Baptism of Our Lord / First Sunday after Epiphany - Lectionary 1c, Sunday January 9, 2022

Quotes That Make Me Think

"Jesus' baptism is not about repentance. It is about his identity being publicly, ritually re-rooted into God."

Holy Textures, Understanding the Bible in its own time and in ours, Luke 3:15-17, 21-22, David Ewart, 2010.

"I don't think that Luke tells us about Jesus' baptism just to inform us about what happened to Jesus. He relates this story also to indicate something about our baptisms, our need to be in prayer, our anointing with the Spirit, and our subsequent battles with evil and ministry in the world."

Exegetical Notes by Brian Stoffregen at CrossMarks Christian Resources.

General Resources for Sunday's Lessons

Prayer

Father of great and everlasting glory, by the power of your Holy Spirit you have consecrated your Word made flesh and have established this Christ, our Savior, as the Light of the world and your covenant of peace for all the peoples.  As we celebrated today the mystery of Jesus' baptism in the river Jordan, renew in us our own baptism: Pattern our lives on this Christ, the One you have specially chosen, the Son on whom your favor rests, the Beloved with whom you are well pleased.  We ask this through Christ, with whom you have raised us up in baptism, the Lord who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Luke 3:15-22

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

Resources for Sunday's Gospel

We began our lesson with the Advent theme of expectation. The people were filled with expectation. This expectation and hope for the Messiah are pricked with the emergence of the prophet and Baptist -John.

In Luke's Gospel John clearly points forward to the coming of Jesus and the baptism of fire promised and fulfilled in Luke's second book Acts. (Notice in our Epistle reading the people have been baptized yes, but not with the spirit.) We cannot get away from the Gospels work at defining Jesus' ministry over and against John's. We may guess that both had followers and that the question may very well have remained alive well after John's death and Jesus' resurrection. We might also remember here that Luke's Gospel tells us that John the Baptist will send two of his disciples to inquire of Jesus, "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" (Luke 7. This, of course, correlates with Paul's later proclamation that indeed he is the promised one in the Book of Acts in the synagogue in Antioch. Acts 13:25) It is quite the switch from Mark's Gospel where John the Baptist makes the proclamation and from John's Gospel where-in the people ask the question of John the Baptist. So a key thing that is being offered in this passage is the revelation of Jesus Christ as God's chosen one.

The themes of power and might are also present. They are apocalyptic themes and again highlight the transformative power of Jesus and the transformative power of baptism in the Holy Spirit. This is a transforming fire. Fire of course is prominent throughout the Old Testament proclaiming the presence of God and returns again in the fire of Pentecost in Luke's telling.

Leaning on Isaiah 21:10, 41:16, and Jeremiah 4:11, 15:7, 51:2, John the Baptist reminds those gathered around him that God is sending this great and powerful prophet with a winnowing fork to clear the threshing floor and to gather the wheat, burning the chaff in an unquenchable fire. This always reminds me of how John the Baptist's message is a corporate one. He is not the one deciding who is wheat and who is chaff. Rather, he is reminding the nation and all the people that this is God's work and each will be judged and that the whole nation shall be judged. There is mutuality in this judgment and a reminder of whose judgment it is that is often lost in our modern-day discussions on matters of the church. In our day we enjoy sitting in the judgment seat.

Now, something interesting happens here in the text. Herod imprisons John. Some scholars argue that Luke's text does not say that Jesus was baptized by John. I find this a difficult proposition. It is true that this particular Gospel says Jesus was baptized sequentially after John's imprisonment. But is certainly not clear and in the different texts that I have looked at I am more apt to read that simply Luke has removed John from the baptismal event to highlight the actions between the Father and the Son, rather than to imply that John did not baptize Jesus it is more about God action. This should be true for us as well; it would be good to remember as sacramentalists we do the actions - God does the work. It is an interesting thought and may simply have been a literary way of ensuring that Jesus' baptism is a Spirit baptism depending upon no one else. I categorize this as things in the bible that make you go, "Hmmmmm?"

