INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE

Year A - Third Sunday of Advent

 

ISAIAH 35:1‑10.  This is another passage which envisions the Shalom of God, God’s reign of peace, justice and love. To a people who had suffered frequently from invasion, subjugation and exile, this imaginative prophecy would have brought great comfort. More recent visions of Utopian societies draw much from Old Testament passages like this.

 

PSALM 146:5‑10.  This brief excerpt from one of the psalms of praise that end the Psalter celebrates the hopes of Israel in God’s desire for freedom and justice.

 

LUKE 1:47‑55.  (Alternate)  Mary's song, known as The Magnificat, from its first Latin word, is actually a psalm of praise echoing and possibly derived from the Song of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2.

          It celebrates the promised birth of the Messiah announced to Mary by the angel Gabriel as yet another act of God bringing to Israel the Shalom of justice and peace. But this will also involve a social and economic revolution. We often overlook this facet of our faith in this materialistic age when Christmas becomes crowded  with feasting, gifts and frivolity.

 

JAMES 5:7‑10.   Waiting for the Lord to come again soon was a prominent theme in many New Testament letters. Here James, believed to be the brother of Jesus, urges patience at a time when the faithfulness of the church was being tested. Only very reluctantly did the church realize that the Second Coming of Christ was not so imminent as first believed.

                     

MATTHEW 11:2‑11.  Jesus did not appear to be the kind of Messiah even John the Baptist expected. Perhaps John had hoped that if Jesus was indeed the Messiah, he would free John from prison as Isaiah 61:1 had promised.

          In reply to John's question, communicated through his disciples, Jesus told them to report back to John the facts about his ministry. Jesus did not deny the role that John had played in preparing the way for him. Yet something more than John's message of repentance was needed. The Shalom of God comes to those who believe that Jesus is the Messiah/Christ. 

 

 

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS.

 


ISAIAH 35:1‑10.     According to my OT professor, the late Dr. R.B.Y. Scott, Isaiah 34 and 35 belong together and “probably appeared together at the beginning of the great postexilic composite prophecy, chs. 40-66.” (“Interpreter’s Bible,” vol. 5, pp.354-361. Abingdon Press, 1956.) The whole poem of judgement and promise is a symphony of great beauty in two parts. This latter segment (ch. 35) envisions God’s people rescued from exile and returned to their fruitful homeland along a holy way joyfully singing of God's new creation.

 

The description of the new creation contrasts the dry wilderness and burning desert with the luxuriance of Lebanon, Carmel and Sharon. In modern Israel as in the 6th century BCE when the poet wrote these lines, these areas are the most productive because they have the most abundant rainfall and natural water supply. The majestic peak and foothills of Mount Lebanon, the coastal ridge of Mount Carmel and the seaside plain of Sharon catch virtually all the rainfall borne in on winter storms from the north and west. The rest of Israel is very dry and productive only through constant irrigation from deep wells, the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee.

 

On a recent television broadcast, an Israeli government official boasted  how Israel had made the desert bloom as vs. 1 of this passage prophesied. It has been said, simplistically, that the current Palestinian-Israeli conflict could be resolved quickly if an agreement could be negotiated for a fair division of the water resources available. If this were so, this would indeed become the fulfillment of the prophetic vision that the water supply is divinely appointed means for the salvation of Israel.  This poet repeats this vision again and again (vss.1, 6, 7). Sadly, this may not be so easy now that open warfare has again broken out as Palestinians struggle for freedom from occupation and Israelis struggle for freedom from terrorism. Or, in the faint hope awakened by the death of Palestinian President Arafat in late 2004, Second Isaiah’s promise of a new time of prosperity and peace does have some currency.

         

The poem has a definite messianic tone to it. One hears echoes of this again in 61:1 and in Matthew 11:5.  The safe highway for the homeward journey of vs.8 compares with Isa. 40:3. The ransomed exiles will return to Zion singing joyful praises because the sorrows and sighing of Psalm 137 have vanished. (Cf. Revelation. 7:17; 21:4) While the poem gives voice to a deep faith, it leaves salvation entirely in the hands of the transcendent God who is beyond creation. It lacks a definition of how the ransomed exiles are to exercise stewardship of the gift of abundance they would receive in returning home.

         

For Christians living in this environmentally challenged age, the promise has been fulfilled in the incarnation of God in Jesus of Nazareth. As Paul said, Jesus is the beginning of the new creation through whom God provides the means for recreation of the whole universe (2 Cor. 5:16-21; Col. 1:15-20). From Isaiah 35 we learn that God loves and longs to restore all of creation. To implement this love becomes our responsibility as those who believe in and follow Jesus, the Messiah/Christ. This is especially true now that we hear direct broadcasts from the ruined cities of Afghanistan  and Iraq following the terrorist destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City, while also hearing news of the rapidly melting glaciers of the Arctic and Antarctic regions of our planet.

