Almighty God, who has caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning, open our ears and hearts today to learn from your word and from one another, we ask in Jesus' Name. Amen

Set the calendar-clock to the right date. Advent is the time of waiting in preparation for the coming of the Lord

4.How is this Advent season different from ?the Christmas shopping season? that surrounds us?

5.What is the good news this very year that the people of your church need to hear?

Memory Passage

Bible Passage

ISAIAH 61:1-4, 8-1 God's justice was a constant theme of the great prophets of Israel. In these classical lines of Hebrew poetry, the unknown prophet of Israel's exile in Babylon, or from the school of his disciples, applied this theme to the promised return to their homeland. If the prophet’s disciples were the authors, then it shows considerable influence of the master. Its also has many links with the preceding and following poems in ch. 60 and 62. With emphasis on the reversal of conditions which the exiles had endured for two generations from 586-539 BCE.

It is surprising that the middle segment of the poem has been dropped from this reading. It referred to the people of other nations serving Israel as shepherds and farm workers while Israel concentrated on its priestly role among the nations. This imaginative description of the future awaiting the returning exiles indicated how great their redemption would be.

Similarly powerful imagery in the rest of the poem dramatically revealed the Israelites’ new status in history. Vv. 1-4 declares the new mission in which Israel will engage. Not only would the ruined cities of Judea be rebuilt, but the ancient covenant between Israel and God would be renewed. The end result would be a whole new quality of life and purpose for God's people. They would serve as a herald of good news to oppressed and captive people, bringing assurance of God’s favour and comfort to those who mourn. They would enable others to sing praises of joy.

That theirs would be a missionary task becomes even clearer in the concluding segment (vv. 8-11). The return from exile and renewal of the ancient covenant expressed God’s justice, righteousness and salvation which the exiles descendants would make known to other nations. The imagery of a new wardrobe which Israel would wear, like that of a bridegroom and bride dressed for their wedding, described how they would be prepared for their new role. Their new clothes symbolized the divine gifts of a moral and spiritual nature. As if that is not enough to make the point, imagery of growth in a garden reiterated how God would prepare the new Israel "to spring forth before all the nations" (vs. 11).

The poem was written in the first person, a characteristic of much of the poetry of Second Isaiah. Raised in a culture of almost total individualism, we may not fully understand how the ancient Israelites conceived of the covenanted people as a corporate personality and of a single prophet fulfilling a communal function as in this instance. This prophet in particular made use of this form to convey what lay ahead for the returning exiles. In his introduction to Isaiah 40-66, the late James Muilenburg, formerly of Union Theological Seminary, New York, proposed that in chs. 40-55, the community was still in Babylon while in chs. 56-66 it had already returned to Jerusalem. The issues which faced the latter group, such as those lifted up in this poem, were notably different from those still in exile. (Abingdon Press, 1951. The Interpreter’s Bible, V, 383.)

According the Luke’s Gospel (4:16-20), Jesus adopted the first verse of this passage as the basic theme for his ministry. Without question the apostolic church read it as a messianic prophecy. Some scholars have gone so far as to identify this poem with the Servant Songs, especially Isaiah 52:12-53:12. The eschatological significance of the message comes to the fore in the prophetic mission expressed in vs. 2: "to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour."

This material is copyright Rev. John Shearman, Oakville, ON Canada. It may be used for personal study and local congregational purposes.

1. Paul Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic, pp. 46-77. This passage is the centerpiece of chs. 60-62 and is basically a reiteration of much of Isaiah 42:1-9, one of the Suffering Servant songs.

2. Gil Bailie, "The Gospel of Luke," audio tape #3, side A. It might be helpful to make the connection through Jesus' reading of this passage in Luke 4.

1. The "year of our Lord's favor" is a reference to the Jubilee Sabbath Year, cf., Lev. 25:8-18. It is a year in which those who have been victims of the sacrificial institutions get a reprieve for a year. In 1999 the Catholic Church lifted up the theme of Jubilee in the face of all the millennialist stuff -- a worthwhile strategy.

2. This is the passage that Jesus reads in Luke 4. Jesus proclaims himself as the fulfillment of the Jubilee year, a year for victims -- and almost becomes one on the spot, as he narrowly misses a spontaneous lynching.

This passage was probably written after the people of Israel returned from Exile. It foretells the total salvation of God’s people: bodily, spiritually, individually and socially. The prophet says that God has empowered him to act on God’s behalf; God has “anointed” him, commissioned him to preach and to hear the Word of faith, to understand God’s word, and to be strengthened in following it. (Vv. 1b-2 are Jesus’ text when he preaches the good news in the synagogue in Nazareth: see Luke 4:18-19.) This is a message of rescue for God’s people, in all ways. “The year of the Lord’s favour” (v. 2) is mentioned in Leviticus 25:10: in a jubilee year, a year dedicated to God, one of liberty, all shall return home to their families. It is a year of rest in which the land produces without being sown. (The word translated as “vengeance” can be rendered as rescue.) In 60:21, God promises the people righteousness, oneness with God. Calling them “oaks of righteousness” here (v. 3) indicates the strength of their bond with him. They will show God’s majesty and power (“glory”), as intermediaries (“priests”, v. 6) between him and other nations.

