Solemnity

Jan 08 2025

Scripture Study for

The first reading features the well-known “priestly blessing,” probably originally to be imparted to visitors to the Jerusalem temple or other worship sites. Blessing is a form of prayer that asks for God’s gifts. This blessing asks for God’s protection, good favor, and peace. To “keep” here means to watch over or guard. To “shine one’s face on,” or simply to show one’s face, means to have a favorable disposition toward someone (see Psalm 4:7). Thus, the second line of the blessing asks for God’s positive attitude and gracious favor toward the blessed. The third strophe repeats the hope for God’s good favor before asking for God’s “peace,” in Hebrew, shalom, a word that sums up all that the blessing asks of God: wholeness, well-being, harmony, long life, etc.

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul argues that the coming of Christ has made both Jews and Gentiles children of God by freeing them from “elemental powers” (4:3), spiritual forces that somehow prevent humans from living in full conformity with God’s will. Christ was born into this human condition of bondage in order to deliver us from that misery, and to bring all who accept the gift into familial relationship with God. As “sons and daughters” and therefore “heirs” in Christ, Christians inherit the promises made to Abraham (3:29) and passed on to his freeborn children.

Onto a quiet birth scene burst several shepherds, to whom an angel has announced the birth of the Messiah (Luke 2:8–15). Finding the child in a manger, as the angel had said, they immediately inform Mary and Joseph and probably some helpful neighbor folk that the savior’s birth has been announced to them. While the neighbor folk are amazed at the notion that the child born under such unpromising circumstances could be “Messiah and Lord,” Mary merely reflects on “these things.” Jesus’ circumcision on the eighth day, in accordance with the law (Leviticus 12:3), signals his solidarity with the covenant community that he will save.

Jan 06 2025

Reigning from the Cross

A good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. For this reason the image of a shepherd become connected to the kingly role in the Old Testament. Good kings, like good shepherds, provided for and guarded their flock. As a boy David went from safeguarding sheep to defending his people, going up against Goliath. Later, as a king, he brought together all the tribes of Israel, uniting them as one people.

Jesus spoke of the good shepherd who left the ninety-nine to go out after the one lost sheep and bring it back. We see him do this even from the cross in his last moments. One criminal calls to Jesus to save himself and them, but the other recognizes Jesus is the innocent one who is passing over into his kingdom. When he asks that Jesus take him there, Jesus gently promises to do so.

As we approach the end of the year, we are reminded that our own end will come one day. Let us have the confidence of that criminal we commonly refer to as the “good thief” and make his request to the Lord our own. And whenever that day comes, we can learn from Jesus how to face it: by extending forgiveness to any who have hurt us, by being compassionate up to our final moment, and by handing over our spirit in trust to our Father in heaven. The king will then surely come, gather us up in his arms, and take us with great joy into the Kingdom.

Consider/Discuss

Does today’s image of Jesus on the cross help you to appropriate the image of Christ as king?
What does it mean when we hear that by baptism we are part of a royal people?

Responding to the Word

Lord Jesus, remember us. Give us a share in the spirit of forgiveness you so generously expressed from the cross, the spirit of generosity that enabled you to turn from your own sufferings to comfort another, and the spirit of trust in your Father expressed in your last words.

Jan 06 2025

Scripture Study for

Although it was the people who anointed David as their king, they believed that it was really God who had chosen him. They acknowledged the intimate bond that they shared with this new king. They were his bone and his flesh, his very kin. As king, David is characterized as a shepherd because shepherds were familiar with and personally concerned about their flocks. He is also seen as a commander or captain, one who leads the people. Both images represent the king as a leader for the people, not one who is removed from them, expecting only to be served by them.

The hymn from Colossians extols the divine character of Christ rather than his human nature. Paul characterizes Christ in several ways, each reference adding a significant dimension to our understanding of him. He is a visible manifestation of the invisible God. He enjoys priority in time and primacy in importance. He is the agent through whom all was created, and he is also the goal of all creation. He holds all things together. He is the agent of reconciliation. The sacrificial death of the human Jesus becomes the means through which the cosmic Christ reconciles all of creation with God.

Jesus claimed to be the chosen one, the Christ of God, the King of the Jews—all messianic titles. In the unsettling fashion that so often characterizes the gospel story, Jesus was ridiculed for being who he really was. What the people did not realize was that he was indeed the Messiah, the one for whom they longed; their error was in their messianic understandings and expectations. The inscription on the cross, “King of the Jews,” is significant. Jesus was indeed the King of the Jews, even though his manner of ruling did not conform to the standard of the day. True to the paradox of the gospel, what was intended as a sign of derision actually became a proclamation of faith.

Jan 06 2025

The Power of One

Holy Trinity Parish in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., recently inaugurated a one-day operation called “The Power of One.” The goal was to engage as many parishioners as possible in various kinds of service in the community during one day. The “one” is not the one day or any one individual, but one community—a community working together for the good of the greater community. The power, of course, is rooted in the love God poured into their hearts to flow out into the world.

Today’s feast celebrates the power of one that entered into the world through the dying and rising of Christ, and has been a presence in the world through all those who have been drawn into the one body of Christ through baptism. It is the power that comes when men and women are poor in spirit, mourn the world’s sorrows, are meek, hunger and thirst for righteousness, are merciful, clean of heart, peacemakers, and withstand persecution for the sake of living in right relationship with God, others, and the world. They not only will receive heaven, they bring it into the world during their lives.

All Saints holds up a vision reminding us of our future when we will be fully joined with those who have gone before us, but with whom we are one even now in singing praise to our God, as we are reminded at every Eucharist. With them we cry: “Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb.”

Consider/Discuss

Have you known the power of belonging to a community doing good?
Who are the saints who witnessed to you through their faith and now rest in the Lord?

Responding to the Word

God and Father of all, thank you for the gift of your saints, especially those now forgotten men and women who embraced and incarnated the Beatitudes in their lives. May we join with them for all eternity to sing praise to your glory in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior.

Jan 06 2025

Scripture Study for

The events of the first apocalyptic vision unfold on earth; those of the second take place in heaven. Both visions depict vast assemblies of the righteous. One hundred forty-four thousand is clearly a symbolic number. Twelve is squared and then multiplied by a thousand, resulting in a number that indicates completeness. The multitude gathered around the throne comes from every nation, every race, every people, and every tongue. The universality is complete. The multitude represents those who survived the distress of the end-times because they were purified through the blood of the sacrificial Lamb. This distinction entitles them to participate in the celestial celebrations.

According to the Letter of John, love is generative, transforming. It makes believers children of God. Everything that happens in their lives is a consequence of their having been recreated as God’s children. They are a new reality and consequently they are not accepted by the world, the old reality. The type of behavior they choose is frequently in opposition to society at large. The “now but not yet” of Christian eschatology (teachings about the end-time) is clearly stated. Though believers have already been reborn as children of God, their transformation has not yet been completed, nor has it been fully made known to them.

In form and content, the Beatitudes are wisdom teaching, not Christian law, as is sometimes claimed. Like most wisdom forms, they describe life situations that draw a connection between a particular manner of behavior and consequences that flow from such behavior. Most if not all of the sentiments expressed in the Beatitudes are found somewhere in ancient Jewish teaching. While the teachings of Jesus are all in some way directed toward the establishment of the reign of God, the values that he advocates are frequently the opposite of those espoused by society at large. This fact offers us a way of understanding the challenges set before us in the Beatitudes. They invite us to turn the standards of our world upside down and inside out.