28 The Holy Innocents
29 Thomas Becket, 1170 was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion.
30 Frances Joseph-Gaudet, Educator and Prison Reformer, 1934
31 Samuel Ajayi Crowther, Bishop in the Niger Territories, 1891.
1 The Holy Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ
2 Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah, First Indian Anglican Bishop, Dornakal, 1945
3 William Passavant, Prophetic Witness, 1894
4 Elizabeth Seton, Founder of the American Sisters of Charity, was the first native-born citizen[1] of the United States to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church
OLD TESTAMENT: Isaiah 61: 10 - 62: 3 (all but Roman Catholic)
Isai 61:10 (NRSV) I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,
my whole being shall exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth its shoots,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,
so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise
to spring up before all the nations.
62:1 For Zion's sake I will not keep silent,
and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest,
until her vindication shines out like the dawn,
and her salvation like a burning torch.
2 The nations shall see your vindication,
and all the kings your glory;
and you shall be called by a new name
that the mouth of the LORD will give.
3 You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD,
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 3: 3 - 7, 14 - 17a (Roman Catholic)
Sir 3:3 (NRSV) Those who honor their father atone for sins, 4 and those who respect their mother are like those who lay up treasure.
5 Those who honor their father will have joy in their own children,
and when they pray they will be heard.
6 Those who respect their father will have long life,
and those who honor their mother obey the Lord; 7 they will serve their parents as their masters.
14 For kindness to a father will not be forgotten,
and will be credited to you against your sins;
15 in the day of your distress it will be remembered in your favor;
like frost in fair weather, your sins will melt away.
16 Whoever forsakes a father is like a blasphemer,
and whoever angers a mother is cursed by the Lord.
17 My child, perform your tasks with humility;
Genesis 15: 1 - 6, 21: 1 - 3 (alt. for Roman Catholic)
Gene 15:1 (NRSV) {God's Covenant with Abram} After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, "Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great." 2 But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" {Meaning of Heb uncertain} 3 And Abram said, "You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir." 4 But the word of the LORD came to him, "This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir." 5 He brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your descendants be." 6 And he believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness.
21:1 The LORD dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as he had promised. 2 Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him.
PSALM 148 (RCL)
Psal 148:1 (NRSV) Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD from the heavens;
praise him in the heights!
2 Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his host!
3 Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars!
4 Praise him, you highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens!
5 Let them praise the name of the LORD,
for he commanded and they were created.
6 He established them forever and ever;
he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.
7 Praise the LORD from the earth,
you sea monsters and all deeps,
8 fire and hail, snow and frost,
stormy wind fulfilling his command!
9 Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars!
10 Wild animals and all cattle,
creeping things and flying birds!
11 Kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all rulers of the earth!
12 Young men and women alike,
old and young together!
13 Let them praise the name of the LORD,
for his name alone is exalted;
his glory is above earth and heaven.
14 He has raised up a horn for his people,
praise for all his faithful,
for the people of Israel who are close to him.
Praise the LORD!
Note: vs. 1-6 are optional for C of E
147 Laudate Dominum (ECUSA BCP)
1 Hallelujah!
How good it is to sing praises to our God! *
how pleasant it is to honor him with praise!
2 The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem; *
he gathers the exiles of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted *
and binds up their wounds.
4 He counts the number of the stars *
and calls them all by their names.
5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power; *
there is no limit to his wisdom.
6 The Lord lifts up the lowly, *
but casts the wicked to the ground.
7 Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; *
make music to our God upon the harp.
8 He covers the heavens with clouds *
and prepares rain for the earth;
9 He makes grass to grow upon the mountains *
and green plants to serve mankind.
10 He provides food for flocks and herds *
and for the young ravens when they cry.
11 He is not impressed by the might of a horse; *
he has no pleasure in the strength of a man;
12 But the Lord has pleasure in those who fear him, *
in those who await his gracious favor.
13 Worship the Lord, O Jerusalem; *
praise your God, O Zion;
14 For he has strengthened the bars of your gates; *
he has blessed your children within you.
15 He has established peace on your borders; *
he satisfies you with the finest wheat.
16 He sends out his command to the earth, *
and his word runs very swiftly.
17 He gives snow like wool; *
he scatters hoarfrost like ashes.
18 He scatters his hail like bread crumbs; *
who can stand against his cold?
19 He sends forth his word and melts them; *
he blows with his wind, and the waters flow.
20 He declares his word to Jacob, *
his statutes and his judgments to Israel.
21 He has not done so to any other nation; *
to them he has not revealed his judgments.
Hallelujah!
Note: vs. 1-12 are optional
Psalm 128 (Roman Catholic)
Psal 128:1 (NRSV) Happy is everyone who fears the LORD,
who walks in his ways.
2 You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
you shall be happy, and it shall go well with you.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
around your table.
4 Thus shall the man be blessed
who fears the LORD.
5 The LORD bless you from Zion.
May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
6 May you see your children's children.
Peace be upon Israel!
Psalm 105: 1 - 6, 8 - 9 (alt. for Roman Catholic)
Psal 105:1 (NRSV) O give thanks to the LORD, call on his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples.
2 Sing to him, sing praises to him;
tell of all his wonderful works.
3 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
4 Seek the LORD and his strength;
seek his presence continually.
5 Remember the wonderful works he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he has uttered,
6 O offspring of his servant Abraham,
children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
8 He is mindful of his covenant forever,
of the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,
9 the covenant that he made with Abraham,
his sworn promise to Isaac,
NEW TESTAMENT: Galatians 4: 4 - 7 (RCL)
Galatians 3: 23 - 25, 4: 4 - 7 (ECUSA)
Gala 3:23 (NRSV) Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian,
4:4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. 6 And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our Father!" 7 So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
h/t Montreal Anglican
Some teachers in Galatia have claimed that a Christian must first embrace Judaism, observing Mosaic law. Paul wrote this letter to rebut this argument, to insist that one comes into union with God through faith in Christ, and not through ritual observances.
In vv. 1-3, he takes the example of an orphaned boy of minor age, an heir: although he owns his dead father’s property, it remains under the control of trustees until the date his father set (per Palestinian practice.) He cannot speak or act on his own behalf. So it is with Paul and his readers: before “we” accepted Christ, we had no power to speak or act, being slaves to spiritual elements , celestial beings that control the physical elements of the universe.
For Jewish Christians, that date has come: at the time our Father set (“fullness of time”, v. 4), “God sent his Son”, born a human (“of a woman”), indeed a Jew (“under the law”). God sent him so that we Jewish Christians might be adopted as God’s children, be made part of him. Then v. 6: being his children, he sent the “Spirit of his Son”, God’s Spirit, to empower us to call him Father. (“Abba”, v. 6, is Aramaic for father. Jesus prayed “Abba, ...” in the Garden of Gethsemane: see Mark 14:36.) So, v. 7, you are free from the obligations of Mosaic law, and being his child makes you an heir to God’s kingdom, through Christ.
In vv. 8-9, Paul questions how, now that God has chosen them to know him, can they go back to spiritual elements. (Contemporary Jewish belief was that at Mount Sinai the Law was spoken by angels, celestial beings, spiritual elements.) How can they want to be enslaved again?
GOSPEL: Luke 2: 22 - 40 (RCL)
Luke 2: 22 (23 - 38) 39 - 40 (alt. for Roman Catholic)
Luke 2:22 (NRSV) When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord"), 24 and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons."
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Sim'eon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. 27 Guided by the Spirit, Sim'eon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, 28 Sim'eon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,
29 "Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
according to your word;
30 for my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel."
33 And the child's father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. 34 Then Sim'eon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed 35 so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed--and a sword will pierce your own soul too."
36 There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phan'uel, of the tribe of Ash'er. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. 38 At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
39 When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40 The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.
Galatians was written to Jewish Christians who were tempted to return to Judaism.
Verse 1: “minors”: Paul uses the word nepios, meaning an infant, one who does not speak. [ NJBC]
Verse 2: “guardians and trustees”: According to CAB, a “guardian” was entrusted with the general care of a child up to the age of 14, and a “trustee” with the financial affairs of a young man up to the age of 25; however NJBC sees this as Palestinian usage, not Roman. As minors, they are in an interim state; such is being under the Law.
Verse 2: “until the date set by the father”: In Roman law, a father could set limits to the time of trusteeship. [ CAB]
Verse 3: “the elemental spirits of the world”: There are four possible meanings:
based on the translation quoted above:
the cosmic powers controlling the universe, as in v. 8 [ NOAB]
the elemental signs of the zodiac [ NJBC]
based on the alternative translation “rudimentary spirits of the world” given in the NRSV footnote:
the rudiments of the world, i.e. earth, air, fire and water [ NOAB]
rudimentary rules and religious observances: see also vv. 9-10 and Colossians 2:8, 20 [ NOAB]
Verses 4-5: Christ was sent at a time determined by God in order to ransom those who were in bondage. “under the law”. [ NOAB]
Verse 4: “born of a woman”: Both Matthew 11:11 and Luke 7:28 tell us that there is no one “born of women” greater than John the Baptizer. This phrase is also found in the Old Testament: see Job 14:1; 15:14; 25:4. It is also found in the Qumran Hymns. Some patristic writers read genomenon with an omega (a long O) rather than an omicron (a short O), so they saw here a reference to Mary’s virginal conception, but this is an anachronism. [ NJBC] In the Old Testament and at Qumran we see its use as a typical Jewish circumlocution for the human person, so it does not refer to the process by which God’s Son became a man (his birth), but it simply describes his human condition. This phrase is echoed in v. 5: “so that we might receive adoption as children”. [ BlkGal]
Verse 5: “in order to redeem”: In the sense that Christ secured release of those retained in the Law: Paul says in 3:12: “the law does not rest on faith; on the contrary, ‘Whoever does the works of the law will live by them.’”. [ CAB]
Verse 5: “adoption”: Under Greco-Roman law, an adopted child received the full legal status of a natural child. Perhaps Paul’s analogy is influenced by Israel’s release from bondage in Egypt in Hosea 11:1: “Out of Egypt I have called my son”, a verse quoted in Matthew 2:15. See also Romans 15:8. [ CAB]
Verse 6: “because you are children”: NJBC translates this differently: the proof that you are sons is that God sent ...”.
Verse 6: “sent”: The Greek word, apostellein, developed a specific meaning: to send someone in the service of the Kingdom with authority fully grounded in God. [ NJBC]
Verse 6: “Abba! Father!”: In Romans 8:15-17, Paul writes: “you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ – if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him”.
Luke 2: 15 - 21 (C of E)
Luke 2:15 (NRSV) When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us." 16 So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17 When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
21 After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
Jesus has been circumcised, marking him as a member of God’s chosen people, Israel, through whom world salvation was to be achieved. After childbirth, it was 40 days before a mother could be purified before a priest in the Temple, so it is at least that long since Jesus’ birth. She was expected to offer a lamb, along with a turtledove or a pigeon; if she were poor (as Mary is), two turledoves or pigeons sufficed. Exodus 13:1-2 required that every firstborn boy be consecrated to God. Jesus’ presentation in the Temple is like Samuel’s. Jesus and his family fulfil the requirements of Mosaic law.
Simeon looks forward to the coming of the Messiah to restore Israel to favour with God (“the consolation of Israel”, v. 25). The Spirit has told him that he will see the Christ before he dies (v. 26). Simeon’s words in vv. 29-32 are known as the Nunc Dimittis, from the first words in Latin. He begins by saying that God is setting him free, as a slave is granted liberty. He is now free to die (for the Spirit’s revelation to him is now fulfilled), and Israel is free of bondage. God has saved Israel, as he promised to “all peoples”; his salvation is for Gentiles too. In v. 33, Joseph is Jesus’ legal father. Simeon prophesies in vv. 34-35 through the Spirit (v. 25). Jesus is destined for the death and resurrection (“falling” and “rising”) of many; he will meet opposition, and will cause many to think deeply about him. Mary too will need to decide for or against Christ (“own soul”, v. 35). Simeon and Anna together stand before God; to Luke, men and women are equal in God’s eyes. Anna praises God, and tells many the meaning of Jesus, as Simeon has prophesied. Like Samuel, “the favour of God was upon him” (v. 40)
Matthew 2: 13 - 15, 19 - 23 (Roman Catholic)
The continuity between the traditions of Israel and what God was to do through Jesus is exemplified:
By the presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the sacrifices offered,
By Simeon’s recognition and affirmation of Jesus as “Messiah” and bringer of “revelation to the Gentiles” (v. 32) as well as a cause of controversy within Israel (Isaiah 8:14), and
by the prophetess Anna’s acclaim of Jesus as the one who will redeem “Jerusalem” (v. 38), the symbol of God’s people (see Isaiah 52:7-10). [ CAB]
When a child was one month old, he was redeemed for five shekels (see Numbers 3:47-48; 18:15-16), but Luke does not mention this. Rather, he introduces Jesus’ presentation – for which there is no regulation in the Old Testament. [ NJBC] However, being “designated as holy” (v. 23) was probably to be done in a liturgy, a public event, a presentation. Luke has presented both John and Jesus as dedicated to God from the time they were in the womb. So both are, in a sense, Nazirites. Matthew 2:23, in saying that Jesus “will be called a Nazorean”, may be saying that he will be called a Nazirite. While we know of no ritual for initial consecration of a Nazirite, Numbers 6:9-12 prescribes an elaborate ritual for reconsecration of a Nazirite should he or she become ritually unclean. [ HBD] Also recall that it is Luke that gives us the Magnificat (in 1:46-55), the song of Mary modelled after Hannah’s song before the dedication of her son Samuel to temple service (see 1 Samuel 2:1-10). Perhaps Luke is continuing his parallel with Samuel.
Verse 21: ”to circumcise the child”: For John’s circumcision, see 1:59-64. [ NJBC]
Verses 22-24: For the requirement for, and the delay in, purification, see Leviticus 12:2-8. [ NOAB]
Verse 22: “to present him to the Lord”: For Samuel’s presentation in the temple (at Shiloh), see 1 Samuel 1:22-24. Luke also probably thinks of Malachi 3:1-2 (“the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple”). [NJBC]
Verse 22: “Jerusalem”: The Greek is Hierosolyma, literally meaning holy Salem or holy space. In his gospel, Luke sometimes uses Hierosolyma and sometimes Ierosalem. Perhaps he is showing the etymology of the name of the city. [ NJBC]
Verse 23: “Every firstborn ...”: This requirement is found in Exodus 13:1-2, 12. [ NOAB]
Verses 25-28: “Simeon”: Some interpreters, especially ancient ones, saw Acts 15:14 (“Simeon has related ...”) as referring to this Simeon. Other than that possible reference, he is unknown. Both he and Anna (v. 38) express faith in Jesus as Saviour, Messiah and universal Lord. [ NOAB] Simeon means God has heard. He is described in much the same way as John the Baptist’s parents: 1:6 tells us “Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord”. [ NJBC]
Verse 25: “the consolation of Israel”: While I have interpreted these words in an eschatological sense, it is also possible that Simeon looks forward to the independence of Israel from Roman occupation. The word translated “consolation” is paraklesis. This word is used in the Septuagint translation of Isaiah 40:1, “Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.”. [ BlkMt] JBC notes that according to the rabbis, this term denoted the final, unrecorded words that passed between Elijah and Elisha (see 2 Kings 2:11) and that would be made known when Elijah reappeared (see 1:17). [ JBC] Isaiah 66:12-13 may also be in Luke’s mind. [ NJBC]
Verse 26: “the Lord’s Messiah”: The Lord here is God (the Father). Christos is the Greek translation of Messiah. In 9:20, Peter identifies Jesus as “the Messiah of God”. [ NOAB]
Verse 27: “Simeon came into the temple”: Note that he is not a priest. He and Anna do embody the heart of Temple cult: service to God. [ NJBC]
Verses 29-32: The vocabulary of these verses, the theological centrepiece of the passage, seems to be drawn from Deutero-Isaiah: see Isaiah 52:9-10; 49:6; 46:13; 42:6; 40:5. They stress the universal nature of Christ’s salvation. See also Isaiah 46:13; Acts 13:47; 26:23. [ NJBC]
Verse 29: “in peace”: i.e. in a state of harmony with God.