Vv. 4-7 tell us that strangers, foreigners, from all nations will contribute to the restoration of righteousness on earth. They will be greatly (“double”) blessed, and have eternal joy. The promises to Abraham made in Haran are finally to be fulfilled (v. 9). “They” (probably Israel, but possibly the foreigners too) will be rewarded (“recompense”, v. 8); God’s agreement with them will last for ever. In vv. 10-11, the prophet speaks as the renewed Jerusalem. All will rejoice because God has provided salvation and has healed their rift with God. Just as seeds grow into plants that can be seen, so God will cause people to be joined with him, to grow in him, and to praise him as an example for “all the nations”.

PSALM 126 This is another of the fifteen songs in the Hebrew scriptures bearing the title "A Songs of Ascent" (Pss. 120-134). Scholars differ as to their date, origin and use. The Hebrew Mishnah speculated that they were sung by the Levite chorus on the fifteen steps leading from the court of women to the court of Israel, but this interpretation, though imaginative, is doubtful. It does seem, however, that they could have been a special collection used by pilgrims making their way up to Jerusalem for one or other of the great festivals. It is also possible that over time the collection broadened to include some songs not directly related to pilgrimage. This psalm may be one of those later additions.

This psalm celebrated Israel's deliverance from the Babylonian captivity. The psalmist recalled this joyous time recounted by his ancestors and written down in several of the prophetic books (Isa. 55:12-13; Zech. 8:1-23; Hag. 2:1-23; Ezra). Those days were long past and life was not all that had been anticipated. In fact, Israel’s barren life resembled the Negeb desert. So the psalmist lamented the nation’s disappointment. In a concluding prayer, he asked for God's help in renewing the nation as the dry watercourses of the Negev desert were renewed by infrequent rains. Not rain, but tears of sorrow provided the desperately needed moisture. Yet hope flowed with the tears that an abundant harvest would restore prosperity.

Memories of Yahweh’s past interventions, especially in the return from exile, made this more than a forlorn hope. Because of the great things Yahweh had done in the past (vs. 3), the psalmist could fervently pray "restore our fortunes, O Lord," (vs. 4). This short psalm gave full expression to Israel’s belief in a theocratic history. Scholars have also observed a residue of ancient fertility myths of death and revivification common to all Middle Eastern cultures in the sowing in sorrow and reaping in joy found in vs. 6. The image is of a sower carrying his seed in a sack slung over his shoulder keening a lament even as he scatters the seed. In the frequent droughts that ravaged the Holy Land, hope often depended on the next rainfall.

This material is copyright Rev. John Shearman, Oakville, ON Canada. It may be used for personal study and local congregational purposes.

This is a liturgical song, part of public worship. V. 1a can be rendered as When the Lord brought back those who returned to Zion. When the people first returned from exile in Babylon, they hardly believed their good fortune (“like those who dream”). So great was their success that other nations (v. 2) recognized God’s mighty works on Israel’s behalf, and the people of Israel “rejoiced” (v. 3). But after the initial euphoria, life is difficult. Please, God, “restore our fortunes” (v. 4), as the land around a normally dry river in the desert (“Negeb”) blooms when the water flows. May we, who are sorrowful as we sow, gather the harvest in joyfulness – as God once more acts on our behalf.

LUKE 1:47-55 (Alternate) Some churches prefer to use Mary’s Song, known as The Magnificat, as the psalm for this Sunday. Many scholars believe Luke found all the canticles or songs of the nativity narratives as hymns sung by early Jewish Christian congregations. While they give voice to a deep piety, the words do not specifically relate to the characters who utter them.

In his magisterial work, The Birth of the Messiah, Raymond E. Brown claimed that their closest parallels are to be found in Jewish hymns and psalms from 200 BCE to 100 CE. Aprocryphal texts of that period such as I Maccabees, Judith, II Baruch, IV Ezra, and some of the Dead Sea Scrolls all contain hymns like these. The martial tone of these canticles seems more in keeping with the nationalistic theology of history many such Jewish psalms expressed.

Brown further claimed that they expressed the joy of a pious Jewish Christian group identified as the Anawim, or "Poor Ones," who revered the temple and shared traditional Jewish views of a Davidic messianism. In Acts 2:43-47 and 4:32-37 there are references to the existence of such early communities in Jerusalem.

Mary’s song was almost certainly adapted from the Song of Hannah at the birth of Samuel (1 Samuel 2:1-10. It contains many passages also to be found in the traditional Psalms of the Old Testament and Aprocrypha. It can be argued that the Magnificat is better attributed to Elizabeth than to Mary, as some manuscripts indicated. Brown believed that Mary’s song responded to that of Elizabeth in 1:42-45. Whereas Elizabeth praised Mary as the mother of the Messiah, Mary gave praise to God as the initiator of the drama of salvation to which both women witnessed.

