help, to restore the people, who, in a memorable metaphor, have been fed with the bread of tears and given tears to drink. Though they have suffered the derision, laughter and scorn of their enemies, including their own neighbors, God has power to save them through the light of God’s own countenance.

Second Reading: Hebrews 10:5-10

The Letter to the Hebrews, modern biblical scholars say, probably originates from the early 100s, after the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., when Christianity was separating from rabbinical Judaism. Perhaps intended to reach backsliding Christian Jews, it seems to suggest that God abolished the “empty” sacrifices of the Jewish Temple, replacing them with Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. In modern times, especially after the Holocaust, we should try to avoid this view of Judaism as “abolished,” hearing instead the hopeful message that God’s promise to Israel at Sinai continues in us, the body of Christ, through Jesus’ incarnation, the Christmas miracle.

Gospel: Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)

This lovely reading from Luke includes the narrative that immediately precedes the Magnificat, the Song of Mary. Here we are told of Mary’s visit to her older cousin Elizabeth. Both women are pregnant – Elizabeth with John, Mary with Jesus – and both conceived in miraculous ways, visited by angels with the news that they would give birth. When the women meet, Elizabeth feels her child leap in her womb with what she perceives as joy. Elizabeth, suddenly filled with the Holy Spirit, declares Mary blessed among women. “Why has this happened to me,” Elizabeth wonders in amazement, “that the mother of my Lord comes to me?” Then, in the following verses, Mary responds with the Magnificat.

Advent 3C

Posted on December 11, 2018 by Robin Garr

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Dec. 16, 2018

San Giovanni Battista (Saint John the Baptist), oil painting on walnut wood (c.1513-c.1516) by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). The Louvre, Paris. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: Zephaniah 3:14-20

This week we light the pink candle on the Advent wreath to mark the third Sunday of Advent, called Gaudete (“Rejoice”) Sunday or Rose Sunday. A common thread in the day’s readings calls us to be joyful. Zephanaiah, a minor prophet who came before Isaiah and Jeremiah, prophesied of Jerusalem’s coming destruction. But then, here in the third and final chapter of the short book, Zephaniah promises that after the exile a joyous time will follow, when God will gather Israel’s righteous people, restore their fortunes and bring them home.

Alternate to the Psalm: Canticle 9 (Isaiah 12:2-6)

“Surely it is God who saves us. We will trust in God and not be afraid.” These familiar verses that we often read in Morning Prayer offer joy and comfort in knowing that we are safe under God’s protection. In these psalm-like verses, Isaiah connects salvation with drawing water, a meaningful metaphor for people in arid lands, for in biblical times, drought meant death. Thank God with joy when we draw precious, life-giving water from the springs of salvation, Isaiah tells us. Sing out our joy and sing praises to God.

Second Reading: Philippians 4:4-7

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” Beginning with this familiar admonition, Paul calls the people of Philippi to respond with joy, for the Lord is near. Even though it is a difficult time, he advises, pray and give thanks, let our gentleness be known to all, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding will fill our hearts and minds. In our world of stress and tension, can we imagine God’s peace, something so wonderful that we can’t even comprehend it?

Gospel: Luke 3:7-18

At first glance, it’s not easy to find the joy in this Gospel passage, concluding Luke’s account of John the Baptist in the desert that started last week. Luke shows us the long-haired, ranting prophet, preaching and baptizing, yelling at the crowds and calling them “a brood of vipers.” John declares that he is not the Messiah but prophesies that one more powerful is coming to baptize with the Holy Spirit, separating the good wheat from the unworthy chaff. The people ask what they should do to be ready, and John tells them to share their clothing and their food with those who have none. Don’t cheat. Don’t be selfish! This is a theme that will carry through Luke’s Gospel. We will hear it again and again from Jesus as he proclaims the Good News, the joy.

Advent 2C

Posted on December 4, 2018 by Robin Garr

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Dec. 9, 2018

Saint John the Baptist Preaching to the Masses in the Wilderness. Oil painting on oak by Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564-1638). Galerie de Jonckheere, Paris. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: Baruch 5:1-9

In our first reading, the minor prophet Baruch reflects a more familiar Isaiah passage: He tells Israel in exile to stop mourning, for God will lower the mountains and fill up the valleys to make level ground upon which Israel may walk safely home. In Sunday’s Gospel, we will hear Luke quote the Isaiah passage as a prophecy of John the Baptist. (This, by the way, is one of only two times in the three-year lectionary cycle that we’ll hear a reading from Baruch, one of the apocryphal books after the end of the Old Testament. Baruch, whose name is mentioned briefly in Jeremiah, was said to be a friend and scribe of that more famous prophet.)

