Epiphany 6 | Ordinary Time 6, Cycle C

With Psalm 1, Jeremiah 17:5-10, and Luke 6:17-26 selected as three of the four biblical bases for the service and message next Sunday, we also can hardly use any other mode of expression than the beatitude ourselves as we lead in worship. Perhaps we should even express the 1 Corinthians 15:12-20 text in part, at least, in beatitude form for coherence in the service, as will be attempted below.

As would be expected, although many people are said to be blessed in these texts, they are said to be blessed for different reasons within different life situations. It is our task to determine with as much precision as possible the specifics of each life situation in these texts so that we shall be able to apply the texts to specific situations within our own life settings.

Psalm 1

There are two ways contrasted sharply in this lead-off psalm of the Israelite Psalter: the way of the wicked and the way of the righteous. The way of the righteous is the way characterized by delight in the Torah. A person who is walking in this way meditates on the Torah night and day, without ceasing. Such a person is known to the Lord. Such a person shall prosper. Such a person is blessed. The person who is wise will follow the way of the righteous and be blessed by the Lord. A person would be absolutely foolish to do otherwise.

Jeremiah 17:5-10

Because of the similarities between this text and Psalm 1, and because this text uses the more primitive form of curses contrasted with blessings, while Psalm 1 focuses on the Torah, which gained status as an authoritative, canonical body of literature after many centuries of development, it is likely that this Jeremiah 17 text was used as a primary source in the composition of Psalm 1. The contrast here in Jeremiah 17:5-8 is between the person who trusts in people and the person who trusts in the Lord. The person who trusts in the Lord will be fruitful season after season, like a tree that is planted near a stream that never runs dry. Such a person is indeed blessed. It is added in verses 9-10 that the Lord judges every person on the basis of that person’s ways and fruitfulness.

1 Corinthians 15:12-20

In beatitude form, this text might include the saying, “Blessed is the person who believes that Jesus has been raised from the dead to be the Christ! Such a person does not live in vain.” Paul was writing to people who had various opinions about the resurrection of the dead. Some believed that God actually physically raises people who have died back to a much better form of life, a life that is no longer limited by time and space; some people did not believe this. Paul tried to use logical argumentation to convince those who did not believe that God raises people from the dead, or more specifically that God had raised Jesus from the dead. After using this type of argumentation in verses 13-19, Paul simply states what he believes in verse 20, that Christ has been raised by God from the dead, just as Paul had expressed this faith earlier in this chapter. Within verse 20, Paul could well have concluded in the form of a beatitude, “Blessed is the person who believes this!”

For us also, while we may think that we shall be able to persuade someone by argumentation that God has raised Jesus from the dead, it is far more effective when we simply say, “I believe this. I choose to believe this even though I cannot prove it or any other statement about God. I invite you to believe this also, even though you cannot prove it either. Blessed are you when you believe!”

Luke 6:17-26

The beatitudes in this portion of what we call the “Sermon on the Plain” in Luke probably stem from several different life situations. It is likely that both what we call the “Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew 5-7 and the “Sermon on the Plain” in Luke 6 are collections by followers of Jesus of beatitudes and other sayings of Jesus remembered and repeated by his followers, supplemented by somewhat similar sayings adapted from things Jesus had said or that were added to what Jesus had said by his followers in new and somewhat different life settings.

As we become increasingly aware of the political situation of the Jews in Galilee and Judea during the time of Jesus’ public activity, we realize more fully that Jesus was speaking and working among people who were heavily oppressed economically, politically, and socially by the Roman military forces that eventually crucified Jesus because Jesus was providing hope and encouragement to significant numbers of his fellow oppressed Jews. There were a few, of course, among Jesus’ own people who cooperated fully with the Roman occupation forces and contracted to do business with them, managing the Temple, collecting various taxes, doing construction work ordered by the Romans, and providing other personal and private services.

If we wish to express the beatitudes of Luke 6:20-21 in the form in which they may have been verbalized by the Jesus of history, we might express Luke 6:20b in English as “Blessed are you who are oppressed, for yours is the kingdom of God!” The Greek word ?????? means “begging, dependent, poor, miserable, impotent, and oppressed politically and economically.” Within the context of the overwhelming majority of the Jews in Galilee and Judea with whom Jesus interacted, the Aramaic word anawim that Jesus would have used to speak to them and that was expressed in the Gospel accounts by use of the Greek word ?????? should be translated as “oppressed” rather than the more general word “poor” that has been used in the KJV, the RSV, the NRSV, and in most other translations of the Newer Testament into English. Jesus and the people with whom he worked were poor because they were severely oppressed economically and politically by the Romans, not because they were lazy.