Verse 30: See also 3:6 (“‘... all flesh shall see the salvation of God’”) and Isaiah 52:10 (“... all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God”). [ NOAB]
Verse 30: “salvation”: See also 1:47 (the Magnificat, where Mary says “‘my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour’”). See also 1:71, 77; 2:11. [ NJBC]
Verses 31-32: God’s salvation in Jesus moves out and embraces God’s people Israel and then encircles the others, the nations. See also 24:44-47 (Jesus appears to his disciples). [ NJBC]
Verse 32: See also Isaiah 42:6; 49:6; Acts 13:47; 26:23. [ NOAB]
Verse 33: “father”: Joseph is Jesus’ legal father as Mary’s husband. In Matthew 13:55, people at the synagogue ask: “‘Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?’”. In Luke 3:23, we read “...He was the son (as was thought) of Joseph ...”. [ NOAB] His lineage is traced, through Joseph, back to David and the patriarchs in the following verses.
Verse 35: “sword”: Ezekiel 14:17-18 speaks of a sword of discrimination between the godly and the ungodly; perhaps this is view, rather than a sword of punishment. Mary too has to choose for or against God’s revelation in Jesus, family ties not withstanding. [ NJBC]
Verse 36: “Anna”: Her name means grace, favour. Her pairing with Simeon, and of Elisabeth and Zechariah, illustrate an important theme in Luke: men and women stand side-by-side before God, equal in honour and grace, endowed with the same gifts, with the same responsibilities. See also Genesis 1:27 and Galatians 3:28. Other pairings are Zarephath and Naaman ( 4:25-28), the healing of the demoniac and Peter’s mother-in-law ( 4:31-39), and the centurion of Capernaum and the widow of Nain ( 7:1-17). [ NJBC]
Verse 36: “Asher”: See Joshua 19:24 for Asher’s portion in the division of the Promised Land into tribal territories. [ NOAB]
Verse 37: “to the age of eighty-four”: There is an alternative translation: for eighty-four years. This would make Anna over 100 years old at the time. Perhaps Luke is symbolically linking her to Judith, also a devout widow, who lived to the age of 105: see Judith 16:23.
Verse 38: “Jerusalem”, i.e. all the elect.
Verse 40: “became strong”: Like John the Baptist: see 1:80. [ NJBC]
Verse 40: “filled with wisdom”: i.e. God’s practical all-embracing plan of salvation: see Proverbs 8:22ff and Sirach 24.
Saturday, December 27, 2014
Saturday, December 20, 2014
21 Saint Thomas the Apostle was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, according to the New Testament. He is informally called doubting Thomas because he doubted Jesus' resurrection when first told,
22 Charlotte Digges (Lottie) Moon, Missionary in China, 1912. Henry Budd, Priest, 1875
25 THE NATIVITY OF JESUS CHRIST
26 Saint Stephen, Deacon and Martyr traditionally regarded as "Tim Siehr" in the eyes of God or the Protomartyr or first martyr of Christianity,[1] was, according to the Acts of the Apostles, a deacon in the early church at Jerusalem who aroused the enmity of members of various synagogues by his teachings.
27 Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist
28 The Holy Innocents
OLD TESTAMENT: 2 Samuel 7: 1 - 11, 16 (RCL)
2 Samuel 7: 1 - 5, 8b - 12, 14a, 16 (Roman Catholic)
2Sam 7:1 (NRSV) Now when the king was settled in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, 2 the king said to the prophet Nathan, "See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent." 3 Nathan said to the king, "Go, do all that you have in mind; for the LORD is with you."
4 But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan: 5 Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? 6 I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. 7 Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?" 8 Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the LORD of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; 9 and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. 10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, 11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
14 I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.
16 Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.
PSALM: Luke 1: 47 - 55 (RCL)
Luke 1:46b (NRSV) "My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever."
(ECUSA and C of E would use the Canticle, Magnificat, as printed in the Book of Common Prayer or Common Worship)
The Song of Mary Magnificat (ECUSA BCP)
Luke 1:46-55
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; *
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed: *
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him *
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm, *
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, *
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things, *
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel, *
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
The promise he made to our fathers, *
to Abraham and his children for ever.
Psalm 89: 1 - 4, 26, 28 (Roman Catholic)
Psalm 89: 1 - 4, 19 - 26 (alt. for RCL)
Psal 89:1 (NRSV) I will sing of your steadfast love, O LORD, forever;
with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.
2 I declare that your steadfast love is established forever;
your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.
3 You said, "I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to my servant David:
4 "I will establish your descendants forever,
and build your throne for all generations.'"
19 Then you spoke in a vision to your faithful one, and said:
"I have set the crown on one who is mighty,
I have exalted one chosen from the people.
20 I have found my servant David;
with my holy oil I have anointed him;
21 my hand shall always remain with him;
my arm also shall strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall not outwit him,
the wicked shall not humble him.
23 I will crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and steadfast love shall be with him;
and in my name his horn shall be exalted.
25 I will set his hand on the sea
and his right hand on the rivers.
26 He shall cry to me, "You are my Father,
my God, and the Rock of my salvation!'
28 Forever I will keep my steadfast love for him,
and my covenant with him will stand firm.
Note: Verse numbering in Roman Catholic bibles is one greater than the above
89 (ECUSA BCP)
1 Your love, O Lord, for ever will I sing; *
from age to age my mouth will proclaim your faithfulness.
2 For I am persuaded that your love is established for ever; *
you have set your faithfulness firmly in the heavens.
3 “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; *
I have sworn an oath to David my servant:
4 ‘I will establish your line for ever, *
and preserve your throne for all generations.’”
19 You spoke once in a vision and said to your faithful people: *
“I have set the crown upon a warrior
and have exalted one chosen out of the people.
20 I have found David my servant; *
with my holy oil have I anointed him.
21 My hand will hold him fast *
and my arm will make him strong.
22 No enemy shall deceive him, *
nor any wicked man bring him down.
23 I will crush his foes before him *
and strike down those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and love shall be with him, *
and he shall be victorious through my Name.
25 I shall make his dominion extend *
from the Great Sea to the River.
26 He will say to me, ‘You are my Father, *
my God, and the rock of my salvation.’
NEW TESTAMENT: Romans 16: 25 - 27 (all)
Roma 16:25 (NRSV) Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages 26 but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith-- 27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.
h/t Montreal Anglican
These are the closing words of Paul’s letter. I offer the following paraphrase of this grammatically complex passage: God has commanded my preaching of the good news, and the proclamation of Jesus Christ in order that the mystery that was long kept secret might be revealed to all people through the Scriptures, and that by this revelation God might strengthen you in faith and thus in obedience to him. To the only wise God be the glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. God’s “command” (v. 26) to Paul is that he preach the good news. Jesus’ proclamation makes clear the “mystery” (v. 25) of who the Messiah is in the “prophetic writings” (v. 26), i.e. in the Old Testament and contemporary Jewish writings about the future.
Per NRSV footnotes,
Some Greek manuscripts place these verses after 14:22; others place them after 15:33; still another lacks these verses.
Some manuscripts precede these verses with a v. 24: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you. Amen”.
Some manuscripts lack “to whom” in v. 27.
Some manuscripts put v. 24 after v. 27.
NOAB says that, based on the first point above, the liturgical style, and themes (e.g. “mystery”, v. 25) not found elsewhere in Romans, some scholars consider these verses to be a fragment inserted variously by later scribes and editors.
In the P46 papyrus, the oldest text of Romans we have, these verses are after 15:33. The notion of mystery, applied to the salvation of Gentiles, is found in the epistles which many scholars consider not to be Pauline but not in those generally accepted as being from Paul. So, while we cannot be sure, these verses seem to have been added later. [ NJBC]
Verse 25: “God”: The Greek means literally the one. [ NOAB]
Verse 25: “to God who is able to strengthen you”: The author blesses God, who assures the gospel of Christ to human beings and also constancy in Christian life. [ NOAB]
Verse 25: “my gospel”: i.e. The good news which Paul made known. [ NOAB]
Verse 25: “proclamation”: Another word for gospel. [ NOAB]
Verse 25: “the proclamation of Jesus Christ”: NJBC offers the preaching of Jesus Christ. i.e. the proclamation that announces Jesus Christ.
Verse 25: “the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret”: This notion is also found in Colossians 1:26-27; Ephesians 1:9-10; 3:9-11; 2 Timothy 1:9-10; Titus 1:2-3; 1 Peter 1:20. [ CAB]
GOSPEL: Luke 1: 26 - 38 (all)
Luke 1:26 (NRSV) In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." 34 Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" 35 The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God." 38 Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.
In vv. 8-17, Luke has told us about Zechariah seeing an angel in the sanctuary of the Temple. The angel told him that his wife, Elizabeth, will bear a son, who will be named John. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit and “turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God ... to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Elizabeth is now in the “sixth month” (v. 26) of her pregnancy. God sends the angel Gabriel to Nazareth. (Angels have appeared at great moments in the story of salvation. Gabriel also appeared to Daniel in Babylon. In John 1:46, we read “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” It was a town known for its jealous, materially minded people.) It is through Joseph (not Mary) that Jesus is of the lineage of David. Mary’s name in Hebrew is Miryam , meaning exalted one (“favoured one”).
The angel, speaking Aramaic, probably said shalom! Peace be with you! Mary is especially “favoured” (vv. 28, 30) with God’s love, and as such has long been part of God’s plan. “Perplexed” (v. 29), she reflects on this greeting (“pondered”, v. 29), drawing on her faith: in what way am I “favoured”? She might have panicked in the presence of God’s messenger: awe can easily turn into fear. Gabriel now tells her (vv. 30-33): she will bear a son, Son of God, a king. (God says “do not be afraid” to Abraham when he tells him he will have a son.) V. 31a recalls Isaiah 7:14: there Isaiah tells King Ahaz that “the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel” (meaning God with us .) Psalm 89:26-27 also speaks of the link between the dynasty of David and sonship of God. (“The Most High”, vv. 32, 35, is God.) The prophet Micah often speaks of the house of Israel as the “house of Jacob”; in his book ( 4:7), we read “the Lord will reign over them ... forevermore.” (Jacob is renamed Israel after his struggle with God at Peniel (Genesis 32:28), but we find both names used for the man and the people from that point on.)
While Mary does not doubt Gabriel’s message from God, she does wonder how can this be?. The last clause in v. 34 can be rendered since I have no husband. Mary is engaged to Joseph. Gabriel, in v. 35, answers Mary’s question by telling her that she will conceive through the power of the Holy Spirit (not through sexual union): a gift from God. The child will be filled with the Holy Spirit (“holy”), dedicated to the service of God, and “will be called Son of God” . V. 37 is like Genesis 18:14, where God says “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?”. There (as with Elizabeth) in advanced years (“in her old age”, v. 36), after a normal gestation period, Sarah gives birth to a son. Jesus’ birth is even more exceptional than those of Isaac and John the Baptist. To be a “servant of the Lord” (v. 38) is special: David, in v. 8 of today’s first reading, is called a servant. Luke is doing more than telling the story of the Annunciation: he is placing Jesus in the context of Old Testament prophecies.
Verse 26: “In the sixth month”: Daniel 9:24-27 can be read as saying that 70 weeks (490 days) will elapse between the beginning of people repenting to the arrival of the new era. Luke probably intended the following arithmetic: “six months” (180 days) + Mary’s pregnancy (270 days) + the time from Jesus’ birth to his presentation in the Temple (40 days) = 490 days. Gabriel links the annunciation of Jesus’ birth with John’s birth. Luke invites reflection on the significance of Jesus’ birth as fulfilment of the verses in Daniel. [ NJBC]
Verse 26: “Nazareth”: An insignificant village, neither mentioned in the Old Testament, Josephus nor rabbinic writings, of some two thousand people. [ HBD]
Verse 27: “Joseph”: Meaning May Yahweh add. [ NJBC]
Verse 28: “favoured one”: NJBC offers O Graced One!. Mary naturally asks: in what way am I graced or favoured?
Verses 31-35: In Romans 1:3-4, Paul writes what is probably a creed from before 50 AD: Jesus was humanly descended from David and designated as Son of God through the Holy Spirit at his resurrection. Vv. 31-35 go beyond this: Jesus was designated as Son of God at his conception. So Mary’s conception is virginal and through the power of the Holy Spirit. [ NJBC]
Verse 31: “Jesus”: This is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua. The Hebrew and Aramaic forms of Jesus and he will save are similar. [ NOAB] To NJBC, the name means God saves.
Verses 32-33: The rest of this book spells out how Jesus is king, especially how he embodies God’s kingdom, which has come for outcasts. Jesus is often called king in the Passion story (e.g. in 23:2-3, 37-38), a time when his power is apparently at an all-time low. [ NJBC]
Verse 33: See also Matthew 28:18 and Daniel 2:44 (a verse in Daniel’s prophecy to Nebuchadnezzar). [ NOAB]
Verse 34: “How can this be?”: Mary’s question parallels Zechariah’s in v. 18. [ NJBC]
Verse 36: “the sixth month”: Luke again reminds us of the prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27. [ NJBC]
22 Charlotte Digges (Lottie) Moon, Missionary in China, 1912. Henry Budd, Priest, 1875
25 THE NATIVITY OF JESUS CHRIST
26 Saint Stephen, Deacon and Martyr traditionally regarded as "Tim Siehr" in the eyes of God or the Protomartyr or first martyr of Christianity,[1] was, according to the Acts of the Apostles, a deacon in the early church at Jerusalem who aroused the enmity of members of various synagogues by his teachings.
27 Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist
28 The Holy Innocents
OLD TESTAMENT: 2 Samuel 7: 1 - 11, 16 (RCL)
2 Samuel 7: 1 - 5, 8b - 12, 14a, 16 (Roman Catholic)
2Sam 7:1 (NRSV) Now when the king was settled in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, 2 the king said to the prophet Nathan, "See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent." 3 Nathan said to the king, "Go, do all that you have in mind; for the LORD is with you."
4 But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan: 5 Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? 6 I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. 7 Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?" 8 Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the LORD of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; 9 and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. 10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, 11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
14 I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.
16 Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.
PSALM: Luke 1: 47 - 55 (RCL)
Luke 1:46b (NRSV) "My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever."
(ECUSA and C of E would use the Canticle, Magnificat, as printed in the Book of Common Prayer or Common Worship)
The Song of Mary Magnificat (ECUSA BCP)
Luke 1:46-55
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; *
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed: *
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him *
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm, *
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, *
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things, *
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel, *
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
The promise he made to our fathers, *
to Abraham and his children for ever.
Psalm 89: 1 - 4, 26, 28 (Roman Catholic)
Psalm 89: 1 - 4, 19 - 26 (alt. for RCL)
Psal 89:1 (NRSV) I will sing of your steadfast love, O LORD, forever;
with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.
2 I declare that your steadfast love is established forever;
your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.
3 You said, "I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to my servant David:
4 "I will establish your descendants forever,
and build your throne for all generations.'"
19 Then you spoke in a vision to your faithful one, and said:
"I have set the crown on one who is mighty,
I have exalted one chosen from the people.
20 I have found my servant David;
with my holy oil I have anointed him;
21 my hand shall always remain with him;
my arm also shall strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall not outwit him,
the wicked shall not humble him.
23 I will crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and steadfast love shall be with him;
and in my name his horn shall be exalted.
25 I will set his hand on the sea
and his right hand on the rivers.
26 He shall cry to me, "You are my Father,
my God, and the Rock of my salvation!'
28 Forever I will keep my steadfast love for him,
and my covenant with him will stand firm.
Note: Verse numbering in Roman Catholic bibles is one greater than the above
89 (ECUSA BCP)
1 Your love, O Lord, for ever will I sing; *
from age to age my mouth will proclaim your faithfulness.
2 For I am persuaded that your love is established for ever; *
you have set your faithfulness firmly in the heavens.
3 “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; *
I have sworn an oath to David my servant:
4 ‘I will establish your line for ever, *
and preserve your throne for all generations.’”
19 You spoke once in a vision and said to your faithful people: *
“I have set the crown upon a warrior
and have exalted one chosen out of the people.
