{"id":19450,"date":"2010-12-05T21:55:38","date_gmt":"2010-12-06T04:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=19450"},"modified":"2010-12-05T21:55:38","modified_gmt":"2010-12-06T04:55:38","slug":"scriptural-maunderings-for-the-2nd-sunday-of-advent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/12\/05\/scriptural-maunderings-for-the-2nd-sunday-of-advent.html","title":{"rendered":"Scriptural Maunderings for the 2nd Sunday of Advent"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yet another installment looking at my own reaction to the readings we had in church (Episcopal) today<\/a>. \u00a0The Lectionary is the Revised Common Lectionary, Year A, and the translation is the NRSV …<\/p>\n

Old Testament – Isaiah 11:1-10<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

We’re in Advent, which means Much Ado about Prophecy. \u00a0In this case, we have one of Isaiah’s foretellings, traditionally applied to Jesus, the attributes of whom are the following:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A\u00a0descendant\u00a0of Jesse (the father of King David). \u00a0The lineages of Jesus in Matthew and Luke are both traced back to David (albeit in conflicting fashion<\/a>).<\/li>\n
  2. At his coming, all sorts of antagonistic forces (made metaphors in nature) will coeexist — the lion lying down with the lamb (“and a little child shall lead them”) being the most common paraphrasing of this passage.<\/li>\n
  3. The person in question will have “the spirit of the LORD” on him, “wisdom and understanding … counsel and might … knowledge … fear of the LORD…” \u00a0His judgment will not be based on externals, but<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    … with righteousness he shall judge the poor,\u00a0and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;\u00a0he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,\u00a0and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked …\u00a0for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    The person described is certainly a pretty spiffy dude — but the prophecy doesn’t seem to quite line up with someone who is eventually interpreted as “the LORD” Himself, the Son of God, part of the Holy Trinity. \u00a0He sounds like a prophet, not the Son of Man.<\/p>\n

    The whole “Fear of the Lord” thing deserves some comment. \u00a0A lot of people buy into the whole Fear thing because, “Hey, Big Kahuna with Lightning Bolt, ready to smite evil!” \u00a0A lot of people then turn around and resend the whole Fear thing because, “God, to be worthy of the name, ought to be all about Love.”<\/p>\n

    Me, I look at it this way. \u00a0IF God is all-powerful and all-knowing, THEN even if all-loving, God remains something awesome, incomprehensible, something toward which fear would be practically unavoidable. \u00a0God is, in some ways, the Ultimate Parent … and I think every child fears his or her parents in different ways at different times of their lives — for their knowledge, for their power.<\/p>\n

    I don’t spend time fearing God per se<\/em>. \u00a0I don’t think you can have a personal relationship with someone you fear (and I don’t think you can have a personal relationship with your parents until you are no longer in fear of them).<\/p>\n

    But I think it’s possible to say “Fear God” and not mean “as the Cosmic Bully who will smite your ass if He thinks you’re less than worthy.” \u00a0To me, fearing God is realizing both how very small I am in Creation, and realizing how much responsibility I have both for myself and for those around me. \u00a0When my boss gives me a big new assignment, there’s usually fear there because of the challenge of something new, the concern over what might happen if I fail, and the realization of how much I’m being entrusted with. \u00a0If that doesn’t cause fear, then I don’t think you’re aware enough of what’s going on … but it should also cause enthusiasm (in the original sense as well), and excitement, and hope, and confidence.<\/p>\n

    Epistle –\u00a0Romans 15:4-13<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

    <\/a>This epistle is generally considered to be genuine (actually written by Paul). \u00a0I read this passage before the congregation today. \u00a0There are a few themes here:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Christians should be united, not bickering. \u00a0Oh, were that so. Much of Christianity is too often like spouses shouting at each other at a dinner party over who ruined the canipes, or whether a white wine or read should be served, or whether it was appropriate to invite one person or another, or whether someone is spending too much (or too little) time in the kitchen. \u00a0It’s about externalities, when what we’re really called toward is hospitality.<\/li>\n
    2. Jesus came to save the Gentiles, not just the Jews. \u00a0Paul takes the unusual step of making \u00a0multiple citations of Scripture to prove his point, rather than simply asserting or arguing it.<\/li>\n
    3. God is a God of Hope. \u00a0Which is an interesting counterpoint to the folks who keep talking about Fearing the Lord.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Gospel \u00a0– Matthew 3:1-12<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

      \"\"<\/a>This passage is all about John the Baptist and his ministry, serving as the “adventist” for Jesus. \u00a0I always think of John — wild-haired and raving out the wilderness in his camel-hair shirt, eating wild locusts and honey — as he was portrayed by Michael York in the Jesus of Nazareth<\/em> miniseries.<\/p>\n