What is important though, and highlighted by Luke, is that the baptism has happened. It is over. And, Jesus is praying. This seems integral to an understanding of Lukan spirituality. It is only when Jesus is praying that the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the bodily form of a dove, and God's voice speaks. Heavens are opened in prayer, and you can hear God's voice in prayer.

The image of the opening of the heavens is an image of a new time. This is a new moment in Luke's Gospel, a new moment in the life of the people of Israel, a new moment in judgment, a new moment in the unraveling and gathering of "all the people" including the gentiles (as we will see in Acts). So this is a new moment, enabled by baptism, but triggered by prayer and the descending of the Holy Spirit.

You can read more about the imagery and details of the words used by Luke here: http://montreal.anglican.org/comments/archive/cpr01l.shtml
The last thing that stands out for me in the Gospel reading this week is the "Beloved" proclamation in verse 22. Beloved is an act and not a feeling, it is a charge if you will to Jesus as Son and servant to take the power given to him and to begin to use it to restore creation and transform the people of God.

So I have been thinking and praying about this text and I am wondering about myself and for us. As we, you and I, look forward into the year, as we look forward into our lives we must be ready to do the work God has given us to do? We are baptized. Are we praying and are we receiving the Holy Spirit given to us in the grace of that prayer conversation with Jesus and with God? We have been expecting; now we are ready. Will we take up our charge as Jesus did, to restore creation and transform the world even as we are being transformed? And, most of all are we ready to do this in partnership with all of our brothers and sisters and most of all with Jesus?

Some Thoughts on Acts 8:14-17

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

Continuing in our Baptism-themed week we have this reading about the mission in Samaria by the church in Jerusalem.  Luke seems very keen to show that the church is acting together (this is not news to those of you familiar with the last two decades of studies on Peter and Paul in Acts).  So here we have the idea that people in Samaria are becoming followers of Jesus, they have been baptized but they have not yet received the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the church in Jerusalem must send along missionaries to pray for them and to place hands on them.  This is an essential part of receiving the Holy Spirit - the laying on of hands by the apostle. 

In some way, our own tradition has moved away from this as an essential role and part of the work of baptism.  We have moved more clearly towards a protestant understanding where the apostles are not necessary for the laying on of hands in order for the newly baptized to fully be received into the church.  It is worth a pause then on this Sunday to give a nod to our Episcopal tradition of Confirmation - which is this very symbol of giving the Holy Spirit.  The bishop, as one of the apostles, comes to the community (not unlike Peter and John) because people have chosen to follow the Lord and have even been baptized in the name of Jesus.  But full incorporation historically has included the giving of the Holy Spirit to the people of God by one of the apostles in the great line of apostles. 

Here is a picture of my own lineage of apostolic succession.  It is the family tree of my ministry. For those that are confirmed it is in some way their family tree.  And, it illustrates the very real physical and spiritual connection the baptized and confirmed of our day have to those in Samaria and the first followers of Jesus.

All of this being said what is clear that the Holy Spirit is what inspires the church and it is essential in the work of baptism.  The language of baptism centers around forgiveness of sin, living the new life of grace, sustenance for the pilgrim journey, inquiring and discerning heart, and courage to will and to persevere.  The language of confirmation in our tradition, or the laying on of hands in apostolic succession, is about God's blessing of the Holy Spirit, the giving of wisdom (knowledge and obedience), especially to God's word, and most of all service to God.  We are in the laying on of hands and the Holy Spirit bound to service, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, we work to fulfill the service that is set before us by God.

Some Thoughts on Isaiah 43:1-7

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text



"The good news of the salvation oracle in Isaiah 43 is that God directly addresses this experience of exile."

1 Epiphany, Year C: Isaiah 43:1-7, Biblische Ausbildung, Dr. Stephen L. Cook, Virginia Theological Seminary. Part 2.

"Believers in every generation have seen in fire and flood all that is larger than ourselves, all that consumes not only hope but life and limb as well. Yet Scripture, including Isaiah 43:1-7, transforms these elements from threats into sources of healing through adversity."
Commentary, Isaiah 43:1-7 (Baptism of our Lord), Patricia Tull, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2013.