This material is copyright Rev. John Shearman, Oakville, ON Canada. It may be used for personal study and local congregational purposes.

This is known as the Magnificat, from the first word of the Latin translation. Mary is visiting Elizabeth and Zechariah. God’s messenger, Gabriel, has told her that she will bear Jesus, “Son of God” (v. 35), successor to David and founder of an eternal kingdom. Now she thanks God. Speaking today, she might begin: I, from the depth of my heart, declare the Lord’s greatness and rejoice in God my Saviour. Vv. 48-50 extol the fruits of the earth and of lowly dependence on God’s mercy; vv. 51-53 speak of the great reversals God has, and will, achieve through all ages; vv. 54-55 recall that he has fulfilled, and continues to fulfill, his promises to the patriarchs.

1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-24 There is abundant cause for Christians to rejoice and to give thanks in all circumstances, Paul wrote in what may have been his earliest letter. With Silas and Timothy, Paul had visited Thessalonika during his second missionary journey and his first

evangelistic foray into Macedonia (Acts 16-18). There they gained a few converts, probably both Jewish and Greek (Acts 17:4). Their chief opposition came from some of the Jewish population who forced them to leave hastily for Beroea, Athens, and then Corinth.

The main purpose of the letter was to give some instructions concerning the future advent of the Lord Jesus. Apparently the Thessalonians had not fully understood what Paul had taught them during his short stay there. How to live the Christian life while waiting for that anticipated Parousia also played a prominent part in the letter. What was to become the typical Pauline phrase, "in Christ," characterized much of Paul’s teaching.

This reading commends genuine love among the Christian fellowship and encourages the application of spiritual gifts to their living with one another in circumstances which provided anything but a favourable milieu. Note the number of those spiritual gifts named in this short passage: respect and esteem for spiritual leaders, peace among themselves, patience with those who are fainthearted and weak, magnanimity toward one another, rejoicing in constant prayer and thanksgiving, abstinence from every form of evil. Again and again in his correspondence with other Christian communities, Paul would return to and expand upon these same virtues (Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12-14, Galatians 5:16-6:10, Colossians 4:2-6).

Note too the counsel "Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of the prophets (or alternatively, do not despise prophecies" (vs.19-20). This may be a reference to the Jewish scriptures which were the central feature of every synagogue service. Because there were as yet no "Christian scriptures," those were the texts to which the earliest apostles and their converts turned to learn about the promised Messiah they believed Jesus of Nazareth to be.

Vs. 23 contains a word which has become the ultimate definition of what it means to be a Christian: "sanctify." The technical meaning of the English word, of Latin derivation, is "to make holy." Holiness is the Christian life. It comes about, Paul made clear, not by our efforts, but by God’s grace active in our lives. Here, it has profound implications of a spiritual and physical nature. To understand this we need only recall that the word holiness has the same Anglo-Saxon root as wholeness, healing and health. Jewish thought so familiar to Paul had no concept of any division between body and spirit. One of the alternate translations of the phrase "kept sound" is "complete." This is coupled with "blameless," free of guilt. Sound moral values, a holy and a healthy life come from being obedient to the Spirit, Paul said to the Thessalonians and to us. By so living we shall be ready for the coming of Christ which the early Christians expected at any moment.

While Paul did not articulate in detail any theological concept of the Trinity, he often wrote of what one might call the trinitarian experience. He did so unequivocally in this passage. He spoke of God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit as actively engaged in the daily lives of the believers (vss. 17, 18, 23). Then in vs. 24, he made the simple statement: "The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this." He did not identity whether he referred to one or other of the three persons of the Trinity. It never would have occurred to him to do so. All were involved in the dynamic spiritual process we call "sanctification." It is a One to one experience, yet it takes place within the faithful community where loving relationships with God and with each other are paramount.

This material is copyright Rev. John Shearman, Oakville, ON Canada. It may be used for personal study and local congregational purposes.

“Not one sparrow falls to the ground apart the awareness of the Father.”

In a recent essay I wrote (“Mimetic Theory & Christian Theology in the 21st Century” in Essays in Friendship and Truth forthcoming Michigan University Press 2009):

“Evil arises from within, not without, the human species. Evil does not exist prior to the generative power of imitated desire. Thus there is no transcendental dualism that has to be posited prior to the advent of humanity’s mythmaking.

Questions of theodicy become unnecessary from this perspective. History is seen to be less of a battle between good and evil than it is to be seen as full of the promise of redemption. This redemption does not take place as the false redemption of myth, but it does take place within myth, at its very center. In becoming the center of myth as the persecuted victim, Jesus transforms that center by seeking forgiveness for us and thus brings about not only the transformation of desire but also the transformation of myth and its structures and systems, and our history as well.”

