Year C

Dec 11 2024

Scripture Study for

Today’s passage from Jeremiah recounts the prophet’s experience not long before the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon. Already that empire had conquered Judah and placed Zedekiah, a client Davidic king, on the throne. But that king was also rebellious and attempted to shake off the Babylonian yoke. Jeremiah warned the king and others that they should submit to Babylon, who was God’s instrument of judgment, and to expect even worse from Babylon if they did not (38:2–3). This is the “demoralizing” of which he was accused. Zedekiah shows himself to be morally weak, unable to stand up to the princes, first turning the prophet over to them and then secretly helping him. This weakness will eventually lead to Zedekiah’s—and Jerusalem’s—downfall.

Having delineated how Israel’s ancestors lived and died with faith (trust) in God’s promises (11:1–38), the author of Hebrews now comes back to his audience, who are surrounded by the cloud of witnesses to God’s fidelity and trustworthiness. If we are able to place our confidence in God on the basis of their witness (“evidence of things not seen” [11:1]), we will be able to persevere in our struggle against sin. Jesus, of course, is the premier exemplar of faith in God, which allowed him to face the cross. His faith was vindicated in his resurrection and ascension to the right hand of God. Christians should look not only to the ancestors but especially to Christ, and struggle mightily, even to the point (literally or metaphorically) of shedding their own blood—as Christ did—with faith in God.

The Gospel reading points once again to the radical nature of Christian discipleship and the demands of living the gospel. Jesus has come to announce the earth-shattering news that God is bringing divine sovereign power to bear on the world to destroy all that harms creation. The human responses must be, in the first place, repentance and turning back to God to receive the gift of the kingdom. The fire is both the proclamation of the kingdom and the purifying fire of repentance (Luke 3:16–18). Although the message is Good News, it is not “peaceful” in the sense of leaving things undisturbed, nor does it present a sentimental, “nice” notion of God, nor does it require nothing of those who accept. Consequently, it will be accepted by some and rejected by others, causing division within families and society. This is the nature of a purifying fire.

Dec 11 2024

Unsung Saints

Stories of unsung heroes inspire us. An excavator-turned archaeologist just keeps digging while somebody else gets the glory for his finds. A forty-eight-year-old singer from a village in rural England is unknown until someone hands her a microphone. A mathematical genius at NASA is unseen because she is of the wrong gender and skin color.

Some of you who are reading this may have been applauded for your deeds of heroic virtue. I suspect most of you have not. The realization of what you hope for may come about in your lifetime. Or it may not.

In my garden, there are low-maintenance plants and high maintenance plants. Last summer, I grew acorn squash. I had three plants and weeded them from time to time and then let them be. They produced forty-seven acorn squash. I also had eighteen poles of green beans with four plants per pole. I had to go out every day and pick or I would be overrun with overripe leathery beans.

In God’s garden, does the Gardener prefer acorn squash to pole beans? In today’s parables, it seems that Jesus is extolling low maintenance servants and managers—those who just get on and do their job. They are self-directed, hard-working, and faithful even when no one is watching them. Like the acorn squash, they bear abundant fruit.

Where does that heroic virtue come from?

The Holy Spirit gives the courage of hidden faithfulness. A man gets out of bed for a job he hates in order to support a family he loves. A woman is continually good to another though she never receives any thanks. One forgives even though there is no reward for it. That is simple heroic virtue in ordinary life.

To be an unsung saint is challenging. The Lord says, be one anyway.

Consider/Discuss

Applause is motivating. When someone cheers you on, it can give you a shot of adrenaline. And yet applause can also lead you astray, so that you do things for the sake of a “thumbs up.” How is it more difficult to do the right thing when no one is looking? How can we avoid becoming resentful when others are recognized? How can we continue to bear good fruit no matter what is going on around us?
We don’t often think about who the Holy Spirit is in ordinary life. Yet to discover God hidden in all things awakens a secret passion that makes living vibrant and vigorous. This week, look for the steadfastness of God. Recognize the everyday faithfulness you see in yourself and others. Then write down how you have seen God at work in quiet and unseen ways. Maybe even send a note of thanks to someone who does good without being seen?

Living and Praying with the Word

Lord, you have given us much. Yet we don’t always see that. Open our eyes to see what you have provided. Help us be faithful with that. You expect much from us who have been given much. Help us not to be afraid, but bold in doing good, whether seen or unseen. Most of all, you have given us your Spirit, our source of strength. You have not walked away to leave us on our own, watching from a distance to see what we do. You are not that sort of Divine Master. You are here with us at all times, helping us to be faithful. Thank you, thank you, thank you for that!

Dec 11 2024

Scripture Study for

The reading from Wisdom is part of a lengthy passage (10:1–19:22) that rehearses the role of Wisdom as the active, providential power of God in times of trouble, especially in Israel’s Exodus experience. As a preparation for the last plague, the death of the firstborn, God had warned the people and given the Passover sacrifice instructions to protect them from the plague (Exodus 12:1–23). The people put their trust in God on the basis of God’s promises to Abraham and to Moses to deliver them from bondage (Genesis 15:13–16; Exodus 6:8; 13:5). When the plague came and Israel was safe, they were “glorified,” which here means lifted up and seen as God’s chosen people, protected—as so often in Israel’s history—from harm.