"Can you imagine that Jesus heard the echo of these words on the day of his baptism? What other passages might he have been remembering then?
"Passing On The Faith," the Rev. Dr. Janet H. Hunt, Dancing with the Word, 2013.

Let me first consider the passage in its original context, then I will consider how the teaching might fit within the overarching Christian vision within scripture.

The passage is about God's desire that the people not fear their present and future lives. God has heard their cries and assures them that despite their diaspora - God will gather the people in. 

The people of Israel see God as savior. God is God alone. God is the creator and also the redeemer of Israel out of bondage. The people are to understand, to hear, and to see, that even the creatures will give glory to God for changing desolation into life. 

The passage reminds the people that they are the ones who brought upon themselves their captivity by forgetting to care for the country and countrymen. 

The passage includes some language of religious violence. In other words, it suggests that God punishes those who worship idols. I believe we might say today that when the people worship idols, they change the nature of their faith. They forget the widow and the poor. They forget the newcomer/immigrant, and they forget their neighbors. 

In Jonathan Sack's 1992 Crisis and Covenant, he writes, “An early rabbinic commentary put the point audaciously: ‘You are My witnesses, says the Lord, and I am God'” (Isaiah 43:12) (28) Regardless of the manner in which this deliverance happens, there is a key mission here that the people are meant to be witnesses of God's action in the world.  The people are witnesses of God's acts of redemption.

In a commentary by Dr. Mendel Hirsch on the Haftarot - our verses from Isaiah. Dr. Hirsch offers that human beings are able to be witnesses, act upon the witness, and live in righteousness. In this new way of living are to be found freedom and hope. The people are witnesses because they proclaim God's hand at work through the historical relationship in creation.

As Christians, we read the text as offering a vision of the Christ and his deliverance as the Messiah. Moreover, that while our sin and wayward ways are forgiven by God through Christ Jesus. This places Christ's work within the long arc of God's forgiving nature. We know from other texts, and from Christ's own proclamation that God is a forgiving, grace-filled, and merciful God and that there is no religious violence. God in Christ puts to end any idea of a religion of exchange. God has been doing so since the beginning of creation. We are the witness of this "forgiving" history. And, we are invited to remember and to act as a people forgiven by God - to act with righteousness. This means that we act as God acts. We act to all people as they are kin, and we do so with blessings and peace.

First Sunday of Christmas - Sunday December 26, 2021

Quotes That Make Me Think


"If we struggle with Jesus? being 'fully human and fully God,' it should not be surprising if the child Jesus wrestled with his identity too."

"Stirrings of Divinity,"Peter Storey, The Christian Century, 2000.Religion Online.


"Children find their true home despite us."

"Learning from Our Children," Peter Woods, I Am Listening, 2009.


General Resources for Sunday's Lessons


Prayer
What love you have bestowed upon us, O good and gracious God, in letting us be called your children, and in giving us your Son, Jesus, to live as a child among us in the family of Mary and Joseph.  Let all who seek the face of Christ find him, not only here, in this house of prayer, but in the households, large and small, where your love is revealed in our love for each other.  We ask this through Christ, with whom you have raised us up in baptism, the Lord who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Luke  2:41-52
Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

Resources for Sunday's Gospel

There are no other stories like this in the Gospels.  This is unique to Luke and it remains one of the only stories of Jesus' young life that we know. 

Certainly, scholars will recognize similar stories in the writings of the age.  These are stories of great men who in their youth portray their giftedness; giving a glimpse of their future life and vocation. 
The reader can easily see that without this story there is a 30-year gap in the life of Jesus.  It is perhaps for this reason that people try to mine this for all that can be discovered.

Yet the story is a simple story.  It is a beautiful story about a lost child, parents desperately looking for him, a frantic search,  and a bit of domestic drama between confused parents and adolescent piety.

What do we know? Jesus grew up in a pious family. They tended to their faithful duties including a Passover pilgrimage. 

