Advent 1, Cycle B

“Come back, O Lord! Return to us! Split the heavens open wide and come down the way you used to come!” With these words, paraphrased and summarized from the Isaiah tradition, the inspired leaders of the Isaiah tradition called out to the Lord at the end of the period of Israelite exile and during the long, difficult decades of their struggle to restore Jerusalem.

“Stir up your power, O Lord, and come to save us! Restore us! Let your face shine so that we can see it and be saved!” The words of the psalmist are appropriate for any people in need at any time and place. The opening words of the traditional Prayer for the Day for this Sunday, “Stir up your power, O Lord, and come!” would serve very well as the theme for the message in all four of the texts for this day.

Each time I go with students in my New Testament Studies and History of Religions classes at Texas Lutheran University to worship God among Hindus at the Hindu Temple of San Antonio, with Buddhists at the Thai Buddhist Wat Dhammabucha, with Jews at Temple Beth-El in San Antonio, and with Muslims at the Islamic Center of San Antonio and we are warmly welcomed, I think about possibilities and situations in which we might invite Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, and Muslim to worship God among us in our Lutheran Christian services. Of all of the seasons of the Church Year, I think that the four Sundays of Advent are the best choices, especially this First Sunday of Advent with the texts selected for this day.

In the Old Testament texts for the First Sunday of Advent in Series B of this lectionary (Isaiah 64:1-9 and Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19) the Lord God is called upon to come into the current situation of distress and need within this and every time and space and to do what the Lord is reported to have done in the past. Hindus, Buddhist, Jews, and Muslims can all resonate with these texts together with us. Within the New Testament accounts for this day, on the other hand, the emphasis is placed upon the end of time, the end of the age, the coming Day of the Lord. Here the message is to wait patiently, prepared for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, being sustained guiltless on that day (1 Corinthians 1:3-9), watching at the door, sleeplessly, on a twenty-four hour seven-day alert (Mark 13:24-37). Hindus can relate well to this, but these particularities cannot be easily embraced by Buddhists, Jews, and Muslims. Nevertheless, pastors who have a sound theology of creation and who have familiarity with the experiences of Buddhists, Jews, and Muslims can structure the message on this occasion in ways that would be welcoming to Buddhists, Jews, and Muslims. That is a challenge that we should accept, especially during the Sundays of Advent. An adequate message should include both universalities and particularities. That is what we are called to do.

We note that in the Isaiah 64:1-9 and Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19 texts the Lord God is addressed. In 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 and in Mark 13:24-37 followers of Jesus are addressed. In the Older Testament texts the Lord is called upon to save us here. In the Newer Testament texts the expectation is that the Lord Jesus Christ will come to take us from here. Let us, then, look briefly at each of these four texts.

Isaiah 64:1-9

This selection is a portion of the psalm of intercession that runs from Isaiah 63:7–64:12. A reading and an analysis of this entire song will help us to regain something of the context of this portion and of the vivid images within it. The selection that is our First Lesson should be read with much feeling! The lector for the day should be encouraged to read this text vibrantly. It is our task as those who proclaim the Word to recapture and to recapitulate the same vibrant feeling in the sermon or homily. We must address our needs, the needs of the people within the community of faith in which we live, just as they did in theirs.

Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19

The restoration emphasis within this great group lament suggests that this psalm may have had its Sitz im Leben (situation in the life of the people of that time) at the same time and perhaps at the same place as that of the Isaiah 64:1-9 song. Dare we today pray as this psalmist prayed? Can we update the psalm in some way within the proclamation of the message, substituting terminology current for our time and place while retaining the urgency of the prayer? In doing this, we will be calling upon the Lord to bless us with the strong presence of the Lord here and now in this present world of time and space.

1 Corinthians 1:3-9

The primary point of contact between this text that includes the reading of the final part of Paul’s salutation and all of the thanksgiving section of this extensive letter and the other three tests appointed for this day is “as you wait eagerly for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ who will also establish you until the end, blameless on the Day of the Lord Jesus Christ” in 1:7b-8. It would be helpful to give 7b-8 the most emphasis during the reading of this Second Lesson for the day.

Mark 13:24-37

Our study of this Mark 13 “Little Apocalypse” supports the hypothesis that along with the other portions of the Gospel According to Mark this chapter includes reminiscences about Jesus and sayings of Jesus passed down and adapted by followers of Jesus in order to meet their own needs. As is characteristic of general apocalyptic thought prevalent among many Jews during this period, there are specific references to Daniel 9:27 and to Daniel 7:13 in Mark 13:14 and in Mark 13:26 respectively. Mark 13 reflects the urgency with which the Markan eschatological community proclaimed this message as the end of the forty-year generation since the crucifixion of Jesus approached, its conviction that the end of the age was near, and its uncertainly about the precise moment in which the end would come. Most of the Mark 13:24-37 text may have come to us relatively unchanged from the Jesus of history. The words “not even the Son” in 13:32 may, however, have replaced something such as “nor do I know” during the 35-40 years of transmission of the saying after the death of Jesus. Nevertheless, the message that is inherent in 13:32-37 is as appropriate today as it was during the first century of the common era.

The message in all four of these texts on this First Sunday of Advent in Series B is in essence therefore, “Watch and Pray! Be watching and ready for the end. At the same time be open in prayer for God’s coming to us in the here and now of our present and continuing life together.” We greatly need God’s grace whenever God comes to us, whether it is to restore our life here (the Older Testament emphasis) or to bring it to an end and to provide a new beginning (the theme in the Newer Testament texts for this day).