      John in this passage is a well-known prophet, telling folks, \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff”Repent, for the \u00a0Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” \u00a0He’s hanging out at the Jordan River, baptising folks, and foretelling “one who is more powerful” who is coming soon.<\/p>\n

      He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      Well, that <\/em>sounds ominous. As is this bit:<\/p>\n

      But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, `We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      I read this, and think of a modern-day prophet. \u00a0I think of the mighty and powerful coming to meet him — political leaders, denominational leaders, pundits with (gasp) their own TV and radio shows. \u00a0And I hear John saying …<\/p>\n

      “Snakes! Who warned you that the powerful and cruel will soon meet their punishment? Don’t come to me, do good<\/em>. \u00a0And doing good doesn’t mean, “I got high ratings!” or “I won the election!” or “I’m a patriotic American!” \u00a0That’s as meaningless as dirt. \u00a0God could make that true for anyone. \u00a0It’s your last chance: do good, or else.<\/em>“<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      John the Baptist is a lot like a revival preacher, in the best sense. \u00a0And to my mind, Christianity is like Clarence Darrow’s aphorism<\/a>:<\/p>\n

      The most human thing we can do is comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      Christianity is not about complacency and power, about upholding the status quo and flag-waving and respecting the rich and those rewarded by this world. \u00a0It’s about pointing out how misguided our society (and all human society over time) is, focusing on wealth and power and How Things Are (i.e., how society benefits those who know how to gain power over it).<\/p>\n

      Christianity is comforting to the individual only insofar as it points toward hope and justice. \u00a0It is not at all comforting to those of us who are already comforted by the world and our position in it. That’s the message from John the Baptist … and from Jesus. Those who try to sell you something else are just the types John was railing against.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Yet another installment looking at my own reaction to the readings we had in church (Episcopal) today. \u00a0The Lectionary is the Revised Common Lectionary, Year A, and the translation is the NRSV … Old Testament – Isaiah 11:1-10 We’re in Advent, which means Much Ado about Prophecy. \u00a0In this case, we have one of Isaiah’s … Continue reading “Scriptural Maunderings for the 2nd Sunday of Advent”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scriptural-maunderings"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/michael-york-john-baptist.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":19530,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/12\/12\/scriptural-maunderings-for-the-3rd-sunday-of-advent.html","url_meta":{"origin":19450,"position":0},"title":"Scriptural Maunderings for the 3rd Sunday of Advent","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 12-Dec-10 11:24pm","format":false,"excerpt":"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. 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This week's readings are particularly meaningful, as my parish church is named after the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Church & State"","block_context":{"text":"Church & State","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/church-state"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/good-shepherd.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19138,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/11\/08\/scriptural-maunderings-for-all-saints-day.html","url_meta":{"origin":19450,"position":2},"title":"Scriptural Maunderings for All Saints’ Day","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 8-Nov-10 9:47am","format":false,"excerpt":"This past Sunday we celebrated All Saints' Day (officially 1 November, but celebrated the Sunday following by us Episcopalians). \u00a0\u00a0 Some thoughts on the Scripture appointed (Revised Common Lectionary, Cycle C, NRSV translation). 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Old Testament: Exodus 17:1-7 This is the typical \"Israelites grumbling in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Crime & Punishment"","block_context":{"text":"Crime & Punishment","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/crime-punishment"},"img":{"alt_text":"A fragment from the Dead Sea Scrolls","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/dead-sea-scroll-fragment-300x261.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19203,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/11\/14\/spiritual-maunderings-for-the-sunday-closest-to-november-16.html","url_meta":{"origin":19450,"position":4},"title":"Spiritual Maunderings for the Sunday closest to November 16","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 14-Nov-10 11:17pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Yet another series of personal impressions from todays Episcopal readings from the Revised Common Lectionary,\u00a0Proper 28,\u00a0Year C, NRSV translation. Old Testament: Isaiah 65:17-25 Isaiah waxes lyrical over the paradise to come. I will rejoice in Jerusalem,\u00a0and delight in my people;\u00a0no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,\u00a0or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Scriptural Maunderings"","block_context":{"text":"Scriptural Maunderings","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion\/scriptural-maunderings"},"img":{"alt_text":"A fragment from the Dead Sea Scrolls","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/dead-sea-scroll-fragment-300x261.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18325,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/08\/29\/scriptural-maunderings.html","url_meta":{"origin":19450,"position":5},"title":"Scriptural Maunderings","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 29-Aug-10 9:19pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I've long considered doing a series of posts on scriptural readings from the Sunday Masses I go to at our local Episcopal Church. Part of it is to explore how I deal with the Bible. 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