 |
| John the Baptist |
The Third Sunday of
Advent traditionally is called Gaudate Sunday, a name
which comes from the first word of the Latin Mass introit on this Sunday: Gaudate, “be joyful,” or “rejoice.” The color is lightened to rose, signaling
that we are more than halfway to Christmas.
Some people call this “Stir Up Sunday” because of the first words of the
Collect of the Day.
1st Reading: Zephaniah 3:14-20
Zephaniah prophesied
in the closing years of the seventh century bce.
and was clearly influenced by Amos and Isaiah of Jerusalem (“First
Isaiah”). These were good years for
Israel under King Josiah (640-609 bce),
who many regarded as the greatest king since David. The prophets of this time, however, knew that
prosperity was being built on the backs of the poor and that the collapse of
the society was just a matter of time.
Zephaniah himself may have been an Ethiopian, the only Jewish prophet we
know of African origin. His writing
consists of nine oracles. The first eight are full of judgment and coming
destruction. The ninth is our reading
this morning, proclaiming that there is still hope for a righteous
remnant. Zephaniah celebrates God’s
presence remaining with a renewed Israel.
3:14 Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem! 15 The Lord
has taken away the judgments against you, he has turned away your enemies. The
king of Israel, the Lord, is in
your midst; you shall fear disaster no more. 16 On
that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your
hands grow weak. 17 The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a
warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will
renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing 18 as on a day of festival. I will remove
disaster from you, so that you will not bear reproach for it. 19 I will deal with all your oppressors at
that time. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change
their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. 20 At that time I will bring you home, at the
time when I gather you; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the
peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the Lord.
Canticle:
The First Song of Isaiah (Isaiah 12:2-6)
The psalm is replaced today by a
canticle from The
Book of Common Prayer (#9). Isaiah 12:2-6 (usually referred to as “The
First Song of Isaiah”) is a song of praise that concludes the first major
section of the book of Isaiah. It is a
song of awaited redemption. It continues
the hopeful theme of Zephaniah and leads into Paul’s theme of joy in the next
reading.
Surely, it is God who saves me; *
I will trust in him and
not be afraid.
For the Lord
is my stronghold and my sure defense, *
and he will be my Savior.
Therefore you shall draw water with rejoicing *
from the springs of
salvation.
And on that day you shall say, *
Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his Name;
Make his deeds known among the peoples; *
see that they remember
that his Name is exalted.
Sing the praises of the Lord, for he has done great things, *
and this is known in all
the world.
Cry aloud, inhabitants of Zion, ring out your joy, *
for the great one in the midst of you
is the Holy One of Israel.
2nd
Reading Philippians 4:4-7
At the beginning of this chapter,
Paul called the Philippians his joy and his crown (4:1). Joy is a major theme of the letter,
culminating in our passage this morning.
How to translate “The Lord is near” is anybody’s guess as there is no
verb in the original Greek. It probably
ties to the next phrase, “Do not worry…”
That makes the sentiment something like, “The Lord is near so do not
worry…” The last sentence of the passage
is, of course, the traditional blessing from Anglican/Episcopal liturgies. Notice, however, the stronger word “guard”
rather than the “keep” in our blessing.
4:4 Rejoice in
the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let
your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Do not worry about anything, but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be
made known to God. 7 And the peace
of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your
minds in Christ Jesus.
Gospel
Reading: Luke 3:7-18
The first six lines
below follow on the reading from last week and are parallel to the other
Gospels’ account of John’s preaching.
What follows (“And the crowds asked him…”) is found only in Luke. They describe a very practical following of
John’s and then Jesus’ teaching. This is
what repentance looks like. It looks like compassion, honesty and justice. John’s baptism was a ritual purification
signifying repentance. Christian baptism
would develop into something deeper—initiation into the mystery of Christ’s
life, death and resurrection and membership in Christ’s Body the Church.
3:7 John said to the crowds that came out to be
baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to
come? 8 Bear fruits worthy of
repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’;
for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 9 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the
trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and
thrown into the fire.” 10 And the
crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” 11 In
reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has
none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” 12
Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him,
“Teacher, what should we do?” 13 He
said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” 14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what
should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or
false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.” 15 As the people were filled with expectation,
and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be
the Messiah, 16 John answered all
of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than
I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize
you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His
winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the
wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” 18 So, with many other exhortations, he
proclaimed the good news to the people.
The Scripture quotations (except for the canticle)
are from the New Revised Standard Version
Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the
National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by
permission. All rights reserved. The Canticle translation are from The Book of Common Prayer. Commentaries are copyright © 2018
Epiphany ESources, 67 E. Main St., Hornell, NY 14843. www.EpiphanyEsources.com. All
rights reserved. Permission is given to copy for congregational use with this
attribution.
No comments:
Post a Comment