The kingdom of God for Jesus and for his fellow oppressed Jews in Galilee and Judea was sharply contrasted with the kingdom of this world that was oppressing them, specifically the kingdom of Caesar. We are aware that the writers of the documents that later would be identified as the Newer Testament could not write anything directly against the oppressive Roman Empire, against Caesar, and against the zealous advocates of the Roman Civil Religion who demanded political and increasingly religious allegiance to the Roman State, without great risk of severe retaliation by the same Roman State that had crucified Jesus and had killed Peter, Paul, and other leading followers of Jesus. If Jesus had said, “Blessed are you who are oppressed, for yours is the kingdom of God!” to his fellow oppressed Jews, the Matthean redactors of Mark softened this to “Blessed are those who are oppressed in spirit (spiritually oppressed), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” They did this in order to reduce the political risk of this statement by spiritualizing it and by depersonalizing it.

We in the twenty-first century who are no longer threatened by the oppressive Roman State of the Caesars have no need to soften or to tone down the beatitudes expressed by Jesus. We who are no longer threatened by that particular oppressor should be fully aware of the great courage of Jesus when he spoke out publicly to bless and to encourage his oppressed fellow Jews, even though his doing this resulted in his being seized, tortured, and crucified by the Roman oppressors. We should also realize that the Jesus of history could have stopped speaking publicly his message of hope for the oppressed among his people and returned to a private life in Nazareth when his mother and some of his brothers implored him to do so to save his life, as indicated in Mark 3:20-21, 31-35. It is probable that they wanted him to stop and said that it was “crazy” for him to continue not because they did not agree with what he was saying, but because they feared for his life if he would continue. Jesus, of course, continued and was seized, tortured, and crucified by the Romans when he shared his message in Jerusalem.

The references in Luke 6:17-26 to the Son of Man and to what the fathers of those addressed had done to the prophets and the references to the false prophets of the past most likely reflect the life situations of some of the early followers of Jesus several decades after Jesus had been crucified. In our own ministries we can best proclaim the message and the life of Jesus by focusing on the life setting of the Jesus of history rather than on that of some of his followers decades after Jesus had been crucified.

Jeremiah 31:7-14

This thoroughly optimistic text is a reminder to us that the concept “salvation” in much of the Older Testament is primarily corporate and this-worldly and in most of the Newer Testament is primarily individualistic and is often other-worldly. By accepting both the Older and the Newer Testaments as its biblical canon, the early Church assured itself of well-balanced and well-rounded salvation concepts. Our teaching and our proclamation should reflect this balance, not overemphasizing the individualistic and other-worldly. When the corporate and this-worldly aspects of salvation are underemphasized and neglected, as they have been for so many centuries in most of the Church and still are in significant segments of it, oppression inevitably results and social justice is neither valued nor considered to be important for the Church. Instead, the Church offers only “pie in the sky by and by” and persons and groups of people who understand the necessity for social justice look with contempt upon the Church or at least consider it to be irrelevant.

Corporate and this-worldly and individualistic and other-worldly salvation is a gift from God for us. Life is itself a gift from God. Although we are individuals, we are members of the Church, the corporate body of Christ.

Sirach 24:1-12

This extensive personification and praise of Wisdom introduces the second half of the document known and used in major portions of the Christian Church as “The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach,” “Ecclesiasticus” (the Church’s book), or simply as “Sirach.” After emanating from the “mouth of the Most High,” Wisdom is said in this text to have permeated the world before being commanded by the Creator to dwell in Israel.

Psalm 147:12-20

As in so many of the songs in the Psalter, praise of the Lord (Adonai) is the dominant theme here. It is possible that there are three extended “verses” (vv. 1-6, 7-11, 12-20) in this psalm as we have it today, much as we may have hymns with three verses in our hymnals. The third verse selected here (vv. 12-20) was probably at one time separate from verses 1-6 and 7-11, as it is the Septuagint (Greek) and in the Vulgate (Latin) major translations of the Hebrew Bible. The emphasis in verses 12-20 on the Lord sending out the Word of the Lord (v. 18), declaring the Word of the Lord to Jacob (v. 19), and the statement that the Word of the Lord runs swiftly (v. 15) explains the reason for the selection of this portion to be placed between the personification of Wisdom in Sirach 24:1-12 and the personification of the Word of the Lord in Jesus perceived as the Christ in John 1:1-18, the pre-existent Logos (Word) who became flesh and “camped” among us, full of grace and truth.

