Year C

Dec 09 2024

Scripture Study for

The story of Hannah is one of many in the Bible in which a child who will be significant in Israel’s history is born to a previously “barren” woman. Hannah eventually became pregnant after praying fervently to God for a male child, promising to “give him to the Lord” as a consecrated person, a Nazirite (1 Samuel 1:9–11). God heard her prayer and she bore a son, who would become the prophet Samuel. Now she is fulfilling her promise to God and is bringing the child to the sanctuary at Shiloh. The story of Hannah illustrates both God’s providential care and the devotion of a mother to the God who answered her prayer.

A central theme in the First Letter of John is the love of God, which “begets” God’s children. Those whom God has loved and who respond in love “may be called children of God.” This is all effected through and in Christ. To be a child of God is not merely to be loved by God but to be assured of an inheritance, which is to abide or remain in Christ—and therefore in the Father—and thus to obtain eternal life. The way to show that one is a child of God is to reflect the nature of the parent, which means in effect to imitate and obey God’s Son. Jesus manifested above all God’s love, which is why all children of God must “love one another.

As the Son of the Most High (1:32), Jesus is eager to claim his identity and the work associated with it. Thus we have the story of the child who is drawn to the temple, the house of God, and who already is able to speak and teach there. While one might consider any other child disobedient or at least thoughtless in remaining behind without telling his family, in the case of Jesus this is perfectly justified—he is exactly where he needs to be, which is with his heavenly Father. At the same time, he honors his human parents and respects their authority. The person and role of Jesus is thus shown in this short vignette to be unique and, well, rather complicated.

Dec 09 2024

Wow, God! Thanks!

The dark night has become day. The rescue has come. God has lifted our sorrows. Have you seen it? A man emerges from the doors of the hospital when his family thought that they’d never see him again. Have you felt it? A woman hugs her son, whom she thought was lost, but here he is! Do you know that jubilation, that moment when light rises out of darkness? A little girl, who thought that she was going to drown, finds herself safely on the shore. Have you ever been so low that rescue feels so good? The night has passed! This is the day!

Isaiah describes the Israelites returning home from Babylon: their eyes brim with tears, seeing through prisms of joy, wondering at a deliverance so profound and so unexpected. O God, thank you!

Has this wonderment been part of your life, too? Not just any joy, but the gut-level amazement at having been rescued? “Break out together in song, O ruins of Jerusalem,” Isaiah sings. The deliverance has come. “Shout with joy!” today’s psalmist says.

I love to look at the stars at night, even in winter. It’s so dark, as only winter can be dark. The constellation Orion glitters in the south. The Big Dipper shines in the north. The air smelled crisp with cold. A sense of wonder crept into my heart and shivered in my spine. It was Christmas Eve. The people who lived in darkness have seen a great light. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

This morning, the sun is up. Christmas is here. There is food to be cooked. There are people to see. The wonder of night has turned to the miracle of day. Baby Jesus has come. It is Christmas! “Joy to the world, the Lord has come!”

Consider/Discuss

Look at the joyous events of your life—the holy births, the sacred deaths, the healings, and the reconciliations. Since your experience of Christmas last year, how have you experienced light coming out of darkness? How has God lifted you? On this Christmas day, what does rescue mean to you and those whom you love? For what do you give thanks?
In the midst of this Christmas day, find a moment to cultivate a sense of wonder at the beauty of creation—look, just look! The people, the sun, the babies, the snow, the Christmas tree, and the clouds—how does God sing to you through the world around you, saying, “Look, I am here!” After one minute of savoring creation, pray this simple prayer: “Wow, God! Thanks!”

Living and Praying with the Word

Take time to wonder? Lord, that’s not very grown up. I gave that up when I became an adult. You have to get real. Do important things. I don’t have time for awe. I don’t have time to spend in wonderment. That’s just “fluffy” and I am not fluffy. What’s that you say? It is Christmas? Well, yes, it is. Be childlike, just this one day, and spend time in amazement? Allow you to fan the flame of wonder within me? For one minute? Well, okay, if you say so. Hey, um, yeah, by the way . . . Wow. Thanks!

Dec 09 2024

Scripture Study for

The oracle of salvation in Isaiah stems from the late exilic period, which the prophet announces is coming to an end. This part of Isaiah makes clear that many in Babylon were doubtful either of God’s intentions toward Israel or God’s ability to achieve those intentions. Thus the prophet assures the people that God is indeed announcing the “glad tidings” (in Greek euangelion) that God is the sovereign King, and thus able to carry out the divine will. In fact, “sentinels” can already see that God is doing this by restoring Jerusalem and bringing the people back. As God’s holy city, and something of a representative of God’s people, the restoration of Jerusalem is in fact the restoration of God’s people.

The Letter to the Hebrews opens with a majestic announcement that, after centuries of partial and imperfect revelation, God has at last been perfectly revealed in the Son. Drawing on later, Greek-inflected theology of the book of Wisdom (7:23–27), the author describes Jesus Christ as the perfect reflection of the divine glory and power through whom all things were created, and which sustains them in being. This Son, although far above all natural and supernatural creatures, nevertheless took on human flesh and offered himself once and for all for the sins of humanity. Thus in the perfection of God’s revelation we see the extent of God’s gracious will for the salvation of all.

