Advent

Jan 23 2025

Scripture Study for

The Isaiah reading comes from the post-Exilic period, when Israel’s hopes for restoration remained unfulfilled. Years after their return to the ancestral land, God’s people remained under foreign rule and suffered agricultural, economic, and social difficulties, which many took as a sign that Israel remained under divine judgment. Thus the lament and communal confession in the reading, which features reminders of the deliverance from Egypt. God is Israel’s father (Exodus 4:22) and redeemer, an enduring reality that is the basis for the present hope in God’s fidelity. As in the past, Israel’s heart is hardened, but confession opens up the possibility of God’s saving return. As in the past God came to Israel as redeemer, so now Israel hopes to receive mercy again.

Paul begins his First Letter to the Corinthians by reminding them that they have been “sanctified in Christ Jesus” and are called to be holy (1:2). Paul gives thanks that they do indeed show signs of having received God’s grace in the form of spiritual knowledge and gifts. These manifestations of God’s grace are also confirmation of the truth of the gospel that Paul had preached to them (the “testimony to Christ”). These divine gifts also reveal God’s fidelity and desire to keep the Corinthians faithful as they persevere during this time of waiting. It is God who has called them to fellowship with Christ and it is God who will give them what they need to be faithful.

Jesus’ warning to his disciples is essentially an exhortation to avoid spiritual procrastination, putting off ultimate concerns because one perceives there is plenty of time to “take care of things” like repentance or growth in virtue. Just previous to this reading, Jesus had informed his disciples that only the Father knows when the end will come (13:32), which means it is pointless and dangerous to hope there will be time to get one’s house in order. When the Lord decides to come, those who have persuaded themselves they can delay their repentance or ignore their obligations to God and neighbor will be found “asleep.” Jesus leaves it to his audience to imagine the fate of those found asleep by the “man traveling abroad” when he returns.

Jan 13 2025

Living a Dream

The Bible offers us a rich variety of men and women who qualify as heroes, warriors, prophets, and wise men and women. And every so often it places before us a dreamer. Jacob had the first big dream, with that ladder connecting heaven and earth, bearing ascending and descending angels.

His son Joseph started off with dreams that put himself at the center, much to his brothers’ chagrin, but later he saved himself by interpreting the dreams of others, including Pharaoh. However, the most important dreamer of all was Joseph, spouse of Mary and foster father to Jesus.

Joseph was asked to live out his dream. “[D]o not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her,” he was told in a dream (Matthew 1:20). And not only that, he was to name the child Jesus, which means “God saves.” What all this cost him we don’t know. All we hear is that when he awoke from the dream, he did what had been asked and took Mary into his home.

That wasn’t the end of the dreams. “Joseph, take the mother and child into Egypt—Herod is trying to kill him.” “Joseph, take the mother and child out of Egypt—Herod is dead.” And Joseph did. Maybe once you begin to live God’s dream it gets easier.

God’s dream is that we live in the world as God’s adopted and saved children, working to bring God’s peace and justice, mercy and forgiveness into our world wherever they are needed.

Consider/Discuss

What do you think God’s dream is for our world today?
Do you know Jesus as Emmanuel (God with us)?

Responding to the Word

We ask God to continue to save us in our own day from all that would lead us away from God. We ask God to continue to help us to know Jesus as Emmanuel, God with us, so that our faith may be rooted in the wisdom and power of God.

Jan 13 2025

Scripture Study for

Isaiah tells Ahaz to ask for a sign that will confirm earlier promises made to the Davidic dynasty of which he was the present heir. Feigning humility, he refuses. The prophet then promises an emmanuel, which means “God with us.” Since every king was considered a sign of God’s presence with the people, this prophecy could have had any king in mind. It probably refers to Ahaz’s yet-to-be-born son. However, the people’s disappointment with the monarchy soon gave the prophecy more importance. At issue here is the fulfillment of God’s promise to be present with the people, regardless of the situations in which they find themselves. By stating that Jesus was a descendant of David, Paul attributes to him all of the promises and blessings ascribed to the person of David and to the dynasty that he had established. As a descendant of David, Jesus is a member of the people of Israel and placed squarely within the fold of human society. Paul maintains that the Gentiles (in Rome) are beloved of God, called to be holy people. The lines of initiative and responsibility are clear. God called Paul and set him apart for the ministry of the gospel. Paul is sent to the Gentiles to set them apart for God as well.

