Bible Tuesday for Advent II, 2017

Isaiah 40:1-11

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 for ever.
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.

Thank you, Lord God, for Advent. I relish the color lapis blue, the color of hope. These words of the prophet Isaiah, in my heart always arm in arm with Handel’s music, form within me a beast coiled to spring, like a deer crouched to bound through a clearing. Lord, Jesus, may we coil in crouching, “Keep[ing] awake!” And, with renewed Advent hope, may we launch ourselves, bounding into the servant life of the baptized. Amen

These verses of Isaiah come from the opening passage of “Deutero-Isaiah”, or Second Isaiah. First Isaiah is through to have truly been written and delivered by the prophet Isaiah in the time before Judah/the Southern Kingdom fell to Babylonia. Second Isaiah is thought to have been written at the end of Israel’s captivity, when Babylonia fell to Persia, but before Cyrus of Persia released the Israelites to return home.

This passage begins with words of reprieve. “Your jail time is over! Clemency has been granted! God has declared your punishment sufficient, more than double!” The next three verses proclaim God will return to Canaan, the Promised Land, along with Israel. Earlier in Isaiah, the prophet proclaimed that God’s presence will leave the land of Israel because the sin of the Israelite people has putrefied the land. But now all is forgiven and God and God’s people will return to the Promised Land.

Verses 6-8 contain a dialogue between the prophet and a commanding voice from heaven. The commanding voice commands: “Proclaim!” or “Cry out!” The prophet replies, “Proclaim what?” “or “What shall I cry out?” The commanding heavenly voice then explains that though living things are weak and temporary, God’s word is always fulfilled. In this context, “Your captors, Babylonians, are mere mortals. Yahweh was and is and is to come. The words of Yahweh are permanent and always happen.

The last section of this passage launches the good news of God’s victory to all Israelite captives, whether in Babylonia or still in Israel. The last time a herald proclaimed a victory in Jerusalem, it was Babylonia’s victory over the fallen Israel. Now, God is undoing all of that. This herald is to proclaim to Israel that Yahweh is coming. Even more, Yahweh is not coming in anger to a defeated people, but in the loving posture of a shepherd to his/her sheep.

Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13

To the leader. Of the Korahites. A Psalm.
1 Lord, you were favourable 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.

Here the psalmist sings of God leading the Israelites home from captivity. Verse 9 restates that God’s presence left the Promised Land during Israel’s captivity but is now returning. Verses 10-13 sing of the pleasant and peaceful conditions that God’s presence brings about.

2 Peter 3:8-15

8 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. 9The 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. 10But 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 people ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness,12waiting 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? 13But, 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; 15and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.

This letter is thought to have been written from Rome to an undetermined congregation. If written by the apostle, Peter, it would have been written at the end of his life, shortly before his martyrdom in 64/65 AD. If written by one of Peter’s congregants, it may have been written as late as 90 AD.

In the above passage, the writer takes up a question also addressed by Paul in several of his letters: When will Jesus come back?! The author quotes Psalm 90:4 in verse 8, to say that time is different with God than it is for us. Throughout the Hebrew scriptures, God declares promises which take generations to be fulfilled. Those early Jewish followers of Jesus believed that God’s promise to Abraham (of land, progeny, and to be a blessing to all people) wasn’t fulfilled until Jesus died to expiate all sin, more than 1000 years after Abraham’s death!

Verse 12 appears, in its English translation, to indicate that if Christians lead God pleasing lives, we can hurry Jesus along in his return. That certainly conflicts with what Jesus, himself, says. However, this verse represents an argument that Jesus is delaying his return to give all humanity plenty of time to repent and be baptized. The sooner everyone embraces God’s love for them, the sooner Christ will return, or so this teaching goes.

Mark 1:1-8

The beginning of the good news* of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.*

2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,*
‘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” ’,
4John the baptizer appeared* in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5And 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.6Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7He 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.’

The gospel of Mark is likely the first written of the four canonical (“made the cut for the Bible”) gospels. It is by far the shortest of the gospels, and was likely used as a source for the other three gospels, most especially Matthew and Luke. Since Mark has very little “original” material that is not covered in the other gospels, for many years it was all but set aside, treated as the cliff notes of Jesus’ life. However, more recent scholarship has brought Mark back into the three year lectionary cycle, though Mark does have to share his year with John.

The gospel of Mark is fast paced, making great use of the word, “immediately”. In Mark, Jesus is very human, terse at times, impatient with the disciples, but filled with passion, empathy, grief, and love. There are no announcing angels, heralded shepherds, birthgiving Mary, or magi in Mark. This gospel focuses on Jesus’ action packed ministry, life, and death, with a literary device at the end meant to launch every reader into ministry “immediately!”

The first words of this gospel tell us who Jesus is, the Christ or the “anointed one”, and the Son of God. Both Christ and Son of God are specific titles for the Jews of Jesus’ day. Christ in Greek or Meshiak (Messiah) in Hebrew means “anointed”. The “anointed one” is one whom God has chosen to be a great prophet or king, as well as a great military leader. The folk tradition was that Elijah would return from heaven to point out the Messiah/Christ to faithful Jews. Son of God is the title of God’s agent on earth, a kind of God in the flesh. In the first verse of this gospel, Mark is telling his readers/hearers that Jesus is both of these long awaited heroes, both and so much more!

Mark makes use of the Isaiah 40 prophecy, that we have discussed above, to say “back in the day, Isaiah was saying that God is leading the march home to Jerusalem from Babylon. And sure, the people left Babylon and went back to the Promised Land, but did anyone ever see God? That part of the prophecy was finally fulfilled in this guy, Jesus. He is THE CHRIST! He is THE SON OF GOD!”

Mark further makes this point by referencing John the Baptist. While Mark is not a fashion commentator, he does spell out what John the Baptist is wearing because it is the same wardrobe Elijah had. Mark wants to make sure his readers/hearers understand that the scriptures HAVE BEEN FULFILLED! THIS JESUS GUY IS MESSIAH, SON OF GOD!!!

John baptizes with water to bring about repentance to prepare for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit that you may go for