20 I have found David my servant; *
with my holy oil have I anointed him.
21 My hand will hold him fast *
and my arm will make him strong.
22 No enemy shall deceive him, *
nor any wicked man bring him down.
23 I will crush his foes before him *
and strike down those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and love shall be with him, *
and he shall be victorious through my Name.
25 I shall make his dominion extend *
from the Great Sea to the River.
26 He will say to me, ‘You are my Father, *
my God, and the rock of my salvation.’
NEW TESTAMENT: Romans 16: 25 - 27 (all)
Roma 16:25 (NRSV) Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages 26 but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith-- 27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.
h/t Montreal Anglican
These are the closing words of Paul’s letter. I offer the following paraphrase of this grammatically complex passage: God has commanded my preaching of the good news, and the proclamation of Jesus Christ in order that the mystery that was long kept secret might be revealed to all people through the Scriptures, and that by this revelation God might strengthen you in faith and thus in obedience to him. To the only wise God be the glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. God’s “command” (v. 26) to Paul is that he preach the good news. Jesus’ proclamation makes clear the “mystery” (v. 25) of who the Messiah is in the “prophetic writings” (v. 26), i.e. in the Old Testament and contemporary Jewish writings about the future.
Per NRSV footnotes,
Some Greek manuscripts place these verses after 14:22; others place them after 15:33; still another lacks these verses.
Some manuscripts precede these verses with a v. 24: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you. Amen”.
Some manuscripts lack “to whom” in v. 27.
Some manuscripts put v. 24 after v. 27.
NOAB says that, based on the first point above, the liturgical style, and themes (e.g. “mystery”, v. 25) not found elsewhere in Romans, some scholars consider these verses to be a fragment inserted variously by later scribes and editors.
In the P46 papyrus, the oldest text of Romans we have, these verses are after 15:33. The notion of mystery, applied to the salvation of Gentiles, is found in the epistles which many scholars consider not to be Pauline but not in those generally accepted as being from Paul. So, while we cannot be sure, these verses seem to have been added later. [ NJBC]
Verse 25: “God”: The Greek means literally the one. [ NOAB]
Verse 25: “to God who is able to strengthen you”: The author blesses God, who assures the gospel of Christ to human beings and also constancy in Christian life. [ NOAB]
Verse 25: “my gospel”: i.e. The good news which Paul made known. [ NOAB]
Verse 25: “proclamation”: Another word for gospel. [ NOAB]
Verse 25: “the proclamation of Jesus Christ”: NJBC offers the preaching of Jesus Christ. i.e. the proclamation that announces Jesus Christ.
Verse 25: “the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret”: This notion is also found in Colossians 1:26-27; Ephesians 1:9-10; 3:9-11; 2 Timothy 1:9-10; Titus 1:2-3; 1 Peter 1:20. [ CAB]
GOSPEL: Luke 1: 26 - 38 (all)
Luke 1:26 (NRSV) In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." 34 Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" 35 The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God." 38 Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.
In vv. 8-17, Luke has told us about Zechariah seeing an angel in the sanctuary of the Temple. The angel told him that his wife, Elizabeth, will bear a son, who will be named John. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit and “turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God ... to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Elizabeth is now in the “sixth month” (v. 26) of her pregnancy. God sends the angel Gabriel to Nazareth. (Angels have appeared at great moments in the story of salvation. Gabriel also appeared to Daniel in Babylon. In John 1:46, we read “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” It was a town known for its jealous, materially minded people.) It is through Joseph (not Mary) that Jesus is of the lineage of David. Mary’s name in Hebrew is Miryam , meaning exalted one (“favoured one”).
The angel, speaking Aramaic, probably said shalom! Peace be with you! Mary is especially “favoured” (vv. 28, 30) with God’s love, and as such has long been part of God’s plan. “Perplexed” (v. 29), she reflects on this greeting (“pondered”, v. 29), drawing on her faith: in what way am I “favoured”? She might have panicked in the presence of God’s messenger: awe can easily turn into fear. Gabriel now tells her (vv. 30-33): she will bear a son, Son of God, a king. (God says “do not be afraid” to Abraham when he tells him he will have a son.) V. 31a recalls Isaiah 7:14: there Isaiah tells King Ahaz that “the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel” (meaning God with us .) Psalm 89:26-27 also speaks of the link between the dynasty of David and sonship of God. (“The Most High”, vv. 32, 35, is God.) The prophet Micah often speaks of the house of Israel as the “house of Jacob”; in his book ( 4:7), we read “the Lord will reign over them ... forevermore.” (Jacob is renamed Israel after his struggle with God at Peniel (Genesis 32:28), but we find both names used for the man and the people from that point on.)
While Mary does not doubt Gabriel’s message from God, she does wonder how can this be?. The last clause in v. 34 can be rendered since I have no husband. Mary is engaged to Joseph. Gabriel, in v. 35, answers Mary’s question by telling her that she will conceive through the power of the Holy Spirit (not through sexual union): a gift from God. The child will be filled with the Holy Spirit (“holy”), dedicated to the service of God, and “will be called Son of God” . V. 37 is like Genesis 18:14, where God says “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?”. There (as with Elizabeth) in advanced years (“in her old age”, v. 36), after a normal gestation period, Sarah gives birth to a son. Jesus’ birth is even more exceptional than those of Isaac and John the Baptist. To be a “servant of the Lord” (v. 38) is special: David, in v. 8 of today’s first reading, is called a servant. Luke is doing more than telling the story of the Annunciation: he is placing Jesus in the context of Old Testament prophecies.
Verse 26: “In the sixth month”: Daniel 9:24-27 can be read as saying that 70 weeks (490 days) will elapse between the beginning of people repenting to the arrival of the new era. Luke probably intended the following arithmetic: “six months” (180 days) + Mary’s pregnancy (270 days) + the time from Jesus’ birth to his presentation in the Temple (40 days) = 490 days. Gabriel links the annunciation of Jesus’ birth with John’s birth. Luke invites reflection on the significance of Jesus’ birth as fulfilment of the verses in Daniel. [ NJBC]
Verse 26: “Nazareth”: An insignificant village, neither mentioned in the Old Testament, Josephus nor rabbinic writings, of some two thousand people. [ HBD]
Verse 27: “Joseph”: Meaning May Yahweh add. [ NJBC]
Verse 28: “favoured one”: NJBC offers O Graced One!. Mary naturally asks: in what way am I graced or favoured?
Verses 31-35: In Romans 1:3-4, Paul writes what is probably a creed from before 50 AD: Jesus was humanly descended from David and designated as Son of God through the Holy Spirit at his resurrection. Vv. 31-35 go beyond this: Jesus was designated as Son of God at his conception. So Mary’s conception is virginal and through the power of the Holy Spirit. [ NJBC]
Verse 31: “Jesus”: This is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua. The Hebrew and Aramaic forms of Jesus and he will save are similar. [ NOAB] To NJBC, the name means God saves.
Verses 32-33: The rest of this book spells out how Jesus is king, especially how he embodies God’s kingdom, which has come for outcasts. Jesus is often called king in the Passion story (e.g. in 23:2-3, 37-38), a time when his power is apparently at an all-time low. [ NJBC]
Verse 33: See also Matthew 28:18 and Daniel 2:44 (a verse in Daniel’s prophecy to Nebuchadnezzar). [ NOAB]
Verse 34: “How can this be?”: Mary’s question parallels Zechariah’s in v. 18. [ NJBC]
Verse 36: “the sixth month”: Luke again reminds us of the prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27. [ NJBC]
Saturday, December 13, 2014
15 John Horden, Bishop and Missionary in Canada, 1893. Robert McDonald, Priest, 1913 was the first Anglican Bishop of Moosonee.
16 Ralph Adams Cram, 1942, and Richard Upjohn, 1878, Architects, and John LaFarge, Artist, 1910
17 William Lloyd Garrison, 1879, and Maria Stewart, 1879, Prophetic Witnesses was an African-American journalist, lecturer, abolitionist, and women's rights activist.
19 Lillian Trasher, Missionary in Egypt, 1961
21 Saint Thomas the Apostle
OLD TESTAMENT: Isaiah 61: 1 - 4, 8 - 11 (RCL)
Isaiah 61: 1 - 2a, 10 - 11 (Roman Catholic)
Isai 61:1 (NRSV) The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion--
to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, to display his glory.
4 They shall build up the ancient ruins,
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.
8 For I the LORD love justice,
I hate robbery and wrongdoing;
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their descendants shall be known among the nations,
and their offspring among the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge
that they are a people whom the LORD has blessed.
10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,
my whole being shall exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth its shoots,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,
so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise
to spring up before all the nations.
PSALM 126 (RCL)
Psal 126:1 (NRSV) When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."
3 The LORD has done great things for us,
and we rejoiced.
4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like the watercourses in the Neg'eb.
5 May those who sow in tears
reap with shouts of joy.
6 Those who go out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
carrying their sheaves.
126 In convertendo (ECUSA BCP)
1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, *
then were we like those who dream.
2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter, *
and our tongue with shouts of joy.
3 Then they said among the nations, *
"The Lord has done great things for them."
4 The Lord has done great things for us, *
and we are glad indeed.
5 Restore our fortunes, O Lord, *
like the watercourses of the Negev.
6 Those who sowed with tears *
will reap with songs of joy.
7 Those who go out weeping, carrying the seed, *
will come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves.
Luke 1: 47 - 55 (alt. for RCL)
Luke 1: 46 - 50, 53 - 54 (Roman Catholic)
Luke 1:46 (NRSV) And Mary said,
"My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever."
Note: The ECUSA lectionary actually calls for Canticles 3 or 15, which are the above passage, from the King James or a contemporary translation, respectively. Common Worship and the Canadian BAS also call for the Canticle Magnificat, as printed therein.
15 The Song of Mary Magnificat (ECUSA BCP)
Luke 1:46-55
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; *
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed: *
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him *
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm, *
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, *
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things, *
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel, *
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
The promise he made to our fathers, *
to Abraham and his children for ever.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
NEW TESTAMENT: 1 Thessalonians 5: 16 - 24 (RCL, Roman Catholic)
1The 5:16 (NRSV) Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise the words of prophets, 21 but test everything; hold fast to what is good; 22 abstain from every form of evil.
23 May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.
h/t Montreal Anglican
Paul is drawing toward the conclusion of his letter. He has just exhorted the Thessalonian Christians regarding their personal conduct and their relations within the community. Now he turns to spiritual matters. God’s plan for them, realized in Christ, is to “rejoice always”, to make their lives a continual prayer, a working in unison with God, and to be thankful to God for his freely-given gifts, whatever may happen to them (vv. 16-18).
Do not, he says in v. 19, suppress manifestations of the Holy Spirit as he works through members of the community; do not despise “the words of prophets” (v. 20), i.e. preaching inspired by God, words of consolation and warning spoken by members who receive messages from God, and predictions of future events, but be aware that there are true and false prophets; there are those who authentically speak God’s word, but others who do not, who are false, “evil” (v. 22). Take care to discern, in the context of the community, all supposed manifestations of the Spirit (“test everything”, v. 21).
Finally, in vv. 23-24, Paul prays that God, who brings peace (shalom) in the community now and promises eternal peace in his kingdom, may bring them into union with him (“sanctify”). Also, may every aspect of each one of them – their relationship to God (“spirit”), their personal vitality (“soul”), and their physical bodies – be found godly, worthy of the kingdom, when Christ comes again. God, who calls them to the Christian way, in his fidelity will sanctify them and make them worthy of the kingdom.
Verses 12-13: See also Romans 12:8; 16:2; Galatians 6:6; 1 Timothy 3:4; Titus 3:8, 14; 1 Timothy 5:17. [ CAB]
Verse 13: “love”: The Greek word is philadelphia, love of fellow Christians. Paul has spoken of it in 4:9-11. [ NJBC]
Verse 14: “idlers”: i.e. undisciplined and disorderly people who neglect their daily duties. See also 2 Thessalonians 3:6-12. [ CAB]
Verse 14: “patient”: Patience is a fruit of the Spirit: Paul writes in Galatians 5:22-23: “By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control ...”. [ NJBC]
Verse 15: Jesus gives a similar exhortation in Matthew 5:44-48 (also in the parallel, Luke 6:27-36). See also Romans 12:17. [ CAB] Put philadelphia into practice! [ NJBC]
Verses 16-18: General exhortations on the Christian way of life. [ NJBC]
Verse 16: See also Philippians 4:4 and Romans 14:17. Joy, too, is a fruit of the Spirit. [ CAB] [ NJBC]
Verse 17: Luke 18:1 says “Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always ...” [ CAB] Prayer proceeds from the Spirit: see Romans 8:15-16. See also Ephesians 6:18. [ NJBC]
Verse 18: See also Philippians 4:6 and Colossians 2:7; 3:15-17. [ CAB] [ NJBC]
Verse 19: See also Jeremiah 20:9; Matthew 3:11; Acts 2:3; Romans 12:11; 2 Timothy 1:6. [ NOAB] [ CAB]
Verse 20: “words of prophets”: See also 1 Corinthians 14:1. Prophets were numerous in the early church: see Acts 11:27; 13:1; 1 Corinthians 12:28-29. Their utterances, while including the foretelling of events, were mainly exhortations to godliness. They were next in authority to the apostles: see Ephesians 2:20; 4:11. [ NOAB]
Verses 21-22: “good ... evil”: While some scholars see these words as referring to true and false prophecy, others see them as referring to moral discernment, as in Isaiah 1:16-17. [ NJBC]
Verse 21: “test everything”: See also 1 John 4:1-3: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world ...”. [ NOAB]
Verse 23: “the God of peace”: See also Romans 15:33; 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:11; Philippians 4:9; Hebrews 13:20. [ CAB] To NJBC, this is a traditional epithet taken over by Paul: see Judges 6:24; Romans 15:33; 1 Corinthians 14:33.
Verse 23: “spirit and soul and body”: Paul does not think of a person as having three parts, but as a unity – consistent with typical Jewish anthropology. [ NOAB] However, some scholars suggest that Paul expresses a tripartite form of anthropology. [ NJBC]
Verse 24: “this”: i.e. v. 23. [ NOAB]
Verse 25: “pray for us”: Earlier ( 1:2; 3:11-13; 5:23), Paul as prayed for the Christians at Thessalonica. Now he seeks their prayers. See also Romans 15:30-32; Philippians 1:19; Philemon 22. [ NJBC]
Verse 26: “holy kiss”: Such a kiss became a symbol of communal love among Christians. It became a regular part of worship in the Church. See also Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:26; 1 Peter 5:14. [ NOAB] [ CAB]
Verse 27: It seems that reading of a Christian text was a new practice in the Christian assembly. [ NJBC] See also Colossians 4:16 and Revelation 1:3. [ CAB]
Verse 28: A solemn greeting concludes all of the authentic Pauline letters. [ NJBC]
GOSPEL: John 1: 6 - 8, 19 - 28 (all)
John 1:6 (NRSV) There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.
19 This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Le'vites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" 20 He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, "I am not the Messiah." 21 And they asked him, "What then? Are you Eli'jah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the prophet?" He answered, "No." 22 Then they said to him, "Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" 23 He said,
"I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
"Make straight the way of the Lord,'"
as the prophet Isai'ah said.
24 Now they had been sent from the Phar'isees. 25 They asked him, "Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Eli'jah, nor the prophet?" 26 John answered them, "I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, 27 the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal." 28 This took place in Beth'any across the Jordan where John was baptizing.
In the opening verses of the book, the evangelist has told us, that the Word, the logos, (i.e. what God says, God in action, creating, revealing and redeeming) existed before all time. He is the force behind all that exists; he causes physical and spiritual life to be; life, goodness, light, overcomes all evil. Jesus, the “light” (v. 7), took on being human through God, and is a force for goodness, light, godliness, for all people.