Several features of the angel’s message found in the Gospel call for serious consideration. First, the Holy Spirit is probably not a reference to Trinitarian theology but to the power of God that will be experienced at the time of eschatological fulfillment. Second, the child’s name “Jesus” is the Greek form of the Hebrew, which means “YHWH is salvation.” Third, a solemn formula of fulfillment is proclaimed: “[T]o fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet” (Matthew 1:22). Fourth, the child is given a second name, Emmanuel, God with us. These two titles identify Jesus as the saving power of God and the presence of God in the midst of the people.

Jan 13 2025

The Promise of Joy

Joy is different from happiness. Happiness is a transient experience, but joy has more depth to it, more lasting roots. It can be independent of what is going on around us. In John’s Gospel, the night before he died, Jesus says to his disciples that he wants his joy to be in them and their joy to be complete (John 15:11). And Paul writes to the Thessalonians: “Rejoice always” (2 Thessalonians 5:16).

Today’s readings invite us to think about what brings us joy. Isaiah offers images of a world that will blossom or bloom, flowering into fullness. The prophet gives us wonderful images of dry, parched land suddenly breaking into a colorful display of new and abundant life.

This fullness also results from something being restored that had been lost or that was missing from the start: sight, hearing, being able to sing and leap with joy, health of body and spirit. Such fullness comes from God. It is gift, pure and simple.

God wants us to have this fullness of life, to be sure. It will come with the coming of the Lord. In the meantime, we are to wait patiently, not complaining, but with hearts marked by certitude. We have assurance in that we have already been welcomed into the kingdom at our baptism. The rest is only a matter of time. In speaking of John as more than a prophet, Jesus concludes by saying, “Yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Matthew 11:11).

Consider/Discuss

What makes you happy? What makes you joyful? Is there a difference?
How is God asking you to be patient at the present time?

Responding to the Word

We can ask God to give us that joy that the world cannot give, a joy that is found rooted in our faith in God, in our trusting that the God who raised Jesus up will also bring us to fullness of life.

Jan 13 2025

Scripture Study for

Isaiah depicts two ways in which the renewal promised by God is manifested: the barren wilderness filled with new life, and the healing of those suffering some physical malady. In a world that believes that God created everything in proper order, imperfection of any kind is often perceived as a consequence of sin. This explains why healing was seen as restoration to that proper order. Such restoration was a sign of the transformation that only God can effect. It was a testimony to God’s presence in the world and to God’s victory over evil. God had reestablished the original order of creation, and all life began again to flourish.

Patience is the controlling theme in the second reading. Parousía, which means “coming” or “presence,” became a technical term for the future coming of Christ to inaugurate the definitive manifestation of God’s eternal dominion. Because the exact time of this advent was unknown, patience would be necessary until that day of fulfillment dawned. The example of the farmer waiting for the crop to grow and mature highlights some important aspects of this patient waiting. Believers are told to take the prophets as their models in bearing the hardships of life and in waiting patiently for the coming of the Lord.

In his response to the questions of the Baptist’s followers, Jesus links his own wondrous deeds with the prophets’ allusions to visions of fulfillment. Healings of the needy were all signs of the dawning of the eschatological age. They were also indications of the type of messiah that Jesus would be. Those who were expecting a political or military leader who would free them from Roman domination or a priest who would bring them together as a cultic community would be disappointed with Jesus. Jesus then states that regardless of how insignificant his followers might be, as citizens of the reign of heaven they enjoyed a privilege that John did not know.