Alternate First Reading: Malachi 3:1-4

In the second week of Advent, we turn from apocalyptic expectations of fear and foreboding to a more hopeful theme: A Messenger is coming to make the way ready for the Messiah. The minor prophet Malachi, whose name actually means “my messenger” in Hebrew, warns that God’s Messenger must cleanse the people with fire, making them pure and pleasing to God. “Who can endure the day of his coming?” the prophet sings (in words that Handel would make unforgettable 2,000 years later in The Messiah). “He is like a refiner’s fire!”

Alternate to the Psalm: Canticle 16 (Luke 1: 68-79)

In place of a Psalm today we sing a Canticle taken from Luke’s Gospel. These verses tell the story of John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah, a priest of the Temple. When Zechariah had refused to believe that his elderly wife, Elizabeth, had really become pregnant after an angelic visitation, God struck him mute. But his voice returned when he held the infant and named him John. This child, Zechariah declares, is to be a prophet like Abraham, the Messenger who will “go before the Lord to prepare his way.”

Second Reading: Philippians 1:3-11

The Christian community at Philippi in Greece, according to Luke’s account in Acts, was the first church formed by Paul in Europe as he traveled west from Asia Minor. This letter, written from a Roman prison several years later, is full of love and gratitude. In these verses near the beginning of the short letter, he offers greetings, love, thanks for their friendship and prayers for their well-being. Recalling how eagerly they had accepted the Gospel, Paul prays for this congregation’s continued spiritual growth and insight, which he hopes will lead them to a harvest of righteousness and justice in God’s love through Christ.

Gospel: Luke 3:1-6

Zechariah’s son John is a grown man now, and he has begun his public life as John the Baptist, a prophet crying in the wilderness along the Jordan river. Luke begins his account of John (which we’ll continue next week) with a detailed roster of Roman and Jewish leaders of the time, perhaps as a way to place the prophet in this historical setting for his readers decades later, after the death and resurrection of Jesus and the fall of the Temple. John the Baptist proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, Luke tells us, quoting a prophecy of Isaiah as John’s call to “Prepare the way of the Lord … make his paths straight,” filling every valley and making every mountain and hill low so that all humanity may see God’s salvation.

Advent 1C

Posted on November 27, 2018 by Robin Garr

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Dec. 2, 2018

The Great Last Judgement (1617), oil painting, altarpiece, by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: Jeremiah 33:14-16

Advent has come! The commercial celebration of Christmas may already be in full swing, but the quieter, gentler celebration of Advent comes to us as a blessing. Advent is a time to prepare, to wait for the celebration of Jesus’ birth – the Incarnation – and for the final coming of Christ’s kingdom in power and glory. Sunday’s readings begin with a prophecy from Jeremiah to Israel in exile. Jerusalem and the temple have been destroyed, and King David’s dynasty has ended after 400 years. But there is hope, Jeremiah foretells. A new branch – a messiah – will spring up and grow in David’s line, and will restore justice and righteousness in a new Israel.

Psalm: Psalm 25:1-9

Echoing the prophet’s promises to Israel, today’s Psalm, traditionally understood to represent the voice of King David, speaks of a people facing the threat of humiliation and defeat. Trusting fully in God for our salvation, relying on God’s everlasting compassion and love, we ask God to forgive our youthful errors and wrong turnings while showing us the right path. The Psalmist asks God to remember us not for our sins but with all God’s compassion and steadfast love, using the Hebrew “chesed,” an emotion-laden word that may also be translated “faithfulness,” “kindness,” “mercy” or “grace.”

Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

In this short passage from the earliest of Paul’s letters, he calls on the people of this beloved community to strengthen their hearts in holiness so as to remain blameless before God when Jesus and his saints return, an outcome that in those days was still expected to happen at any time. Writing from afar, Paul calls God’s blessings on their lives and hopes that they may soon be reunited. Meanwhile, he prays that the people will love one another and everyone, just as he loves them.

Gospel: Luke 21:25-36

Advent, the turn of the church year, brings us to a new lectionary year. Having spent the past year reading through the Gospel according to Mark, we now turn to Luke’s gospel for the next 12 months. Sunday’s Gospel passage from Luke shows us Jesus giving another apocalyptic warning of hard times to come, reflecting the Gospel from Mark that we heard the Sunday before last. There will be frightening signs in the earth and heavens and the seas. But these signs will tell us that Jesus is returning and the world’s redemption is drawing near. Live good lives and be ready, so Jesus’ coming won’t take us by surprise.

