Another Sunday of readings, another Sunday of considerations …
This is a series of posts (look, ma, I have a category now!) about my reactions to the week’s reading’s in church. I attend an Episcopalian church, and the readings are from the Revised Common Lectionary, Year A, NRSV translation.
Old Testament: Isaiah 35:1-10
This being Advent, the focus is all on Jesus coming and what it all means. Isaiah is the classic prophet here (just look at Handel’s Messiah for proof of that) and here he’s waxing lyrical, during the Babylonian Captivity, about what it will mean when God finally turns His favor on His people — either regarding a return of Israel to its Promised Land from captivity, or, as later interpreted, regarding Jesus coming to the Earth.
Much of what is described is what someone living in the desert climates of the Middle East would refer to as paradise and blessing: rain and lush crops and running water and growing plants. But amidst it — in a pattern we will see for other Scripture — are to whom particular blessings will come:
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. …
And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
The message here is clear: those who are suffering will no longer suffer. Those who are oppressed, burdened, hurt by the world, shall be joyful.
Epistle: James 5:7-10
I like James. Unlike Paul (who takes up most of the Epistles) or John (who ends the New Testament on a psychodelic note), James (usually associated with James the brother of Jesus) is down to earth and practical in his spiritual practices. He comes across as far less doctrinal than Paul, and far more related to the human condition.
This passage urges patience (like a farmer for his crops) for the return of Jesus. More notably for contemporary Christians, he urges:
Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
Would that fewer Christians grumbled against each other. And would that more considered the suffering of the prophets (and other faithful across history) before playing the “Oh, we’re being oppressed!” card in response to someone disagreeing with them.
Gospel: Matthew 11:2-11
This passage continues discussion of John the Baptist — the wild man preaching in the wilderness — vs. Jesus. John, imprisoned, sends word to Jesus trying to confirm whether he, Jesus, is the dude that he, John the Baptist, was preaching about.
Jesus provides his bonafides of being from God:
Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”
What strikes me here is who stands as evidence of Jesus being the one John had been preaching about. Jesus doesn’t come in talking about how he is here to praise the pious and reward those who are secure in their earthly treasures. Instead, his message back to John is about how he’s done good thing for the blind, the lame, the lepers, the deaf, the dead, the poor. Jesus’ ministry is focused on those who are powerless, outside of society, those unjustly belittled and condemned.
As today, society considered the lowest of the low there, not just out of circumstance, but out of some sort of moral judgment. Just as today some say the unemployed are that way because of the government dole and their own personal failings, so then some considered the poor, the lame, the afflicted as suffering so because they were morally inferior. Jesus’ message here was clear: God is most interested in their comfort and redemption. He is most focused on them, not those who are comfortable in their orthodoxy and their financial portfolios.
The message continues, even more clearly:
As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.”
All I can think of in this passage is about those “dressed in soft robes,” whether they be orthodox clerics in ancient vestments of solemnity and authority, or televangelists in finely tailored suits, and whether the “royal palaces” are ancient cathedrals or modern megachurches. From this passage, Jesus is less impressed by such trappings of material success and popularity than he is in a guy running around in crude clothing in the wilderness — so long as that guy is adhering to his message of caring for the outcast and neglected.
Those who choose to speak in authority in Christian churches should consider which personage they would most resemble, if Jesus were to confront them about it.