Wisdom of Solomon 10:15-21

In this other major wisdom document within the so-called Older Testament Apocrypha that is sacred Scripture for most Christians, Wisdom is personified and acclaimed throughout the first ten chapters of the Wisdom of Solomon. In this segment, as in the portion from Sirach 24:1-12, Wisdom is said to have provided guidance for and become a blessing for Israel. It is written that Wisdom entered into Moses and led the former slaves through the Red Sea to freedom. We can believe that just as God via Wisdom provided salvation for Israel, God via the Word (the Logos) Jesus the Christ, provided salvation for the members of the Johannine community and offers salvation to the world.

Ephesians 1:3-14

The key words that connect this text selected from the “blessing” portion of this epistle to the Johannine Prologue (vv. 1:1-18) are Grace in verse 6 and the Word of Truth in verse 13. It should be noted that in Greek the entire “blessing” section of this epistle (vv. 3-14) is one extended sentence. When we translate this sentence into the English language for readers of modern English, we have to divide it into at least six sentences. Greek readers from the period of classical Greek and from what is for us the “biblical” period enjoyed well-constructed, “edifice” sentences; most modern readers of English want their sentences in simple, small bites.

John 1:(1-9) 10-18

Since the references to the witness of John the Baptist interrupt the flow of thought of this Prologue in the Fourth Gospel, even though they link the Prologue to the materials in the Gospel proper that begin with 1:19, on this particular occasion on the Second Sunday after Christmas Day when the Word, the Logos is emphasized, it would be appropriate to focus our attention on the portions of the Prologue (vv. 1-5, 9-14, 16-18) apart from the references to John the Baptist that we see in 1:6-8 and 15. The main and perhaps original portions of the Prologue (vv. 1-5, 9-14, 16-18) express one of the highest Christologies that were included within the Newer Testament canon.

Here in Jesus, the pre-existent Logos, divine grace is said to be so abundant that it is literally “grace piled on top of grace.” Here the only begotten God the Son, who is in the close presence of God the Father, has “exegeted” (from the final verb in v. 18) God, has brought God out so that those who follow him will be able to see the meaning of God, God whom no human has ever seen at any time.

Particularly if we have used John 1:1-14 as the Gospel text on Christmas Day, we should put our emphasis on 1:16-18 on this present occasion. A biblically based message from this text on the Second Sunday after Christmas Day will demonstrate from Jesus as Jesus is revealed to us in the Newer Testament and from our experiences within the Church as it should be as the “Body of Christ” what it means to us to receive God’s “grace piled on top of God’s grace.” Our message will also show how the Jesus of history in his life brought out for others to see the meaning of God whom no human being has ever seen at any time. It will be God who graciously forgives and Jesus who goes to the cross for us whom we, therefore, will proclaim and will depict with our lives. This will mean offering ourselves for others. It will mean giving up our life by trusting and believing in God who is the one who gives “grace piled on top of grace.” Our words will be effective if our lives demonstrate these things.

In each of the texts selected for this day, those who are addressed are urged to look forward in anticipation of good things that will occur when God will act decisively in behalf of people who are in need. Each of the situations differs from each other, and our situation differs from each of these. Nevertheless, in each situation someone speaks as a representative of God. In our own situations, each of us is being called to be that representative of God next Sunday. What are we being called to proclaim as God’s representative where we are next Sunday? What message of judgment and of hope shall be spoken through us? Let us look more closely at the situations depicted in each of these texts. Then let us look more closely at our own situations.

Baruch 5:1-9

In this final portion of the beautiful call for courage and hope in view of the imminent saving intervention of God that extends from Baruch 4:5–5:9, Jerusalem is commanded to dress appropriately for this great occasion of salvation. She is told to remove her tattered garments of mourning and affliction and to put on the everlasting robe of righteousness that is a gift from God and the diadem of the glory of the Holy One, so that her beauty will be seen everywhere on the earth.

It is also said that Jerusalem will soon see her children gathered together from the east and the west to return to her. All of nature will cooperate in this glorious restoration.

This final portion of Baruch could easily be a segment of the Isaiah tradition from the late exilic and early restoration periods upon which it is heavily dependent. For us as Christians on Advent 2, this reading can become an expression of our solidarity with the Jewish people as together with them we look forward to saving acts of God.