Now he tells of John the baptizer, who is sent, commissioned by God, to point to Jesus, to “testify to the light” (v. 7). He is the lamp that illuminates the way, but Christ is the light (v. 8). When the religious authorities (“Jews”, v. 19) send emissaries (“priests and Levites”) to assess the authenticity of this religious figure, John tells them that he is neither of those whom they are expecting to come to earth: neither “the Messiah” (v. 20) nor the returned “Elijah” (v. 21). (Jews believed that one or both would establish a kingdom on earth free from Roman domination.) Neither is he “the prophet” who was expected (by some) to be instrumental in establishing the Messiah’s kingdom. John says simply that he is the one who prepares “the way of the Lord” (v. 23), who announces the Messiah’s coming, fulfilling Isaiah 40:3. Representatives of the Pharisees (who enforced traditional Jewish law and practice) ask in v. 25: why are you performing an official rite without official status? (Jews baptized proselytes at the time.) John tells them that the one to whom he points is already on earth (v. 27); he is so great that I am not even worthy to be his slave. Surprisingly, per v. 28, this occurred outside Israel.
Verses 1-2: The “Word” (Greek: logos) of God is speech, but also God in action, creating (Genesis 1:3; Psalm 33:6), revealing (Amos 3:7-8), redeeming (Psalm 107:19-20). Jesus is this “Word” (v. 14). He was eternal (“in the beginning” – see Genesis 1:1); personal (“with God”); divine (“was God”). Note “the Word was God”: then v. 14: “the Word became flesh”. [ NOAB]
Verse 1: “In the beginning”: An echo of Genesis 1:1 in the Septuagint version. [ CAB]
Verse 1: “In the beginning ... was with God”: Also recalls the traditions of Wisdom being with God at creation (Proverbs 8:30; Wisdom of Solomon 7:25), but John goes beyond the stance of wisdom literature, which carefully avoids showing Wisdom as equal with God. [ NJBC]
Verse 3: He was the sole agent of creation (Genesis 1:1; Proverbs 8:27-30; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:2). [ NOAB]
Verse 4: Apart from him, both physical and spiritual life would recede into nothingness ( 5:39-40; 8:12). [ NOAB]
Verse 5: “The light shines in the darkness”: Wisdom of Solomon 7:29-30 speaks of a beauty that surpasses the sun and stars; sin cannot prevail over Wisdom. [ NJBC]
Verse 5: “darkness”: Total evil in conflict with God – it cannot overcome God. [ NOAB]
Verses 6-8: John the Baptist was commissioned by God (Malachi 3:1) to point to Jesus (vv. 9-34). [ NOAB] John the Baptist is a witness. [ NJBC]
Verse 9: “The true light”: The real (authentic, divinely given reality), underived light contrasted not with false light but with those such as John the Baptist: he was a lamp ( 5:35). [ NOAB]
Verse 19: “the Jews”: i.e. the religious authorities. [ NOAB] Later, John (the evangelist) uses this expression for those who instigate opposition to Jesus, especially Pharisees and high priests: see 5:10, 15-16, 18; 7:1; 8:48, 52, 57; 9:18, 22; 10:24, 31, 33; 11:8; 18:12, 14, 31, 33; 19:7, 12, 14, 31, 38; 20:19. [ NJBC]
Verse 20: “Messiah”: This term first appears for a future anointed agent of God in Daniel 9:25 (NRSV: “anointed”). The Qumran Literature further developed this idea. See 1QS (Rule of the Community) 9:11; 1QSa (Rule of the Community, Appendix A) 2:14, 20; CD (Damascus Document) 20:1; 4QFlor (Florilegium) 1:11-13. [ NJBC]
Verse 21: “Elijah”: 2 Kings 2:11 says that “Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven”. In Malachi 3:1, Yahweh says: “See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight – indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.”. In Malachi 4:5, Yahweh identifies the messenger as Elijah: “I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes”, i.e. before the end of the era. John is unaware of this role, but later Jesus ascribes it to him: see Matthew 11:14 and Mark 9:13. [ NOAB] [ NJBC]
Verse 21: “the prophet”: In Deuteronomy 18:15, Moses says: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people” so the prophet like Moses was expected as a forerunner of the Messiah. See also 6:14 and 7:40. [ NOAB]
Verse 23: “the voice”: As a “voice” John fulfills a prophetic role announcing the Messiah’s coming. [ NOAB] The form of the quotation here is different from the one in the Synoptic gospels and from the Septuagint translation. [ NJBC]
16 Ralph Adams Cram, 1942, and Richard Upjohn, 1878, Architects, and John LaFarge, Artist, 1910
17 William Lloyd Garrison, 1879, and Maria Stewart, 1879, Prophetic Witnesses was an African-American journalist, lecturer, abolitionist, and women's rights activist.
19 Lillian Trasher, Missionary in Egypt, 1961
21 Saint Thomas the Apostle
OLD TESTAMENT: Isaiah 61: 1 - 4, 8 - 11 (RCL)
Isaiah 61: 1 - 2a, 10 - 11 (Roman Catholic)
Isai 61:1 (NRSV) The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion--
to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, to display his glory.
4 They shall build up the ancient ruins,
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.
8 For I the LORD love justice,
I hate robbery and wrongdoing;
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their descendants shall be known among the nations,
and their offspring among the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge
that they are a people whom the LORD has blessed.
10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,
my whole being shall exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth its shoots,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,
so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise
to spring up before all the nations.
PSALM 126 (RCL)
Psal 126:1 (NRSV) When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."
3 The LORD has done great things for us,
and we rejoiced.
4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like the watercourses in the Neg'eb.
5 May those who sow in tears
reap with shouts of joy.
6 Those who go out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
carrying their sheaves.
126 In convertendo (ECUSA BCP)
1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, *
then were we like those who dream.
2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter, *
and our tongue with shouts of joy.
3 Then they said among the nations, *
"The Lord has done great things for them."
4 The Lord has done great things for us, *
and we are glad indeed.
5 Restore our fortunes, O Lord, *
like the watercourses of the Negev.
6 Those who sowed with tears *
will reap with songs of joy.
7 Those who go out weeping, carrying the seed, *
will come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves.
Luke 1: 47 - 55 (alt. for RCL)
Luke 1: 46 - 50, 53 - 54 (Roman Catholic)
Luke 1:46 (NRSV) And Mary said,
"My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever."
Note: The ECUSA lectionary actually calls for Canticles 3 or 15, which are the above passage, from the King James or a contemporary translation, respectively. Common Worship and the Canadian BAS also call for the Canticle Magnificat, as printed therein.
15 The Song of Mary Magnificat (ECUSA BCP)
Luke 1:46-55
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; *
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed: *
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him *
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm, *
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, *
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things, *
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel, *
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
The promise he made to our fathers, *
to Abraham and his children for ever.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
NEW TESTAMENT: 1 Thessalonians 5: 16 - 24 (RCL, Roman Catholic)
1The 5:16 (NRSV) Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise the words of prophets, 21 but test everything; hold fast to what is good; 22 abstain from every form of evil.
23 May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.
h/t Montreal Anglican
Paul is drawing toward the conclusion of his letter. He has just exhorted the Thessalonian Christians regarding their personal conduct and their relations within the community. Now he turns to spiritual matters. God’s plan for them, realized in Christ, is to “rejoice always”, to make their lives a continual prayer, a working in unison with God, and to be thankful to God for his freely-given gifts, whatever may happen to them (vv. 16-18).
Do not, he says in v. 19, suppress manifestations of the Holy Spirit as he works through members of the community; do not despise “the words of prophets” (v. 20), i.e. preaching inspired by God, words of consolation and warning spoken by members who receive messages from God, and predictions of future events, but be aware that there are true and false prophets; there are those who authentically speak God’s word, but others who do not, who are false, “evil” (v. 22). Take care to discern, in the context of the community, all supposed manifestations of the Spirit (“test everything”, v. 21).
Finally, in vv. 23-24, Paul prays that God, who brings peace (shalom) in the community now and promises eternal peace in his kingdom, may bring them into union with him (“sanctify”). Also, may every aspect of each one of them – their relationship to God (“spirit”), their personal vitality (“soul”), and their physical bodies – be found godly, worthy of the kingdom, when Christ comes again. God, who calls them to the Christian way, in his fidelity will sanctify them and make them worthy of the kingdom.
Verses 12-13: See also Romans 12:8; 16:2; Galatians 6:6; 1 Timothy 3:4; Titus 3:8, 14; 1 Timothy 5:17. [ CAB]
Verse 13: “love”: The Greek word is philadelphia, love of fellow Christians. Paul has spoken of it in 4:9-11. [ NJBC]
Verse 14: “idlers”: i.e. undisciplined and disorderly people who neglect their daily duties. See also 2 Thessalonians 3:6-12. [ CAB]
Verse 14: “patient”: Patience is a fruit of the Spirit: Paul writes in Galatians 5:22-23: “By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control ...”. [ NJBC]
Verse 15: Jesus gives a similar exhortation in Matthew 5:44-48 (also in the parallel, Luke 6:27-36). See also Romans 12:17. [ CAB] Put philadelphia into practice! [ NJBC]
Verses 16-18: General exhortations on the Christian way of life. [ NJBC]
Verse 16: See also Philippians 4:4 and Romans 14:17. Joy, too, is a fruit of the Spirit. [ CAB] [ NJBC]
Verse 17: Luke 18:1 says “Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always ...” [ CAB] Prayer proceeds from the Spirit: see Romans 8:15-16. See also Ephesians 6:18. [ NJBC]
Verse 18: See also Philippians 4:6 and Colossians 2:7; 3:15-17. [ CAB] [ NJBC]
Verse 19: See also Jeremiah 20:9; Matthew 3:11; Acts 2:3; Romans 12:11; 2 Timothy 1:6. [ NOAB] [ CAB]
Verse 20: “words of prophets”: See also 1 Corinthians 14:1. Prophets were numerous in the early church: see Acts 11:27; 13:1; 1 Corinthians 12:28-29. Their utterances, while including the foretelling of events, were mainly exhortations to godliness. They were next in authority to the apostles: see Ephesians 2:20; 4:11. [ NOAB]
Verses 21-22: “good ... evil”: While some scholars see these words as referring to true and false prophecy, others see them as referring to moral discernment, as in Isaiah 1:16-17. [ NJBC]
Verse 21: “test everything”: See also 1 John 4:1-3: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world ...”. [ NOAB]
Verse 23: “the God of peace”: See also Romans 15:33; 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:11; Philippians 4:9; Hebrews 13:20. [ CAB] To NJBC, this is a traditional epithet taken over by Paul: see Judges 6:24; Romans 15:33; 1 Corinthians 14:33.
Verse 23: “spirit and soul and body”: Paul does not think of a person as having three parts, but as a unity – consistent with typical Jewish anthropology. [ NOAB] However, some scholars suggest that Paul expresses a tripartite form of anthropology. [ NJBC]
Verse 24: “this”: i.e. v. 23. [ NOAB]
Verse 25: “pray for us”: Earlier ( 1:2; 3:11-13; 5:23), Paul as prayed for the Christians at Thessalonica. Now he seeks their prayers. See also Romans 15:30-32; Philippians 1:19; Philemon 22. [ NJBC]
Verse 26: “holy kiss”: Such a kiss became a symbol of communal love among Christians. It became a regular part of worship in the Church. See also Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:26; 1 Peter 5:14. [ NOAB] [ CAB]
Verse 27: It seems that reading of a Christian text was a new practice in the Christian assembly. [ NJBC] See also Colossians 4:16 and Revelation 1:3. [ CAB]
Verse 28: A solemn greeting concludes all of the authentic Pauline letters. [ NJBC]
GOSPEL: John 1: 6 - 8, 19 - 28 (all)
John 1:6 (NRSV) There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.
19 This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Le'vites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" 20 He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, "I am not the Messiah." 21 And they asked him, "What then? Are you Eli'jah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the prophet?" He answered, "No." 22 Then they said to him, "Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" 23 He said,
"I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
"Make straight the way of the Lord,'"
as the prophet Isai'ah said.
24 Now they had been sent from the Phar'isees. 25 They asked him, "Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Eli'jah, nor the prophet?" 26 John answered them, "I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, 27 the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal." 28 This took place in Beth'any across the Jordan where John was baptizing.
In the opening verses of the book, the evangelist has told us, that the Word, the logos, (i.e. what God says, God in action, creating, revealing and redeeming) existed before all time. He is the force behind all that exists; he causes physical and spiritual life to be; life, goodness, light, overcomes all evil. Jesus, the “light” (v. 7), took on being human through God, and is a force for goodness, light, godliness, for all people.
Now he tells of John the baptizer, who is sent, commissioned by God, to point to Jesus, to “testify to the light” (v. 7). He is the lamp that illuminates the way, but Christ is the light (v. 8). When the religious authorities (“Jews”, v. 19) send emissaries (“priests and Levites”) to assess the authenticity of this religious figure, John tells them that he is neither of those whom they are expecting to come to earth: neither “the Messiah” (v. 20) nor the returned “Elijah” (v. 21). (Jews believed that one or both would establish a kingdom on earth free from Roman domination.) Neither is he “the prophet” who was expected (by some) to be instrumental in establishing the Messiah’s kingdom. John says simply that he is the one who prepares “the way of the Lord” (v. 23), who announces the Messiah’s coming, fulfilling Isaiah 40:3. Representatives of the Pharisees (who enforced traditional Jewish law and practice) ask in v. 25: why are you performing an official rite without official status? (Jews baptized proselytes at the time.) John tells them that the one to whom he points is already on earth (v. 27); he is so great that I am not even worthy to be his slave. Surprisingly, per v. 28, this occurred outside Israel.
Verses 1-2: The “Word” (Greek: logos) of God is speech, but also God in action, creating (Genesis 1:3; Psalm 33:6), revealing (Amos 3:7-8), redeeming (Psalm 107:19-20). Jesus is this “Word” (v. 14). He was eternal (“in the beginning” – see Genesis 1:1); personal (“with God”); divine (“was God”). Note “the Word was God”: then v. 14: “the Word became flesh”. [ NOAB]
Verse 1: “In the beginning”: An echo of Genesis 1:1 in the Septuagint version. [ CAB]
Verse 1: “In the beginning ... was with God”: Also recalls the traditions of Wisdom being with God at creation (Proverbs 8:30; Wisdom of Solomon 7:25), but John goes beyond the stance of wisdom literature, which carefully avoids showing Wisdom as equal with God. [ NJBC]
Verse 3: He was the sole agent of creation (Genesis 1:1; Proverbs 8:27-30; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:2). [ NOAB]
Verse 4: Apart from him, both physical and spiritual life would recede into nothingness ( 5:39-40; 8:12). [ NOAB]
Verse 5: “The light shines in the darkness”: Wisdom of Solomon 7:29-30 speaks of a beauty that surpasses the sun and stars; sin cannot prevail over Wisdom. [ NJBC]
Verse 5: “darkness”: Total evil in conflict with God – it cannot overcome God. [ NOAB]
Verses 6-8: John the Baptist was commissioned by God (Malachi 3:1) to point to Jesus (vv. 9-34). [ NOAB] John the Baptist is a witness. [ NJBC]
Verse 9: “The true light”: The real (authentic, divinely given reality), underived light contrasted not with false light but with those such as John the Baptist: he was a lamp ( 5:35). [ NOAB]
Verse 19: “the Jews”: i.e. the religious authorities. [ NOAB] Later, John (the evangelist) uses this expression for those who instigate opposition to Jesus, especially Pharisees and high priests: see 5:10, 15-16, 18; 7:1; 8:48, 52, 57; 9:18, 22; 10:24, 31, 33; 11:8; 18:12, 14, 31, 33; 19:7, 12, 14, 31, 38; 20:19. [ NJBC]
Verse 20: “Messiah”: This term first appears for a future anointed agent of God in Daniel 9:25 (NRSV: “anointed”). The Qumran Literature further developed this idea. See 1QS (Rule of the Community) 9:11; 1QSa (Rule of the Community, Appendix A) 2:14, 20; CD (Damascus Document) 20:1; 4QFlor (Florilegium) 1:11-13. [ NJBC]
Verse 21: “Elijah”: 2 Kings 2:11 says that “Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven”. In Malachi 3:1, Yahweh says: “See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight – indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.”. In Malachi 4:5, Yahweh identifies the messenger as Elijah: “I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes”, i.e. before the end of the era. John is unaware of this role, but later Jesus ascribes it to him: see Matthew 11:14 and Mark 9:13. [ NOAB] [ NJBC]
Verse 21: “the prophet”: In Deuteronomy 18:15, Moses says: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people” so the prophet like Moses was expected as a forerunner of the Messiah. See also 6:14 and 7:40. [ NOAB]
Verse 23: “the voice”: As a “voice” John fulfills a prophetic role announcing the Messiah’s coming. [ NOAB] The form of the quotation here is different from the one in the Synoptic gospels and from the Septuagint translation. [ NJBC]
Saturday, December 6, 2014
8 Richard Baxter, Pastor and Writer, 1691
10 Karl Barth, Pastor and Theologian, 1968. Thomas Merton, Contemplative and Writer, 1968
13 Lucy (Lucia), Martyr at Syracuse, 304 was a young Christian martyr who died during the Diocletianic Persecution
14 Juan de la Cruz (John of the Cross), Mystic, 1591 was a major figure of the Counter-Reformation, a Spanish mystic, a Roman Catholic saint, a Carmelite friar and a priest who was born at Fontiveros, Old Castile.