There are definitely two tensions in the story.  The first is created by a family who is simply doing the normal though pietistic thing.  They are making their way to Jerusalem. They expect Jesus to be in the group, he is found to be lost.  The second tension is in the reality that Jesus is found in the Temple teaching. This is certainly a nod to future events but it is also a tension between Jesus and his family.  While they had all kinds of signs that their son was Lord and God with us; they seemed surprised to find him.  Indeed, he seems surprised that they are surprised.  Jesus himself from this point on will begin to distance himself from his family of origin and begin to spend time with the newly emerging family of God.

At the end of the story, we have a very clear theme emerging in Luke's gospel. Being lost is like being dead and being found is like being alive (Luke Timothy Johnson, Luke, 60).  The theme is a portent where Jesus is lost, he is found, and he is teaching in Jerusalem.  After his death, he will be lost, they will search for him, he will be found in Jerusalem to teach.  Again in the Emmaus story, we have a similar theme. 

I think on this the first Sunday after Christmas we must be careful to not move into mere sentimentality.  The text is present to link the Christ of the nativity with the Christ of mission and proclamation.  The text reminds us that the one in the manger is the one who shall teach us our roles as helpers in the kingdom of God.  The story helps us to remember that it is Christ that we look to for wisdom and for direction.  And, perhaps that this God who is unlikely to be found in human form is also unlikely to be found in all kinds of places; and there, when you find him shall you receive revelation.


Some Thoughts on Colossians 3:12-17

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

Resources for Sunday's Epistle

This passage from Colossians speaks of the life lived in a community of Christ.  It is about the virtuous characteristics of Christians. 

Not surprisingly the passage follows teaching on morality.  We are to put to death impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness all of which is about us getting what we want.  All of these things are idolatry. Therefore, if we are not to be idolatrous and we wish to follow Jesus and to serve  him a life of virtue will consist of: "compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience."

We are as a community and as individuals to "bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other."  Wow, what would the church be like if we did this?  Christians are to remember that "just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive."

All of this can only be done with love, peace, and gratitude.  We are to dwell on the word of Christ and try to learn from one another.  And in the last part of the reading we are reminded that the essential key is for the individual (regardless of sex or age) to give themselves completely to God and to the other; whether it be family, friend or neighbor.

I wonder after all the time spent with folks over the holidays how well we did on this?  How well do we do it within our church? 

I was recently asked why people love God and are losing their faith in denominations. I believe that people are losing their faith in most kinds of organized religion because we don't do this.  People are genuinely looking for love, peace, and gratitude.  People are looking for compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.  If the church, which the scripture tells us is to look exactly like the virtuous community described in Colossians, doesn't look like it then why bother with it. 

The church should be the one place for Jesus' friends - the sinners.  This is true, but it is not permitted to be ugly and tread people with disrespect.  It just isn't.  I want to invest my life in helping our Episcopal church be about these things. I want to work with people who are compassionate, kind, humble, and patient. I want to work with people who support one another and forgive one another. I want to work with people who are invested in love, peace, and gratitude.

I would like nothing more than to spend a lifetime trying to be the church Paul imagines in today's lessons.  Instead of looking back to a community that may or may not have been like what Paul describes, I want to be at work creating the community of the future which reflects the virtues described in today's lesson.

 

Fourth Sunday of Advent Year C - Sunday December 19, 2021

Prayer
God of the everlasting covenant, as your servant David leapt and danced before the ark, so John the Baptist leapt in the womb of Elizabeth when Mary came bearing within her the promised One.  Let that Christ stand in our midst today, and feed this flock in the strength of your name.  Prepare us, O God, to be a people doing your will a nation believing that your promises will be fulfilled. We ask this through Christ, with whom you have raised us up in baptism, the Lord who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year C, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Luke  1:39-45(45-56)

"According to Luke, when Mary sang, she didn’t just name those promises but entered into them. Notice, for instance, that the verbs in Mary's song are all in the past tense. Mary recognizes as she sings that she has already been drawn into relationship with the God of Israel..."

"A Promise That Changes the World," David Lose, WorkingPreacher, 2012.

"Christmas is fascinating as a place of marginalisation..."


"First Thoughts on Year C Gospel Passages in the Lectionary," Advent 4, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.


Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

The Icon of the Visitation

In this, the fourth Sunday of Advent, our Gospel lesson (Luke 1:39-56) offers us the story of Mary's visit to Elizabeth and Zechariah's home. We cannot read this lesson without reflecting on the passage before--wherein Gabriel visited and announced the coming of the "Son of God"--and that this child is to be born in the lineage of the great Hebrew King, David. We learned that this new royal son is to bring into creation a new reign, an eternal reign of God. So, what is this God doing in an unwed mother, in a small town, visiting a poor relative.

We have our doubts.  Where is this God?   Mary might have been wondering the same thing.  Wondering and pondering the meaning of this message. The angel puts her heart and mind at rest, reminding her that this is the God of the Hebrews who had done miraculous things, things that cannot be believed, things that are told from parent to child. This is the God who sent Abraham wandering. This is the God who gave Sarah a child in her old age. This is the God who brought Joseph into Egypt and protected him there. This is the God who frees them from slavery and provides for them in the desert. This is the God who returned his people to their land and built up a great city and temple, Jerusalem. This is the God of both the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel. This is the God who loves his people. He is inaugurating a new heavenly reign in which all the world will be invited to participate and to dwell within. "Yes", we might say, "This is the God of those who have been forgotten, who are in need, or who live on the margins.  Now I remember."

You may have doubts but our ancestral faith story tells us that nothing is impossible with this God. We might remember these words from Genesis 18:14: “Is anything too wonderful for the LORD? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son."

In the midst of a doubt which questions where our God is, we might recall:

• Exodus 6:6 the delivery from slavery in Egypt
• Deuteronomy 4:34 “by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by terrifying displays of power, as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt”
• Jeremiah 27:5 “It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth”
• Isaiah 40:10; 51:9 "Do not fear for I am with you."

For Luke, the author of these passages, Gabriel's news is the inauguration of the final stage in salvation history; or the first stage in a recreated world.  So then, we see these very first words of Luke's Gospel--his good news to his readers--is that their salvation is deeply rooted in the story of their ancient faith ancestors.

This is true for us just as it was for the first readers of the Gospel of Luke. Do we in this moment begin to meet and know Jesus again for the first time, renewing in this, the fourth Sunday of Advent, our relationship with Jesus -- bringing our final act of preparation for Christ's birth on Christmas to a close; and opening for us a way to enter into God's eternal reign?

If this happened to me, I would rush to my closest relative's side -- and that is what Mary does -- bringing us to the Gospel for the fourth Sunday in Advent. When she arrives and tells Elizabeth, the child in her womb leaps. This reminds us of the ancient story of the leaping children in Rebecca's womb, brothers Esau and Jacob. Perhaps the leaping David before God's arc? Perhaps this is even a foretelling of the relationship between John the Baptist and Jesus; and the shifting of power from prophet to savior?

Elizabeth's response is faithful as she wonders how she might be so blessed as to receive the visitation of Mary. And Mary is portrayed as a model believer, having faith and hope in God's promises to her. For Mary what we see is an individual who has accepted this news and deliverance; she is already participating in the new recreated world.  This is the meaning of "blessed" in Luke's Gospel, that she is portrayed as a faithful follower of God. Sometimes we believe the word blessed in the scriptures refers to God's blessings, here and throughout Luke, blessed refers to the idea that the person who receives the blessing is a good steward, faithful follower and believer. It is in their actions, not God's, that show forth and invite the acclamation from those who witness their faith that they are blessed. Remember God's other blessing promises from Luke 6.20ff:

20 Then he looked up at his disciples and said:
‘Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 ‘Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
‘Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.

22 ‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.23Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

I wonder what it would be like to go through the rest of the days between now and Christmas and, where we witness faithful people following Jesus and helping and aiding the less fortunate, doing kind work on behalf of others, working to heal those who are infirmed … what if we mentally and prayerfully marked them as blessed people in our lives? What if we actually verbalized, as does Elizabeth in our Gospel, their giftedness and told them they were blessed?