Malachi 3:1-4

According to this text, good and needed actions will occur at any moment, for “Behold, I am sending Malachi (‘my messenger’) to prepare the way in front of me” (v. 1a). Many in the early Church disregarded the original context of this prophetic word of assurance and identified John the Baptist as “my messenger” and Jesus as the Lord. Leaders in the early Church had every right to do so, even though in its context and “life situation” Malachi 3:1-4 refers to a series of conditions that prevailed in restoration Jerusalem somewhere between 515 and 445 BCE, not to first century CE. When Malachi 3:1-4 is read next Sunday, it would be appropriate to provide a brief explanation of the Malachi tradition’s concern for sincere, carefully guided cultic actions. Within our proclamation of the message for our time we would help the people in our situation if we would point out that early Christian leaders saw in this Malachi text a reference to John the Baptist as the Lord’s messenger and to Jesus as the Lord, even though that was not the intention of this text in its original setting. The Malachi 3:1-4 text, therefore, comes to us in the Jewish tradition in which it continues to be a call for sincere, carefully guided cultic actions and in the Christian tradition in which it continues to function as a prediction of the work of John the Baptist as the Lord’s messenger and of Jesus as the Lord. Within our sincere, carefully guided cultic actions we now function as John the Baptist to prepare our people for the Lord.

Philippians 1:3-11

The “day of Jesus Christ” about which the Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians is obviously the point of contact with the other texts chosen for use on Advent 2. That “day of Jesus Christ” was an important day for the Apostle Paul, and it is an important day for us. It is a day for which we also should be filled with the “fruits of righteousness,” to the “glory and praise of God.” That day, for us as for Paul, is a day when God will act decisively. That day is not merely the Christmas Day of incarnation of God in the past. It is also a day in our future and in the future of the world.

Luke 1:68-79

Liturgically, this “Benedictus” of Zechariah provided by the inspired Lukan writer, following in the Older Testament tradition of songs and canticles, has a prominent place in the Morning Prayer (Matins) Service for many of us. In it there is a confident expectation that the Lord God of Israel will soon deliver us from the heavy hand of our oppressors to serve God without fear, guiding our feet on the path of peace. In what ways do we suffer under the heavy hand of our oppressors? How do we expect that the Lord God will deliver us from our oppression? How do we proclaim and expect the Lord God to act in our future? How must we change so that we do not oppress others; so that we will turn back to God instead of turning our backs to God?

Luke 3:1-6

Since this is the major text for Advent 2, let us take the time for a somewhat extended exegetical study of it before we consider its application in our own situations.

Exegetical study:

1. An analysis of the literary genre of the text
It is an introduction of a religious precursor. (Compare this pericope with Luke 3:21–4:30, in which Jesus is introduced.)

2. Themes in the text
a. The word of God comes upon a person selected by God (v. 2b).
b. That word of God results in the proclamation of a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins and the preparation of the way of the Lord to bring God’s saving action to all people (vv. 3-6).

3. Structure of the text
a. External structure
1) Parentage, conception, pre-natal development, birth, circumcision, growth and development of Jesus’ accounts precede this pericope.
2) The message of John and an introduction of Jesus as the beloved Son of God follow this text.
b. Internal structure
1) The time and place setting that “Luke” supplies for the beginning of the public appearance of John (3:1-2a)
2) The call of John (3:2b)
3) The work of John as a “voice of one crying in the wilderness” (3:3-6)
4. Matrices (Life-situations) in which the text probably developed

All four Gospels and Acts associate the work of John the Baptizer with the beginning of Jesus’ public actions. In Mark this is done almost immediately. In Luke, as Mark’s gospel genre is recast more along the lines of a “drama” genre, the Lukan playwright provides a time and place setting for the beginning of the public appearance of John. Only Luke provides this time and place setting, because only Luke uses a modified “drama” genre. Neither Matthew nor Luke adopts Mark’s identification of both Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:3 as “written in Isaiah the prophet” without modification. Matthew utilizes the Malachi concept in Matthew 11:10 as words of Jesus, and Luke uses it in Luke 1:76 in Zechariah’s “Benedictus” considered above. Only Luke includes Isaiah 40:4-5, apparently in order to include a reference to a universal witness that Luke has changed from the “glory” of the Lord to the “salvation” of God. All four Gospel accounts omit the parallelism “our God” in their quotation of Isaiah 40:3, thereby making John the messenger of Jesus as Lord rather than the messenger of God. The extensive Lukan account concerning John the Baptist combines Markan material, possible “Q” materials, and Lukan composition. Because of the apparent tendency within the Gospels and Acts to subject the John the Baptist traditions to the Jesus traditions, it is not possible for us to uncover with certainty what the historical Jesus said and did. Therefore, we shall concentrate on the Lukan level here and not attempt to reconstruct the Jesus of history level.