Having developed his discussion of Christ as the eternal High Priest who intercedes for us in the heavenly sanctuary, the author of Hebrews now turns to the Christian response to this reality. While it is true that Christ intercedes for sinners, this does not make sin a light matter. On the contrary, one must strive to overcome sin, a struggle that can only be undertaken with firm faith in God’s promises (10:23). The author’s definition of faith is not precise, but it does address both faith’s subjective and objective aspects. “Realization of what is hoped for” points to recognition of the divine promises for those who persevere, whereas “evidence of things not seen” refers to the witness of those who have gone before, attesting to God’s trustworthiness. Because he understood the promises of land, blessing, and descendants, Abraham left his homeland as God directed (Genesis 12:1–6). Although the fullness of the promises was not realized in their lifetimes, the ancients died trusting that they would be fulfilled one day.

Jesus has been exhorting his disciples to maintain courage in the face of persecution (12:2–8), trusting that the Holy Spirit will guide them (12:11–12) and that God will provide for them (12:16–31). This all means that they need not be afraid: of persecution, of being abandoned by God, or of not having the things they need. If they have faith, they will possess the one thing necessary: the kingdom of God, which the Father is “pleased to give you.” The lesson about being watchful can apply either to the return of Christ or to the death of the individual. In either case, the point is that we should be about the things God has given us to do, whatever they are. The remarkable image of a master serving his servants when he finds them about his business illustrates vividly the generosity of God, which far exceeds human generosity, in bestowing the kingdom.

Dec 11 2024

Loving God, Living Well

At the far end of our woods is an acre of bog. It is fascinating in every season. Gray sticks rise out of yellow ice in winter. The frogs croak loudly in spring. The bushes glow red in the fall. As I walked there one morning, a delicate mist floated over the water. The sun came up. The water vapor dispersed into the air and was gone.

A new day had begun.

Here and then gone. The author of Ecclesiastes says that human life is like that vapor. All is vanity, pointless, like a mist dissolving into nothingness. What will last?

In Jesus’ parable of the rich man, he also cautions his followers not to hold onto treasures that evaporate. He says to be rich in what matters to God. What matters to God?

After my mom died, my dad prepared to sell their house, which they had shared for fifty years. My brothers and I helped to divvy up their possessions. But it was not just accumulated stuff from sixty one years of marriage. My mother had poured hundreds of cups of oolong tea from that ceramic teapot. The Dickensian carolers watched from the piano every Christmas as presents were opened under the tree. The long cherry table had heard generations of laughter and conversation at anniversary dinners and birthday parties and gatherings of friends. The “stuff” had memories, memories of giving for the love of God and the love of others.

Chasing after possessions in order to hoard them for ourselves? That creates a life of vapor. Vanity of vanities—here and then gone like the mist.

What matters to God is not what we collect but how we spend our life. Our “stuff” is only as rich as the love it supports. Living a life for God and for others—that is what creates a treasure that will last.

Consider/Discuss

The greed that Jesus speaks about in the Gospel implies an insatiable grasping for more, a ravenous restlessness to get “stuff.” He is not warning his followers about making a living, but about pursuing material security as their end goal in life. How can we strike a balance between having enough and grasping for more? How does our trust in God relate to that?
How we spend our life—it matters. Today’s psalm asks God to “teach us to number our days aright.” Days turn into years and years turn into a lifetime of “yes!” to Love. At the end of our life, our stuff will be gone. But the love that we have given will remain. What treasures would you like to leave to those who come after you? What matters most to you?

Living and Praying with the Word

Lord our God, you know our hopes. We would like to live a life of virtue that would last beyond us. We would like to bear fruit that remains. But virtue begins with you. You are love, you are faithfulness, and you are enduring. You give each of us the freedom to respond to your offer of love, to choose yes, to dance with you. Sometimes we choose no and cement our feet stolidly onto the ground of a life spent centered around ourselves. Show us the way to say yes to self-gift. For then the mist of earthly life will rise and the eternal new day will begin, with you as the dawn. And then, joy of joys, what a dance that will be!

Dec 11 2024

Scripture Study for

The Book of Ecclesiastes is an extended, sometimes agonized, exploration of the meaning of life, or—to be more exact—the question of whether there is a meaning to life. One fact that most troubles the author is the observation that very often those who do not work hard prosper, while those who do work hard do not. No one, no matter how hard they work, can be assured that their labor will pay off. This seems unjust, and the author questions whether there is in fact any justice built into God’s design of the world. If there isn’t, then what’s the point of trying? At least from the limited human perspective, everything is therefore “vanity,” a word that means “nothing,” “vapor,” or “pointless.”

Last week Paul noted that the Colossians had been buried and raised with Christ in baptism (2:12). The baptized now live a new life in Christ, having become part of his “body.” This life is “hidden,” in the sense that on the outside nothing about them has changed; this new life is only seen through the eyes of faith. It is nevertheless very real and is lived in and with Christ, who is associated with divine, not earthly, things. Those earthly aspects of the human person are opposed to God’s will and do not reflect the divine new life enjoyed by the baptized. This is the old self, who has died. The new self, the true self, lies hidden in Christ. Nevertheless, this new self must make itself known by how it acts in the world, transcending earthly divisions among humans.

Jesus’ response to the request that he intervene in a dispute between brothers has an edge to it. The address “friend” is, paradoxically, not particularly friendly and signals some disapproval, as does the refusal to intervene. Jesus will not be party to a dispute motivated at least partly by greed. The parable of the rich man illustrates the devastating spiritual impact that such greed can have. The language and decision of the man point to a single-minded self-centeredness regarding his good fortune: my harvest, my barns, my grain. He does not even seem to consider the possibility of sharing his overabundant harvest with those who are less fortunate. His enjoyment of and even obsession with his “goods” blind him to others. When his life is taken away from him, not only do the needy not profit from his abundance, but neither does he. Both his material goods and his spiritual welfare are lost because he was poor in what matters most to God.