Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012.
The Fig Tree
It’s Advent now, and we start our journey toward Bethlehem and the Incarnation with a prophecy from Jeremiah. After the destruction of Jerusalem, the Israelites understood its promises of justice, righteousness and living in safety as assurance that they would return from exile to a restored city under God’s protection. For Christians, it becomes a metaphor for the justice and safety that we find in Christ.
Psalm 25:1-9
Just as the Jeremiah reading is a call for hope and trust in a time of pain, so does today’s Psalm ask us to put our faith in God’s love. The psalmist repeatedly calls for God’s compassion, using the Hebrew chesed, an emotion-laden word that may also be translated “faithfulness,” “kindness,” “mercy” or “grace.” It is reassuring to place our hope in God’s compassion when things look dark.
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
In so many of the letters attributed to Paul, he writes to a beloved community from afar, expressing hope that they will be reunited, and calling God’s blessing on their lives. With God’s help, he urges the people of Thessalonika, love each other and love everyone! He prays that God will strengthen their hearts in holiness. This is good advice for us, too: love each other and our neighbors as we await the coming of God’s kingdom.
Gospel: Luke 21:25-36
When I was young, growing up in an era when we feared that Russian missiles bearing mass destruction just might come flying over the polar darkness some night, the apocalyptic Gospels of Advent used to scare the daylights out of me; maybe that’s what they were intended to do. As adults, we can smile wisely and say we understand these scary stories as mere first century science fiction and fantasy, meant to underscore a point by exaggeration. But let’s not lose sight of that point: The kingdom of heaven, in cosmic terms, is drawing near. Are we ready? When events like 9/11 or Hurricane Sandy scare us, remember then that Jesus’s words stay with us.