5. Purposes and meanings of the text
a. to show that God was speaking and acting in a powerful manner through John the Baptist to open the way for the Lord (Jesus) to come to offer the salvation of God to all people who wish to receive it.
b. to indicate that the Isaiah 40:3-5 portion of the Isaiah tradition had its most significant application in the person and work of John the Baptist, the most important precursor of Jesus as Lord.

6. Usage of this text from the first century CE until the present time

Most Christian commentators, teachers, and preachers have followed “Luke” quite closely in seeing the person and work of John the Baptist as the fulfillment of the Isaiah 40:3-5 text. They have considered Isaiah 40:3-5 to have been a long-range prediction and have read Luke 3:1-6 as its historical fulfillment. More objective biblical studies during the past bicentennial put more emphasis upon the original matrix and purposes of the Isaiah 40:3-5 tradition during the latter years of the Babylonian exile period and upon the tendency within the Gospels and Acts to subject the John the Baptist traditions to the Jesus traditions.

Applications now
We are now in the precursor role, the role of John the Baptist, the role of the messenger of the Lord, today! It is for us next Sunday to proclaim that God will act decisively in behalf of the people of the world in our present and in our future. We may be inspired to proclaim that action of God in continuity with our present, or in discontinuity with our present, or partially in both. Since our situations differ and are always dynamic, the specific content of that inspired, revealed, and authoritative word that we proclaim cannot be depicted here, except in general terms. Since we believe in God and believe that God does act decisively in Jesus the Christ, we shall certainly proclaim decisive acts of God on behalf of people who desire such action. We will look forward in joyful anticipation to the good things that will occur when God acts and when we by faith see those actions as God’s actions for the people of the world. In each specific situation, that is, in each congregation at a specific time and place, our proclamation as inspired, revealed, and authoritative word of God should address the needs of people for economic opportunity, political freedom, education, and civil rights. Nothing less than that will be adequate. Anything less than that is likely to be merely repetition of messages that the people have heard many times before on Advent 2. Then most of them will lose interest in the message.

The dominating theme of these texts and of Advent 3 is eager expectation. The message for Advent 3 in Series C, therefore, differs from the message for Advent 2 not in substance but in intensity. Not only is the Lord going to do something good for people; the Lord is coming now! The proclamation is now more insistent; the parenesis is now more urgent. Promises and assurances of the coming parousia of the Lord are punctuated again and again in these texts by parenetic directions of how to live in view of the arrival of the Lord. We see this in all of these texts, even though their situations differ from each other and from ours.

Isaiah 12:2-6

In the first of the two brief psalms (12:1b-3 and 4b-6) that conclude Isaiah 1-12, the person who sings in the psalm is directed to say, “I will trust in the Lord and not be afraid!” On that day, which is coming soon, the psalmist will sing, “The Lord has become my salvation!”

In the second psalm the psalmist will draw water from wells of salvation. The Holy One of Israel is in the middle of Jerusalem. What the Lord has done shall be proclaimed throughout all of the earth. Our Advent hymn, “Joy To The World! The Lord Is Come!” expresses the same thought as we sing it during this season. Like Isaiah 12:2-6, this hymn is a mixture of realized and futuristic hope.

Zephaniah 3:14-20

This concluding portion of the Zephaniah traditions portrays the Lord as a great military leader whose presence assures Jerusalem and its people that the Lord will bring peace and safety to them. The eager expectation with which the tradition is expressed indicates that at the time this tradition was formed there was good reason to hope that the Lord would soon restore Jerusalem. On Advent 3 we too are filled with eager expectation. As the Spirit of God engenders our words, the mood and message of eager expectation must be communicated next Sunday also where we are.