With the coming of the gospel, the good news, there is a dark side. God’s Yes! in the Gospel contains God’s No! to the world we humans have created. Human culture, our highest aspiration and dream as a species is roundly negated for culture needs perpetual victims for its survival. The coming of the gospel turns us from ‘idolatry to serve the true and living God” (1:9). Our idolatry as a species manifests itself as self-determination, a perspective Paul warns against in many of his letters.

The message of the Gospel during Advent is not to bring us comfort that the systems we have become comfortable in will endure; indeed it is the announcement that all human institutions shall ultimately collapse back into chaos (this is what is meant by the term ‘wrath’ in Paul – the dissolution of society into anarchy and mutual destruction). Our ‘kosmos’, the world of our making cannot endure for it has been infected with the virus of the gospel and has been in the process of deconstruction for almost 2,000 years. It is this dissolution that creates the scenario in the Thessalonian letters that leads us to call them apocalyptic. But, and this is a big BUT, followers of Jesus are not to be fearful but to exhibit three characteristics at all times: joy, prayer, thanksgiving (5:16-18). These never cease from us even in the worst of circumstances. Why? Because we know that what appears to be the end is not really the end, but the hope for a new beginning in God.

During these times of tribulation, God, by the Spirit in Jesus, speaks to the church. The church is encouraged not to throw water on the Spirit’s fire that burns through the community and purifies it, but they are also not to blindly accept any and every prophecy that comes their way, in particular regarding dates (5:1-2). There has always been an apocalyptic expectation in the church. Many Christians in the first three centuries thought they lived in the last days; some Anabaptists and Luther himself thought they lived in the last days. The 19th and 20th centuries have seen all kinds of date setting. Over and over the Lord has failed to appear.

So we too may feel like we are an apocalyptic edge in our world today, but it may well be the case that the human project has another hundred or thousand or ten thousand years to go. It is not for us to say. We are simply called to be alert to the fact that it might be or could be soon, but is not necessarily so. We are called to live joyfully, prayerfully and thankfully in these times. That is what will make our witness distinct from those preoccupied with questions of theodicy.

Finally, peace is holistic. Paul uses the tripartite scheme of body, soul and spirit in vs 23, but surrounds it with adverbs that indicate a unity of the whole person. More so, it is God who calls and keeps followers of Jesus.

This text calls us to determine our standard of measure; will it mirror God’s or not? As people scramble to prepare for Christmas in trappings of red and green, we preachers are called to reset the stage for a very different drama. The temptation in this brief epistle text for many folks is to hear an admonition to be thankful and joyful with no basis in reality, and to pray- that is, to beg God for whatever they currently desire 24/7- an equally frustrating endeavor. Clearly the church in Thessalonica knew the realities of evil and temptation, so analogies between then and now work pretty well with this text, enabling us to address the larger reality of Paul’s words. This close to Christmas- this year we’re about half-way through December at this reading- folks may well be feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of celebrating a highly commercial holiday in a difficult economy, thus making the temptation to find Paul’s encouragement unrealistic even more seductive. Preaching the peace of God in the midst of chaos is rooted in the opening passages of Genesis; it may be helpful to ground ourselves there to access the eternal time span that’s involved in living the truth of this text.

God created order (and relationship) without sacrificial violence- humanity took that on. Reviewing an encapsulated version of the origin of evil (no small task, but Michael’s anthropological insights are invaluable here) as being separate from God- part of the humanly created order of culture instead of divinely authored act of original creation- helps get us in touch with the real possibility of joy, prayer, and thanksgiving in all circumstances. Naming the temptation for what it is, and the veneer of culture as the false reality clears the way for the church to focus on the Spirit and the prophets. The text facilitates a focus on prophets as a current event, not as “the” prophets of biblical text only- which gives us an opportunity to identify/affirm the prophets in our midst, both in our local congregation and in the larger world around us. Focusing on the nations economic crisis as a crisis of greed over need (culture over compassion) and identifying the voices proclaiming this (Suze Orman has been eloquent without being vindictive, suzeorman.com ) can facilitate discernment about cultural distortion and its effect on our perception of the reality at the core, successfully unveiling the effect of God in our midst- which returns us to a focus on Emmanuel. Once again, we are pregnant- the child is within us, therefore here, yet not yet born, so not here- the choice as to how to proceed is ours. Listening to the voices of those who thought they were living in the end times throughout history- who nonetheless bore faithful witness- generates the hope of being part of the only crowd worth belonging to- the throng worshipping the Lamb. Validating the perception of chaos in the world has the simultaneous effect of validating hope; the hope of Jesus advent into each of our personal lives in turbulent times. Rejoicing, prayer (as constant communication not whining/demanding) and thanksgiving then become logical, not irrational, responses on the part of the church to the presence of the Spirit. While the Spirit is not limited to the rational, she surely is not irrational either, and neither are we in our joy- no matter how real the worldly distress we live in.

