Sunday Homily 12-7-08, 2nd Advent
Readings: Isaiah 40, 1-11; Psalm 85; 2 Peter 3, 8-14; Mark 1, 1-8.
Isaiah 2: Remember that Isaiah is one of the Big 3 Prophets, along with Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Because of its 66 chapters this work is the big one. Remember, also, that at least 3 writers contributed to the book.
The first 39 chapters are the main Isaiah and present a strong critic of the rampant corruption of the ruling class with their oppression of the ordinary people. His counsel was that Israel & Judah (north & south) pursue a passive political & military policy versus Assyria, the threatening power of the time, ca. 700 BCE. Moreover, the Hebrews should not form a military alliance with Egypt & Babylon. Babylon was no threat at this time, but would be so ca. 590, when they would enslave the Hebrews.
Isaiah was not heeded and eventually the Assyrians defeated the northern state, Israel, and the people disappeared. They intermarried and did not maintain their identity. Today they are called the 10 lost tribes of Israel, the remaining two tribes surviving in Judah, the southern state, capital, Jerusalem. Remember how I mentioned Ezekiel helped the Hebrews enslaved in Babylon ca. 580 maintain their identity with 1. sabbath, 2. kosher food, 3. male circumcision.
Side note: why 12 tribes? Because of the 12 sons of Jacob, the third of the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob. Jacob was given the name Israel. Israelites are the sons of Israel or Jacob.
For our purposes this second Sunday of Advent when we look forward to Christmas, we use the second Isaiah, which begins, guess where? With our selection, chapter 40. These chapters are called the Book of Comfort and you will see why. Even though I as a backpacker would not like to see all the mountains & hills made low, we have a beautifully consoling reading. Isaiah 2 is speaking to the Jewish people under siege.
Jim in the Blood Mobile
Good News in Strange Places
I did it again, folks. Rode in car number 1, DART red line. It was Wednesday ca. 12:00 when I caught the down town train at Forest Lane to have one of our occasional lunches with Dawn Schultz. She got on at City place, but what happened before that was the event.
I was seated on the aisle, right side, third seat from the front, so I can watch the scenery ahead as well as beside me. Somewhere like Walnut Hill Lane we stopped and the driver laid out the handicap bridge to let someone on. In came an orange baseball cap covering a skinny old black man in an electric wheel chair. He parked in the bay just in front of the seat on the left side, right in front of a white woman in her 30's.
We had not gone one stop when he started talking loudly enough to hear him all over the car. He had his back to us but was asking people if they had a paper towel. His nose was dripping because of the cold. He was able to talk most directly to this white woman because he was near her and only needed to swivel around in his chair to face her. She was good. Did not have a paper towel, but offered him a Kleenex. Which he used to wipe his nose.
Then he proceeded to converse with her some more. She responded graciously. At one point, he says in his loud, gravely voice, "How old are you?" I was really amused. Smiling she said she was 33. He said something I could not distinguish and she responded, "You are 30 years older than I am."
I was stunned. He was 63. 5 years younger than I am. Wow. He must have lost count along the way, I am thinking. He looks and sounds like 83.
This got me thinking on how our two lives have been so different from the beginning. He was born into this world probably a poor black boy. I was born into this world a rich white kid. I've had every door opened to me, every opportunity. I obviously have much greater health than he. I've worked at it, no doubt, but I had so much help, starting with my parents and teachers who appreciated being well rounded. When I returned from East Africa in '86 and began to have annual checkups, we Jesuits had total coverage and I had an internist that was the best. He set me on a road to overall health in my older years that has been a priceless gift. All this came to me as I listened to the little black man in the wheel chair on the red line.
The readings we have this morning all point at the coming of a priceless gift. Isaiah and Mark talk about the coming. In fact, Mark quotes Isaiah's very words saying, "Prepare the way of the Lord." The Good News is coming.
So how does that effect me, us? So what? Two observations.
Rose in the Blood Mobile
First, the Good News that Isaiah foresaw and the Good New that Mark is trying to set up, it has come. It is past tense. We can take consolation from the knowledge that we are accepted. Jesus has lived.
Mark is trying to convey this by creating for his readers something special and he is working a plot. He is writing in the 70's after Jesus' death in the 30's, Jesus a person whom he never knew. He writes for Jews who became Jesus' followers and are being persecuted for it. He is trying to show that Jesus it the one foretold by the prophets. He begins with a three stage strategy, prepare, proclaim, test.
In today's reading he is doing the first, that is, counseling the people to prepare for The Coming. With Jesus' baptism he proclaims The Good News. The temptation in the desert is the test and the third part of the trilogy.
Second observation. The Good News is not just past tense. It is present tense. I encounter it daily in big and small ways. I encountered it on the red line.
Where or when do you encounter the Good News?
AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-12-07.mp3
1. The Joy of helping with the Quads and meeting Casey and Robbie. Truly gives hope for the future.
2. I am Thankful for My Family, My Pets, the World, Jesus, and God.
3. My Kid quit Smoking.
4. I am Blessed to have known & loved Sarah Dixon Herbert during her short life.