OLD TESTAMENT: Isaiah 40: 1 - 11 (RCL)
Isaiah 40: 1 - 5, 9 - 11 (Roman Catholic)
Isai 40:1 (NRSV) Comfort, O comfort my people,
says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the LORD's hand
double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries out:
"In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5 Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
6 A voice says, "Cry out!"
And I said, "What shall I cry?"
All people are grass,
their constancy is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades,
when the breath of the LORD blows upon it;
surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades;
but the word of our God will stand forever.
9 Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good tidings;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,
lift it up, do not fear;
say to the cities of Judah,
"Here is your God!"
10 See, the Lord GOD comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms,
and carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead the mother sheep.
PSALM 85: 1 - 2, 8 - 13 (RCL)
Psalm 85: 8 - 13 (Roman Catholic)
Psal 85:1 (NRSV) LORD, you were favorable to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people;
you pardoned all their sin.
8 Let me hear what God the LORD will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people,
to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
9 Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land.
10 Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
11 Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.
12 The LORD will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness will go before him,
and will make a path for his steps.
Note: verse numbering is one higher in Roman Catholic bibles
85 Benedixisti, Domine (ECUSA BCP)
1 You have been gracious to your land, O Lord, *
you have restored the good fortune of Jacob.
2 You have forgiven the iniquity of your people *
and blotted out all their sins.
8 I will listen to what the Lord God is saying, *
for he is speaking peace to his faithful people
and to those who turn their hearts to him.
9 Truly, his salvation is very near to those who fear him, *
that his glory may dwell in our land.
10 Mercy and truth have met together; *
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
11 Truth shall spring up from the earth, *
and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
12 The Lord will indeed grant prosperity, *
and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness shall go before him, *
and peace shall be a pathway for his feet.
NEW TESTAMENT: 2 Peter 3: 8 - 15a (RCL)
2 Peter 3: 8 - 14 (Roman Catholic)
2Pet 3:8 (NRSV) But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.
11 Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? 13 But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.
14 Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; 15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.
h/t Montreal Anglican
Aware that he will soon die, the author leaves his fellow Christians with a testimony of what being Christian demands: how to live up to The Way, so that they may be among the godly when Christ comes again. It was tempting to deny that Christ would come again because early Christians expected the world to end within their lifetimes.
The delay, he argues in v. 8, is only in human terms, for God does not measure time as we do. God wishes all people to be found worthy at the Last Day; he does not want any to “perish” (v. 9) for ungodliness; so he is waiting patiently for all to repent of their waywardness. The End will come “like a thief” (v. 10), i.e. suddenly, unexpectedly. The images of the end-times in v. 10b are drawn from popular Jewish and Greek (Stoic) philosophy of the day. (Annihilation of all things by fire was a Stoic belief.) A “loud noise” heralds the Day; the conduct of all people will be made known then. So, he asks rhetorically in vv. 11-12, given that the End will come, what should our conduct be as we wait for the End and hasten it (through bringing people to Christ)? But, says v. 13, for us Christians annihilation is not the End, for (per Isaiah 66:22), we look forward to “new heavens and a new earth”, inhabited by the godly. In v. 14, he answers: we should work at being “at peace”, at being ethically and spiritually perfect, prepared for Christ’s (“him”) coming at the End. We should see the apparent delay in his coming as an opportunity for repentance, for attainment of salvation.
For the author’s purpose in writing this letter, see 1:13-16. Here too he seeks to focus his readers on correct interpretation (“sincere intention”, Greek: eilikrene dianoia, v. 1) of the eschatological tradition. It is in accord with the Old Testament prophets and what Jesus said. [ NJBC]
Verse 1: “the second letter”: This author knows that 1 Peter has been circulated in the church. [ CAB]
Verse 2: “holy prophets”: As in 1:19, Old Testament prophets are probably meant. Amos 9:10 warns that those who think that their evil ways will not overtake them will “die by the sword”. See also the warning in Malachi 2:17 and Zephaniah 1:12. [ CAB]
Verse 2: “the commandment ... spoken through your apostles”: Jude 17 says “But you, beloved, must remember the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ”. [ CAB]
Verse 2: “your apostles”: “Your” suggests that Peter did not write this letter, for he puts space between himself and the apostles who witnessed the earthly ministry of Jesus. [ NJBC]
Verses 3-4: It appears that the “scoffers” claimed that the universe is immutable, so it would never end.
Verse 3: “scoffers”: These are the “false prophets” mentioned in 2:1; they scoff at the group’s traditions ( 1:16). This word is also used in Jude 18. It was commonly accepted that the Day of Judgement will be preceded by the appearance of false prophets. See also Matthew 7:15; 24:11, 24; Mark 13:22; Acts 20:29-30; 1 Timothy 4:1-3; 2 Timothy 3:1-9; 4:3-4; John 2:8; 4:1-3. [ CAB]
Verse 4: “Where is the promise of his coming?”: The author has been defending the promise of the second coming: see 1:4 and 3:9. This is a typical query calling into question the power and intention of either a pagan god (see Deuteronomy 32:37 and 2 Kings 18:34) or of Israel’s God (see Judges 6:13; Psalm 42:4, 11). [ NJBC]
Verse 4: “our ancestors”: Perhaps a reference to the first generation of Christians. [ CAB]
Verses 5-7: They fail to see that the world began, that it was brought into existence by God’s “word”. See Genesis 1:6-10 (the first creation story). In fact, the world has been destroyed once already – in the Flood. See 2:5 and Genesis 7:11 (the Flood). So it will be destroyed again, the second time by “fire”, which will destroy the “godless” on the Day of Judgement. God’s ability to destroy by fire has already been proved by his action against Sodom and Gomorrah: see Genesis 19:24. [ NJBC]
Verse 5: “They deliberately ignore this fact ...”: The “scoffers” are guilty of culpable ignorance, unlike the author, who remembers ( 1:13) and reminds (v. 1). [ NJBC]
Contemporary Jewish speculative religious thinking was that the flood was a type for the coming destruction of the world by fire. [ CAB]
Verse 7: As God by a word created heaven and earth, so by a word he will exercise executive power on the scoffers. [ NJBC]
Verse 7: “reserved”: While Deuteronomy 28:12 speaks of God’s stores of rain and fertility, Philo speaks of God’s treasury of judgement. [ NJBC]
Verse 8: “one day is like a thousand years”: God’s measure of time is indicated in Psalm 90:4: “For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night”. [ NOAB] In Genesis 2:17, Adam is told by God “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die” but Adam lives for nearly a thousand years see Genesis 5:5. His long life was explained by the rabbis as God’s gift of time to repent: see Midrash Rabba Genesis 22:1. See also Jubilees 4:29-30. [ NJBC]
Verse 9: In Joel 2:12-13, Yahweh says through the prophet: “Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing”. In Romans 2:4, Paul asks: “... do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”. See also Ezra 3:30; 7:14, 33; 9:21. [ CAB]
Verse 10: “the day of the Lord”: In the Old Testament, the day when God will vindicate his cause and execute judgement: see Amos 5:18-20; Joel 2:28-32; Malachi 4:5; Zephaniah 1:7. [ CAB] In the New Testament, see also Acts 2:20 (Peter quotes Joel on the Day of Pentecost); 1 Corinthians 5:5; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; Revelation 3:3. [ NJBC]
Verse 10: “like a thief”: See also Matthew 24:43 (the necessity for watchfulness) and Luke 12:39. [ NOAB]
Verse 10: “heavens ... earth”: When Christ comes again, all creation – “heavens”, intermediate “elements”, and “earth” – will pass away with a “loud noise”, possibly the trumpet and cry of 1 Thessalonians 4:16 or the roar of the consuming fire. [ NJBC]
Verse 10: “elements”: In Greek philosophy, the elements were water, air, earth and fire.
Verse 10: “disclosed”: or found, in a forensic sense. [ NJBC]
Verse 11: Paul writes of the need for moral behaviour consistent with belief in God’s final judgement:
in 1 Thessalonians 3:13: “... may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints”, and
in Philippians 2:15-16: “... It is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labour in vain”.
Verse 12: In apocalyptic writings, “fire” plays a prominent role in the destruction of the world. [ NOAB]
Verse 12: “day of God”: This phrase emphasises a different point from that in v. 10 about “the day of the Lord” (Jesus): God has power to be active in creation and to judge. The description here resembles the biblical descriptions of God’s day (see Isaiah 34:4; Mark 13:24-25; Revelation 16:8-9), where the heavens are predicted to fail and fire to come upon the world. [ NJBC]
Verses 13-14: These verses quote freely from Isaiah 66:22. In Isaiah and Revelation 22, the thought is not (as here) the destruction but the renewal and transformation of the universe. [ NOAB] See also Isaiah 65:17; Revelation 21:1. [ NJBC]
Verses 15b-16: The author knows several of Paul’s letters; he considers them to be “scriptures”. Paul also wrote of the need to live ethically and spiritually perfect lives. [ NOAB] The tradition about the second coming of Christ rests on the word of two inspired witnesses, Peter and Paul. [ NJBC]
GOSPEL: Mark 1: 1 - 8 (all)
Mark 1:1 (NRSV) The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2 As it is written in the prophet Isai'ah,
"See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way;
3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
"Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,'"
4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
Mark begins his telling of the “good news” with quotations from the Old Testament. God had promised the Israelites a “messenger” (v. 2) to lead them. The prophet Malachi understood this promise as pointing to the end-times, to one who would prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. To him, the “messenger” would be Elijah. While v. 3 originally spoke of return from exile, by Jesus’ time it was seen as an expression of God’s comfort and salvation. To us, John the Baptist comes to prepare for, and announce, Jesus’ coming. Tradition says that John baptised near Jericho, in an arid region. People came to him in large numbers, repenting (changing their mind sets), “confessing their sins” (v. 5), resolving to sin no more, and dipping themselves in the River. John dressed like a hermit or prophet (v. 6). (In Palestine, some species of locusts were eaten.) John is so unworthy, compared to “the one who ... is coming” (v. 7), that he cannot untie his “sandals”, a task normally performed by a slave. His baptism is a sign of purification, of turning to God, of accepting God’s forgiveness and judgement; Jesus’ baptism re-establishes a spiritual link between God and humans.
The parallels are Matthew 3:1-12 and Luke 3:1-20. See also John 1:6, 15, 19-28. [ NOAB]
Verse 1: “beginning”: John the Baptist marks the transition from the epoch of the old covenant to that of the new, which Jesus brings. [ CAB]
Verse 1: “good news”: This term, or gospel, functions as the title of this book, and later (probably about 150 AD, in the writings of Justin Martyr) became the name for this genre. The term is common in Paul’s letters where it means the message itself. [ CAB] [ BlkMk] [ NJBC]
Verse 1: “Son of God”: See also v. 11 and 3:11; 5:7; 14:61; 15:39. [ CAB] In the Old Testament this term is used to describe angels or divine beings (see Genesis 6:2 and Job 37:7), the Israelite nation (see Hosea 11:1) and an anointed king (see Psalm 2:7). There it usually has moral force: God loves Israel, so Israel should in turn love and obey her Father: see Deuteronomy 32:6. Two of the late apocalyptic books seem to use it of the Messiah (see 1 Enoch 105:2; 2 Esdras 7:28-29; 13:32, 27, 52), as does Mark in 14:61. The Greco-Roman world knew of gods and heroes, usually saviours and healers, who were called sons of god. So it is understandable that the centurion at the foot of the cross remarks: “Truly this man was God's Son” (in 15:39). [ BlkMk]
Verse 2: “the prophet Isaiah”: A reading found in some manuscripts is the prophets. This is easily explained: the quotation is actually not from Isaiah. Mark may have used a collection of Old Testament quotations and so attributed it to Isaiah. The quotation is a combination of Exodus 23:20 (in the Septuagint translation) and Malachi 3:1 (the Masoretic Text). Malachi used phrases from Exodus 23:20; there (per the Septuagint) God promises to send his messenger before Israel and guide it to the Promised Land. See also Matthew 11:10 and Luke 7:27. [ NOAB] [ NJBC] BlkMk considers that it is likely that this quotation was added by a later editor. It is not found in the parallel passages.
An alternative view, presented by BlkMk, is that the quotation is Malachi 3:1 with my changed to your. In Greek, this change is only one letter: from mou to sou. In antiquity, unlike today, making such changes was fully acceptable. In Isaiah, “the Lord” is Yahweh; here it is Jesus.
Verse 3: The quotation is Isaiah 40:3 in the Septuagint translation except that near the end he replaces our God’s with his. [ NOAB] [ CAB] [ NJBC]
Verse 4: See also Acts 13:24 (Paul speaks in the synagogue at Antioch in Persidia). [ NOAB]
Verse 4: “John the baptizer”: He is later called John the Baptist. He was imprisoned (v. 14) and executed ( 6:17-29) by Herod Antipas. For the story of his birth, see Luke 3:10-18; for his preaching, see Luke 3:10-18. John is in Israel’s prophetic tradition. [ CAB]
Verse 5: “people from ...”: The historian Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews, also describes John as a preacher of repentance who used baptism and attracted large crowds. [ NJBC]
Verse 5: “baptized”: Baptism was a Jewish practice, but only for non-Jews who adopted Judaism.
Verse 6: John’s clothing recalls that of Elijah: “‘A hairy man, with a leather belt around his waist’” (see 2 Kings 1:8). In Matthew 11:14, Elijah is identified with John. [ CAB] Whether John was making the point that he stood in the line of Israel’s prophets or was presenting himself as the new Elijah (or both) is unclear. In Malachi 3:1, Yahweh says through the prophet: “See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight – indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts”, and in Malachi 4:5 “Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes”. [ NJBC]
Verse 7: “The one who is more powerful than I”: John may well have been speaking of God’s arrival in power at the end of time but in this book it undoubtedly refers to Jesus. [ NJBC]
Verse 8: See also Acts 2:17-21 (Peter speaks to the crowd on the Day of Pentecost) and Joel 2:28-29 (“Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions”). [ NOAB] The Greek means Holy Spirit not “the Holy Spirit”. Mark elsewhere always uses the definite article. Matthew and Luke append with fire .
10 Karl Barth, Pastor and Theologian, 1968. Thomas Merton, Contemplative and Writer, 1968
13 Lucy (Lucia), Martyr at Syracuse, 304 was a young Christian martyr who died during the Diocletianic Persecution
14 Juan de la Cruz (John of the Cross), Mystic, 1591 was a major figure of the Counter-Reformation, a Spanish mystic, a Roman Catholic saint, a Carmelite friar and a priest who was born at Fontiveros, Old Castile.
OLD TESTAMENT: Isaiah 40: 1 - 11 (RCL)
Isaiah 40: 1 - 5, 9 - 11 (Roman Catholic)
Isai 40:1 (NRSV) Comfort, O comfort my people,
says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the LORD's hand
double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries out:
"In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5 Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
6 A voice says, "Cry out!"
And I said, "What shall I cry?"
