Author: admin4ws

More than the other liturgical seasons of the year, Advent focuses on the future, when God’s vindication of God’s people will come to fruition. This theme, emerging from Israelite expectations of divine restoration, animates today’s first reading from the book of Zephaniah. That passage looks forward to a divine rescue of the people of Israel, one in which those unjustly humiliated are restored and those driven away are gathered together again. Although God’s gracious action is to culminate in the future, divine mercy is already evident in God’s provision in the present (Isaiah 12:2-6). Paul expresses confidence in that provision particularly in his letter to the Philippians, despite his writing it when he was awaiting Roman trial (Philippians 4:4-7). The Gospel reading for today sets out the ethical imperatives that go along with placing trust in God’s judgment.

The First Reading
Zephaniah 3:14-20
The Joy of Israel’s Restoration

This reading from the book of Zephaniah directs to the people of Israel at the beginning of the seventh century BCE an oracle of restoration and return to their homes and homeland. In the context of Advent, the excerpt underscores the continuity of God’s redemptive purpose.
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14. Sing out, daughter of Zion;
    raise a cry, Israel!
    Rejoice and exult with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem!
15. The Lord has overturned your judgment;
    God has turned aside your enemies.
    The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
    you need not fear evil any longer.
16. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Do not fear, Zion!
    Let your hands not sink in despair!
17. The Lord, your God, is in your midst,
    a saving warrior.
    God will rejoice over you in happiness;
    God will renew you^[1] in God’s love.
    God will rejoice over you with a ringing cry.
18. Those who suffered^[2] from the appointed time—[when] I punished you—
    were an expiation tax^[3] on Jerusalem, a reproach.
19. At that time, I will act against all who humble you,
    and I will rescue any who stumbles,
    and any who was driven away I will gather up.
    And I will make them an object of praise and a name in all the land in which they were shamed.
20. At that time, I will bring you,
    and at the time I will gather you:
    then I will make you a name and an object of praise among all the peoples of the earth,
    when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the Lord.

The Psalm
Isaiah 12:2-6
Joyfully Make Known God’s Works

Writing in reference to the Assyrian invasions of Israel and Judah (eighth century BCE), the prophet Isaiah offers a hymn to God as the one who rescues from trouble. The prophet exhorts the people of God to follow him in trusting God’s deliverance and declaring through song the joy and confidence God’s deliverance brings.
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2. Behold, God is my rescue!
   I will trust and not fear.
   For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and my song and has been my rescue.
3. In joy you will draw water from the wells of deliverance.
4. And you will say on that day,
   give thanks to the Lord;
   call upon God’s name;
   announce among the peoples God’s actions;
   make known that God’s name is exalted!
5. Praise the Lord with music, for God has acted majestically;
   this is known in all the land.
6. Shout and sing out in joy, inhabitant of Zion!—
   for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

The Second Reading
Philippians 4:4-7
Exhortation to Joy and Peace

The Apostle Paul exhorts the believers in Philippi to rejoice and to pray with thankfulness, despite any difficulty or opposition, because the Lord is near. Paul assures them that through prayer they can experience God’s peace as they stand united in the Anointed Jesus.
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Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your considerateness be known by everyone. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything—by prayer and petition with thankfulness—let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which exceeds all human reasoning, will guard your hearts and your minds in the Anointed Jesus. 

The Gospel
Luke 3:7-18
John the Baptist’s Proclamation

Alongside anticipating God’s future acts, John the Baptist set out ethical demands for how people should conduct themselves in the present as they prepare for divine judgment. As presented in Luke’s Gospel in particular, John included even soldiers in his announcement, although they were far from the traditional definition of the people of God.
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Then he was saying to the crowds traveling out to be immersed by him: “Offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? So: make fruit worthy of repentance! Do not even begin to say among yourselves, ‘We have a father—Abraham,’ because I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise children for Abraham! The axe is already laid into the root of the trees: so every tree not making good fruit is cut out and thrown into fire.”

The crowds questioned him and said, “So what shall we do?” He answered and said to them, “One who has two tunics should give to the one who has none! And one who has food should do likewise!” Tax-agents also came to be immersed and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” To them he said, “No transactions beyond what is authorized for you!” And even soldiers questioned him, saying, “And what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Extort from no one, and do not gouge! And make do with your wages.” In the people’s anticipation, everyone debated in their hearts concerning John, if perhaps he were the Anointed. John answered them all, saying, “I indeed immerse you in water, but the one stronger than I am comes, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loosen. He himself will immerse you in holy Spirit and fire. His pitchfork is in hand to clear out the threshing floor and to gather the grain into the storehouse, but the refuse he will incinerate with unquenchable fire.” So John exhorted in many other ways and announced to the people.

