Skip to main content

Lectionary Notes for Third Sunday of Advent, Year A

Readings for Third Sunday in Advent, 12/15/13: 
Isaiah 35:1-10, Luke 1:46b-55, James 5:7-10, Matthew 11:2-11

Isaiah 35:1-10:
  • "the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly." Can you picture the way crocuses boldly shove up through the snow at the first hint of spring time? (I hope you live where there are crocuses!) It really is a vision of hope and life after a long, cold winter. Imagine, then, hope and life springing forth from the desert. That sharp contrast of color in the midst of a sea of uniformity, where it is not expected.
  • Opposites - did you ever have an 'opposite day' when you were young, where everything you said meant the exact opposite of the expected meaning? That is Isaiah's vision here: blind see. deaf here. lame leap. the desert streams. dry is wet. When God come, everything is completely changed, totally altered by the experience of God.
  • "Make firm the feeble knees . . . [God] will come and save you." God's strength puts our fears to rest.
Luke 1:46b-55
  • context: This is Mary's song of praise, the Magnificat, a response to her visit to her cousin Elizabeth, who is also with child. This is a song, and can be set to music in worship, or read responsively like a Psalm.
  • We usually think of magnifying in the sense of making something bigger. Thinking of it this way, what would it mean if you soul, your spirit, made God appear larger to others?
  • Mary speaks as one who sees God's greatness already complete in the not-yet-complete actions of the birth of her baby, we see by the fact that she speaks about what God has done in the past tense. What trust, and what vision!
  • Mary's images of God are all about God who changes the usual order of things - a God who lifts up the lowly and removes the rich and powerful from their usual places. Obviously, as a young woman going through a strange ordeal, these concepts of God would be extremely meaningful to her, giving her hope.
James 5:7-10:
  • James seems at first a surprise choice for a text for Advent. Isn't James all about faith and works? But here is a most appropriate text.
  • "Be patient . . . until the coming of the Lord." Patience is not something we seem to value anymore. We value speed and efficiency. When have you had to be patient? When has patience brought you something better than what you could have gotten right away?
  • See how many times James uses the word patience? He mentions a farmer - what happens when crops are harvested too soon? When I was little and used to garden with my Grandpa Mudge, I remember pulling up onions to look at them, and carrots, way too early in the season, 'just to check'. It usually meant bad news even when they were ready to be picked, that I could be patient...
Matthew 11:2-11:
  • If you've seen The Matrix, think Morpheus to Neo for John the Baptist to Jesus. John wants to know if Jesus is the one he's been waiting for. If he is, John will invest himself in this Jesus, and prepare to direct people to Jesus. If he's not the one, fine, but John wants to know the truth up front.
  • Jesus responds by saying: don't ask for confirmation of who I am in words from me. The confirmation of who I am is in my actions and what I have done. We can say the same of ourselves, can't we?
  • What did you go out to see? Jesus repeats this question three times. What are you looking for? A spectacle? A circus side-show? Jesus suggests that whatever misguided notions people had in seeking John out, they would get more than they bargained for: "A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet." Have you ever gotten more than you bargained for, in a good way? Done something without hope of much meaning, but found instead a life-changing experience? I went to the Central Park Zoo once during seminary and found great 'meaning' in watching the Polar Bears swim.
  • "yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." Here's the puzzle Jesus lays out for us today. What does he mean by this? Well, if Jesus' message of good news is to announce that the kingdom of God is at hand, and John had been trying to prepare people for the coming, once the good news 'arrives', so to speak, John is - not irrelevant, exactly - but his task is done, his purpose has been served. We who live in the kingdom - our purpose is not yet served - we've more to do.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Sermon for the First Sunday in Advent, "Hope: A Thrill of Hope," Mark 1:1-8

Sermon 11/26/17 Mark 1:1-8 Hope: A Thrill of Hope             Are you a pessimist or an optimist? Is the glass of life half empty, or half full? My mom and I have gone back and forth about this a bit over the years. She’s wildly optimistic about most things, and sometimes I would say her optimism, her hopefulness borders on the irrational. If the weather forecast says there’s a 70% chance of a snowstorm coming, my mom will focus very seriously on that 30% chance that it is going to be a nice day after all. I, meanwhile, will begin adjusting my travel plans and making a backup plan for the day. My mom says I’m a pessimist, but I would argue that I’m simply a realist , trying to prepare for the thing that is most likely to happen, whether I like that thing or not. My mom, however, says she doesn’t want to be disappointed twice, both by thinking something bad is going to happen, and then by having the bad thing actually happen. She’d rather be hopeful, and enjoy her state of

Sermon for First Sunday in Lent, Year B, "Jesus in the Wilderness," Mark 1:1-4, 9-15

Sermon 2/18/18 Mark 1:1-4, 9-15 Jesus in the Wilderness             You’ve heard me say before that the gospel of Mark is my favorite gospel. Part of the reason I love it is because of Mark’s brevity. I don’t love that he’s short on details, exactly. I love that he seems practically breathless in getting the good news of Jesus to us, and that he seems to believe that the news is so good it isn’t even going to take very many words to convince you of his message! His frantic style strikes me as showing both how important and how convincing he believes Jesus’s message to be.             But, then we arrive at a Sunday like today, and I find myself a little frustrated perhaps, or at least a little challenged by Mark. In the lectionary, the series of the first Sunday in the season of Lent always focuses on the temptation of Jesus – his time in the wilderness, where he confronts Satan, and commits to God’s path rather than the flashy alternative Satan presents. This is the fo

Sermon for Second Sunday in Advent, "Peace: All Is Calm, All Is Bright," Isaiah 11:1-10, Mark 13:24-37

Sermon 12/3/17 Mark 13:24-37, Isaiah 11:1-10 Peace: All Is Calm, All Is Bright             “Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright. Round yon’ virgin mother and child. Holy infant, so tender and mild. Sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in heavenly peace.”             This week, I read news stories about North Korea testing a missile that perhaps could reach across the whole of the United States.             This week, I spoke with a colleague in ministry who had, like all churches in our conference, received from our church insurance company information about how to respond in an active shooter situation. She was trying to figure out how to respond to anxious parishioners and yet not get caught up in spending all of their ministry time on creating safety plans.             This week, we’ve continued to hear stories from people who have experienced sexual assault and harassment, as the actions, sometimes over decades, of men in positions of power have been