The Prologue to John’s Gospel focuses not just on the person of Jesus Christ, but also on the significance of his coming into the world. Jesus himself, as God, is the source of everything in creation; nothing exists apart from him and thus everything is “his own.” Yet not everyone will welcome the one who brings light and life. Already at the beginning of this Gospel we encounter the gracious will of God for the world (3:16), but also the darkness that the Light will encounter when he comes. John challenges the readers of his Gospel to decide whether or not they will accept the “grace and truth” offered or remain in the dark.

Dec 05 2024

More Than Mere Optimism

When I was in my twenties, I had an “Elizabeth.” I was very pregnant with my first child. She had nine. Sitting at her kitchen table, we talked about God. We talked about faith. We talked about children. When I’d come to visit her, joy visibly leapt into her smile. As my belly swelled and the baby rolled around, I’d rest my elbow on her huge kitchen table and absorb her wisdom.

What Carol (my Elizabeth’s name) taught me was that God believes in babies. Even when we are tempted to lose hope in the future, God keeps sending new little people into this world. It is God’s mark of trust in the human race—even when we keep mucking it up, the good Lord says, “Let’s try again. Maybe they’ll get it right this time.” When she would say that, it would make me laugh. It gave me hope.

In Luke’s Gospel, two women also come together. The younger runs to the older. Yet it is Elizabeth who swells with elation as her baby jumps within her. We still pray her joyful exclamation to Mary: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” Elizabeth is filled with expectation.

Hope isn’t just a psychological manufacturing of inner optimism. Hope is a human being. The writing from Hebrews says “a body you prepared for me.” That body was not very big when unborn John the Baptist leapt for joy. God believes in us enough to become one of us. Hope comes in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

In a few days, we will celebrate the coming of that tiny person— the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. We may have mucked it up in the past, but this Christmas, God offers another chance: “Let’s try again. Maybe they’ll get it right this time.”

Consider/Discuss

God believes in people. God works through the many “Elizabeths” in this world, both male and female—people who recognize and follow the Lord and thus embody goodness and kindness and love. Has there been an Elizabeth for you? How did he or she help you to grow in faith?
Some in the field of psychology suggest that religion is simply a way of coping with life’s difficulties, that those who believe in Jesus are . . . well . . . just a little backward and simple; religion is no longer necessary in our scientific age. But what if there is no Other to turn to, no God who holds us up, no redemption from darkness? Where is hope? In these final days of Advent, ponder this: Is the idea of God just wishful thinking or is God the reality who holds up your life? As you behold the baby in the manger this Christmas, ask the Holy Spirit to swell within you with a renewed dose of the gifts of faith, hope, and love.

Living and Praying with the Word

Lord God, Creator of the world, the psalmist says thank you to God, who “knit me in my mother’s womb” and says thank you “because I am wonderfully made.” Thank you for creating me. Help me to start anew this week of Christmas, to recognize that you believe in me. In times of temptation, help me to hold doggedly fast to you. In times of despair, help me to cling to you alone as my hope. Thank you for coming into this world in such a small and obscure way in the womb of a young girl, who was willing to shelter and grow you for nine months. Thank you for her Elizabeth. Thank you for our “Elizabeths” who give us hope by embodying you. Thank you, thank you most of all for daring to take a chance on us.

Dec 05 2024

Scripture Study for

The prophet Micah, along with Isaiah and other prophets, expected that one day God would raise up a righteous ruler in the line of David. (Before the end of the monarchy, a long line of “bad kings” gave rise to this hope. Later, this hope remained alive after the destruction of the monarchy.) David’s ancestral home was the insignificant and tiny Bethlehem, which was part of the clan of Ephrathah (Ruth 1:2; 1 Samuel 17:12). Davidic rulers were representatives of God and thus the ideal ruler would be a righteous and caring shepherd of God’s people, protecting them against foreign and domestic enemies that threatened their well-being and peace. As such, the Davidic ruler is the agent of God’s own care for the people in times of weal or woe.

In his exploration of what God has accomplished in Christ, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews draws extensively on the Jewish scriptures to make the case that Jesus has been sent to fulfill God’s will completely and perfectly. Here the author draws on the Greek version of Psalm 40 to argue that Jesus came into the world (with a body) to do away with inadequate sacrifices and replace them with the sacrifice of his own body, thus accomplishing perfectly God’s will: behold, I come to do your will. This will is not specifically that Jesus should sacrifice himself, but that through his sacrifice all people would be “consecrated” to God in him.

An overarching theme throughout all of scripture is the divine desire that human beings learn to be able to trust in God, specifically that God has their welfare in mind and desires what is good for them, all of them as individuals and as a single people. This trust also entails believing God’s promises of future blessedness for all of creation. Such trust, or faith, is difficult for humans to “achieve,” which is why God and then Jesus emphasize it so much. It is not surprising, then, that Elizabeth rejoices that Mary believed—trusted—that what God had announced to her would come to pass. It is Mary’s trusting faith that prepares her to give birth to God’s Messiah.