It is in this moment that Mary offers the words of the Magnificat. I imagine Mary reflecting on the story of her people and the immense sense of collision with her life this news from Gabriel, the leaping of the child in Elizabeth's womb, and the words Elizabeth offer. I cannot describe the potential of this moment. But Mary does describe it and speaks out proclaiming God's greatness and her willingness to serve the Lord and be obedient in all things. She will be a steward and disciple because of all that God has provided for her. In remembering her people's story she proclaims and glorifies God because God is compassionate and remembers that she is in fact one of God's blessed ones. Mary knows and calls out that this God keeps his promises and is faithful to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses, and all the patriarchs and matriarchs.

Mary is rehearsing Hannah's prayer in 1 Samuel 2:1-10. We see that the past work of God is begun anew in the conception of Jesus. Mighty work is done from the lowliest of people. God is continuing salvation history and fulfilling his promises made to Abraham. But the message of Jesus is a reconstituted reign and a diversified Israel where by all those who have called their father Abraham (remember John the Baptist's words from last week) are joined by all those whose baptism with the Holy Spirit by Jesus may now find their home in Jerusalem. This is not simply an ethnic heritage, but one open to the adoption of God's children not in the fold of Abraham's family.

As we meditate upon the meaning of the words of Luke's Gospel it would be too easy to see this as a past event. Yet this is our story. It is certainly my story. From my parents and faith family I inherit the story of Jesus and the ever widening circles of his reign and his grace-filled embrace. Like Elizabeth I have the opportunity to bear witness to visions of blessed people who faithfully follow Jesus and aid those who are without, in accordance with John the Baptist's proclamation.

I also have the opportunity to thank God in this the fourth Sunday of Advent for my inheritance and the gift given to me in Jesus. Still more opportunity lies before me though, recognizing that my heart leaps at the news of my relationship with the about-to-be-born Jesus. But I also have work to do. So may my words and your words be as Mary's … “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”


Some Thoughts on Hebrews 10:5-10

"During the Advent and Christmas season we have a wonderful opportunity to think through and speak about the meaning and purpose of the life of the Lord Jesus. "
Commentary, Hebrews 10:5-10, Edward Pillar, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.


"Although Jesus 'learned obedience from the things he suffered,' which implies that he grew in his understanding of the divine will, the reading for today wants us to be certain that even at the moment of the incarnation Jesus was thoroughly committed to carrying it out."
Commentary, Hebrews 10:5-10, Michael Joseph Brown, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.


"The starting point must always be: God's goodness and holiness is a gift for all who seek it - no closed doors or curtains!"
"First Thoughts on Passages on Year C Epistle Passages in the Lectionary," Advent 4, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

This Sunday we come to a pastoral letter to the Hebrews.  It is one of eight epistles of which the origin is unknown.  However, it is our tradition to attribute this to Paul and the Pauline school; though unanimously this is given an unknown origin.  I think if I had to capture the ideas of scholarly thought I would say that a generous review of the text lends us to believe we have a pupil of Paul's.  That seems neither here nor there when it comes to preaching the text, but seemed somehow important to mention. 

The document itself is one of deep theology and sacramental thought.  We can imagine that the hand which has written it is thinking carefully about the old and the new covenants, the nature of Christ and his connection to the Temple, and that Jesus is the perfector of faith.  It is most likely from Jewish Christian hands that the text takes its shape.  An interesting idea emerges with the text as a whole for many scholars believe it was written for the emerging gentile Christian community.  That means, in my opinion, the text takes on an almost explanatory quality. It is as if the letter to the Hebrews is something like our catechism. It is a document that seeks to translate traditions in relationship to God in Christ Jesus to a group of people who have no inherited tradition of temple and synagogue worship at all; who in the end may only have the worship of idols as their primary context of interpretation. 

So we come to the plainness of this Sunday's readings.  We are immediately aware that God is not interested any longer in burnt and sin offerings.  Jesus, as the great high priest who sits in the temple of heaven, then teaches that while the law has required such offerings, that the new revelation is one that is about doing God's will.  The old sacrifices were good things but we now understand good things come of God in Christ Jesus.  It is as if to say the old sacrifices, which were good, where never enough. They never quite did the job. In part they were insufficient because we as humans were not transformed by them, in part they were a kind of crutch that we used continually; never quite taking on new behavior. 