Lessons and Carols

Posted on December 20, 2017 by Robin Garr

The traditional service of Lessons and Carols was sung on December 10, 2017, by the National Cathedral’s Cathedral Choirs. Readings from scripture, seasonal hymns, and choral anthems proclaim God’s love, continued presence, and the promised coming of the Messiah. To watch the service online, click the image or this link.

The service of Lessons and Carols is a service of worship traditionally held during Advent, celebrating the birth of Jesus with readings from Scripture, carols, and hymns.

Lessons and Carols originated at the Church of England’s Truro Cathedral in Cornwall in 1878, and since World War I has been famously presented (and broadcast) every December for the past century by King’s College, Cambridge, England, and Brown University in Province, Rhode Island. The original service has since been adapted and used by other churches all over the world, not only in the Anglican and Episcopal traditions but in many other denominations as well.

The original liturgy consisted of nine scripture readings from Genesis and the Prophets. The current Episcopal liturgy in our Book of Occasional Services permits as many as nine readings, plus a Gospel, from a choice of 13 Hebrew Bible readings and two Gospel passages.

Here’s a quick look at the readings that St. Matthew’s Episcopal Louisville will use in Lessons and Carols at our 10 a.m. service on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 2017, at 10 a.m.

Jeremiah 31: 31-34
The Prophet Jeremiah, speaking when the people are in exile and Jerusalem and the Temple destroyed, imagines God, planning to make a new covenant with the people, forgiving the iniquity that earned their exile when they broke the old covenant by failing to be righteous. The new covenant, written in our hearts, establishes that God is our God and we are God’s people.

Isaiah 64: 1-9a
The people have returned from exile to the wreckage of their city and temple. The Prophet Isaiah calls out a ringing cry to our God of power and might to tear open the heavens and come down among us. God was angry and turned away when the people sinned; but we, like potter’s clay, are the work of God’s hands. We beg God not to remain angry, nor to remember our iniquity forever.

Baruch 4: 36–5: 9
Tradition declares that Baruch was Jeremiah’s scribe, charged with writing down the prophet’s oracles and declarations. This short book of just five chapters, one of the “Apocrypha” at the end of the Old Testament, encourages the people as they return from exile. “Look East,” this passage urges, and see Israel’s children returning in glory, walking on level ground that God has prepared for them to walk safely home.

Isaiah 7: 10-15
We page backward toward the beginning of Isaiah to hear God warning David’s descendant, King Ahaz, that his land will soon be conquered, but that God will give the people a sign: A young woman will bear a child called Immanuel – “God With Us” – a child who will eventually show the world how to refuse evil and choose the good.

Zephaniah 3: 14-18
Much of the short book of the minor prophet Zephaniah prophesies Israel’s violent destruction, amid scornful threats of Israel’s enemies’ destruction. Its closing verses that we hear in Lessons and Carols, though, spare us that, instead looking toward the joyous time when Israel shouts in joy and exultation, its people restored by God in gladness and love.

Isaiah 65: 17-25
The people, home from exile, face a daunting chore in rebuilding the city and its temple, but the prophet assures them that God will create a new heaven and a new earth. There will be no weeping and no distress in the new Jerusalem. There will be no death in childbirth, no pain; all may expect joyous lives of 100 years of youthful strength! The city will be a holy place of peace, where people will enjoy the fruits of their own labor; the wolf, the lion and the lamb will live peacefully together, and none shall hurt or destroy.

Luke 1: 26-38
This Gospel, which is also assigned to the Fourth Sunday of Advent, tells the familiar story of the Angel Gabriel’s visit to a young Palestinian woman named Mary. Through God’s Holy Spirit this young woman will give birth to a son named Jesus, who will inherit King David’s throne and rule over an eternal kingdom. She responds to this amazing news with simple, trusting acceptance: “Let it be with me according to your word.” Just a few verses later in Luke’s Gospel, she will go on to utter the liberating poetry of the Magnificat, the Song of Mary, celebrating the God who casts down the mighty, lifts up the lowly, feeds the hungry and sends the rich away empty.

Additional readings available for use in Lessons and Carols but not chosen for the St. Matthew’s 2017 liturge follow, with brief summaries from the Book of Occasional Services:

Genesis 2: 4b-9, 15-25
God creates man and woman to live in obedience to him in the Garden of Eden.

Genesis 3: 1-22 or 3: 1-15
Adam and Eve rebel against God and are cast out of the Garden of Eden.

