Year 1, Advent 1, Tuesday
Today's Readings:
- Amos 3:1-11
- 2 Peter 1:12-21
- Matt 21:12-22
Amos discusses cause and effect, the lion does not roar unless it has prey, the bird does not fall from the sky unless it has been snared, the trap does not spring unless it has caught something, and the Lord does not act without the prophets revealing it. The Lord says that because Ashdod and Egypt do not know how to do right, they will be surrounded of an adversary and stripped of their defense.
Peter writes that the apostles' story is real, not some myth 'cleverly devised' and states that he heard the voice of God on the mountain at the Transfiguation. Important lesson: "No prophecy of scriptue is a matter of one's own interpretation." I disagree. I also wonder what modern prophecy would look like. Did the ancient prophets prophecy in hindsight? Did they explain what had just happened, or what was going to happen? I know the Jews interpreted their history as "we sin, we lose; we keep faith, we gain" in cycles. I know that in modern times, things like 9/11 were explained after the fact to be the fault of liberals, and Robertson has told Dover Pennsylvania (I think it's Dover) that they will fall because "they have abandoned God" (they voted out the board of education that wanted to install intelligent design in the science classroom, and replaced them with people who promised to keep science in science and religion in comparitive studies). Which of these counts as prophecy? The statement explaining the past or the statement threatening the future?
Jesus cleanses the temple of the money changers. Good for Him. Jesus also kills a fig tree, reminiscent of the banned story of the childhood Jesus killing a playmate. In the banned books, Jesus is a dark child, viscious and petty, and growing up he learns that He had great repsonsibility. This passage, which is hard to take, shows that same selfish side of Jesus, but there is a lesson. One lesson is that the fig tree was not bearing fruit when it should have, it was not following its true nature, and was punished. The lesson the apostles demand is that faith, with no doubt whatsoever, can move mountains.
I think all basic divisions in Christianity (and possibly all other world religions) is the desire for certainty and the desire for mystery. They are the ends of a teeter totter, not an either or proposition. Progressives have very few certain things (God is Good) and Conservatives have many (Harry Potter is Satanic because Rowling isn't a Christian). Progressives are happy to experience mystery, conservatives are wary of it. Sure, they accept "how the miracles happened" as a mystery, but they work hard to fill in gaps in our sacred stories that progressives don't mind at all.
Year Two, Advent 1, Monday
Today's Readings:
- Amos 2:6-16
- 2 Peter 1:1-11
- Matt 21:1-11
Amos continues the Lord's warnings: everything those in authority rely on will be taken away, they will be stripped of their power for their abuse and oppression of prophets. Prophecy is important, it allows anyone (Amos was a farmer, after all)
Peter opens his second letter with encouraging words.
His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature. For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love.
It is a progression of the self to the corporate body Peter writes about. I think an appropriate cliche is "A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link." It also hints towards a separation of lust and divind nature. One of the early schisms in the Church involved various forms of Gnosticism, which claimed the material world as either an illusion or the creation of a malevolent god (described in the Old Testament). Gnostics were called heretics, but the separation between body and soul have been part of Christianity since the beginning. The world is described in Genesis 1 as being good, but Christians have mostly claimed that things of this world are lesser than the spirit world, and eventually evil. Go figure. Are Christians living in a state of heresy?
Matthew's Gospel relates the events just before Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, just a week before He is crucified. The mixing of Advent and Holy Week has always confused me. Lent is a season of preparation for the Resurrection, Advent is the season of preparation for the Nativity. Both seasons see the world growing darker (Lent is metaphorical, Advent is literal in the northern hemisphere), and the darkness is broken by light in both seasons. We are forced to remember that Jesus' birth, as wonderful as it is, is nothing compared to Easter.
Year Two, Advent One, Sunday
Today's Readings:
- Psalm 146, 147, 111, 112, 113
- Amos. 1:1-5,13-2:8
- 1 Thess. 5:1-11
- Luke 21:5-19
Amos lists the sins and punishments for Damascus, the Ammonites in Rabbah, Moab in Kerioth, Judah, and Israel.
...because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals, they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way; father and son go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned; they lay themselved down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink wine bought with fines they imposed (2:6b-8)
Paul writes to Thessalonia to encourage them to stay awake, be people of the light, and encourage each other.
Jesus speaks about the coming trials for his followers, and tells them not to prepare their defenses in advance, for He will give them words and wisdom at that time.
There are two things about todays readings that strike me. The first is the list of crimes committed by Israel. Selling the righteous for silver is too good for the evangelists to pass up, and so Jesus is bought for 30 pieces of silver, paid to Judas. Okay, so the image is reversed, but the act of betrayal is the same. It isn't betrayal to Jesus Amos is talking about, that's a "prophecy" Christians will want to see, but the charge is about betraying trust of rulers to the people under their care. I've been thinking about social, political, and religious power. Having authority does not mean that those you have authority over are resources for you to play with, trade, or treat as you see fit. Having authority means you are trusted to care for those you have authority over. I see it everywhere power is to be had. The poor are tossed into financial bankrupcy and seemingly eternal debt, the elderly and sick are no longer given affordable health care, and the poor are expected to love and revere those who do this to them. This doesn't make sense, and it goes against God's commandments. "Love your neighbor as yourself". "What you do to the least of these you do to me." That's why Damascus, Moab, and the Ammonites are in trouble with God: they abused their power and trampled their neighbors.
Authority Abuse is also a sign Jesus gives to His followers and instructs them to have strength. The earthly punishment for following Jesus is severe, and they will be hated because of Jesus, but they shall earn their souls. The end of the world has gotten some good publicity lately, or at least a lot of publicity. The whole "Rapture" thing is a bit beyond my understanding, but I see elements here that could lead us to think about signs fortelling the future. Don't we all want that? Don't we want to know what is going to happen and when? We want certainty. Jesus spoke about the end times (either of Jerusalem or the World) as if it was going to happen before his followers died, which meant that it was close at hand. It didn't happen, or it did happen and what we're left with is the post apocalyptic world and haven't figured out that God has already taken His faithful away, and it happened almost 2000 years ago.
Jesus and Paul speak about the end, and how to handle it. I don't see the Biblical end of the world being possible according to physics as we know it, but I am confident that at the end of time, whether the cold death of the universe that the scientists predict, or God breaking all the laws of physics and stopping this crazy existence, all will be well. I don't look for signs of the end of time. I would rather use what little authority I have now to do good, be neighborly, and heal rather than hurt the world I consider myself a steward of.
