Rites, Rituals, and a Royal Procession
Commentary
Back in the 80’s, when I pastored a multiracial church in Chicago, there was one African American family with Cajun roots who had the tradition of preparing a huge pot of filé gumbo every Christmas Eve. Gumbo includes just about everything imaginable, and all the flavors slosh around to create something even greater than all the great stuff that goes into it.
Everyone they knew, family, friends, neighbors, church folks, work colleagues, were invited over for Christmas Eve gumbo. It was a family ritual in that household. Mom, dad, the two sons, the grandparents, the cousins, everyone took part in the creation of this magic dish. Then the house was packed wall to wall with people, made one in that holiday through that family’s gift.
One year the economy tanked. Mom took the boys aside and explained that they would not be making the gumbo that year so they could afford Christmas presents. The boys cried and protested. Forget the presents. Keep the gumbo. And that’s what the family did.
Rituals define us. Rituals sustain us during times of prosperity, poverty — and pandemic. There’s no telling in advance what this year’s Advent and Christmas will be like, but even if the economy tests us, we need our rituals and they will be observed in some form or other because they sustain us.
These three scriptures include rites, rituals, an upgraded road, and a royal procession down that highway. Consider ways in which action and activity can supplement the movement of the words in these passages. If all is well with the world, then our celebration can be part of restoration. If we are still the people who walk in darkness, then it’s time for a light to shine!
Isaiah 40:1-11
Chapter 40 represents a sea change in the book of the prophet Isaiah. As the first 39 chapters of Isaiah draw to a close, King Hezekiah witnesses the miraculous delivery of Jerusalem from the Assyrians, yet he foolishly reveals important information to the Babylonian spies. God assures Hezekiah that Jerusalem will fall and the people led away, but he takes heart that he himself is assured of an expected fifteen extra years of life along with the promise that he won’t see it all fall apart.
The national disaster delivered by the Babylonians took place in two stages, in 577 and 586 BC. Isaiah 40, however, took place in the year 538, after Cyrus the Mede overthrew the Babylonians and restored imprisoned peoples, including the Judeans, to their homelands.
Now in response to the “y’all” an answer comes from the people, prophets, or angels. One voice calls out that a road must be prepared for the royal procession! Something wonderful is happening. This royal road will be the one the people use to return to their home.
What sort of guarantee is given that this will really happen? Are the words of Cyrus enough? Here’s the answer. One voice commands: “Cry!” and another response, “What shall I cry?” The answer is that we are to be told that while we people, including Cyrus, come and go, but the word of God, which is the guarantee, is forever!
The procession ends at last with the glad invitation to gaze upon our God! The shepherd God is our king!
The Advent season is a time for rituals, processions, and responsible readings, leading us at last to gaze in wonder at our king — the infant king who is the Good Shepherd!
2 Peter 3:8-15a
During Advent, we are reminded that we are waiting for the coming of the Lord, who arrived millennia ago, abides with us still, and is on the way at some future date. Some people focus solely on that third context. How often I hear someone say, “Wouldn’t this be a great time for Jesus to return?” My gut answer would always be “Yes!” However, in this passage, we’re reminded that God’s timing is not our timing (See Psalm 90:4 for this same idea about a thousand years is like a night and day in the sight of the Lord). That even though we are aware of how long we’ve had to wait, once the Lord arrives it will catch us off guard, like that proverbial thief in the night! More importantly, we are to “regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.” This coming of the Lord is going to be literally earth-shaking, and if we’re not ready, that could be a catastrophe! God is giving us every break that we might choose to live ethically and righteously. Our other two scriptures talk about preparing the way of the Lord. That’s what we’re to be about. If we’re ready for the Lord, if we haven’t prepared the way, the parade is going to pass us by.
Mark 1:1-8
Mark’s gospel begins abruptly. No angels, no birth story, no shepherds. Just boom! Just Jesus and John the Baptist at the beginning of the good news!
But there’s more there than you think. These first verses are heavily freighted with Genesis, Isaiah, Exodus, Malachi — all the major signposts on the journey of God with the people!