 

 

PSALM 146:5‑10. The prophetic theme of hope of restoration sounds through the latter part of this song of praise, one of five psalms that end the Psalter. It sings the praise of Yahweh as creator and redeemer, especially of those who are powerless and marginalized.

 

Vss. 7b-9 repeats the name of Yahweh five times, as always translated “the Lord.” One can imagine those familiar with the words joining their voices to the cantor in a jubilant crescendo as the divine tetragrammaton YHWH is recited in whatever way this sacred name was used. Then in the closing benediction proclaiming the eternal sovereignty of Yahweh, the congregation responds with a final outburst of praise.

 

 

LUKE 1:47‑55.     The Magnificat is an alternate reading for this third Sunday of Advent. So named for the first words in Jerome’s Latin Vulgate, it is itself a psalm modeled after Hannah’s song in 1 Samuel 2:1-10. To quote Professor George Caird: “As in many of the OT psalms, the psalmist passes quite naturally from his individual concerns to those of the nation for which he is the spokesman, so here Mary sings of her own exaltation from lowliness to greatness as typical of the new order which is to open out of for the whole people of God through the coming of her son....God has already taken decisive action in the promised sending of his Son, and she sees as an accomplished fact the results that will follow in his mission.” (“St. Luke.” The Pelican New Testament Commentaries, 1963.)   

         

Mary’s role in the life of Jesus has been a controversial subject for many centuries, not the least because of the Lukan narratives about the annunciation and the virgin birth. Two new  and widely varying views of her role have come to attention. The more radical is that of Bruce Chilton in his *Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography.* (Doubleday, 2000) He portrays her almost as a teenage victim of an extra-marital affair with the older, itinerant carpenter, Joseph, from Bethlehem in Galilee. Later, left with his older children and a *mamzer* son of her own who is despised and excluded from his Nazareth community, she remains anxious about him throughout his life and finally mourns his death at the foot of the cross.

 

John Main, a Benedictine monk, who founded a monastery of contemplatives in Montreal in 1977, soon after delivered a lecture to a group of Roman Catholic religious entitled “The Other-Centredness of Mary.” It was later published in a collection of Main’s shorter writings,  *Community of Love.* (Darton, Longman and Todd, 1990). Main regarded Mary’s special  place as one of the chief devotional symbols of the Roman Catholic tradition and the exemplary of contemplative devotion. Here is a key paragraph:

 

“In the rich tradition of Christian devotion, the figure of Mary stands out among all the 'devotions' of the Church as one of the richest and most personally identifiable signs of the real possibility of human harmony.  All the aspects of the human spirit and its relationship with the corporeal dimension of our life find their fusion and perfect balance in Mary: her purity, her fertility and motherhood, her strength and humility.  It is just this balance, this inner harmony of our human spirit and our human faculties that is the condition for prayer - and, in a real sense, too, the condition of prayer.  It is this condition of prayer which leads to that full and undistorted awareness of our union with the Spirit of Jesus that the early Church Fathers knew and called the 'real knowledge of God' - conversion, the enlightenment of the eye of the heart'.”

 

A popular review of the status of Marian studies appeared in the Toronto Star on Saturday,  December 8, 2001. Despite papal suppression of the opening of new approaches to Marianology by Vatican II, the issue remains alive and has now reached into ecumenical circles. Even Jews and Moslems are beginning to recognize the special role of Mary in the Christian Bible and in relation to their own scriptures. The journalist ended by asking somewhat flippantly, “Who can predict where this new focus on Miriam/Mary will lead? Should someone sound the alarm?”

 

Nearly a century ago, the American evangelist E. Stanley Jones said, “The Magnificat is the most revolutionary document in the world.” It was so then and is still so now. Ralph Milton, author and former joint owner of Wood Lake Books, tells how in the mid 1900's, a missionary somewhere in South America was arrested after reading Mary's Magnificat in a radio broadcast. This song, therefore, should greatly disturb our materialistically oriented world as we approach yet another commercially saturated celebration of Christ’s birth. We hear the blatant cacophony to spend, spend, spend from commercial and political interests, especially during times of recession so that the failing economy may be revived.

         

Consider these alternatives, however: A New England Puritan Christmas where little or no recognition was given to the birth of the Messiah. A Scottish Christmas of yesteryear where, as one man described it, the stores were open and everyone busied themselves preparing for Hogmanay and its subsequent drunken stupor. A poor urban family’s Christmas as Dicken’s “Christmas Carol” describes it and as the homeless in many modern cities experience it. Would we all not prefer the lights, the singing, the gifts, the feasting, the joyful gathering of families and loved ones who believe that he came that we might know these blessings?