Isaiah 40: 1-11
God comforts his people and calls on them to prepare for redemption.

Isaiah 6: 1-11
God reveals his glory to the prophet and calls him to be his messenger.

Isaiah 35: 1-10
The prophet proclaims that God will come and save us.

Micah 5: 2-4
The one who is to rule Israel will be born in the village of Bethlehem.

Isaiah 11: 1-9
The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon the Holy One.

Luke 1: 5-25
An angel announces to Zechariah that his wife Elizabeth will bear a son.

Advent 4B

Posted on December 19, 2017 by Robin Garr

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Dec. 24, 2017

The Madonna of the Magnificat (1481), tempera painting by Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510), in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16

“Once in Royal David’s City.” As we turn from Advent to Christmas overnight this year, our readings for the fourth and last Sunday of Advent trace the Messianic line of King David that Christians follow down the ages to Jesus. In the first reading, David muses that it seems wrong for him to rest comfortably in a palatial house of cedar while God’s house, the Ark of the Covenant, rests in a mere tent. The prophet Nathan agrees that God should have a fine house, a temple, but God has a different plan. God lives and moves with the people, and needs no house! God, rather, will establish the house of David, the dynasty of God’s people. We hear this echoed in Luke’s Gospel today, as the angel tells Mary that Jesus will inherit the throne of his ancestor David.”

Alternative to the Psalm: Luke 1:46-55 (Canticle 15)

For the second Sunday in a row, the Magnificat, the surprisingly radical Song of Mary, is available as an alternative to the usual Psalm. As we hear in today’s Gospel, the Angel Gabriel has told Mary that she will give birth to King David’s heir, the Messiah. When she feels the infant move in her womb during a visit to her relative, Elizabeth, who will soon give birth to John the Baptist, Mary rejoices in a poetic celebration that echoes the words of the prophets; thoughts that, perhaps, her son Jesus would hear from his mother: “He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly.”

Psalm: Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26

In harmony with our first reading, this Psalm portion celebrates God’s covenant with David and his descendants, a royal family that God established to last forever. Even through the devastation of war and the pain of exile, when Israel and Judah feared that God’s promise might have been revoked because the nation had broken its covenant by failing to be just and righteous, the Psalms sing of a new King David, a Messiah and King who would rule the land forever, “from the great sea to the river,” from the shores of the Mediterranean to the Jordan, the Galilee, and the Dead Sea..

Second Reading: Romans 16: 25-27

“Can’t we all just get along?” Throughout Paul’s powerful letter to the Romans, he gently encouraged Rome’s Gentile and Jewish Christian communities, who had been separated during the exile of Rome’s Jews, to come back together in Christian love and unify as one. Here, in ringing verses that conclude the letter, he reminds them that God’s covenant with the people in the First Testament, as expressed by the ancient prophets, now extends to all humanity, all living forever in glory through Jesus Christ.

Gospel: Luke 1: 26-38

As Advent ends on Christmas Eve this year, we hear Luke tell the familiar story of the Angel Gabriel’s visit to a young Palestinian woman named Mary. Through God’s Holy Spirit this young woman will give birth to a son named Jesus, who will inherit King David’s throne and rule over an eternal kingdom. She responds to this amazing news with simple, trusting acceptance: “Let it be with me according to your word.” Just a few verses later in Luke’s Gospel, she will go on to utter the liberating poetry of the Magnificat, the Song of Mary, celebrating the God who casts down the mighty, lifts up the lowly, feeds the hungry and sends the rich away empty.

Advent 3B

Posted on December 12, 2017 by Robin Garr

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Dec. 17, 2017

John the Baptist pointing toward the crucified Jesus. Detail from the Isenheim Altarpiece (1512-16), oil on wood panel by Matthias Grünewald (1480-1528). (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

Watch as the Advent candle is lighted on Sunday: The one pink candle, a symbol of rejoicing, marks this day. Midway through Advent, our readings shift from a focus on the fire and upheaval of an apocalyptic Judgement Day toward a different kind of hope, a joyful hope that looks forward to God’s restorative justice that will come with the Messiah. The Prophet Isaiah – writing prophecy that Jesus will later declare fulfilled in his presence when he speaks in the synagogue at Nazareth – tells the people that God will comfort all who mourn. God’s good news will come to the poor, the oppressed, captives and prisoners, turning their state to gladness instead of mourning.

