Bible Tuesday for Advent III, 2015
Zepheniah 3:14-20
Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away the judgments against you, he has turned away your enemies. The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands grow weak. The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing as on a day of festival. I will remove disaster from you, so that you will not bear reproach for it. I will deal with all your oppressors at that time. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you home, at the time when I gather you; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the Lord.
The book of Zepheniah was written during the time of King Josiah, who was the second to last king to rule over Judah in Jerusalem before it fell to Babylon in 587BC. The book contains several different oracles possibly by various authors. When Josiah came to the throne, Judah was not a faithfully Jewish nation. They worshipped various gods, chiefly Baal and Ashera/Astartes, along Yahweh, if they worshipped Yahweh at all. However, the books of Kings and Chronicles describe a major change under King Josiah. It is said that early on in his reign, a scroll of Deuteronomy was found tucked away in the Temple (which had become a worship place for Baal and Ashera) and read to King Josiah. He was so distressed by what he heard commanded and what he saw being lived out that he did a major house cleaning. All of the shrines to Ashera on the hill tops and under very tall trees, aka “high places”, were torn down. The Temple was completely cleaned and rededicated to Yahweh, and the King rededicated the whole nation of Judah to Yahweh.
It seems that the prophecy of Zepheniah is proclaimed before King Josiah cleaned house. The prophet proclaimed judgement and punishment for the idolatry of Judah. Chapter 3 starts with God’s action to bring the haughty and evil very low, even to destruction. Then the prophet states God’s words as, “The remnant of Israel shall do no wrong and speak no falsehood; a deceitful tongue shall not be in their mouths. Only such as these shall graze and lie down, with none to trouble them.” It is to this humble remnant that the above passage of joy and hope is proclaimed.
Isaiah 12:2-6
Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
And you will say in that day: Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known his deeds among the nations; proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be known in all the earth. Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
In this passage of Isaiah, God is addressing those Israelites held captive by Assyria. God promises that they will be brought back to Canaan just as the Israelites were brought out of slavery in Egypt, even parting the Euphrates as he did the Red Sea/Sea of Reeds. In response to this promise of miraculous salvation, the prophet writes the above hymn of praise to God.
Philippians 4:4-7
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
The context of this loving admonishment is that Paul has heard of conflict between two women leaders of this congregation. In the verses immediately preceding this passage, he adjures them to “be of the same mind in the Lord,” and asks his companion to help them come to a compromise. Then Paul calls for the above rejoicing.
The Philippians lived in a city filled with Roman power, authority, and religion. There were many very large and wondrous temples to Roman deities in Philippi, as well as a huge military post. Jews, and those Jews who believed in Jesus and formed Paul’s congregation, were an unwanted minority in this city. There was much for them to fear from outside sources, without the added stress of infighting. Yet in this thick fog of fear and stress Paul calls for rejoicing and an end to worry. Paul teaches this congregation, and us, to pray for help from the position of gratitude and complete trust. When we dwell in this prayerful, faithful place, we can experience the guarding of our very selves that Jesus is constantly doing for us.
Luke 3:7-18
John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin 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.” And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”
As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.
Last week’s gospel was an introduction to John the Baptist. This week, we hear John’s “sermon”. The key to understand John is his admonishment, “Bear fruits worthy of repentance!” Repent means to switch directions. For John, if you are going the same direction when you come out of the Jordan River as when you came in, then you have NOT repented! No point slithering out of the burning Empire if all you are doing to do complain while standing at the water’s edge.
So these newly baptized people wonder, what does repentant fruit look like? Well, don’t we all?!!! In response, John gets more explicit. You don’t have to give away all your clothes, just the stuff you have doubles on. (I don’t want to tell you how many coats I have in my closet!) If your vocation gives you authority over others—tax collector, police, soldier—do not abuse that authority. In Jesus’ time, tax collectors were told by the Romans the amount to be gathered from the citizenry. The tax collector’s wages were whatever monies could be squeezed out of the population above and beyond Rome’s dictated amount. It was all but expected practice for soldier/police to extort money from non-Roman citizens. John the Baptist decries these practices as unworthy of the repentant. When asked, John denies that he is the messiah, but insists that that one is coming armed with the Holy Spirit and fire to sort the fruit from the waste.
John’s scoldings and teachings sound really menacing, yet we are told that John “proclaimed the good news to the people.” How is John’s message good news?