Philippians 4:4-7

Appropriate and acceptable lifestyle for Christians during this twenty-first century continues to concern us. At the time when Paul was writing his letters and while the Four Gospels were being formed, new religious communities of followers of Jesus self-consciously identifying themselves as separate from other religious communities had the responsibility of determining what lifestyle was appropriate and acceptable for themselves. From the evidence that we have in the documents within the Newer Testament, it is likely that more than any other individual within these communities Paul was instrumental in shaping the lifestyle of the people within these new communities of faith. Paul was instrumental in this regard during his lifetime and again late in the first century when many of his letters that he had sent to five specific house church communities and to one individual, Philemon, were gathered together, edited by several persons within the Pauline communities, and circulated more widely. We are beginning to realize that Paul was probably more instrumental in shaping the lifestyle of early followers of Jesus than he was in establishing their theology. Because Paul’s letters, as collected, edited, and distributed within the developing followers of Jesus, have continued in use as sacred Scriptures, they, more than any other parenetic material, have continued to determine what shall be appropriate and acceptable behavior for Christians. The Epistle to the Philippians and the segments of Philippians to be read within our congregations at worship next Sunday are important evidence of lifestyle considerations in Paul’s letters as they have been brought to us within our Christian tradition.

Within Philippians 4:4-7, 8-9, and 10-13 Paul alternates repeatedly between telling his hearers how they should live and why they should live that way. In eager expectation they should “Rejoice in the Lord!” and their gentle graciousness should be apparent to all people. This is necessary because “The Lord is at hand!” They should not be anxious about anything, even though Paul himself is now a prisoner of the Roman state, and it is likely that the Roman state will execute him for proclaiming that Jesus raised from the dead rather than Caesar is Lord and ruler “above the earth, on the earth, and under the earth.” It was the conviction and proclamation of Paul that Jesus as the Christ rather than Caesar is Lord and ruler on the earth that was so objectionable to the zealous advocates of Roman Civil Religion. These were the men who had made Paul their prisoner and would soon be bringing him into a Roman court and charging him with proclaiming someone other than Caesar as Lord and ruler within the Roman state. If Paul had proclaimed Jesus rather than Caesar as Lord in the heavens and in the graves under the surface of the earth, the zealous advocates of Roman Civil Religion who had power and wealth because of their loyalty to the Roman state would not have been concerned. It was Paul’s proclamation that Jesus the Risen Christ is Lord and ruler on the earth and the fact that significant and increasing numbers of Greeks were acclaiming this also that was alarming to the zealous Greeks who had responsibilities to maintain Roman sovereignty in their areas.

Nearly 2,000 years after Paul had been killed by the Romans, it was the Lutheran pastors in the so-called Confessing Church in Germany who proclaimed that Jesus as the Risen Christ rather than Adolf Hitler was Lord and ruler on the earth in Germany who were oppressed by the Nazis. The much larger number of Lutheran pastors who proclaimed that Jesus as the Risen Christ was Lord and ruler in the heavens above the earth and in the graves under the earth, but accepted Adolf Hitler as the Lord and ruler on the earth were praised by the Nazis, but discredited after Germany was defeated at the end of World War II.

Regardless of what may happen to him and to them, Paul wrote that the peace of God will keep their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Paul in Philippians 4, gently guided the Philippians to follow the model of his own lifestyle as they waited with eager expectation for the coming of the Lord. It was clear to Paul that the Lord will surely come, whether he and they live or die. So also it is for us.

Luke 3:7-18

As we compare this text with its parallels in Mark and in Matthew, and as we attempt to reconstruct the history of the development of the text, we see that by the time it reached the level of development that we have in Luke 3 it had become in terms of genre a prophetic word, specifically a prophetic word of judgment of the “old” people of God.

Verse by verse analysis of Luke 3:7-18 indicates that we have in 7-9 name calling and judgments directed against the Jews (material in common with Matthew 3:7-10 and possibly “Q” source in origin). Verses 10-14, in Luke only, are parenesis for the multitudes, for tax collectors, and for soldiers (probably not Roman soldiers but poor Jews who were paid to protect the persons and the wealth of the Jewish tax collectors). Verse 15 provides expectations about the possibility that John the Baptist might be the Messiah (Luke only). In verse 16 it is said that John baptizes with water, but that the mightier one who is to come will baptize with the Holy Spirit (Markan material used also by Matthew and by Luke). Verse 17 asserts that the mightier one will judge everyone, gathering the “wheat” and burning the “chaff” (material in common with Matthew 3:12). Verse 18 is a summary statement that with many different types of exhortation John the Baptist proclaimed “good news” to the people, good news obviously for those who are “wheat” (Luke only).

