Reflections on Lectionary Readings Readings for Advent 1, Year B, Track 2, RCL 29 November 2020 Hebrew Bible Isaiah 64.1-9 (JPS) If You would but tear open the heavens and come down, So that mountains would quake before You— As when fire kindles brushwood, And fire makes water boil— To make Your name known to Your adversaries So that nations will tremble at Your Presence, When You did wonders we dared not hope for, You came down And mountains quaked before You. Such things had never been heard or noted. No eye has seen [them], O God, but You, Who act for those who trust in You. Yet you have struck him who would gladly do justice, And remember You in Your ways. It is because You are angry that we have sinned; We have been steeped in them from of old, And can we be saved? We have all become like an unclean thing, And all our virtues like a filthy rag. We are all withering like leaves, And our iniquities, like a wind, carry us off. Yet no one invokes Your name, Rouses himself to cling to You. For You have hidden Your face from us, And made us melt because of our iniquities. But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You are the Potter, We are all the work of Your hands. Be not implacably angry, O LORD, Do not remember iniquity forever. Oh, look down to Your people, to us all! Your holy cities have become a desert: Zion has become a desert, Jerusalem a desolation. Response Psalm 80.1-7 (JPS) Give ear, O shepherd of Israel who leads Joseph like a flock! Appear, You who are enthroned on the cherubim, at the head of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh! Rouse Your might and come to our help! show Your favor that we may be delivered. O LORD, God of hosts, how long will You be wrathful toward the prayers of Your people? You have fed them tears as their daily bread, made them drink great measures of tears. You set us at strife with our neighbors; our enemies mock us at will. Epistle 1 Corinthians 1.3-9 (NRS) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you— so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Gospel Mark 13.24-37 (NRS) “But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. 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. “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. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. 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. 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, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake. Reflection Reflection Advent 1 2020 (year B) This is the first Sunday in Advent. It is the birthday of a new liturgical year that turns from green to crimson. Advent is the liturgical equivalent of pregnancy limited to four weeks. It is a time of waiting, anticipating, hoping, fearing, expecting, and worrying. If you’ve been pregnant or waited for medical test results or an acceptance letter or phone call you know how anxious and stressful waiting is. My mother gave birth to a stillborn and had at least one miscarriage. 2020 has been so tumultuous that we did know what we were waiting for or what to expect watching closely day after day to see what might happen. Advent began as a penitential season. Today this short season is almost indiscernible crammed as it is between two great family dinners for many Americans. Fortunately, our church tries to hold onto Advent. This Sunday we enter year B of the three-year lectionary cycle. Years A & B have us in Isaiah with one exception. I suspect that Isaiah is the lectionary’s favorite book of the Older Testament and its texts are eisogeted to be about Jesus. That is also the case with Lent. That is, Jesus is read into the passages as if he is what the authors of Isaiah were talking about. And indeed, some if these passages do parallel some of the events in the much layer Jesus narratives. Still, none of the three writers of Isaiah was talking about Jesus This week’s Isaiah and psalm lections, like many over the past several weeks are downright frightening. This Isaiah moans, screams and begs God by turns. Israel has abandoned God and its apostasy has greatly angered God. The writer begs God to come to earth and do great deeds that the nations might know God’s fearsome power. But then the writer turns to the current state of the relationship between God and Israel. God is gone seemingly abandoning the people to the sinful mire that they have sunk to. Isaiah bleats out “can we be saved?” Jerusalem has been devastated. Isaiah is forthright with God and begs him to relent: “Be not implacably angry, O LORD, Do not remember iniquity forever. Oh, look down to your people, to us all! Psalm 80 has much the same complaint and plea. These writers interpret social, economic, and political chaos resulting from foreign conquest as punishment for worshipping local gods of the surrounding nations having violated the commandment to worship no God but the God of Sinai. The prophet and the poet know that Israel is caught with a smoking gun, yet they implore mercy. “How long will you be wrathful toward the prayers of Your people?” Come to our help! These writers and others with the same experience of abandonment by God, give us permission to feel abandoned too. We too are shaken when God does not rescue us when we need him most. We even rage at why he is not saving us when we most need him. Has his anger crossed a line from loving chastisement within an unshakable covenantal commitment to Israel or has a Rubicon been crossed? And so, it has ever been. The message may not be encouraging but there is bitter comfort here. That these writings are within the canon indicates that these feelings and experiences are acceptable within the range of faithfulness. Israel’s intellectuals are pleading with the God to spare at least those who have not apostatized, and even more boldly to extend mercy to those who have. What might it mean for God to know how hurtful he is seeming to forego loving and abandon his sinful people? And how do we handle ourselves when we learn that we have hurt someone to the quick precisely when they needed us. What do we do with that perspective on ourselves? Turning to Paul, as we have come to expect he is our most upbeat writer. He writes flush with success among the gentiles. He is bringing about the Isaian expectation that one day the nations would stream to the mountain of the Lord in Jerusalem. And so, you gentiles have fulfilled that prophecy. Give thanks to Paul for your coming to the household of God alongside the Jewish people. Note that Paul’s gospel calls for moral and spiritual accountability. As we see with Mark, in this lection Paul prepares his recruits “that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In the Patristic age, accepting Christ and entering the church was a strenuous undertaking. People were scrutinized about the quality of their lives, their occupations, and their moral standards. Could soldiers be Christians? Sponsors were required who could vouch for one’s fitness for the responsibilities that come with membership in the body of Christ.