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Advent’s emphasis on the finality of divine judgment for the world is deeply embedded in the Scriptures of Israel. Baruch’s prophecy (Baruch 5:1-9) stresses the joy of judgment, because God’s coming for Jerusalem both vindicates and enhances righteousness; Malachi anticipates a heavenly messenger who will announce the full purification that is to come (Malachi 3:1-4), a role assigned to John the Baptist in the Gospels. John, in fact, is the child who lies at the center of the canticle of Zechariah, which serves as today’s psalm (Luke 1:68-79). Paul’s Letter to the Philippians exemplifies how the anticipation of divine judgment in early Christian expectation focused on “the day of the Anointed Jesus” (Philippians 1:3-11), when Jesus, raised from the dead, becomes the instrument of God’s intervention. Today’s Gospel reading places John the Baptist in time, but also stresses his significance for the end of time as anticipated in the Scriptures of Israel.

The First Reading
Baruch 5:1-9
The Vindication of Jerusalem

The book of Baruch appears in the Apocrypha, meaning that it is part of the Greek version of the Scriptures of Israel (the Septuagint) but is not found in the Hebrew Bible. It presents as though it expresses the perspective of the time of Jeremiah, and its author claimed that the book was written by Jeremiah’s scribe. The book’s author in fact wrote it after the crisis of the second century BCE, however, when foreign rulers threatened to convert the Temple in Jerusalem into a shrine to Zeus.
—

Jerusalem: Remove the clothing of your mourning and affliction; put on the beauty that forever comes from God’s glory. Clothe yourself with the cloak of righteousness from God; set upon your head the diadem of the Eternal’s glory. God will show your splendor to every place under heaven; your name from God will forever be called, “Righteous reconciliation, worshipful glory.”

Arise, Jerusalem: Stand on the height and look towards the east. See your children brought together from west and east by the command of the Holy One, rejoicing that God has remembered. They went away from you on foot, led by enemies, but God will lead them back to you, carried in glory like a royal throne. God has directed every high mountain and ancient hill to be brought low, and valleys to be filled up, making the ground level so that Israel can proceed safely in God’s glory. Forests and every pleasing tree shade Israel at God’s direction. God shall personally lead Israel with joy in the light of his glory, with the mercy and righteousness that come from God.

or Malachi 3:1-4
God Comes with Purifying Power

In the period of the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple, the prophet Malachi announces the imminent appearance of God, anticipated by a heavenly messenger. When God comes, Temple worship will be restored to its proper practice and purpose.
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Look! I am sending my messenger who will clear a path before me. Suddenly, the ruler whom you seek will arrive at the Temple. The messenger of the covenant, for whom you yearn—look!—he is coming, says the Lord of the heavenly divisions. Who can endure the day when he comes, and who will stand fast when he appears? For he is like a smelter’s fire and launderers’ lye. He will judge as a smelter, a purifier of silver, to purify the Levites and to refine them like gold and silver, so that they will properly bring offerings to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and of Jerusalem will please the Lord, as in ancient days and former times.

The Psalm
Luke 1:68-79
Blessing God for Present and Future Vindication

Luke’s Gospel uniquely includes a series of canticles—psalm-like poetic compositions—within its narrative of Jesus’ birth. In this case, Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, celebrates John’s birth and anticipates his role in the vindication of Israel.
—

The Lord God of Israel is blessed, having intervened and made redemption for God’s people, and raising for us a horn of salvation in the House of David, God’s servant, just as was promised from the beginning through the mouth of God’s holy prophets:
salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to do mercy with our
ancestors, and to remember the holy covenant. This is the oath that God swore to Abraham, our forefather:
to grant that we, being delivered from the hand of enemies, can without fear worship Godin proper piety and righteousness all our days. And you, child, shall be called Most High’s prophet:
because you will proceed before the Lord to prepare the Lord’s way,
to give knowledge of salvation to the people, by release of their sins,
through our God’s urgent compassion, by which the dawn from on high intervenes for us,
to shine on those in darkness and those residing in death’s shadow,
and to direct our feet into a peaceful way.

The Second Reading
Philippians 1:3-11
Paul’s Prayer of Thankfulness for the Philippian Believers’ Partnership

In the opening of his letter to the believers in Philippi, Paul expresses in prayer his thankfulness for their partnership. Paul’s prayer captures his deep affection for the Philippians and his gratitude for their having partnered with him during his imprisonment and trial in Rome. Paul is confident that their actions will work to their advantage at the coming divine judgment in connection with “the day of the Anointed Jesus.”
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I always thank my God with every remembrance of you. In every prayer for you all, I make my request with joy because of your partnership in the proclamation of God’s victory from that first day until now. I have always believed that the One who began a good work in you will carry it to completion until the day of the Anointed Jesus. Indeed, it is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart in that you really are all partakers with me in the grace both of my imprisonment and of my defense and vindication of God’s victory proclamation. For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the urgent compassion of the Anointed Jesus. I pray that your love may yet increase more and more, in full knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve that which is best, and so that you might be pure and blameless for the day of the Anointed, being filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus the Anointed to the glory and praise of God.