---- Preaching peace

1. Constant prayer, rejoicing and giving thanks. These are themes in several of Paul's letters, most notably Philippians 4. (Philippians is also the letter that most emphasizes positive imitation.) Are prayerful rejoicing and thanksgiving remedies for mimetic rivalry? Giving thanks in all circumstances would seem to counteract the felt lack of things when mimetic rivalry comes knocking. We live under an economic system which has a basic assumption that there is a scarcity of goods that must be fairly distributed. Where does this assumption of scarcity come from? It comes from mimetic rivalry, doesn't it? When two children are fighting over a single toy in a room full of toys there seems a scarcity of toys to them. It would seem that a prayerful attitude of giving thanks in all circumstances would be to live by a different basic assumption than scarcity. This might also relate to the theme of the Jubilee year, whose economic assumptions would also seem to live according to abundance rather than scarcity.

Paul is drawing toward the conclusion of his letter. He has just exhorted the Thessalonian Christians regarding their personal conduct and their relations within the community. Now he turns to spiritual matters. God’s plan for them, realized in Christ, is to “rejoice always”, to make their lives a continual prayer, a working in unison with God, and to be thankful to God for his freely-given gifts, whatever may happen to them (vv. 16-18).

Do not, he says in v. 19, suppress manifestations of the Holy Spirit as he works through members of the community; do not despise “the words of prophets” (v. 20), i.e. preaching inspired by God, words of consolation and warning spoken by members who receive messages from God, and predictions of future events, but be aware that there are true and false prophets; there are those who authentically speak God’s word, but others who do not, who are false, “evil” (v. 22). Take care to discern, in the context of the community, all supposed manifestations of the Spirit (“test everything”, v. 21).

Finally, in vv. 23-24, Paul prays that God, who brings peace (shalom) in the community now and promises eternal peace in his kingdom, may bring them into union with him (“sanctify”). Also, may every aspect of each one of them – their relationship to God (“spirit”), their personal vitality (“soul”), and their physical bodies – be found godly, worthy of the kingdom, when Christ comes again. God, who calls them to the Christian way, in his fidelity will sanctify them and make them worthy of the kingdom

JOHN 1:6-8, 19-28 John's Gospel contains no story about the birth of Jesus. The introductory paragraphs set that event in a cosmic context using metaphors such as Logos (Word), life, light, glory and truth to describe God's full revelation in Jesus, the Word made flesh. The focus shifted immediately to John the Baptist and his ministry preparing the way for Jesus, the light of the world. These excerpts from John 1 deal exclusively with the role of the Baptist.

The author of the gospel distinguished John the Baptist from Jesus as the one who is only a witness to the light. He set the stage for Jesus' appearance by reiterating this distinction when challenged by the religious leaders of Israel. Due to the domination of the whole eastern Mediterranean region, first by Hellenistic and then Roman imperial power, and the pervasive influence of the Greco-Roman culture, a plethora of Jewish eschatological writing had appeared in the late centuries before and first century after the time of Jesus. Jewish expectations of the Messiah reached a very intense level. Typical of religious authorities in all ages, the established priesthood challenged every new prophetic voice. John the Baptist was no exception (vss. 18-22).

The Jews did not expect the Messiah to come unannounced. At the end of the very last book of the OT, the obscure prophet Malachi, of the early 5^th century BCE, we find a paragraph referring specifically to the prophet Elijah returning to prepare for "the great and terrible day of the Lord." Similarly, Deuteronomy 18:15 contained a reference to a prophet like Moses who would be raised to whom the people would give heed. Acts 3:22 and 7:37 show that the apostolic church believed that Jesus himself fulfilled the messianic promise. The early church, probably taking their clues from Jewish contemporaries, interpreted the eschatological "the day of the Lord" as referring to the coming of Jesus whom the church claimed to be the Messiah/Christ.

Naturally, Jewish literature of the period and later did not share this conviction. Writing toward the end of the lst century CE, the author of the gospel wrapped this tradition into the challenge of the Jerusalem priesthood to John the Baptist. He rejected all three assumptions. He was not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet like Moses. Instead, the Fourth Gospel followed the tradition of the other three gospels in applying the opening words of the great prophet of the Babylonian Exile to the Baptist (Isaiah 40:3).

Skillful writer that he was, the author of John’s Gospel introduced all the key opposing groups in this introductory chapter. Whereas it first appeared that "the Jews" had sent the priests and Levites to accost John the Baptist (vs. 19), these challengers then were said to be representatives of "the Pharisees" (vs. 24). In other words, the identity of the opposition had moved from the general to the specific. The particular concern of the Pharisees was ritual purity and total adherence to the law of Moses. Jews did not need to be baptized because they were already "sons of the covenant." The forerunners of the Messiah would baptize only those who converted to the true faith and so became members of the elect people, Israel. Thus, John’s ministry of preaching repentance leading to baptism was all wrong from the Pharisees point of view (vs. 25).

