Second Sunday of Advent Study

ADVENT 2   12-06-2020

FIRST READING:  Isaiah 40:1-11

This text begins the second part of the Book of Isaiah, the portion that seeks to offer promise and hope for God’s people during the time of exile in Babylon (587-538BC). For Biblical scholars who divide the book into two major divisions, we are in “The Book of Comfort” (Chapters 40-66); and for Biblical scholars who divide the book into three major divisions, we are in “Second Isaiah” (Chapters 40-55). In either case, Jewish exiles – who have been defeated, deported, and devastated – are being encouraged by proclamations of future deliverance from exile in Babylon, a return to their homeland, and the restoration as a nation and faith community of an Israel that has been judged and punished by God.

Verses 1-2 set the theme of the whole section: comfort to God’s people, pardon for their sins, and a glorious return home. In spite of the people’s dread that the exile meant the end of their existence, or at least the end of their special relationship with God, these verses announce that “Jerusalem has served her term, paid her penalty”… and that God was still with them, to love and to comfort and to deliver. Just a thought here. When you think of our huge United States prison industry, with the largest prison population in the world (many of them African American and Latino) how well do you think we do with the transition from completing the “serving our term, paying our penalty” to being comforted, encouraged, and restored? Is God’s justice like or unlike what we experience as “justice” in our society, nation, and world?

A prophet (whose identity is not certain) is called to proclaim that good news of deliverance to those in exile… to cry it out, to shout it from a high mountain. In Isaiah’s time the coming of a king was announced by a herald, a shouting messenger. In response, the people literally leveled and straightened the roadways that the king would travel… it was both expected and commanded. So there is a strong call to “prepare the way of the Lord.” In this season of Advent, what needs leveling or straightening in your life to prepare for the Lord’s arrival?  But these verses in Isaiah also imagine the exiled people along on the journey, released and redeemed and being led by God, streaming across the desert as mountains collapse and valleys rise to make straight the way of the Lord… making the journey to return home, to peace and restoration and renewal and joy. In verse 11 we find the image of a shepherd carrying a lamb or two in strong arms, tenderly leading and protecting the flock. The Lord is right there to guide and protect, even carry, his people!

Verses 7- 8 proclaim a scriptural truth, that “All people are grass… the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” And this lesson from Isaiah imagines all of humankind hearing, seeing, and maybe even believing the strength and the wonder and the truth of God’s power and God’s love.

Our God is a mighty God, a powerful King, a gentle Shepherd, the One who loves you and comes to you and leads you home. Haven’t you and I – and all of us! – demonstrated by our many twists and turns in life, our own steep mountains and deep valleys, that we cannot, of our own will and power, get back to God? HERE I AM, LORD, WEAK AND WANDERING IN MY WILDERNESS! LEAD ME HOME!

SECOND READING:  2 Peter 3:8-15a

The author (who may or may not be that disciple Peter… perhaps someone who had worked with him, served as secretary for his message… or even a Christian from a generation later) wrote his first letter, 1 Peter, to warn and encourage Christians about outside troubles – the anticipated persecution at the hands of a newly hostile Roman government that had determined that Christianity was a forbidden religion (Emperor Nero, the half-crazed narcissistic leader of his time… we have had our own half-crazed leaders!). He wrote his second letter, 2 Peter, to warn and encourage Christians about troubles from within. False teachers were stirring up dissent, questioning basic doctrines, and leading Christians into immorality. Regarding the Second Coming of Christ, the theme in this reading, they were suggesting to others that the continued delay showed that this was clearly “fake news” created by apostles like Peter and Paul to inhibit the “freedom” of other Christians. For these false teachers, “freedom” meant the right to indulge in sexual immorality, drunkenness, and hedonistic pleasure (2 Peter 2:2,10, 13-14, 18). (Or, I suppose, the “freedom” to not wear a protective mask during COVID-19!)    

In today’s reading the author asserts that, contrary to false teachings, there is indeed a “day of the Lord” that will surely come… that will come suddenly and unexpectedly, “like a thief”… that will be LOUD and HOT and BIG and full of God’s judgment… that some will be rewarded and some punished. Why the apparent delay in the “day of the Lord”? God is not being slow in fulfilling promises, but is being patient, wanting nobody to be left out. The time between right now and the End are God’s gift to us; it is the time of God’s gracious patience (see 3:9). Our holy fear of God, our belief that God is in control of the future, should motivate us to repent while there is still time. Our anticipation of Christ’s Second Coming, our trust in his promise to return, our hope in everlasting life, should motivate us to think right, say right, do right, and be right… to be guided in our living and our loving by the life, death, resurrection, and lordship of Jesus.    

Where is Jesus? When is he coming – into my life in a new way, into this world in a transforming way, at the end of the ages in a decisive way? Am I maybe better off returning to my old life? Does it matter how I live, what I believe? 2 Peter talks about patience and persistence. Days become months, months have turned into years, and years into decades. Waiting is never easy, especially if you feel that your very life depends on what happens next. Take this as a warning, or take this as encouragement: Be on guard against a phony and faltering faith.

GOSPEL READING:  Mark 1:1-8

Mark is the only of the four authors to introduce that word “gospel” in his opening statement: “The beginning of the Gospel {good news} of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” This gospel begins abruptly with John the Baptist – the popular preacher and strange figure with bizarre clothing and diet – drawing people with spiritual needs out to the desert wilderness rather than the Temple in Jerusalem. His ministry is linked by Mark (And you can look in the other Gospels for this same connection) to the prophecy of Isaiah 40. Mark says that “the voice crying in the wilderness” was John the baptizer… and, very soon in Mark’s gospel we will see that “the Lord” is Jesus of Nazareth. Mark is in a hurry to get right to the “more powerful” One who will “baptize you with the Holy Spirit”.

Reading Mark suggests that the good news is that the story of God’s love for us begins in the wilderness.

Echoing the voice of another wilderness prophet from centuries earlier, John proclaims that God is on the move, doing something big, fulfilling a promise of long ago. So it is time to get ready with a change of heart, a change of lifestyle, a change of life orientation.

How would you “prepare” another person to meet Christ? How would you prepare yourself to meet Christ? Do you think that you are mostly prepared? Holding on? Struggling? Just beginning? Nowhere? 

REPENT! GET READY!

PREPARE! HE’S COMING!     

DO IT SOONER RATHER THAN LATER…