The Gospel
Luke 3:1-6
John the Baptist’s Appearance

In all of the Gospels, John the Baptist’s significance lies in how he prepares the way for Jesus, and so prepares the way for God’s judgment. Luke’s Gospel sets the key prophetic statement (from Isaiah 40:3), which Luke attributes to John, in a specific historical context.
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In the fifteenth year of Caesar Tiberius’ government, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod regional administrator of Galilee, while Philip his brother was regional administrator of Ituraea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias regional administrator of Abilene, during Annas’ and Caiaphas’ high priesthood, God’s message came upon John, son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. And he came into every surrounding land of the Jordan, announcing an immersion of repentance for sins’ release. Thus it has been written in the book of the prophet Isaiah’s words: “Voice of one calling in the wilderness—Prepare the Lord’s way; make God’s paths straight. Every valley shall be filled up, and every mountain and hill brought down. And it shall be: the crooked, straight and the rough, smooth ways. And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

Advent begins the liturgical year of the church. The season focuses on what God does to bring creation to its fulfillment. It builds on the anticipation of Jesus’ birth long ago to suggest what God will do in a future that we do not yet know. In the passage for today from Luke’s Gospel, Jesus speaks of himself as coming in judgment as the powers of this world melt away. In today’s passage from the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, Paul’s charge to the community of believers in Thessalonica articulates the Advent theme that expectation of God’s action in the future demands ethical engagement in the present. Psalm 25 joins in the living sense of a current connection with God. The Scriptures of Israel are accorded special consideration during Advent because they articulate promises that Jesus and the New Testament insist are in the process of being realized. In today’s first reading, Jeremiah envisions the reconciliation of the peoples of Israel under a descendant of David; the Gospels portray Jesus as that son of David.

The First Reading
Jeremiah 33:14-16
A Promise of Future Restoration

In this reading, the prophet reassures those experiencing the trauma of exile that God’s word of promise is reliable. Despite the inevitability of the humiliation they are facing, the people can count on God’s promise to bring justice and vindication to both the northern and southern kingdoms of biblical Israel through a true, future descendant of King David.
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Look! Days are coming—word of the Lord—when I will establish the good thing that I have promised to the House of Israel and the House of Judah. In those days, at that time, I will make a true branch sprout for David, who will realize justice and vindication for the country: in those days Judah will be rescued and Jerusalem will rest in safety. So it will be called: “The Lord is our vindication.”

The Psalm
Psalm 25:1-10
A Prayer for God’s Protection and Compassion

Psalm 25 alternates between petitions for God’s compassionate forgiveness of sin and pleas for the divine wisdom to ensure the psalmist will avoid future transgression. This reading is particularly appropriate for Advent, a time of self-correction and instruction.
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Of David.

1. For you, Lord, I yearn with all that I am!
2. My God, in you I place my trust.
   May I not suffer humiliation;
   let not my enemies exult over me!
3. May those who eagerly await you not suffer humiliation;
   let those who act treacherously be humiliated!
4. Declare your paths to me, Lord;
   teach me your ways!
5. Lead me along your paths of truth;
   teach me, for you are the God of my deliverance;
   I have always eagerly awaited you.
6. Remember your compassion, Lord, and your steadfast love,
   for they are eternal.
7. The transgressions of my youth and my sins remember not;
   in keeping with your steadfast love, remember me,
   on account of your goodness, Lord.
8. Good and upright is the Lord;
   therefore God instructs sinners in the correct way.
9. God leads the disadvantaged with justice,
   teaching God’s path to the impoverished.
10. All the ways of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness
    for those who keep God’s covenant and decrees.

The Second Reading
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
A Prayer for the Believers in Thessalonica

Paul’s prayer for the believers in Thessalonica is an encouragement and example to pray for God’s strengthening of their faith as they continue to love one another, especially in anticipation of the Lord’s arrival.
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What thanks can we possibly give back to God for you in Thessalonica, for all the joy in which we rejoice before God because of you? We pray earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and provide what is lacking in your faith.

Now, may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus guide our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we do for you, in order to establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the arrival of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen. 

The Gospel
Luke 21:25-36
The Human Being Coming in Judgment

Luke’s Gospel balances two factors in its presentation of Jesus’ speech concerning his coming in judgment. From the outset, Luke insists in Jesus’ name that the powers of the present world are to be set aside. At the same time, this disturbing prospect accompanies the fundamental ground of hope that God’s unfolding intervention in the world signals the vindication of those who are righteous. Keen anticipation of this result encourages prayerful observation and alertness.
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Jesus continued to say: “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on earth, torment of nations in anxiety at the roar of the sea and the waves, people fainting away from fear and dread of the things coming upon the inhabited world, because the powers in the heavens shall be shaken. And then they shall see this human being coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things begin to happen, straighten up and lift your heads, since your redemption approaches!”

And he offered them a comparison: “Look—the fig tree and all the trees. Once they have put forth shoots, you see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. In this same way, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. Amen I say to you, that this generation shall not pass until all things happen. Heaven and earth will pass, but my words shall not pass. So take heed of yourselves, so your hearts are not loaded down with depravity and drunkenness and everyday worries and then that day bursts upon you, like a trap. For it will come upon all those who dwell upon the face of all the earth. Rather, stay alert at every moment, praying that you are strong enough to flee all these things that are about to happen and to stand at the end before this human being.”