All people are grass,
their constancy is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades,
when the breath of the LORD blows upon it;
surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades;
but the word of our God will stand forever.
9 Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good tidings;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,
lift it up, do not fear;
say to the cities of Judah,
"Here is your God!"
10 See, the Lord GOD comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms,
and carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead the mother sheep.
PSALM 85: 1 - 2, 8 - 13 (RCL)
Psalm 85: 8 - 13 (Roman Catholic)
Psal 85:1 (NRSV) LORD, you were favorable to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people;
you pardoned all their sin.
8 Let me hear what God the LORD will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people,
to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
9 Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land.
10 Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
11 Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.
12 The LORD will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness will go before him,
and will make a path for his steps.
Note: verse numbering is one higher in Roman Catholic bibles
85 Benedixisti, Domine (ECUSA BCP)
1 You have been gracious to your land, O Lord, *
you have restored the good fortune of Jacob.
2 You have forgiven the iniquity of your people *
and blotted out all their sins.
8 I will listen to what the Lord God is saying, *
for he is speaking peace to his faithful people
and to those who turn their hearts to him.
9 Truly, his salvation is very near to those who fear him, *
that his glory may dwell in our land.
10 Mercy and truth have met together; *
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
11 Truth shall spring up from the earth, *
and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
12 The Lord will indeed grant prosperity, *
and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness shall go before him, *
and peace shall be a pathway for his feet.
NEW TESTAMENT: 2 Peter 3: 8 - 15a (RCL)
2 Peter 3: 8 - 14 (Roman Catholic)
2Pet 3:8 (NRSV) But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.
11 Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? 13 But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.
14 Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; 15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.
h/t Montreal Anglican
Aware that he will soon die, the author leaves his fellow Christians with a testimony of what being Christian demands: how to live up to The Way, so that they may be among the godly when Christ comes again. It was tempting to deny that Christ would come again because early Christians expected the world to end within their lifetimes.
The delay, he argues in v. 8, is only in human terms, for God does not measure time as we do. God wishes all people to be found worthy at the Last Day; he does not want any to “perish” (v. 9) for ungodliness; so he is waiting patiently for all to repent of their waywardness. The End will come “like a thief” (v. 10), i.e. suddenly, unexpectedly. The images of the end-times in v. 10b are drawn from popular Jewish and Greek (Stoic) philosophy of the day. (Annihilation of all things by fire was a Stoic belief.) A “loud noise” heralds the Day; the conduct of all people will be made known then. So, he asks rhetorically in vv. 11-12, given that the End will come, what should our conduct be as we wait for the End and hasten it (through bringing people to Christ)? But, says v. 13, for us Christians annihilation is not the End, for (per Isaiah 66:22), we look forward to “new heavens and a new earth”, inhabited by the godly. In v. 14, he answers: we should work at being “at peace”, at being ethically and spiritually perfect, prepared for Christ’s (“him”) coming at the End. We should see the apparent delay in his coming as an opportunity for repentance, for attainment of salvation.
For the author’s purpose in writing this letter, see 1:13-16. Here too he seeks to focus his readers on correct interpretation (“sincere intention”, Greek: eilikrene dianoia, v. 1) of the eschatological tradition. It is in accord with the Old Testament prophets and what Jesus said. [ NJBC]
Verse 1: “the second letter”: This author knows that 1 Peter has been circulated in the church. [ CAB]
Verse 2: “holy prophets”: As in 1:19, Old Testament prophets are probably meant. Amos 9:10 warns that those who think that their evil ways will not overtake them will “die by the sword”. See also the warning in Malachi 2:17 and Zephaniah 1:12. [ CAB]
Verse 2: “the commandment ... spoken through your apostles”: Jude 17 says “But you, beloved, must remember the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ”. [ CAB]
Verse 2: “your apostles”: “Your” suggests that Peter did not write this letter, for he puts space between himself and the apostles who witnessed the earthly ministry of Jesus. [ NJBC]
Verses 3-4: It appears that the “scoffers” claimed that the universe is immutable, so it would never end.
Verse 3: “scoffers”: These are the “false prophets” mentioned in 2:1; they scoff at the group’s traditions ( 1:16). This word is also used in Jude 18. It was commonly accepted that the Day of Judgement will be preceded by the appearance of false prophets. See also Matthew 7:15; 24:11, 24; Mark 13:22; Acts 20:29-30; 1 Timothy 4:1-3; 2 Timothy 3:1-9; 4:3-4; John 2:8; 4:1-3. [ CAB]
Verse 4: “Where is the promise of his coming?”: The author has been defending the promise of the second coming: see 1:4 and 3:9. This is a typical query calling into question the power and intention of either a pagan god (see Deuteronomy 32:37 and 2 Kings 18:34) or of Israel’s God (see Judges 6:13; Psalm 42:4, 11). [ NJBC]
Verse 4: “our ancestors”: Perhaps a reference to the first generation of Christians. [ CAB]
Verses 5-7: They fail to see that the world began, that it was brought into existence by God’s “word”. See Genesis 1:6-10 (the first creation story). In fact, the world has been destroyed once already – in the Flood. See 2:5 and Genesis 7:11 (the Flood). So it will be destroyed again, the second time by “fire”, which will destroy the “godless” on the Day of Judgement. God’s ability to destroy by fire has already been proved by his action against Sodom and Gomorrah: see Genesis 19:24. [ NJBC]
Verse 5: “They deliberately ignore this fact ...”: The “scoffers” are guilty of culpable ignorance, unlike the author, who remembers ( 1:13) and reminds (v. 1). [ NJBC]
Contemporary Jewish speculative religious thinking was that the flood was a type for the coming destruction of the world by fire. [ CAB]
Verse 7: As God by a word created heaven and earth, so by a word he will exercise executive power on the scoffers. [ NJBC]
Verse 7: “reserved”: While Deuteronomy 28:12 speaks of God’s stores of rain and fertility, Philo speaks of God’s treasury of judgement. [ NJBC]
Verse 8: “one day is like a thousand years”: God’s measure of time is indicated in Psalm 90:4: “For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night”. [ NOAB] In Genesis 2:17, Adam is told by God “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die” but Adam lives for nearly a thousand years see Genesis 5:5. His long life was explained by the rabbis as God’s gift of time to repent: see Midrash Rabba Genesis 22:1. See also Jubilees 4:29-30. [ NJBC]
Verse 9: In Joel 2:12-13, Yahweh says through the prophet: “Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing”. In Romans 2:4, Paul asks: “... do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”. See also Ezra 3:30; 7:14, 33; 9:21. [ CAB]
Verse 10: “the day of the Lord”: In the Old Testament, the day when God will vindicate his cause and execute judgement: see Amos 5:18-20; Joel 2:28-32; Malachi 4:5; Zephaniah 1:7. [ CAB] In the New Testament, see also Acts 2:20 (Peter quotes Joel on the Day of Pentecost); 1 Corinthians 5:5; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; Revelation 3:3. [ NJBC]
Verse 10: “like a thief”: See also Matthew 24:43 (the necessity for watchfulness) and Luke 12:39. [ NOAB]
Verse 10: “heavens ... earth”: When Christ comes again, all creation – “heavens”, intermediate “elements”, and “earth” – will pass away with a “loud noise”, possibly the trumpet and cry of 1 Thessalonians 4:16 or the roar of the consuming fire. [ NJBC]
Verse 10: “elements”: In Greek philosophy, the elements were water, air, earth and fire.
Verse 10: “disclosed”: or found, in a forensic sense. [ NJBC]
Verse 11: Paul writes of the need for moral behaviour consistent with belief in God’s final judgement:
in 1 Thessalonians 3:13: “... may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints”, and
in Philippians 2:15-16: “... It is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labour in vain”.
Verse 12: In apocalyptic writings, “fire” plays a prominent role in the destruction of the world. [ NOAB]
Verse 12: “day of God”: This phrase emphasises a different point from that in v. 10 about “the day of the Lord” (Jesus): God has power to be active in creation and to judge. The description here resembles the biblical descriptions of God’s day (see Isaiah 34:4; Mark 13:24-25; Revelation 16:8-9), where the heavens are predicted to fail and fire to come upon the world. [ NJBC]
Verses 13-14: These verses quote freely from Isaiah 66:22. In Isaiah and Revelation 22, the thought is not (as here) the destruction but the renewal and transformation of the universe. [ NOAB] See also Isaiah 65:17; Revelation 21:1. [ NJBC]
Verses 15b-16: The author knows several of Paul’s letters; he considers them to be “scriptures”. Paul also wrote of the need to live ethically and spiritually perfect lives. [ NOAB] The tradition about the second coming of Christ rests on the word of two inspired witnesses, Peter and Paul. [ NJBC]
GOSPEL: Mark 1: 1 - 8 (all)
Mark 1:1 (NRSV) The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2 As it is written in the prophet Isai'ah,
"See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way;
3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
"Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,'"
4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
Mark begins his telling of the “good news” with quotations from the Old Testament. God had promised the Israelites a “messenger” (v. 2) to lead them. The prophet Malachi understood this promise as pointing to the end-times, to one who would prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. To him, the “messenger” would be Elijah. While v. 3 originally spoke of return from exile, by Jesus’ time it was seen as an expression of God’s comfort and salvation. To us, John the Baptist comes to prepare for, and announce, Jesus’ coming. Tradition says that John baptised near Jericho, in an arid region. People came to him in large numbers, repenting (changing their mind sets), “confessing their sins” (v. 5), resolving to sin no more, and dipping themselves in the River. John dressed like a hermit or prophet (v. 6). (In Palestine, some species of locusts were eaten.) John is so unworthy, compared to “the one who ... is coming” (v. 7), that he cannot untie his “sandals”, a task normally performed by a slave. His baptism is a sign of purification, of turning to God, of accepting God’s forgiveness and judgement; Jesus’ baptism re-establishes a spiritual link between God and humans.
The parallels are Matthew 3:1-12 and Luke 3:1-20. See also John 1:6, 15, 19-28. [ NOAB]
Verse 1: “beginning”: John the Baptist marks the transition from the epoch of the old covenant to that of the new, which Jesus brings. [ CAB]
Verse 1: “good news”: This term, or gospel, functions as the title of this book, and later (probably about 150 AD, in the writings of Justin Martyr) became the name for this genre. The term is common in Paul’s letters where it means the message itself. [ CAB] [ BlkMk] [ NJBC]
Verse 1: “Son of God”: See also v. 11 and 3:11; 5:7; 14:61; 15:39. [ CAB] In the Old Testament this term is used to describe angels or divine beings (see Genesis 6:2 and Job 37:7), the Israelite nation (see Hosea 11:1) and an anointed king (see Psalm 2:7). There it usually has moral force: God loves Israel, so Israel should in turn love and obey her Father: see Deuteronomy 32:6. Two of the late apocalyptic books seem to use it of the Messiah (see 1 Enoch 105:2; 2 Esdras 7:28-29; 13:32, 27, 52), as does Mark in 14:61. The Greco-Roman world knew of gods and heroes, usually saviours and healers, who were called sons of god. So it is understandable that the centurion at the foot of the cross remarks: “Truly this man was God's Son” (in 15:39). [ BlkMk]
Verse 2: “the prophet Isaiah”: A reading found in some manuscripts is the prophets. This is easily explained: the quotation is actually not from Isaiah. Mark may have used a collection of Old Testament quotations and so attributed it to Isaiah. The quotation is a combination of Exodus 23:20 (in the Septuagint translation) and Malachi 3:1 (the Masoretic Text). Malachi used phrases from Exodus 23:20; there (per the Septuagint) God promises to send his messenger before Israel and guide it to the Promised Land. See also Matthew 11:10 and Luke 7:27. [ NOAB] [ NJBC] BlkMk considers that it is likely that this quotation was added by a later editor. It is not found in the parallel passages.
An alternative view, presented by BlkMk, is that the quotation is Malachi 3:1 with my changed to your. In Greek, this change is only one letter: from mou to sou. In antiquity, unlike today, making such changes was fully acceptable. In Isaiah, “the Lord” is Yahweh; here it is Jesus.
Verse 3: The quotation is Isaiah 40:3 in the Septuagint translation except that near the end he replaces our God’s with his. [ NOAB] [ CAB] [ NJBC]
Verse 4: See also Acts 13:24 (Paul speaks in the synagogue at Antioch in Persidia). [ NOAB]
Verse 4: “John the baptizer”: He is later called John the Baptist. He was imprisoned (v. 14) and executed ( 6:17-29) by Herod Antipas. For the story of his birth, see Luke 3:10-18; for his preaching, see Luke 3:10-18. John is in Israel’s prophetic tradition. [ CAB]
Verse 5: “people from ...”: The historian Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews, also describes John as a preacher of repentance who used baptism and attracted large crowds. [ NJBC]
Verse 5: “baptized”: Baptism was a Jewish practice, but only for non-Jews who adopted Judaism.
Verse 6: John’s clothing recalls that of Elijah: “‘A hairy man, with a leather belt around his waist’” (see 2 Kings 1:8). In Matthew 11:14, Elijah is identified with John. [ CAB] Whether John was making the point that he stood in the line of Israel’s prophets or was presenting himself as the new Elijah (or both) is unclear. In Malachi 3:1, Yahweh says through the prophet: “See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight – indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts”, and in Malachi 4:5 “Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes”. [ NJBC]
Verse 7: “The one who is more powerful than I”: John may well have been speaking of God’s arrival in power at the end of time but in this book it undoubtedly refers to Jesus. [ NJBC]
Verse 8: See also Acts 2:17-21 (Peter speaks to the crowd on the Day of Pentecost) and Joel 2:28-29 (“Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions”). [ NOAB] The Greek means Holy Spirit not “the Holy Spirit”. Mark elsewhere always uses the definite article. Matthew and Luke append with fire .
Saturday, November 29, 2014
30 Saint Andrew the Apostle
December
1 Nicholas Ferrar, Deacon, 1637
2 Channing Moore Williams, Missionary Bishop in China and Japan, 1910
3 Francis Xavier, Missionary to the Far East, 1552
4 John of Damascus, Priest, c. 760 was a Syrian monk and priest. Born and raised in Damascus, he died at his monastery, Mar Saba, near Jerusalem.[1]
5 Clement of Alexandria, Priest, c. 210 known as Clement of Alexandria to distinguish him from the earlier Clement of Rome, was a Christian theologian who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria.
6 Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c. 342.
OLD TESTAMENT: Isaiah 64: 1 - 9 (RCL)
Isaiah 63: 16b - 17, 64: 1, 3 - 8 (Roman Catholic)
Isai 63:16 (NRSV)
[Y]ou, O LORD, are our father;
our Redeemer from of old is your name.
17 Why, O LORD, do you make us stray from your ways
and harden our heart, so that we do not fear you?
Turn back for the sake of your servants,
for the sake of the tribes that are your heritage.
64:1 O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
so that the mountains would quake at your presence-
2 as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil-
to make your name known to your adversaries,
so that the nations might tremble at your presence!
3 When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
4 From ages past no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who works for those who wait for him.
5 You meet those who gladly do right,
those who remember you in your ways.
But you were angry, and we sinned;
because you hid yourself we transgressed.
6 We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7 There is no one who calls on your name,
or attempts to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.
8 Yet, O LORD, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
9 Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD,
and do not remember iniquity forever.
Now consider, we are all your people.
Note: Verse numbering in Roman Catholic Bibles is different from the above
PSALM 80: 1 - 7, 17 - 19 (RCL)
80: 1 - 2, 14 - 15, 17 - 18 (Roman Catholic)
Psal 80:1 (NRSV) Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph like a flock!
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
2 before E'phraim and Benjamin and Manas'seh.
Stir up your might,
and come to save us!
3 Restore us, O God;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.
4 O LORD God of hosts,
how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears,
and given them tears to drink in full measure.
6 You make us the scorn of our neighbors;
our enemies laugh among themselves.
7 Restore us, O God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.
8 You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
9 You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches;
11 it sent out its branches to the sea,
and its shoots to the River.
12 Why then have you broken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
13 The boar from the forest ravages it,
and all that move in the field feed on it.
14 Turn again, O God of hosts;
look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
15 the stock that your right hand planted.
16 They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down;
may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.