Four levels of development of this tradition can be seen with considerable clarity as we study the Luke 3:7-18 text and its parallels. These are the John the Baptist of history level, the Markan level, the Matthean level, and the Lukan level. Life situation and purpose at each level can also be recovered with some certainty as we examine these texts within the context of other texts.

At the John the Baptist of history level, the life situation is Jewish, specifically Jewish prophetic self-criticism coupled with eager expectation of the coming of the transcendent though human Son of Man. The visible expression of a water baptism of preparation was used. The purpose at this Jewish level of prophetic self-criticism was to gather a people prepared for the Lord, after the analogy of the Isaiah traditions during the last years of the exilic period. Similarities to the Qumran literature are numerous. The polemic at this level is not anti-Jewish. It is intra-Jewish. It is designed for the improvement of one’s self, not for the improvement of other people.

At Markan level (Mark 1:5-8) John the prophet has now become the messenger “foretold” by Isaiah. John the Baptist has now become securely subordinate to Jesus. Nevertheless, he is portrayed as the most important precursor of Jesus, the mightier one who is to come. The purpose at the Markan level is to show that the person and work of John the Baptist was clearly foretold by Isaiah and that Jesus is the Lord (the imminent Adonai by implication) who came and will come again to baptize his followers, the new people of God, with the Holy Spirit.

At the Matthean level (Matthew 3:5-12) the intra-Jewish internal self-criticism has become external anti-Jewish polemic directed viciously against the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Pharisees and the Sadducees are judged and condemned to destruction by fire. The purpose at the Matthean level is to show that the Jewish groups are going to be cut down and thrown like tree brush and chaff into the fire (with the recent destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE undoubtedly in mind) in accordance with the prophetic word. In place of these discredited Pharisees and Sadducees the tradition represented here asserts that God can certainly raise up new children for Abraham, i.e., the followers of Jesus, and definitely will do so.

At the Lukan level (our Luke 3:7-18 text) the Jewish multitudes are condemned as in Matthew. However, for the new people of God there is good news. It is essential that these new people of God, the followers of Jesus and those who will join themselves to them, be honest, considerate, and content. By this time the invitation is extended even to Roman military personnel, in the hopes that they too would join in the new community of faith and accept Jesus rather than Caesar as their Lord. The purpose of the text at the Lukan level is to provide guidelines of ethical behavior for followers of Jesus baptized by the Holy Spirit and by fire on the Lukan Pentecost and later.

Perhaps a few suggestions for liturgical and homiletical use of these Synoptic traditions next Sunday may be in order. If we wish to go back through these texts to the ground floor of the John the Baptist of history level, we can emphasize the Advent message of sincere self-criticism in anticipation of the Lord who comes (came, comes, and will come) to us and to all people. This level is most appropriate for us for use on Advent 3.

If we wish to go no deeper than the Lukan level, we should deemphasize the Lukan judgment of the “Old” people of God (the Jews), since especially within our post-Auschwitz era such condemnation is certainly neither appropriate nor is it necessary. Instead, we should concentrate on the words of assurance and of parenesis for the people of God today, ecumenically gathered wherever God gathers them in many traditions throughout the world. It is our privilege to proclaim the good news that there is salvation in Christ to everyone, without standing in judgment of them or claiming an exclusive monopoly over the sharing of God’s grace.

Finally, we should be reminded that the great Advent hymn “Joy To The World” belongs with these texts for use on Advent 3 next Sunday.

The Collect (Prayer of the Day) for Advent 4 is truly a classic. It is not a weak “Help us to do so and so.” Instead, it is a bold call in the best Older Testament style with its “Stir up your power, O Lord, and come! Take away our sins and make us ready for the celebration” The words “celebration of your birth” clearly indicate the double meaning of the word “Lord” here, as well as in many other places within our Christian prayers, since “the Lord” (Adonai) is not perceived as having a birth, but “the Lord” Jesus is. With its Trinitarian conclusion the prayer takes us to the farthest reaches of the Newer Testament and beyond it into the early Church.

Just as the Gospel account for Advent 3 directed our attention fully to John the Baptist, the Gospel account for Advent 4 focuses on Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Psalm 80:1-7

The geographical areas mentioned in this community lament imply that this psalm may have had its origin in the Northern Kingdom. Its words “Listen, O Shepherd of Israel! Get yourself going! Come and save us! Restore us, O God! You have the power to do it. Let your face shine upon us, in order that we may be saved! Give us life! Then we shall call upon your name!” and others like them in similar psalms provide the basis for the Collect cited above. In our liturgical use as Christians, this psalm is a final call for help before we celebrate the coming of God to us in Christ Jesus our Lord on Christmas.

