28 November 2004

Advent 1 (Year A)
BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER LECTIONARY FOR MASS REVISED COMMON LECTIONARY

Isaiah 2:15 Psalm 125 Romans 13:814 Matthew 24:3744

Isaiah 2:15 Psalm 122:19 Romans 13:1114 Matthew 24:3744

Isaiah 2:15 Psalm 122 Romans 13:1114 Matthew 24:3644

I was glad when they said to me, Let us go to the house of the LORD!

Studying the Lectionary

Matthew 24:(36) 3744 (all) Matthew 2025 details Jesus sayings about the kingdom of heaven and bridge accounts of Jesus earthly ministry earlier in Matthew with the details of his betrayal, death and resurrection. This passage offers a glimpse of the infant born at Bethlehem. His message highlights the dawn of a new day in history, that is, the emerging kingdom of heaven. There will be links to the Hebrew Bible in his teaching, as when he draws an analogy with Noahs days. But the analogy with the householder suggests that present experience is as authoritative as that of the past. Second Testament eschatology has an imminence that is not present in Isaiah. The promised kingdom is at hand, the day when the son of man comes. For Christians, the birth of Jesus inaugurates a new era. Isaiah 2:15 (all) This passage illustrates the contrasting messages that pervade the Hebrew prophets. Much of Isaiah 1 attacks the social and religious failings of Israel, but in Isaiah 2 a profound hope appears. The vision of Isaiah rests on a coming day when the mountain of the Lords house, that is, Jerusalem, shall be set over all other mountains. The assertion that all the nations shall come streaming to it could be interpreted in nationalistic, triumphalistic fashion. Could this mean that Israel will reign over the nations, that Israels ways will prove supreme? A self-serving possibility lurks in eschatological literature for those who suspect they are an elect nation. Isaiah proves even-handed, however. Jerusalem is favored simply as the source 43
Homily Service, 37(12):4349, 2004 Copyright The Liturgical Conference ISSN 0732-1872 DOI: 10.1080/07321870490516539

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of eschatological hope. From out of Jerusalem comes the word of the Lord, and this is one of the most powerful of eschatological hopes. Nation shall not lift sword against nation nor ever again be trained for war. Biblical hope, in other words, centers not on vindication or triumph but on the achievement of everlasting peace. Jerusalem is exalted as the source of this message, for whose realization all nations search. Romans 13:(8) 1114 (all) Here we meet the images that we associate with Advent: night and day, this time and the fullness of time, sleep and wake, darkness and light. The word salvation is understood by Paul as communal rather than individual. He has in mind the coming of the end time rather than a particular persons death. The deeds of darkness and works of light distinguish the one who is in Christ from the one who is not. No allowance is needed for the deeds of sin, because the faithful one has put on the Lord Jesus Christ, the armor of light.

The Healing Word

Advent arrives as we gear up for Christmas. For weeks already our commercial society has been well into the countdown. It always seems that we are somehow behind schedule. Urgency is in the air; time gallops away. A similar message comes from Scripture, which points to the future day of the Lord and the end of time, and emphasizes the need not to be caught off guard. For salvation is nearer now than when we rst believed. The challenge is The night is far gone, and the day to remember the is at hand.

meaning of what we are doing.

Faced with the celebration of the nativity of Christ, and the final coming of the Son of Man at the end of the world, we need to be thinking in a dual way. Essentially the both come to the same point. The arrival of the Lord evokes our anticipation and preparation. As we think about gifts, cares, trees, decoration and entertainment, the challenge offered is to remember the meaning of what we are doing. The Lord 44

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comes, bringing new life to us. We admonish ourselves to do more spiritual preparation. While we are motivated to prepare spiritually for the feast, we are also burdened by the tasks to be completed and the expectations to be lled. Add to that our daily lives, and we are primed for overload. We can easily fall into the trap of thinking that spiritual preparation is something beyond and above what we have already done. We want to reclaim the wonder we experienced when we were young, and each day dragged long as we approached the day itself when our deepest desires would be fullled. Most adults and many children, however, do not experience Advent and Christmas as seasons of merriment but rather of too much and of not enough. Too many memories of unfullled dreams, too much food and alcohol, too much work, too much commercialization, too busy. Not enough time and money, not enough love and energy, not enough prayer and peace and, for some, not enough food and clothing. Occasionally we do not have even enough time to know what we are feeling. How can we prepare for our own death and risen body? We know not when either occurs. Like a red alert, we are to be prepared all the time for anything. Someone said that preparation is nding the Lord in each task we do and discovering the Lord in every person we meet. God sancties us, and from that we become aware of the truth of Christs presence, and we desire to acknowledge the presence to ourselves and others. Isaiah 2:15 stirs us this year because places that are beating their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks are now visible. Nation shall not life up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. This years Olympic competition will not turn into wars. But there is still much farther to travel: Tragic civil wars resulting in massive destruction and starvation ravage the world. We must continue to take our stand against the deeds of darkness and night. We must instead strive to live in the light of Christ. In this season of preparation we anticipate the new creation where there will be justice and peace.

Ideas and Illustrations

1. Keep a watchful eye. (Matthew 24:44) 45

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Lo! He comes with clouds descending, once for favored sinners slain; Thousand, thousand saints attending sell the triumph of his train: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! Christ the Lord returns to reign.
Excerpt from Charles Wesley, LBW, #27.

