THE BIBLE – TODAY’S TREASURE HUNT
COMMENT FOR ADVENT III – 11-12-05
Isaiah 61: 1-4; 8-11.
The time is now 539 BCE, and Persian Forces have overrun Babylon. The first group of exiles is able to get back to Jerusalem. They begin to restore the temple as they try to get their lives together after an absence of fifty years. Rebuilding the wall was too much, and this would have to wait for more of the exiles to return with Nehemiah 75 years later.
Isaiah however is taking a longer view. He sees an Israel which gives substance to the Shalom, or peace of God. This peace begins by caring for the weak not the strong, and does not involve captives or prisoners or wounded, brokenhearted people. This peace grows out of the way the country’s inner life is restored in justice, truth and integrity. As that happens there is less need for the kind of protection people seek behind stone walls or concrete barriers.
Psalm 126
The first part of this psalm fits perfectly with the joy of the returning exiles or from soaking rain after a drought. But it also asserts that in the midst of hardships which are part of this life there come unexpected spiritual resources. There is joy in finding their God is with them in the struggle as well as at harvest time.
1 Thessalonians 5: 16-24
Paul is immersed in the Greek world with one of his companions, Luke- the Greek Doctor. He begins his letter writing with this one, probably the first. It is to the church he once established in Thessalonica soon after he met Luke in Troas.
Within the general warm encouragement he gives to the congregation, he talks about how the spiritual life in Christ is not one of public display. In his own case Paul felt that there was a time when he was following the law of Moses, and was required to do certain things and not to do others. It was a public reminder to himself and others about his religion. But now he has found a new way of life in Christ that is an inner sense of being one with Him. It was a life “hidden with Christ” in the Eternal God.
Luke 1: 47-55
Luke was introduced to the Christian way of life through Paul’s mission theology. Many years later he gets to Palestine and does his own research into the life of Jesus. As a doctor he is fascinated with the birth stories of John the Baptist and Jesus in the Judean hill country. There is angel visitation and people with heightened spiritual awareness attracting everyone’s attention. His portrait of Mary begins with her song. It is the authentic voice of a person’s spiritual awareness in worship. “My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour”.
But there is more. This gentle young woman understands that God’s justice means that the weak, the hungry and the lost get preferential care. The arrogant, mighty ones however are left to their own devices.
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