Today in the Spirit: Advent 1C
We begin another new church year with the First Sunday Advent, this time moving to the third year in our three-year lectionary cycle. As I have mentioned earlier, in the course of the last few weeks, through its selected readings and collects, the church has prepared us as worshipers to begin a new walk with Jesus Christ through his life and death and resurrection and ascension. In Year C, the Gospel of Luke will be our guide, emphasizing themes in that book such as life in the Holy Spirit, the place of prayer in our discipleship, global mission, God’s concern for the poor, and his judgment on the rich who are found abusing the poor. We will see these themes developed this year, particularly in the selection of Gospel readings during the ordinary periods after Epiphany and Pentecost.
The appointed Gospel reading for Advent 1C is Luke’s version of Jesus’ prophecy of the coming of the Son of Man. Luke 21:25-33 can be distinguished from its parallels in Matthew and Mark by the inclusion of an exhortation from our Lord for the people of God to overcome despair and increase hope: “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (28).
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In continuity with a trend established over the last two weeks of Pentecost, the assigned OT reading out of Zechariah 14:[1-2]3-9 is another apocalyptic text (prophecy predicting the destruction of the world). We will remember Jesus’ exhortation to flee from last week’s Gospel reading when we hear,
Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east…And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.
Zechariah 14:3-5
The appointed Psalm 50 or 50:1-6, also assigned during Pentecost at Proper 5A and Wednesday in Holy Week, invites us to enter into a heavenly courtroom drama. Where the Zechariah reading will illustrate YHWH as King over Jerusalem and all the world, this psalm will declare to us that he is also a sovereign judge: “And the heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God himself is Judge” (Psalm 50:6, BCP New Coverdale).
The NT readings in the Advent season are selected to fit the theme of the Gospel reading. In this week’s assigned reading from 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13, the Apostle Paul ends a section of the letter about his concern for the church with this benediction concerning the coming of Jesus:
Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
I Thessalonians 3:11-13
The assigned collect for Advent 1 pleads for grace to “cast away the works of darkness” from our lives (emphasis on actions, not just attitude) so that we may be fitted with “the armor light” in preparation for the last day when Jesus will come.
The Collect
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
A Day is Coming for the LORD (Zechariah 14:[1-2]3-9)
1 Behold, a day is coming for the Lord, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. 2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. 4 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. 5 And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. 6 On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost. 7 And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light. 8 On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter. 9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.
Zechariah 14:1-9
It is unclear that the “day coming for the LORD” in verse 1 is the same as “that day” in verses 8-9. Unless we are meant to conflate in this passage the time of “battle” against all the nations and the vision of “living waters” flowing out from Jerusalem as the one famed “day of the LORD” in OT prophecy (Jo. 2:1, Zeph. 1:14-15), we are looking at something like the abomination of desolation from last week’s readings followed by the second coming of Jesus in the company of the saints.
We remember the lyrics of the anti-Vietnam song by the Temptations in the early 70s: “War, huh, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing.” Some of that sentiment may come into our modern reading of the end-time passages. It is certainly apocalyptic (mysterious language pertaining to the end of the world) but very much grounded in reality. Must it really be like this? It must. Evil’s hold on the world is strong. Though the defeat of evil is won on the cross, its ultimate obliteration is hard fought in battle. But, it is, as this passage shows throughout, a battle belonging to God. From beginning to end the final victory is decidedly all on the Lord’s day.
Today, in the Spirit, troubled as we may be by the images this background reading supplies to our understanding of Jesus’s second coming, we look forward to the day of his return.
God Himself is Judge (Psalm 50 or 50:1-6)
1 The Lord, even the most mighty God, has spoken *
Psalm 50:1-6, New Coverdale Psalter (BCP 2019)
and called the world, from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof.
2 Out of Zion, perfect in her beauty, *
has God shone forth in glory.
3 Our God shall come and shall not keep silence; *
there shall go before him a consuming fire,
and a mighty tempest shall be stirred up round about him.
4 He shall call to the heavens above, *
and to the earth beneath, that he may judge his people:
5 “Gather my faithful together unto me, *
those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness, *
for God himself is Judge.