Psalm: Psalm 126

As Isaiah told the people in exile of God’s promise that justice and righteousness would be restored, the Psalmist sings that God’s promise was in fact fulfilled, that God has indeed done great things for Zion, the mountain in Jerusalem where the Temple stood, and thus, if frequent biblical metaphor, the Temple itself. Every verse of this short Psalm contains a shout of laughter, joy, gladness, and praise. God has been good. God has turned the people’s tears into songs of joy; their weeping into a bountiful harvest.

Alternative to the Psalm: Luke 1:46-55 (Canticle 15)

As an optional alternative to the Psalm, we may sing the Magnificat, the beautiful Song of Mary. In Luke’s Gospel Mary bursts into this powerful song when she greets her relative, Elizabeth. Elizabeth with John the Baptist, feels the infant move with joy inside her when the pregnant Mary comes in. Elizabeth declares Mary the blessed mother of God, full of grace. In response, Mary sings these startlingly radical verses that echo Isaiah and foreshadow Jesus’ own teaching; liberating verses that praise a God who scatters the proud, casts down the mighty, and sends the rich away hungry, while filling the hungry with good things.

Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Paul concludes his short first letter to the Thessalonians with themes consistent with those that we heard in the first readings from 1 Corinthians and 2 Peter on the first two Sundays of Advent. He urges the people to rejoice always, pray unceasingly, and give thanks for all things, staying faithful and filled with the Spirit. Hold fast to the good and abstain from every kind of evil, he urges them, so they will be ready, “sound and blameless,” when Jesus Christ returns.

Gospel: John 1:6-8,19-28

Following the story of John the Baptist in Mark’s Gospel last Sunday, we now turn to the Gospel according to John. This version makes no mention of the Baptist’s attire or his dietary preferences, but opens into a tense scene in which the Temple authorities, worried about the noisy crowds surrounding John, want to know who he is. He is neither a new prophet nor Elijah, John says, but – quoting from the Isaiah verses that we heard last week – the voice crying out in the wilderness, calling on the people to make straight the way of the Lord. He baptizes with water, John says, to make way for the one who is coming after him, who is so much greater that John is unworthy to untie his sandals.

Advent 2B

Posted on December 5, 2017 by Robin Garr

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Dec. 10, 2017

Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness (1604-05). Oil painting by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610); Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: Isaiah 40:1-11

The Messiah is coming! Get ready! The Messiah is coming! Make the way clear! Imagined in modern language, Sunday’s readings might be shouting “Roll out the red carpet!” as we move into the second week of Advent. Our Isaiah reading – which may sound familiar, as Handel drew from it freely in his beloved “Messiah” – sings out comfort and hope to the people in exile. Jerusalem has paid doubly for her sins. Life is short as grass and flowers, but God’s word stands forever. Prepare the way! Make a straight highway in the desert, the prophet calls. Then we see a poetic image of a gentle, maternal Messiah who holds the lambs closely and gently leads the mother sheep.

Psalm: Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13

Sunday’s Psalm, particularly as edited to skip over a few verses of wistful doubt, shares the joyful hope of the Isaiah reading. The Psalmist remembers the people’s time time in exile, and rejoices that God did, indeed, come to the people with comfort and peace. Even though the people had been sinful and broken their covenant with God, God forgave their iniquity and blotted out all their sins. The straight highway that was built at Isaiah’s command has become a path for God’s feet.

Second Reading: 2 Peter 3:8-15a

This letter written in Peter’s name is the latest document in the New Testament, written down 100 years or more after the crucifixion. After such a long time, people worried: Why hadn’t Christ come back yet? He had been expected to return in power and glory, but that didn’t happen. What did this mean? The author had an idea, one that we also hear in the Isaiah verses: God’s time is not like our time. “One day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.” Be patient and live godly lives, while God waits patiently for all to come to repentance before the day of the Lord comes.

Gospel: Mark 1:1-8

Mark’s Gospel, the first written in the New Testament, perhaps only 30 or 40 years after Jesus died on the cross, does not say a word about Jesus’ birth but begins with Jesus as an adult, coming to John at the Jordan river to be baptized for repentance and forgiveness of sins. Mark first shows us John the Baptist, a wild man eating locusts and honey and wearing camel’s hair, shouting Isaiah’s promise that God would send a messenger to prepare the Messiah’s way. Jesus is coming after him, John foretells: The one so powerful that John is not worthy to stoop down and untie his sandals is coming to baptize us with the Holy Spirit!

Illuminations

Welcome to Illuminations. We hope these brief reflections on Sunday's readings will help you prepare thoughtfully for worship.

Category Archives: Advent