The Baptist’s reply clarified the distinction between the Jewish and Christian views of his ministry. Whereas his baptism with water symbolized a cleansing in preparation for the coming of the Messiah, there was one among them as yet unknown who would fulfill all the their messianic expectations. In subsequent decades, as the author of the Fourth Gospel well knew when he wrote, the greatest threat to the infant church had come not so much from the imperial powers of Rome, but from the Jewish religious authorities in Jerusalem and the growing influence of the Pharisees in the synagogues of the Jewish Diaspora. The central issue in that struggle was whether or not Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah. Like the rest of the NT, the Fourth Gospel had placed this issue at its very core.

One of the features of the Fourth Gospel is its curious way of defining where specific events took place. Vs. 28 places the locale of John’s baptistry "in Bethany across the Jordan." That has a symbolic meaning: By passing through the waters of the Jordan in baptism, those who responded to John’s call for repentance symbolically repeated the entrance of God’s covenant people into the holy land. Some texts including the KJV and its source documents name the place Bethabara. Scholars believe that in the 3^rd century after knowledge of the actual site had been lost, apparently forever, Origen made a textual correction which was subsequently maintained in other manuscripts.

Another controversy has recently arisen about this site of a political and economic nature. If this location for John’s ministry is accurate, it lay on the eastern side of the river, currently within Jordanian territory. A site on the west bank has traditionally been afforded that honor. But that site has been closed to pilgrimages and heavily mined against terrorist intrusion since the Six Day War of 1967 when Israel occupied the West Bank. Working with a Roman Catholic priest’s archeological research to guide them, Jordanian archeologists have expensively developed a site on Wadi Kharrar, an eastern tributary of the Jordan, marked by baptismal pools and church ruins dating from the 4^th to the 15^th centuries. The Israeli government quickly responded to this challenge by refurbishing the west bank site within a secure military reservation to compete for anticipated tourist dollars. Two millennium after John, controversy still rages over his baptism.

This material is copyright Rev. John Shearman, Oakville, ON Canada. It may be used for personal study and local congregational purposes.

Once again, the theme which has formed the backdrop for the last two Sundays, namely persecution, is also to be found in the foreground and background of our text. A “reading from below” is possible only when we “learn that personal suffering is a more effective key, a more rewarding principle for exploring the world in thought and action than personal good fortune” (Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison). Suffering as a hermeneutical principle is as important as any grammatical or historical tool brought to textual exegesis. In both the Markan and the Johannine traditions, the Spirit is bound up with a theology of the cross.

This is an absolutely essential element to grasp for it is the hermeneutic that alone unlocks Scripture. The Spirit, God as self interpreted to us, each of us and all of us, and the death of Jesus of Nazareth, are inseparable. It is God in Christ we see ‘reconciling the declared enemy, the world to God’s self.” When we approach Scripture from this perspective, we can agree with Bonhoeffer that “personal suffering” or “a hermeneutic from below” is the way we are to read God’s story in Scripture. The theme of Holy Scripture is the suffering God, suffering Love.

The early church interpreted their Canon this way and they articulated this way of rendering Scripture. Iso Lesbaupin reminds us that virtually every document collected in the New Testament was written from the perspective of the persecuted, from the perspective of the community of, not simply the victim, else Nietzsche would be right, but they knew themselves to be the community of the Victim Vindicated! Thus forgiveness of enemies, as practiced by Jesus became their hallmark (for the most part). They had received the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Crucified.

The promised coming of the Spirit creates a link between the Synoptics and the Johannine Gospels. A hermeneutical perspective is given: the Cross is both revelation and reconciliation, the revelation is reconciliatory, the reconciliation is revelatory (as Barth would say). In effect, the text gives its own hermeneutic, the one by which it can most effectively be read. This perspective is aptly called “the view from below” (Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison).

This view from below is of no little consequence, because it immediately identifies the revelation of violence, and this revelation is that a conquering is occurring in the cross, a conquering of sin, death and the devil. Again, as the hermeneutical key when reading the texts, it is important to remember that the sporadic and localized persecutions of Christians have left their memory in these documents. In the case of the 4G, to bear witness, marturein, is a legal term. The modern connotation of “martyr” may not have been a part of the evangelist’s semantic sphere. However, by the end of the first century, those legally charged as ‘threats to the State’ were often given a trial before the thundering crowds of the Roman (and other) coliseums. Their witness for Jesus would cost them their lives.

[ Michael Grant Gladiators
D.S. Potter & D.J. Mattingly Life, Death, and Entertainment in the Roman Empire
Donald G. Kyle Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome]

The singularity of the death of Jesus, its cause and consequences permeate the 4G, in its metaphors, its allusions and its double meanings. Beginning with the ‘rejection’ by his own, through the death plots and narrow escapes, to the prophecy of the High Priest, and the betrayal of one of his own, this gospel winds it way around the cross. Good Friday is Pentecost in the 4G in that the Spirit is poured out in the death of Jesus (7:37-39). If Jesus does not ‘go away’, he cannot come to us or send the Spirit of his Father. The baptism of the Cross and the baptism of the Spirit are one.