17 But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
the one whom you made strong for yourself.
18 Then we will never turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call on your name.
19 Restore us, O LORD God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.
Note: Verse numbering in Roman Catholic Bibles differs slightly from the above.
Verse numbering in your Psalter may also differ from the above.
80 Qui regis Israel (ECUSA BCP)
1 Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock; *
shine forth, you that are enthroned upon the cherubim.
2 In the presence of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, *
stir up your strength and come to help us.
3 Restore us, O God of hosts; *
show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.
4 O Lord God of hosts, *
how long will you be angered
despite the prayers of your people?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears; *
you have given them bowls of tears to drink.
6 You have made us the derision of our neighbors, *
and our enemies laugh us to scorn.
7 Restore us, O God of hosts; *
show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.
16 Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand, *
and son of man you have made so strong for yourself.
17 And so will we never turn away from you; *
give us life, that we may call upon your Name.
18 Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; *
show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.
NEW TESTAMENT: 1 Corinthians 1: 3 - 9 (RCL, Roman Catholic)
1Cor 1:3 (NRSV) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, 5 for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind-- 6 just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you-- 7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
h/t Montreal Anglican
Paul greets his readers: he wishes them “grace” (God’s freely given gift of love) and “peace” (the total state of well-being to which we are admitted through Christ): both come from the Father (as source) and the Son (as means or agent). In later chapters, Paul cautions his readers against misuse of spiritual gifts (v. 7), so in v. 5 he may be damning them with faint praise. He praises their eloquence (“speech”) and understanding (“knowledge”) but not (as in other letters) their faith, hope and love for each other and for Christ. In v. 6, “testimony” is bearing witness: God has strengthened them through their telling of the good news. They are indeed richly blessed (v. 7), but (as mentioned later), they tend to dwell on the excitement of the present rather than looking forward to “the revealing of ... Christ”, his second coming. God will help them prepare for that day, so that they may be among those judged worthy of eternal life (“blameless”, v. 8). God is “faithful” (v. 9): he will not abandon what he has begun. He has called them into “fellowship”, union with other believers which is union with Christ.
Verse 1: “Sosthenes”: He may be the “official of the synagogue” who was beaten: see Acts 18:17. [ NOAB] The absence of Timothy’s name probably indicates that he is already on the way to Corinth. He is mentioned in 2 Corinthians 1:1 (a letter probably written, in part, before this one).
Verse 1: “an apostle”: For Paul’s call, see Galatians 1:15-16; 2 Corinthians 4:5-6; Acts 9:1-9; 22:6-11. Paul sees apostleship as being wider than the Twelve: see 15:5, 7.
Verse 2: “saints”: Those set apart for God’s work. [ CAB]
Verse 2: “together with all those ...”: Probably a reminder that Paul’s readers are not the only Christians. In 11:16, Paul writes: “But if anyone is disposed to be contentious – we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God” and in 2 Corinthians 1:1 “To the church of God that is in Corinth, including all the saints throughout Achaia”. [ NJBC]
Verse 5: Gifts mentioned in other letters are missing from this introductory section:
Faith, hope and caritas (fraternal love) 1 Thessalonians 1:3
Faith Romans 1:8
Partnership in the gospel Philippians 1:5 [ NJBC]
Verse 7: “spiritual gift”: For rules for using them, see chapters 12-14.
Comments: (as mentioned later): Dwelling on the excitement of the present rather than looking forward to “the revealing of ... Christ”, his second coming, is the essence of the argument Paul will make in chapters 12-14. There Paul is saying first that:
there is excessive pride in the exercise of each one's spiritual gifts, to the point of arrogantly insisting that one's own gifts are normative for the whole community, and
they are getting carried away in worship time with their prophecies and speaking in tongues.
The gifts with which they are blessed must be put into perspective. True perspective comes from love (chapter 13), maturity and humility. [Alan T Perry]
Verse 7: “as you wait”: A reminder that the fullness of God’s revelation is in the future, probably necessary because of the Corinthian Christians excitement over what they already experience. [ NJBC]
Verse 8: “He will also strengthen you”: In 10:13 Paul writes: “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength ...”.
Verse 8: “the day of our Lord Jesus Christ”: A Christian adaptation of the Day of Yahweh: see Amos 5:18 and Joel 3:14; Acts 2:20. See also 1 Corinthians 3:13; 4:3. [ NJBC]
Verse 9: “God is faithful”: See also 10:13 and 1 Thessalonians 5:24. [ NJBC]
Verse 9: “you were called”: In the Greek, hoi kletoi , the called ones. See also 2:2, 24; Romans 1:6, 7; 8:28. Implicit in the call to salvation ( 7:15, 22; Galatians 1:6; 5:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:7) is the call to glory (Romans 8:28-30; Philippians 3:14; 1 Thessalonians 2:12), whose author is always God (Galatians 5:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:24). [ NJBC]
Verse 9: “called into the fellowship”: The Greek word is koinonia. To Paul, it is the vital union of believers among themselves, which is their union with Christ. Their shared existence as members of his body (see 12:12-27) is highlighted in the Eucharist (see 10:16-17). [ NJBC]
GOSPEL Mark 13: 24 - 37 (RCL)
Mark 13: 33 - 37 (Roman Catholic)
Mark 13:24 (NRSV) "But in those days, after that suffering,
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
25 and the stars will be falling from heaven,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
26 Then they will see "the Son of Man coming in clouds' with great power and glory. 27 Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
28 "From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 30 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
32 "But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. 35 Therefore, keep awake--for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, 36 or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake."
In v. 2, Jesus has prophesied the destruction of the Temple to the disciples. Then Peter, James, John and Andrew (the first four he called) have asked him: “when will this be ... ?” (v. 4). How will we know when “these things” are about to happen? He has told them of persecution, of strange natural phenomena, of societal breakdown, of the fate of the disciples. The portents will be wars, earthquakes and famines (vv. 7-8). The end will come suddenly; people will suffer greatly. It is only because God, in his mercy, has “cut short those days” (v. 20) that the elect, the godly, will be saved. Even they will be tempted by other messiahs.
Now we come to our reading. “In those days” (v. 24) there will be darkness: a sign of the coming of divine judgement (as in Isaiah 13:10). The elect will see “the Son of Man”, a superhuman person with heavenly power and glory, coming to inherit his kingdom (v. 26, as prophesied Daniel 7:13). He will bring the godly together (as in Isaiah 11:11) from all over the world. (Winds were thought to originate at the four corners of the earth.) By implication, the “Son of Man” (v. 26) is the true Messiah, Christ come the second time. Jesus admonishes his followers to “keep alert” (v. 33) for this coming. The leafing of the “fig tree” (v. 28) is a sure harbinger of summer; similarly, when they see “these things”, the End is near, very near (v. 29), but when is the Father’s prerogative. The images are those of apocalyptic (vision of the future) literature, popular in Jesus’ day.
The parallels to this chapter are Matthew 24:1-36 and Luke 21:5-36.
Verse 1: The construction of the third Temple, started by Herod the Great, was still underway in Jesus’ day. Most of the “large stones” were some 11 metres (34 feet) long by 6 metres (19 feet) wide by 4 metres (13 feet) thick. [ NOAB]
Verse 2: This Temple was destroyed in 70 AD. Jesus’ prediction of its destruction is also found in 14:57-58; 15:29 (on the Cross); Matthew 26:61 (Jesus before the High Priest); Luke 19:43-44 (Jesus weeps over Jerusalem); John 2:19 (Jesus cleanses the Temple); Acts 6:14 (the arrest of Stephen). [ NOAB] Jesus stands in the tradition of Old Testament prophets who had predicted this event: see Micah 3:12 (“... Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins ...”) and Jeremiah 26:18. However, in that other events mentioned in this passage seem to be meant symbolically, so may this event. [ NJBC]
Verse 3: “on the Mount of Olives”: Zechariah 14:4 prophesies a day when God will intervene in human affairs, standing on the Mount of Olives, so the scene for Jesus’ eschatological discourse is highly appropriate. See also 11:1. [ NJBC]
Verse 4: In Luke 17:20, Jesus says: “‘The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you’”. [ NOAB]
Verses 5-14: To NOAB, the audience was wider than the first four disciples, named in v. 13.
Verse 6: In John 8:24, Jesus tells some Jews “‘I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he’”. 1 John 2:18 warns: “As you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come”. [ NOAB]
Verse 6: “will come in my name”: More than Jewish messianic pretenders (e.g. Theudas and Judas the Galilean, in Acts 5:36-37) seem to be in view here, for they will come in Christ’s name. See also vv. 21-23. [ NJBC]
Verse 6: “I am he!”: This phrase must allude to the Old Testament revelation formula (see Exodus 3:14, God tells Moses “‘I AM WHO I AM’”; Deuteronomy 32:39, “See now that I, even I, am he; there is no god beside me”; Isaiah 41:4, “I, the Lord, am first, and will be with the last”) applied to Yahweh, thus contributing the implicit christological message of the text. [ NJBC]
Verse 8: “birthpangs”: At the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, he said that the new era “has come near” (see 1:15 and Matthew 4:17); however, per v. 10, it will arrive only after a time of witness to his message. [ NOAB] As pain precedes (and portends) birth of a child, so suffering will precede the arrival of the new era.
Verses 9-13: See also Matthew 10:17-22. [ NOAB]
Verse 9: “hand you over”: The persecution of the disciples points forward to Jesus’ sufferings. The verb, paradidomi, is the same one found in Jesus’ prediction of his Passion in 10:33. [ NJBC]
Verse 9: “councils”: The Greek word, synedria, refers to local Jewish courts empowered to punish Jewish offenders. [ NJBC]
Verse 10: V. 11 naturally flows from v. 9, so NJBC’s observation that the vocabulary is typically Marcan suggests that this verse is an insertion by the author. Further, if Jesus was so explicit about the mission to Gentiles, why was there a debate in the early Church over this mission? See Galatians 2 and Acts 15 (the Council of Jerusalem).
Verse 11: In John 14:26, Jesus says: “‘... the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you”. See also John 16:7-11 and Luke 12:11-12. [ NOAB]
Verse 12: “Brother will betray brother”: The idea of the end-times as a time of societal breakdown is common in contemporary Jewish apocalyptic writings: see, for example, 2 Esdras 5:9; 6:24; Jubilees 23:19; 2 Baruch 70:3. [ NJBC]
Verse 13: See also John 15:18-21 (“If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you ...”) [ NOAB]
Verse 13: “the one who endures to the end will be saved”: There is a message of patient endurance throughout the passage. [ NJBC]
Verses 14-23: By foretelling the events described in these verses, Jesus prepares his followers for what they will encounter. [ NJBC]
Verse 14: “the desolating sacrilege”: This would remind Jesus’ hearers of the desecration of the Temple: in 168 BC, Antiochus IV Epiphanes set up a statue of Olympian Zeus in the Temple; indeed, he tried to wipe out Judaism. Jesus’ inclusion of reference to a second such sacrilege leads me to think that the other signs of the end of the era should not be taken literally. Jesus is probably speaking symbolically of the elevation of the Roman emperor to being a god and the destruction of the Temple (and with it, the termination of the Judaic sacrificial system) or of general desertion of God’s ways. Note also that the Roman governor Caligula gave a similar order in 40 AD for a statue of himself as Jupiter to be placed in the Temple. [ CAB] See 1 Maccabees 1:54 (“they [the agents of Antiochus] erected a desolating sacrifice on the altar of burnt offering”); 1:59 (“... they offered sacrifice on the altar that was on top of the altar of burnt offering”); Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11.
When this happens, the faithful must flee to the countryside immediately.
Verse 14: “(let the reader understand)”: This comment may refer to the events leading up to the destruction of the Temple or of Caligula’s abortive plan. Perhaps the phrase is a code intended to avoid Roman hostility.
Verse 17: In Luke 23:29, Jesus says “For the days are surely coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed’”. [ NOAB]
Verse 18: The cold and rainy winters in Palestine would make rural tracks almost impassable. There would be no crops then from which the refugees might be fed. [ NJBC]
Verse 19: “suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the creation”: So Jesus speaks not of warfare, but of something much more serious. This alludes to Daniel 12:1: “There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence.” [ NJBC]
Verse 20: “if the Lord had not cut short those days”: Daniel 12:7 suggests that God has established a time schedule for the coming of the Kingdom. For the idea of shortening the time, see two contemporary apocalyptic books: 1 Enoch 80:2; 2 Baruch 20:1-2; 83:1, 6. [ NJBC]
Verse 22: In Matthew 7:15, Jesus warns: “‘Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves’”. See also John 4:48. [ NOAB]
Verse 23: “I have already told you everything”: NJBC offers I have foretold to you all these things.
Verses 24-27: The images of cosmic signs, the Son of Man, and the gathering of the chosen are all found in the Old Testament, but here they are brought together, with the second coming of Jesus, “the Son of Man”, as the key event. His glorious arrival will be the final proof of God’s victory over the forces of evil. The Old Testament texts echoed are Isaiah 13:10; 34:4; Ezekiel 32:7; Amos 8:9; Joel 2:10, 31; 3:15; Haggai 2:6, 21, but in no instance does such an image precede the coming of the Son of Man. The list of portents is a way of saying that all creation will signal his coming. [ NJBC]
Verse 26: “they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’”: Daniel 7:13 says “As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven. And he came to the Ancient One and was presented before him.” An NRSV footnote says that “human being” is son of man in the Aramaic original. See also 8:38; Matthew 10:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. [ NOAB] To Mark, “the Son of Man” is clearly Jesus, not the human figure in angelic form of Daniel 7:13. Whether Jesus spoke of himself as “the Son of Man” is debated, but see 14:61-62. [ NJBC]
Verse 27: “he will ... gather his elect from the four winds”: In Zechariah 2:6, Yahweh disperses the chosen. God’s gathering of the chosen is found in Deuteronomy 30:4; Isaiah 11:11, 16; 27:12; Ezekiel 39:27 and elsewhere in the Old Testament and in contemporary Jewish writings. [ NJBC]
Verse 30: “this generation”: The normal meaning of this phrase would be the people of our time, and the words would refer to the next twenty to thirty years; however, what Jesus meant is uncertain. In 9:1, Jesus says: “‘Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power’”. [ NOAB] V. 32 should be noted: only the Father knows when the end-times will be. [ NJBC]
Verse 31: Jesus emphasizes the divine authority of his teaching in the language of Isaiah 51:6 and 40:8. [ NJBC] See also Matthew 5:18 and Luke 16:17. [ NOAB]
Verse 32: In Acts 1:6-7, the disciples ask Jesus: “‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’”. He replies: “‘It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority’”. [ NOAB]
Verse 33: Ephesians 6:18 says “Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints”. See also Colossians 4:2. [ NOAB]
Verse 34: See also Matthew 25:14-30 (the Parable of the Talents). [ NOAB]
Verse 35: See also Luke 12:35-40 (“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit ...”). In Palestine, the night was divided into four parts. [ NOAB]
December
1 Nicholas Ferrar, Deacon, 1637
2 Channing Moore Williams, Missionary Bishop in China and Japan, 1910
3 Francis Xavier, Missionary to the Far East, 1552
4 John of Damascus, Priest, c. 760 was a Syrian monk and priest. Born and raised in Damascus, he died at his monastery, Mar Saba, near Jerusalem.[1]
5 Clement of Alexandria, Priest, c. 210 known as Clement of Alexandria to distinguish him from the earlier Clement of Rome, was a Christian theologian who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria.
6 Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c. 342.
OLD TESTAMENT: Isaiah 64: 1 - 9 (RCL)
Isaiah 63: 16b - 17, 64: 1, 3 - 8 (Roman Catholic)
Isai 63:16 (NRSV)
[Y]ou, O LORD, are our father;
our Redeemer from of old is your name.
17 Why, O LORD, do you make us stray from your ways
and harden our heart, so that we do not fear you?
Turn back for the sake of your servants,
for the sake of the tribes that are your heritage.
64:1 O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
so that the mountains would quake at your presence-
2 as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil-
to make your name known to your adversaries,
so that the nations might tremble at your presence!
