Year C

Dec 05 2024

Scripture Study for

Scholars date the composition of Baruch several centuries after the end of the Babylonian Exile. Much of the language in this passage, however, sounds like the end of the book of Isaiah, which was composed shortly after the Exile, when hopes for the immediate restoration of Jerusalem were still high. Baruch reveals that centuries later Israel still hoped in God’s promises. A key idea in this passage is God’s “glory,” which is mentioned several times. The word refers to God’s honor and reputation, but also God’s power and authority, manifested primarily in God’s intervention in human affairs. Baruch assures Jerusalem that she will in fact display God’s glory, that her renewal in justice and peace will be accomplished for and by the glory of God.

Paul begins his Letter to the Philippians by giving thanks that they have responded to the call to live and proclaim the gospel. This gospel as well as their response to it has been “the good work” of God, which will continue until the “day of Christ Jesus.” This term, taken from the Old Testament concept of the “day of the Lord,” refers to the culmination of God’s definitive intervention in the world, which will take place when Christ returns. Paul does not know when this will be, but in the meantime, the Philippians enjoy the benefits of Christ’s “righteousness,” which bears the fruit of purity and blamelessness. Thus, the transformation and the continued fidelity of the Philippians redound to the praise and glory of God.

Luke begins his Gospel by situating the arrival of the Messiah firmly within human history. The definitive intervention of God in human affairs is not something that disrupts history, even as it changes its course, but flows out of the history of Israel and, indeed, of the whole world. The passage from Isaiah, now seen to refer to John the Baptist, stems from the end of the exilic period and tells of the intervention of God to heal Israel’s past and to give Israel a future. Now God is about to do the same in Jesus, who will heal the past of the entire world and give it also a future.

Dec 05 2024

Counting on the Calendar—or on God?

“The days are coming,” says the Lord. I flip through my calendar to look at this upcoming new church year. Events are already penciled in—birthdays, speaking engagements, dental cleanings . . .
those days are coming . . .

I remember my calendar in March 2020. Those days were penciled black with busyness. The schedule looked exhausting. How could I possible get it all done? Then, one by one, each of those “busy-
nesses” was erased by the COVID-19 pandemic. What was scheduled to come—it did not come. All was cancelled. By the middle of August, I could not recall whether it was Tuesday or Saturday. Time became a blur. I had no idea what was coming.

It is now the end of November of 2021. What is coming? There may have been a time when we felt sure that our calendar was under our control—what was scheduled to be, that would be. Now, well . . . maybe that surety has been shaken? What will this next year hold? Will nations be “in dismay,” as Jesus says? Will people be “in fright” because of what befalls them? What is coming? We do not know.

Thank God for Advent! Advent is all about “what is coming.” As we move into this season, we reach back to see that the Lord has been steadfast, always with the people in their trials. Wrapped in that security, in that beloved-ness, we walk into the unknown. We have no other guarantees. Advent also means to hope for the future. No matter what comes, we will not be abandoned.

Jesus is coming. Jesus has come. Jesus is here. He tells us to look to him, to “stand erect and raise your heads.” That is hope. No matter what happens, God will be with us. No matter what.

Consider/Discuss

How has the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic affected your sense of control of the future? What is happening in the world today that shakes you? In your own personal history, how have you seen that God has been with you?
Looking back at salvation history, the everlasting, holy, and eternally wonderful God has promised to you and me to be our future. Our future is not something. Our future is Someone. In the strength of the Holy Spirit, how can we be vigilant in remembering the steadfastness of God and secure in faith no matter what lies ahead?

Living and Praying with the Word

Come, Lord Jesus! You know our fears. You know our feebleness. To be human is to know not what the future holds. We look into the unknown. We do not know what will happen. But you are our hope. Strengthen our weak knees. Help us to stand erect and raise our heads. Give us the inner assurance of faith that you are the Rock that will hold. Come, Holy Spirit, and stir up our hope. In you. Only in you. Come, O Prince of Peace, come and be born in our hearts!

Dec 05 2024

Scripture Study for

Jeremiah’s oracle of salvation stems from the period right before the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon, which the prophet understands to be the just judgment of God for repeated violations of the covenant relationship. In particular, the prophet has accused the Davidic kings of failing in their task of ensuring justice among God’s people (22:1–9). The oracle assures the people, however, that the period of judgment is temporary. In time, God will not only restore Israel, but will also raise up a just Davidic king who will himself “do what is right” and ensure justice in the land, so much so that Judah and Jerusalem will even be called (symbolically), “The Lord our justice.”

Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians was written to strengthen a persecuted and maligned community. Written from an apocalyptic perspective, the letter assumes that the world is presently in a middle period between the first and the second comings of Christ. During this time, it is easy to grow disheartened and to lose one’s way. Paul has just affirmed the faith of the Thessalonians despite these challenges and prays not only that God strengthen this faith, but also increase the preeminent sign of faith, which is love. This love is not a “feeling,” but a stance that pleases God, an expression of “blameless holiness,” which manifests itself in care for “one another and for all.” Such a stance can be particularly difficult in the face of both the delayed return of Christ and the experience of persecution.

Jesus’ warning of the coming judgment and redemption reflects Jewish apocalyptic expectations in the first century. By this time, prophetic pronouncements of God’s restoration of Israel had come to be seen as pointing toward a turning point, even an end, of history. The “signs,” which involve the dissolution of the stable cosmic order, foretell the coming of the Son of Man, a figure derived from the vision of Daniel 7:13, who represented the divine Messiah. The arrival of the Son of Man initiates the period of judgment for the wicked, but redemption for the just. Only those who have persevered in righteousness despite the long wait for that redemption will experience it when they find themselves standing before God’s appointed judge.

Nov 08 2024

God of Promise

In Thornton Wilder’s play The Skin of our Teeth, Mrs. Antrobus tells her husband, George, that she didn’t marry him because he was perfect, that she didn’t even marry him because she loved him; she married him because he gave her a promise. And she gave one to him. And over the years, as their children were growing up, that mutual promise protected all of them, moving them into the future together.

A promise can open up into an unexpected future, marked by new life. God’s promises spoken in today’s first reading offered hope to a people who had little reason to hope. The hope of a restored Jerusalem, of a descendent of David who would do what is right and just—such promises began to be fulfilled in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

With Jesus a new age began that promised to bring the old order of chaos and destruction to an end. With his birth a new power entered the world, making it possible to live in love, and allowing men and women to “increase and abound in love for each other and for all,” as Paul writes to the Thessalonians. Total fulfillment of God’s promises remains in the future.

But beginnings offer hope. A new church year calls on us to live as a people of hope in what God can do in our own day. Advent invites us to renew our relationship with the promises of God made visible in the person of Jesus Christ.

Consider/Discuss

Do you think of God as a promise keeper?
Do you see Jesus as beginning the fulfillment of God’s promises?
What hopes do you have for this new year of grace?

Responding to the Word

Lord, awaken us to your love and grant us your salvation, so we might bring new life to our world by what we say and do. Bless this new year of grace, and may our call to holiness alert the world to your transforming power.

Nov 08 2024

Scriptural Study for First Sunday of Advent

Jeremiah’s words announce a future wherein God’s promise of restoration will be fulfilled. A shoot, a sign of new life springing from previous life, will be raised up for the Davidic house. Jerusalem, the city whose name means “foundation of peace,” is here called “The Lord our justice.” Thus, the foundation of this peace is justice, and the basis of the justice is the quality of commitment to the Lord. This oracle opens with an announcement that God will deliver the people to safety, and it concludes with the people rooting their salvation in the righteousness of God.

Paul expresses his desire for the spiritual growth of the Thessalonians. His exhortation contains a tone of urgency, encouraging the believers to continue to live righteous lives. He does not ask that their love increase, but that their capacity for growth be expanded so that they can fill it with love. This love should be both communal (for one another) and universal (for all). It breaks all ethnocentric bounds and, like the love that Paul himself possesses, it resembles the inclusive love of God. Paul implies that the coming time of fulfillment should be an incentive to righteous living.

Jesus speaks of cosmic disturbances and the distress on earth that these disturbances will cause. His cosmic turmoil calls to mind the primordial chaos out of which God brought order (see Genesis 1:1–10), and the destruction at the time of Noah out of which God brought order anew (see Genesis 7:12; 9:9–11). In the case described in this passage, the disturbances are probably less predictions of actual historical events than they are metaphorical images portraying the end of one age and the birth of another. For those who faithfully await the revelation of God, this will not be a time of punishment, but of fulfillment. Since the exact time of the revelation is unknown, the fundamental exhortation is: Beware! Take heed! Be alert! Don’t be caught by surprise!