Micah 5:2-5a

This well-known text may be said to exist in two separate but related genres, one in terms of its Jewish Older Testament context and the other in the Christian Newer Testament setting. It is first of all an Israelite-Jewish text, one of many within what may be called the “Messianic Problem” grouping. These texts are concerned with the problem of “Whom will God raise up from among the descendants of David to become our new king who shall under God lead us to political independence and freedom? Which of the descendents of the great king David shall give us the security that our ancestors enjoyed?” Just as David had been born in Bethlehem, so also it was expected by many that a son of David destined to become a political messiah would someday be born in that little village. In a most interesting way, the Jewish Messianic Problem of who would be this great new king became the basis for what would later be seen as many Christian Messianic Prophecies pointing specifically to Jesus. It is important that intelligent, educated Christians in our time become aware of this basis for the so-called Christian Messianic Prophecies of this type. The Matthean and the Lukan traditions “solved” the Jewish Messianic Problem to the satisfaction of the early Church by placing the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem and turning the Micah 5:1-5a Jewish Messianic Problem text into a Christian Messianic Prophecy that has remained basically unquestioned in popular Christianity. Christian Christmas carols such as “O Little Town Of Bethlehem” have brought Micah 5:2-5a fully into our Christian Christmas setting. Nevertheless, the little town (now city) of Bethlehem remains a holy place for both Jews and Christians for separate but related reasons. With greater understanding of the varied use of Micah 5:2-5a by both Jews and Christians, the text and the town can and should become focal points for fellowship and shared community between Jews and Christians, and for Muslims as well.

Hebrews 10:5-10

This text is a small segment of the extended persuasive presentation of the writer of this document in which its writer was attempting to convince Jewish background followers of Jesus within an evolving Christian community, perhaps in Alexandria, Egypt, to remain followers of Jesus and not return to their Jewish practices and lifestyle. We read in Hebrews 10:5 (my translation), “Therefore, coming into the world, Christ said, ‘The sacrifice of animals and the offering of material gifts are not what you (God) wish most. But a body for me you have prepared for your purpose.’ ” Through our Christian use of this text on the Sunday immediately prior to Christmas Eve, we are in effect having the about-to-be-born baby Jesus addressing God by quoting from the Septuagint text of Psalm 40 (39):6-8 regarding the much greater importance of doing the will of God than of offering animal sacrifices and making material gifts!

The last instance in which Jews offered animal sacrifices as a religious action was just prior to the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple by the Romans in 70 CE, and even for many centuries prior to that date animal sacrifice was little more than a symbolic action by Israelite-Jewish priests. Jews and Christians agree with this writer of Hebrews 10:5-10, and certainly all Muslims as well, that doing the will of God is far more important than butchering animals so that their meat can be eaten. As for the giving of material gifts to be used in helping people who are in need, Jews, Christians, and Muslims find this to be important and in accordance with the will of God. As Christians, we certainly bestow material gifts on family members and friends on Christmas Day, actions that are of great significance to merchants and a necessary stimulus to the global economy!

Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)

In verses 39-45 we have a fascinating drama scene involving two pregnant women. With inspired creativity, the Lukan writer brought the mother of John the Baptist and the mother of Jesus into a close kinship relationship in which the themes of prenatal signs and the superiority of Jesus as Savior over John the Baptist could be utilized fully. In verses 46-55 (the Magnificat) the Lukan writer, again with much inspired creativity, produced a hymn of glorification, based this time on the song of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:1-10, with a focus on the Lukan theme of the exaltation of the lowly.

New Testament scholars such as Richard A. Horsley, Warren Carter, William R. Herzog II, and others currently identify and explain within texts such as Luke’s Magnificat “hidden transcripts” of resistance by oppressed persons against their powerful oppressors. My own Anti-Roman Cryptograms in the New Testament: Hidden Transcripts of Hope and Liberation (New York: Peter Lang, 2009) is an analysis of such texts throughout the Newer Testament. These “hidden transcripts” characteristically include political connotations as well as theological content. Our sermons and homilies, if they are grounded in biblical texts, will inevitably also have political and economic implications as well as primarily theological content, especially during the Advent-Christmas-Epiphany and during the Lenten and Easter Seasons, as well as throughout the Church Year.