3 When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
4 From ages past no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who works for those who wait for him.
5 You meet those who gladly do right,
those who remember you in your ways.
But you were angry, and we sinned;
because you hid yourself we transgressed.
6 We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7 There is no one who calls on your name,
or attempts to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.
8 Yet, O LORD, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
9 Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD,
and do not remember iniquity forever.
Now consider, we are all your people.
Note: Verse numbering in Roman Catholic Bibles is different from the above
PSALM 80: 1 - 7, 17 - 19 (RCL)
80: 1 - 2, 14 - 15, 17 - 18 (Roman Catholic)
Psal 80:1 (NRSV) Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph like a flock!
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
2 before E'phraim and Benjamin and Manas'seh.
Stir up your might,
and come to save us!
3 Restore us, O God;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.
4 O LORD God of hosts,
how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears,
and given them tears to drink in full measure.
6 You make us the scorn of our neighbors;
our enemies laugh among themselves.
7 Restore us, O God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.
8 You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
9 You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches;
11 it sent out its branches to the sea,
and its shoots to the River.
12 Why then have you broken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
13 The boar from the forest ravages it,
and all that move in the field feed on it.
14 Turn again, O God of hosts;
look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
15 the stock that your right hand planted.
16 They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down;
may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.
17 But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
the one whom you made strong for yourself.
18 Then we will never turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call on your name.
19 Restore us, O LORD God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.
Note: Verse numbering in Roman Catholic Bibles differs slightly from the above.
Verse numbering in your Psalter may also differ from the above.
80 Qui regis Israel (ECUSA BCP)
1 Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock; *
shine forth, you that are enthroned upon the cherubim.
2 In the presence of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, *
stir up your strength and come to help us.
3 Restore us, O God of hosts; *
show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.
4 O Lord God of hosts, *
how long will you be angered
despite the prayers of your people?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears; *
you have given them bowls of tears to drink.
6 You have made us the derision of our neighbors, *
and our enemies laugh us to scorn.
7 Restore us, O God of hosts; *
show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.
16 Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand, *
and son of man you have made so strong for yourself.
17 And so will we never turn away from you; *
give us life, that we may call upon your Name.
18 Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; *
show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.
NEW TESTAMENT: 1 Corinthians 1: 3 - 9 (RCL, Roman Catholic)
1Cor 1:3 (NRSV) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, 5 for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind-- 6 just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you-- 7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
h/t Montreal Anglican
Paul greets his readers: he wishes them “grace” (God’s freely given gift of love) and “peace” (the total state of well-being to which we are admitted through Christ): both come from the Father (as source) and the Son (as means or agent). In later chapters, Paul cautions his readers against misuse of spiritual gifts (v. 7), so in v. 5 he may be damning them with faint praise. He praises their eloquence (“speech”) and understanding (“knowledge”) but not (as in other letters) their faith, hope and love for each other and for Christ. In v. 6, “testimony” is bearing witness: God has strengthened them through their telling of the good news. They are indeed richly blessed (v. 7), but (as mentioned later), they tend to dwell on the excitement of the present rather than looking forward to “the revealing of ... Christ”, his second coming. God will help them prepare for that day, so that they may be among those judged worthy of eternal life (“blameless”, v. 8). God is “faithful” (v. 9): he will not abandon what he has begun. He has called them into “fellowship”, union with other believers which is union with Christ.
Verse 1: “Sosthenes”: He may be the “official of the synagogue” who was beaten: see Acts 18:17. [ NOAB] The absence of Timothy’s name probably indicates that he is already on the way to Corinth. He is mentioned in 2 Corinthians 1:1 (a letter probably written, in part, before this one).
Verse 1: “an apostle”: For Paul’s call, see Galatians 1:15-16; 2 Corinthians 4:5-6; Acts 9:1-9; 22:6-11. Paul sees apostleship as being wider than the Twelve: see 15:5, 7.
Verse 2: “saints”: Those set apart for God’s work. [ CAB]
Verse 2: “together with all those ...”: Probably a reminder that Paul’s readers are not the only Christians. In 11:16, Paul writes: “But if anyone is disposed to be contentious – we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God” and in 2 Corinthians 1:1 “To the church of God that is in Corinth, including all the saints throughout Achaia”. [ NJBC]
Verse 5: Gifts mentioned in other letters are missing from this introductory section:
Faith, hope and caritas (fraternal love) 1 Thessalonians 1:3
Faith Romans 1:8
Partnership in the gospel Philippians 1:5 [ NJBC]
Verse 7: “spiritual gift”: For rules for using them, see chapters 12-14.
Comments: (as mentioned later): Dwelling on the excitement of the present rather than looking forward to “the revealing of ... Christ”, his second coming, is the essence of the argument Paul will make in chapters 12-14. There Paul is saying first that:
there is excessive pride in the exercise of each one's spiritual gifts, to the point of arrogantly insisting that one's own gifts are normative for the whole community, and
they are getting carried away in worship time with their prophecies and speaking in tongues.
The gifts with which they are blessed must be put into perspective. True perspective comes from love (chapter 13), maturity and humility. [Alan T Perry]
Verse 7: “as you wait”: A reminder that the fullness of God’s revelation is in the future, probably necessary because of the Corinthian Christians excitement over what they already experience. [ NJBC]
Verse 8: “He will also strengthen you”: In 10:13 Paul writes: “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength ...”.
Verse 8: “the day of our Lord Jesus Christ”: A Christian adaptation of the Day of Yahweh: see Amos 5:18 and Joel 3:14; Acts 2:20. See also 1 Corinthians 3:13; 4:3. [ NJBC]
Verse 9: “God is faithful”: See also 10:13 and 1 Thessalonians 5:24. [ NJBC]
Verse 9: “you were called”: In the Greek, hoi kletoi , the called ones. See also 2:2, 24; Romans 1:6, 7; 8:28. Implicit in the call to salvation ( 7:15, 22; Galatians 1:6; 5:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:7) is the call to glory (Romans 8:28-30; Philippians 3:14; 1 Thessalonians 2:12), whose author is always God (Galatians 5:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:24). [ NJBC]
Verse 9: “called into the fellowship”: The Greek word is koinonia. To Paul, it is the vital union of believers among themselves, which is their union with Christ. Their shared existence as members of his body (see 12:12-27) is highlighted in the Eucharist (see 10:16-17). [ NJBC]
GOSPEL Mark 13: 24 - 37 (RCL)
Mark 13: 33 - 37 (Roman Catholic)
Mark 13:24 (NRSV) "But in those days, after that suffering,
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
25 and the stars will be falling from heaven,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
26 Then they will see "the Son of Man coming in clouds' with great power and glory. 27 Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
28 "From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 30 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
32 "But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. 35 Therefore, keep awake--for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, 36 or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake."
In v. 2, Jesus has prophesied the destruction of the Temple to the disciples. Then Peter, James, John and Andrew (the first four he called) have asked him: “when will this be ... ?” (v. 4). How will we know when “these things” are about to happen? He has told them of persecution, of strange natural phenomena, of societal breakdown, of the fate of the disciples. The portents will be wars, earthquakes and famines (vv. 7-8). The end will come suddenly; people will suffer greatly. It is only because God, in his mercy, has “cut short those days” (v. 20) that the elect, the godly, will be saved. Even they will be tempted by other messiahs.
Now we come to our reading. “In those days” (v. 24) there will be darkness: a sign of the coming of divine judgement (as in Isaiah 13:10). The elect will see “the Son of Man”, a superhuman person with heavenly power and glory, coming to inherit his kingdom (v. 26, as prophesied Daniel 7:13). He will bring the godly together (as in Isaiah 11:11) from all over the world. (Winds were thought to originate at the four corners of the earth.) By implication, the “Son of Man” (v. 26) is the true Messiah, Christ come the second time. Jesus admonishes his followers to “keep alert” (v. 33) for this coming. The leafing of the “fig tree” (v. 28) is a sure harbinger of summer; similarly, when they see “these things”, the End is near, very near (v. 29), but when is the Father’s prerogative. The images are those of apocalyptic (vision of the future) literature, popular in Jesus’ day.
The parallels to this chapter are Matthew 24:1-36 and Luke 21:5-36.
Verse 1: The construction of the third Temple, started by Herod the Great, was still underway in Jesus’ day. Most of the “large stones” were some 11 metres (34 feet) long by 6 metres (19 feet) wide by 4 metres (13 feet) thick. [ NOAB]
Verse 2: This Temple was destroyed in 70 AD. Jesus’ prediction of its destruction is also found in 14:57-58; 15:29 (on the Cross); Matthew 26:61 (Jesus before the High Priest); Luke 19:43-44 (Jesus weeps over Jerusalem); John 2:19 (Jesus cleanses the Temple); Acts 6:14 (the arrest of Stephen). [ NOAB] Jesus stands in the tradition of Old Testament prophets who had predicted this event: see Micah 3:12 (“... Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins ...”) and Jeremiah 26:18. However, in that other events mentioned in this passage seem to be meant symbolically, so may this event. [ NJBC]
Verse 3: “on the Mount of Olives”: Zechariah 14:4 prophesies a day when God will intervene in human affairs, standing on the Mount of Olives, so the scene for Jesus’ eschatological discourse is highly appropriate. See also 11:1. [ NJBC]
Verse 4: In Luke 17:20, Jesus says: “‘The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you’”. [ NOAB]
Verses 5-14: To NOAB, the audience was wider than the first four disciples, named in v. 13.
Verse 6: In John 8:24, Jesus tells some Jews “‘I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he’”. 1 John 2:18 warns: “As you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come”. [ NOAB]
Verse 6: “will come in my name”: More than Jewish messianic pretenders (e.g. Theudas and Judas the Galilean, in Acts 5:36-37) seem to be in view here, for they will come in Christ’s name. See also vv. 21-23. [ NJBC]
Verse 6: “I am he!”: This phrase must allude to the Old Testament revelation formula (see Exodus 3:14, God tells Moses “‘I AM WHO I AM’”; Deuteronomy 32:39, “See now that I, even I, am he; there is no god beside me”; Isaiah 41:4, “I, the Lord, am first, and will be with the last”) applied to Yahweh, thus contributing the implicit christological message of the text. [ NJBC]
Verse 8: “birthpangs”: At the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, he said that the new era “has come near” (see 1:15 and Matthew 4:17); however, per v. 10, it will arrive only after a time of witness to his message. [ NOAB] As pain precedes (and portends) birth of a child, so suffering will precede the arrival of the new era.
Verses 9-13: See also Matthew 10:17-22. [ NOAB]
Verse 9: “hand you over”: The persecution of the disciples points forward to Jesus’ sufferings. The verb, paradidomi, is the same one found in Jesus’ prediction of his Passion in 10:33. [ NJBC]
Verse 9: “councils”: The Greek word, synedria, refers to local Jewish courts empowered to punish Jewish offenders. [ NJBC]
Verse 10: V. 11 naturally flows from v. 9, so NJBC’s observation that the vocabulary is typically Marcan suggests that this verse is an insertion by the author. Further, if Jesus was so explicit about the mission to Gentiles, why was there a debate in the early Church over this mission? See Galatians 2 and Acts 15 (the Council of Jerusalem).
Verse 11: In John 14:26, Jesus says: “‘... the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you”. See also John 16:7-11 and Luke 12:11-12. [ NOAB]
Verse 12: “Brother will betray brother”: The idea of the end-times as a time of societal breakdown is common in contemporary Jewish apocalyptic writings: see, for example, 2 Esdras 5:9; 6:24; Jubilees 23:19; 2 Baruch 70:3. [ NJBC]
Verse 13: See also John 15:18-21 (“If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you ...”) [ NOAB]
Verse 13: “the one who endures to the end will be saved”: There is a message of patient endurance throughout the passage. [ NJBC]
Verses 14-23: By foretelling the events described in these verses, Jesus prepares his followers for what they will encounter. [ NJBC]
Verse 14: “the desolating sacrilege”: This would remind Jesus’ hearers of the desecration of the Temple: in 168 BC, Antiochus IV Epiphanes set up a statue of Olympian Zeus in the Temple; indeed, he tried to wipe out Judaism. Jesus’ inclusion of reference to a second such sacrilege leads me to think that the other signs of the end of the era should not be taken literally. Jesus is probably speaking symbolically of the elevation of the Roman emperor to being a god and the destruction of the Temple (and with it, the termination of the Judaic sacrificial system) or of general desertion of God’s ways. Note also that the Roman governor Caligula gave a similar order in 40 AD for a statue of himself as Jupiter to be placed in the Temple. [ CAB] See 1 Maccabees 1:54 (“they [the agents of Antiochus] erected a desolating sacrifice on the altar of burnt offering”); 1:59 (“... they offered sacrifice on the altar that was on top of the altar of burnt offering”); Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11.
When this happens, the faithful must flee to the countryside immediately.
Verse 14: “(let the reader understand)”: This comment may refer to the events leading up to the destruction of the Temple or of Caligula’s abortive plan. Perhaps the phrase is a code intended to avoid Roman hostility.
Verse 17: In Luke 23:29, Jesus says “For the days are surely coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed’”. [ NOAB]
Verse 18: The cold and rainy winters in Palestine would make rural tracks almost impassable. There would be no crops then from which the refugees might be fed. [ NJBC]
Verse 19: “suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the creation”: So Jesus speaks not of warfare, but of something much more serious. This alludes to Daniel 12:1: “There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence.” [ NJBC]
Verse 20: “if the Lord had not cut short those days”: Daniel 12:7 suggests that God has established a time schedule for the coming of the Kingdom. For the idea of shortening the time, see two contemporary apocalyptic books: 1 Enoch 80:2; 2 Baruch 20:1-2; 83:1, 6. [ NJBC]
Verse 22: In Matthew 7:15, Jesus warns: “‘Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves’”. See also John 4:48. [ NOAB]
Verse 23: “I have already told you everything”: NJBC offers I have foretold to you all these things.
Verses 24-27: The images of cosmic signs, the Son of Man, and the gathering of the chosen are all found in the Old Testament, but here they are brought together, with the second coming of Jesus, “the Son of Man”, as the key event. His glorious arrival will be the final proof of God’s victory over the forces of evil. The Old Testament texts echoed are Isaiah 13:10; 34:4; Ezekiel 32:7; Amos 8:9; Joel 2:10, 31; 3:15; Haggai 2:6, 21, but in no instance does such an image precede the coming of the Son of Man. The list of portents is a way of saying that all creation will signal his coming. [ NJBC]
Verse 26: “they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’”: Daniel 7:13 says “As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven. And he came to the Ancient One and was presented before him.” An NRSV footnote says that “human being” is son of man in the Aramaic original. See also 8:38; Matthew 10:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. [ NOAB] To Mark, “the Son of Man” is clearly Jesus, not the human figure in angelic form of Daniel 7:13. Whether Jesus spoke of himself as “the Son of Man” is debated, but see 14:61-62. [ NJBC]
Verse 27: “he will ... gather his elect from the four winds”: In Zechariah 2:6, Yahweh disperses the chosen. God’s gathering of the chosen is found in Deuteronomy 30:4; Isaiah 11:11, 16; 27:12; Ezekiel 39:27 and elsewhere in the Old Testament and in contemporary Jewish writings. [ NJBC]
Verse 30: “this generation”: The normal meaning of this phrase would be the people of our time, and the words would refer to the next twenty to thirty years; however, what Jesus meant is uncertain. In 9:1, Jesus says: “‘Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power’”. [ NOAB] V. 32 should be noted: only the Father knows when the end-times will be. [ NJBC]
Verse 31: Jesus emphasizes the divine authority of his teaching in the language of Isaiah 51:6 and 40:8. [ NJBC] See also Matthew 5:18 and Luke 16:17. [ NOAB]
Verse 32: In Acts 1:6-7, the disciples ask Jesus: “‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’”. He replies: “‘It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority’”. [ NOAB]
Verse 33: Ephesians 6:18 says “Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints”. See also Colossians 4:2. [ NOAB]
Verse 34: See also Matthew 25:14-30 (the Parable of the Talents). [ NOAB]
Verse 35: See also Luke 12:35-40 (“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit ...”). In Palestine, the night was divided into four parts. [ NOAB]
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