As we pointed out last week, the 4G’s (John’s Gospel, the “Fourth Gospel) portrait of John the Baptist (JTB) is quite different than that of the Synoptics. Where the Synoptics portray JTB as an apocalyptic preacher and baptizer, The 4G highlights the witness of JTB.

In both the Synoptics and the 4G, the quotation from the prophet Isaiah is used to place John in relation to Jesus. The Synoptic (= Petrine) slant on JTB places him in a salvation-historical framework, that is, John is the penultimate in a series of prophets who have been sent to Israel. JTB’s ministry was so successful that he is not only placed at the beginning of the ‘gospel tradition,’ he also merits admiration from Josephus. It is also possible that JTB’s disciples formed small communities, one of which apparently migrated to Asia Minor (as reflected in Acts 19). If so, those who see an undermining of the Baptist’s popularity in the 4G might well be correct. However, it is important in this regard to observe that John and Jesus are not portrayed as rivals. The Baptist is never denigrated in the Gospel tradition.

In fact, Jesus’ execution is foreshadowed by JTB’s execution and thus links Jesus to the Baptist and the other Hebrew Prophets. This is the witness of the Baptist. The use of the title ‘Lamb of God’ has several potential antecedents: sacrificial lambs, the Passover Lamb, the eschatological Lamb (Rev. 5). Whatever the case, sacrifice is involved. Jesus’ appearance is the distinctive (not unique) revelation of this sacrificial system and its origins in mimetic violence.

The eschatological warning of human-generated violence and the eschatological promise of the Spirit culminate in the Third Sunday in Advent. But the promise triumphs the warning. Here in week 3, JTB stands as a witness. He himself is not the reality, but the witness that his ministry and message would diminish and pale by comparison with “the One mightier than I.”

In the 4G there is no clear indication of JTB’s message. It is strictly his function as God’s witness to point to God’s emissary, Jesus. Unlike the Synoptics, in the 4G Jesus baptizes at the same time as JTB, and in fact Jesus creates quite a stir when he develops a greater following.

The Synoptic tradition has even identified John with Elijah in the chronological scheme of apocalyptic Judaism. The 4G knows no such framework. It is possible, as suggested earlier, that the community that produced this gospel had some contacts with groups who esteemed the Baptist. But it may be preferable to suggest that this community is intentionally undermining the potentially misleading apocalyptic framework placed on the gospel narrative in the Synoptic tradition.

The verses selected for the lectionary reading reflect a text embedded in one of the most beautiful Christian pieces of poetry or hymnody. The Introductory Poem to the 4G, 1:1-18, is an extraordinarily textured combination of, as it were, a midrash on Genesis 1, a reflection on Logos theory, Wisdom/Logos/Torah personification, all woven in an elegantly balanced structure and style. If we read verses 6-8, followed by verse 15, then verse 19, we can see a connected narrative opening around which the Poem has been placed. We can also see better the internal connections in the Poem. The lectionary reading of verses 6-8 and 19-28 parallels this observation.

This third Sunday in Advent we draw closer to……What? Or better yet, Who is it that is coming? We have been warned that time is short, we have seen the human origin and character of the eschatological conflict. We have seen that bringing the message of God means rejection and suffering. And we have seen that we do not listen to those who are rejected and suffering. As Dorothee Solle has so wisely observed, “Suffering with rejection is the worst form of suffering.”

We have also seen the need for a repentant reading of the biblical text, so that we may find ears to hear and eyes to see, this ‘view from below’ borne witness to by John the Baptist, and to see the extraordinary social consequences that are developed from within this interpretive approach.

If we are waiting for the one "mightier" than John, it's tempting to want to make of Jesus the "triumpalist" savior that the Gospels so clearly reject. The challenge for us as preachers, then, is to find a way to read "mightier" from below. Can we seriously preach that weakness and vulnerability are the strength that is stronger than human strength? We wonder if we can preach anything else.

2005:

I will put it bluntly, as far as American Christianity is concerned, I would say that liberalism lacks the Spirit, conservatives lack the cross. The split between Jesus and the Cross is the hallmark of Gnosticism. The Christ Spirit hovers above the suffering human Jesus…and laughs! Why? Because suffering, material reality, is not real. Real reality is spirit and cannot suffer or change. A lot is missed when we fail to see that we preach a suffering God, who has suffered and still suffers with us, as with Jesus. He suffers in every little one. He suffers in everyone who bears the brunt of another’s anger. Holy Scripture teaches that God suffers.

If you have Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison, you might wish to read his poem “Christians and Pagans.” Bonhoeffer says that “Christians stand by God in God’s time of grieving.” Christianity, if it wishes to preach gospel, good news, will point out that the One who comes, Emmanuel, comes from below, from what Tony Bartlett would call the abyss of love. Jesus’ descent into the abyss of the cross was also a descent into the abyss of the love and forgiveness of God.