These opening verses of our psalm are focused not at all on the proceedings of the courtroom drama but the spectacle of it:
- “Our God shall come” (3)
- “He shall call to the heavens above and the earth beneath” (4)
- “And the heavens shall declare his righteousness” (6)
He himself is the Judge of the universe—and we celebrate the excellency of his adjudication. The faithful are gathered—they watch and are glad.
Devotionally, especially in the Advent season, we are called to get on board with what the Scriptures clearly portray as the saints’ rejoicing over the judgment of God. The first canticle in the Morning Prayer office, the Te Deum Laudamus, ends this way: “You are seated at God’s right hand in glory. We believe that you will come and be our judge.” Not only for vindication against the wicked do we look forward to judgment day but for the purification of our own souls to live in eternity.
Today, Holy Spirit, in this Advent season, stir up our hearts a longing for the completion of God’s righteous judgment as expressed so vividly in this psalm.
For Now We Really Live (1 Thessalonians 3:6-13)
6 But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you— 7 for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith. 8 For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord. 9 For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, 10 as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith? 11 Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, 12 and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, 13 so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
1 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Or, “For now we really live” (5, NIV); “For now we are alive again” (5, NET). For the verb “live” here, Paul uses the Greek word zao (often meaning in the NT “to live in the Spirit,” see Heb. 12:9) rather than a word he often uses elsewhere, peripateo (meaning simply “walk” or “live” or “conduct oneself”). Paul tries to convey to the Thessalonians that he has found new energy and refreshment from the Lord, hearing that they continue in “faith and love” despite his absence.
Devotionally, pastors and church leaders need to take note of that which gives spiritual refreshment to the apostle. Is it in the growth of the church organization? Is it in the increase in average Sunday attendance or the growth of the budget? No, it is in the spiritual state of the flock, how they have endured persecution (see Acts 17:5ff), how they have resisted the temptations of “the tempter” (see 1 Th. 3:5). Granted, Paul was operating as a pastor in a completely different situation. He was a pioneer missionary at a time when the idea of developing budgets and constructing buildings was out of the question. Nevertheless, we need to see the heart of Paul the pastor for the faith life of his people and measure it against the same in our own hearts.
Today, in the Spirit, who causes us to really live in Christ, we take note in this reading of Paul’s enthusiasm for making disciples and the welfare of the saints.
Straighten Up and Raise Your Heads (Luke 21:25-33)
25 “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” 29 And he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. 30 As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. 31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Luke 21:25-33
Jesus’ exhortation to “straighten up and raise your heads” (28) presupposes that people’s posture will be bent over and head down to start. Naturally, people are “fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world” (26). From the text, it appears that everyone “will see the Son of Man coming,” but only for some will seeing him “in a cloud with power and great glory” be a relief. How do you anticipate the coming of the Lord and judgment?
Devotionally, one way we might look at our experience of walking with Jesus now is as training to be encouraged at his second coming. (I assume that even if we die before his second advent, we will “see” him). By his grace, he puts us through our paces now that we might know his goodness and faithfulness so well that we are convinced his coming on the clouds, though terrifying, must in the end be a good thing–a great thing, the best thing! Many of the psalms demonstrate something of this phenomenon. See how “David” in Psalm 34 invites people to now “Taste and see that the LORD is good” (8) so that over time and through trials, it is instinctual to join the chorus who sing, “The Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned” (22).
Gregory of Nyssa, the fourth-century bishop who was a champion in the early church conflicts over the Trinity, looks at trials now as healing in preparation in the end for full restoration: “If we are a superficial people, the prospect of judgment will be experienced as a threat: it will be viewed as a process of severe correction, with the result that sheer fear of painful expiation for our sins will prompt us to flee from wrongdoing, and we will become wiser people. On the other hand, the faith of deeper minds will view the prospect of God’s judgment as a process of healing, a therapy applied by God in such a way as to restore the being he has created to its original state of grace.”
Today, Holy Spirit, hearing this passage, my plea is that of the collect for this week: that putting on the armor of light now and receiving its warmth, I may be trained and healed to receive the Son of God on that terrible day “when he shall come in his glorious majesty.”
Today in the Spirit
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