In Christ Jesus, whom we sacrificed, we have made our final offering.  God needs no more of this; instead we are to be about God's work in the world.  Christ is the final offering. Quoting from Psalm 40 the author explains that God prefers an obedience rooted in the body, in life, that is incarnational.

I don't believe this does away with the old way of making good offerings so much as it says, enough, now we must be at work. God has finally wiped the slate clean.  We are made ceremonially clean, we are being perfected, we are being made whole...not through our own work but by God's work in Christ Jesus.

I wonder what "sacrifices" we believe we are making this Advent and Christmastide?  What is the ultimate purpose of them?  Do we believe that all the gifts and giving will provide us with new relationships and love?  Will this be the best Christmas ever because somehow the sacrificial credit card purchases will make it so?  For the Christian we are perhaps deeply torn.  Who doesn't like the gifts and the giving and the receiving? I do to be sure. But what this passage may remind us of this Fourth Sunday of Advent is that it is only in the giving of ourselves to one another that true and real transformation is possible. It is only in the work of the body, soul, heart, and mind that we find bound to our families, friends, and neighbor.  There is nothing in this world that will either bind us to one another or to God which is not found in the ultimate example of a God who comes into the world and gives so completely of himself.

Some Thoughts on Micah 5:1-5

"Micah's oracle speaks to a world that is caught in the bewilderment of violence, uncertainty, and economic disruption."
Commentary, Micah 5:2-5, Anne Stewart, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.

"By pondering the image that Micah sets out rather than leaping to the assumption that this coming savior is the Christian Christ, the preacher can look for the correspondence between disparate ages of human history with divergent needs, all being saved by a God who is justice, kindness, and humility itself."
Commentary, Micah 5:2-5, Melinda Quivik, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2012.

"Christmas is a time when the gaping holes in the fabric of our 'family ties' become painfully apparent. It is a time when we desperately need restoration and healing in those most basic human relationships. The future Micah and Mary looked forward to is a vision of the restoration of the whole human family. It is also a time to embrace the restoration and healing God has promised to the whole human family in our families by treading lightly and showing a little extra consideration."
"Embracing Restoration," Alan Brehm, The Waking Dreamer.

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text

Let us refresh our memories. Micah was an 8th century prophet from Judah. He was most definately in line with other Sinai prophets in that he was independent from the Temple. The land is occupied by foreign armies - the Assyrians. And, leadership in the land was corrupt. The people had abanonded much of their belief in the God of Israel and were turning to the multiple gods of the land while bribing their way through life in order to gain protection and benefit from the broken governing and economic powers of their day. In the midst of the brokenness and sin, Micah calls the people back to hope and to mercy and justice.

He suggests that God will not hold the hand of the foreign powers until there is a return to faithfulness by the people. 

When the people and the land remember the God who created them and freed them, then the people will know peace. Then will the shepherds care for the sheep - their people.

The passage has import far beyond the contextual meaning of Micah's own day. As Christians when we look at this passage what we hear is the prophetic reality that peace and the new shepherd will come and his name will be Emmanuel - God with us. This is what the magi quote when they visit Herod...this passage from Micah. Matthew places these words in their mouth along with the powerful understanding that rulers will seek out this particular shepherd. (Matt 2:1-6) (Richard Hays, Echoes of the Scripture in the Gospels, 146). There is nothing less than the reality that God in Christ Jesus comes into the world to challenge the leaders of the world. (Hays, 186-187)

In other words, the messiah is the one Micah foretells. He will challenge Herod and all the powers and authorities of the world. He will restore the people by caring for them as the shepherd king he is to become. No longer will foreign armies, corrupt officials, oppressive powers, and false promises form lesser God's be the order of the day. The Christ, born in Bethlehem is the one to vanquish the powers of this world and the next....even death will not have the last word.

Micah's prophesy tells us that it is here, in Bethlehem, in that little town of Judah, that the true king shall come. 

Sermons Preached

Waiting for Christmas is like Waiting for a bus in Milan
Dec 25, 2012  Sermon preached at Trinity and St. Mark's Houston, fourth Sunday of advent 2012