For us today, the issue is whether or not we are forgiving victims. “The poor we will always have with us.” There will always be victims. Christianity is not about victims, per se, but about what happens to a victim who is wholly taken with the Lord; about what happens to Jesus, but what also happens to us, when we forgive our enemies. The Christian choice for nonviolence and peacemaking is only possible when it is understood beforehand that one forgives as one has been forgiven. When victims forgive, the reality is spoken, there can be no more war, there is no more enemy. You might say that the church is engaged in teaching people how to forgive as Jesus forgave. In your opinion, is the church succeeding?

John the Baptist is the first witness, we are the contemporary witnesses. Is it Jesus we are witnessing to? Or do we witness to an ideology? Do we follow Jesus to the Cross, where forgiveness lies, or do we run from the Cross into the arms of another Logos, a violent Logos? And can we not see, even in our hermeneutic unfaithfulness, that we are still embraced, still embraced by arms wide open? To whom do you bear witness in your proclamation?

---- Preaching peace

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Resources

1. René Girard, The Girard Reader, chs. 13-14, on Satan and on the question of anti-Semitism in the Gospels. As I mentioned in last week's notes, John the Baptist plays a prominent role as the other murder most closely akin to the Passion in the synoptic gospels. The theme of these two articles is very important, I think: namely, that the violence of the cross is not a unique violence. A twist to much teaching that has gone under the name of Christian has been to attempt making the cross unique in every fashion. But hasn't that led to a sacrificial reading in which Jesus' Father was willing to sacrifice him? Rather, says Girard, the gospels are trying to show us how the violence revealed in the cross is structurally identical to much of the violence since the foundation of the world. It's violence is not unique. John the Baptist is the closest forerunner in the sense that he will die the same type of violent death.

2. Gil Bailie, "The Gospel of John," audio tape #3. Link to my notes/transcription of his lecture on John 1:19-51.

Reflections and Questions

1. A striking feature of this lectionary text is how it has been taken out of the wider context of John 1. The strong element of rejection and victimization has been left out so that the passage more closely resembles the synoptic accounts introducing us to John the Baptist. The preacher may want to add them back in.

2. As we said above, mimetic theory interprets John's murder on a continuum with Jesus'. The cross is not unique in its violence. Yet this John the Baptist material has John emphasize his difference from Jesus. Why is that? Is this to reflect a situation of non-rivalry? The theme of Jesus' deference to his Father in heaven is also very strong in John's gospel. John defers to Jesus; Jesus defers to the Father. There is no mimetic rivalry here.

3. Yet how do we characterize, or interpret John's own characterization of, the difference between John and Jesus, especially in light of pointing to the sameness in their murders? Once again these verses out of context from the rest of John 1 do us a disservice. We do not catch that Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit (vs. 33), which in John's gospel is the Paraclete, the Defense Attorney, who will reveal Jesus' innocence. The role of the Holy Spirit in those murders would seem to constitute the difference between them. With John's murder, we don't yet come to fully see his innocence as a structural feature of the scapegoating mechanism; with the help of the Holy Spirit, we do come to see this about Jesus' murder.

Another possibility: As mentioned last week, Gil Bailie suggests that a crucial part of the difference is that John lets himself get into a relationship of scandal with Herod Antipas.

-----Girardian reflections

John 1:6-8,19-28

In the opening verses of the book, the evangelist has told us, that the Word, the logos, (i.e. what God says, God in action, creating, revealing and redeeming) existed before all time. He is the force behind all that exists; he causes physical and spiritual life to be; life, goodness, light, overcomes all evil. Jesus, the “light” (v. 7), took on being human through God, and is a force for goodness, light, godliness, for all people.

Now he tells of John the baptizer, who is sent, commissioned by God, to point to Jesus, to “testify to the light” (v. 7). He is the lamp that illuminates the way, but Christ is the light (v. 8). When the religious authorities (“Jews”, v. 19) send emissaries (“priests and Levites”) to assess the authenticity of this religious figure, John tells them that he is neither of those whom they are expecting to come to earth: neither “the Messiah” (v. 20) nor the returned “Elijah” (v. 21). (Jews believed that one or both would establish a kingdom on earth free from Roman domination.) Neither is he “the prophet” who was expected (by some) to be instrumental in establishing the Messiah’s kingdom. John says simply that he is the one who prepares “the way of the Lord” (v. 23), who announces the Messiah’s coming, fulfilling Isaiah 40:3. Representatives of the Pharisees (who enforced traditional Jewish law and practice) ask in v. 25: why are you performing an official rite without official status? (Jews baptized proselytes at the time.) John tells them that the one to whom he points is already on earth (v. 27); he is so great that I am not even worthy to be his slave. Surprisingly, per v. 28, this occurred outside Israel.

Pew-work Hand-outs

“Pew-work” is like Home-work, except that it is done in the pews, instead of being done at home. Because it is focussed on the readings (as the sermon, presumably, also is) it can be done during the sermon to help the listener concentrate. Or, it can be done while waiting for everyone else to finish their communion. It isn't done during prayers, or hymns, or the readings, because