2. The night is far spent; the day draws near. (Romans 13:12) Passing away, saith the World, passing away: Chances, beauty, and youth, sapped day by day: The life never continueth in one stay. Is the eye waxen dim, is the dark hair changing to grey That hath won neither laurel nor bay? I shall clothe myself in Spring and bud in May: Thou, root-stricken, shall not rebuild thy decay On my bosom for aye. Then I answered: Yea. .... Passing away, saith my God, passing away: Winter passeth after the long delay: New grapes on the vine, new gs on the tender spray, Turtle calleth turtle in Heavens May. Though I tarry, wait for Me, trust Me, watch and pray: Arise, come away, night is past and lo it is day, My love, My sister, My spouse, thou shalt hear Me say. Then I answered: Yea.
Excerpt from Christina Rossetti, Old and New Year Ditties, in Literary Companion to the Lectionary, ed. Mark Pryce (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001) 23.

3. You must be prepared. (Matthew 24:44) I tell you, dont let your hearts grow numb Stay alert. It is your soul which matters. If only these wordswords in which I am laying bare my inmost thoughts could force you to destroy the deceit 46

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with which the world tries to put us to sleep!

Albert Schweitzer, Reverence for Life (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1969) 71.

Serving the Word

It is the common experience of humans to seek beginnings, beginnings that have the power to refresh, renew. The American Chinese or Jewish New Year, the Christian New Year, all are welcoming times: they beckon and encourage. The Scripture readings speak to our human condition. They map for us a goal for the season, giving a name to the object of our longing, to our unnamed yearnings. The readings also give us the program by which we are to attain our goal. When we climb the mountain, we learn Gods ways and walk in the paths of the Most High. We will not be alone. All the nations shall stream to it; many people shall come. The vision has communities of people turning toward righteousness, something that has happened throughout history. Todays righetous ones work with the poor, protect the environment, seek to stamp out racial prejudice and hatred in all its forms. Isaiahs ancient vision of such a people sounds the premonition of the angelic message that heralded a Christmastime. In the reading from Isaiah the invitation is to come to God on the mountain. The prophet tells of the mountain as Gods home, the highest mountain and the highest aspiration. We are encouraged to nd God on the heights. Go to the mountain. Hills do things to us: power, authority, wisdom, light, clarity of judgment, decisions, peace, closeness to God. Hills recall Moses on Mount Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the transguration, Capitol Hill. One commentator suggested that we move the U.S. Capitol to Denver, a mile up. These readings feel empty without the powerful presence of John the Baptizer: Prepare the way of the Lord. But in the second reading, Paul seems to assume the role of our no-nonsense spiritual trainer. He insists we begin immediately. Now is the hour! he says, to rev us up. His exhortation is both direct (lay aside the works of darkness) and encouraging (put on 47

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the Lord Jesus Christ). He speaks of putting on the armor of light: spiritual aerobics to strengthen us in the coming year. The living honorably builds our spiritual muscle; the contrast of light and darkness symbolizes the opposition of good and evil; and putting on Jesus Christ provides the mode of daily living that strengthens and protects our gains. We begin this new year with the Gospel of Matthew, who takes Christs own words to unite Advent and Christmas/Epiphany. The coming of the son of man is repeated several times and then, your Lord is coming. Advent is both our coming to God and Gods coming to us. Our yearnings for an unnamed satisfaction is named as the coming of the chosen One. Jesus speaks beyond Christmas: his rst coming as God-man to the gentiles. Jesus tells us of that great nal Epiphany when the chosen One shall come in clouds of glory, gathering about him all the faithful of the earth. Advent is the time to be open to the unexpected intrusion of God, to experience God in unique and special ways, to accept the embrace of the divine becoming one with us. Advent speaks birth; it also speaks Advent speaks resurrection.

birth; it also speaks resurrection.

Babies and children around the world kept dying this past week. Some public figures kept lying to their people on all continents. Heavy storms took many lives last week. Gunre took many more. What about this rhetoric in which we engage: the unexpected intrusion of God; the embrace of the divine becoming one with us? Are we believers in Jesus the Christ some of the last unrealists on the globe? People worked in intensive-care units and emergency rooms last week. Some people taught other people to read last week, as a way out of their poverty and misery. All kinds of things happened to help people have life and to begin anew. Without that new life, the promise of risen glory makes little sense. Many people did these things because their belief in Jesus, the One who is coming, is the rm conviction that God fullls every promise.

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Welcoming the Word

1. Describe the way the prophet pictures the gathering of the nations in peace in Isaiah 2:15. For what crises do you see the need for Gods arbitration today (v 4)? What place does instruction have in international arbitration? What is the role of the word of the LORD (v 3)? Write an Advent prayer for peace using verse 5b as a response. 2. What is meant in Psalm 122 by the invitation to go to the house of the LORD? Why does the invitation make us glad? What does the psalmist seek for the sake of Gods house, and what does that phrase mean to you (v 9)? What does the prayer for peace in verses 68 say to us in the aftermath of 9/11? 3. What do you think the believers in Rome understood by Pauls assertion that salvation is nearer to us now, in Romans 13:1114? What does it mean to believers in our time? What image does verse 14 use to remind us of our baptism (see Galatians 3:2728)? What devices and desires of the present age do we need to put aside to prepare for the coming of Christ? 4. Why do you think the concept of the rapture has captured popular imagination? Discuss possible reasons why most modern biblical scholars do not believe the gospel writer in Matthew 24:3644 was referring to the occurrence of the rapture. In what unexpected ways does Jesus come to us while we are going about our ordinary tasks? Why is it so difcult to stay awake when we face the time of trial (v 42; see also Luke 22:4546)? Blair Gilmer Meeks

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