 

JAMES 5:7‑10.    This passage from James seems out of place in the Advent season. Perhaps not, however, since we are still waiting for the fulfilment of the promise of Mary’s song and the prophetic vision of Isaiah 35. So James’ encouragement to endure life's trials patiently when Christ's coming seems long delayed may not be so out of place after all.  In fact, James counseled that the prophets and Job give the best examples of patience under duress.

 

Here we have the traditional apostolic hope of the early return of Christ (vss.7-8). James  then repeated a familiar saying about judgement (vs.9) which Matthew included in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:1). This must have been one of the remembered sayings of Jesus circulating in the apostolic community soon after the resurrection. James used it here to encourage a church under discriminatory pressure, but not yet persecuted. His reassurance that the faithful endure knowing that divine judgement will vindicate them is one of the major themes of the letter along with wisdom and wealth.

         

Some scholars have questioned whether James was the author of this letter or even a believer in Jesus as the Messiah since he used the traditional phrase “Lord Jesus Christ” only twice in the whole letter (1:1; 2:1). B.S. Easton stated that no book in the NT tells us so little about Christ. However, the frequent repetition of the Greek “kurios” (Lord) as a synonym for “Christ,” would refute that claim. Others have argued that the Greek of the letter is remarkably good for a Galilean whose mother tongue was Aramaic. Thus could it not be from the Lord’s brother, but a pseudonymous letter from the end of the lst century CE attributed to James who was highly regarded by some parts of the church during that later period?

 

A further scholarly argument questions why the letter shows total ignorance of the Pauline doctrine of justification (2:14-26 cf. Romans 6) and the relation of faith and works. Yet another recent analysis of the letter, quite contrary to the norm of scholarly opinion, claims that this is the one NT letter composed by James the Just, aka the Righteous Teacher, leader of the Judaist faction in the early church and of the Qumran Community responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls. (Robert Eisenmann. *The Dead Sea Scrolls and the First Christians.* Castle Books, 2004) Perhaps the best conclusion is that we have in this letter a collection of sermon snippets and sayings from James which were edited into a composite whole by a later hand eager to retain these memories for the church after James’ martyrdom in 61 CE.

 

 

MATTHEW 11:2‑11.      The names we have given to the two parts of our Christian Bible, Old and New Testaments, recognized both the continuity and discontinuity of Christianity and Judaism. John the Baptist represented the transition between the two. John, expecting judgment, not healing, sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the Messiah?” Jesus pointed to actions that Isaiah anticipated for the Coming One and asked people to tell John what they see and hear.

         

If the current scholarly consensus is correct, Matthew’s Gospel was written for a community which included both Jews and Gentiles. They experienced tension regarding their mission to the whole world as well as being harassed by Roman authorities. In the 80s CE, Jewish Christians had been banished from their synagogues dominated by Pharisaic Judaism. The Matthean community was by no means destitute and even had some struggles about the sharing of resources. As J.D. Kingsbury, of Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, VA describes them, they were a “multiracial, prosperous, yet divided and persecuted church.” (“The Oxford Companion to the Bible.” New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. p.503)

         

Apparently one of their conflicts concerned the character of the Messiah. Just as there are those in our modern congregations who question whether and how Jesus could  be “Christ, the Son of God, Saviour” so also there were then. In this passage John the Baptist and his disciples represent that element who struggle to believe. Then as now, actions rather than words carry conviction.

         

The apology offered to native peoples by the General Council of The United Church of Canada in 1986 was received with skepticism. “You have said the words, now what are you going to do about it,” the native chiefs told us. Walking the walk, we now see, is far more difficult than talking the talk  The frightful abuses of residential schools have now surfaced in costly claims for justice, compensation and healing. It is not enough to repent, as the Baptist commanded; the healing of the Messiah/Christ calls for far more costly sacrifice.

 

If we are reading a direct recollection from Jesus’ ministry, there could be another possible situation behind John’s question put by his disciples. John may well have expected Jesus to free him from prison if he was indeed the long expected Messiah. Isaiah 61:1 as interpreted by the Apostolic Church included the promise that captives would be given their liberty when the Messiah came (Luke 4:18). Jesus’ response seems rather equivocal unless one regards it as an appeal to faith. Seeing the things that were actually happening as a result of Jesus’ ministry would require each individual observer to make up his or her own mind about Jesus. Is it not still the same today?

 

At the same time, Jesus took the opportunity arising from this exchange with John’s disciples to differentiate his ministry from that of John. He was not denigrating what John had done in calling Israel to repentance. Rather he used his ambiguous statement that John was the greatest man who ever lived yet least in the kingdom of Heaven to point out that it was he, Jesus of Nazareth, who had come to inaugurate that kingdom. As those who have experienced it known all too well, repentance and forgiveness only begin the process of living fully under the reign of God’s redeeming love in Jesus Christ.

 

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