Arche, the Greek word translated as “beginning” is the same as the opening of Genesis 1:1 in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, known as the Septuagint. The reference to Genesis is intentional. The beginning of creation is called to mind as we share the beginning of the new creation. This good news (gospel is derived from godspel, an old English word meaning just that) is a Greek word generally used to announce a military victory or the rise of a new ruler. This announcement of power will now be used to refer to a much different kind of ruler. Christ, meaning “anointed one”, a reference to the king, and “son of God,” a term co-opted by the Roman emperors to indicate divine ancestry, is part of the powerful good news, and it will take Peter eight chapters to make the connection and say, finally, “You are the Messiah.” (8:29) But almost immediately after Peter makes this proclamation, Jesus begins to teach that power in the new kingdom is defined different, for “…he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” (8:31)
And when Mark says he’s quoting the prophet Isaiah, he’s actually combining language from Exodus 23:20, Malachi 3:1, and Isaiah 40:3. The Exodus verse reminds us that God will send an angel/messenger (in both Hebrew and Greek the same word is used for both) to guard and guide us. The verse is set within the context of the great nation-building event of the liberation from Egypt. Malachi (which is exactly that word used to meant both angel and messenger) tells us God is sending that messenger before us, and according to Isaiah, that angel or messenger calls out to us to prepare a way for the Lord! A great processional is about to begin, and that’s why we need that good news to go ahead of us.
In Mark’s good news or proclamation of power, it is John who comes out of the wilderness, dressed like a prophet, right out of central casting, or Christmas Pageant Central. Jesus is baptized, commissioned, and is sent out into the wilderness (in the verses immediately following this passage.
Just as Mark mixes up all these images and passages into one powerful mélange, we mix Matthew’s Magi and Star with Luke’s shepherds, angels, and manger, sprinkling a little bit of John’s awe and majesty into one Christmas pageant. So, in some ways though Mark has no prelude of preparation such as the gospels of Matthew and Luke — and the season of Advent implies — in its own way it includes all of the above. The Royal Highway, El Camino Real, beckons. Let us process!
Everyone they knew, family, friends, neighbors, church folks, work colleagues, were invited over for Christmas Eve gumbo. It was a family ritual in that household. Mom, dad, the two sons, the grandparents, the cousins, everyone took part in the creation of this magic dish. Then the house was packed wall to wall with people, made one in that holiday through that family’s gift.
One year the economy tanked. Mom took the boys aside and explained that they would not be making the gumbo that year so they could afford Christmas presents. The boys cried and protested. Forget the presents. Keep the gumbo. And that’s what the family did.
Rituals define us. Rituals sustain us during times of prosperity, poverty — and pandemic. There’s no telling in advance what this year’s Advent and Christmas will be like, but even if the economy tests us, we need our rituals and they will be observed in some form or other because they sustain us.
These three scriptures include rites, rituals, an upgraded road, and a royal procession down that highway. Consider ways in which action and activity can supplement the movement of the words in these passages. If all is well with the world, then our celebration can be part of restoration. If we are still the people who walk in darkness, then it’s time for a light to shine!
Isaiah 40:1-11
Chapter 40 represents a sea change in the book of the prophet Isaiah. As the first 39 chapters of Isaiah draw to a close, King Hezekiah witnesses the miraculous delivery of Jerusalem from the Assyrians, yet he foolishly reveals important information to the Babylonian spies. God assures Hezekiah that Jerusalem will fall and the people led away, but he takes heart that he himself is assured of an expected fifteen extra years of life along with the promise that he won’t see it all fall apart.
The national disaster delivered by the Babylonians took place in two stages, in 577 and 586 BC. Isaiah 40, however, took place in the year 538, after Cyrus the Mede overthrew the Babylonians and restored imprisoned peoples, including the Judeans, to their homelands.
Now in response to the “y’all” an answer comes from the people, prophets, or angels. One voice calls out that a road must be prepared for the royal procession! Something wonderful is happening. This royal road will be the one the people use to return to their home.
What sort of guarantee is given that this will really happen? Are the words of Cyrus enough? Here’s the answer. One voice commands: “Cry!” and another response, “What shall I cry?” The answer is that we are to be told that while we people, including Cyrus, come and go, but the word of God, which is the guarantee, is forever!
The procession ends at last with the glad invitation to gaze upon our God! The shepherd God is our king!
The Advent season is a time for rituals, processions, and responsible readings, leading us at last to gaze in wonder at our king — the infant king who is the Good Shepherd!
2 Peter 3:8-15a
During Advent, we are reminded that we are waiting for the coming of the Lord, who arrived millennia ago, abides with us still, and is on the way at some future date. Some people focus solely on that third context. How often I hear someone say, “Wouldn’t this be a great time for Jesus to return?” My gut answer would always be “Yes!” However, in this passage, we’re reminded that God’s timing is not our timing (See Psalm 90:4 for this same idea about a thousand years is like a night and day in the sight of the Lord). That even though we are aware of how long we’ve had to wait, once the Lord arrives it will catch us off guard, like that proverbial thief in the night! More importantly, we are to “regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.” This coming of the Lord is going to be literally earth-shaking, and if we’re not ready, that could be a catastrophe! God is giving us every break that we might choose to live ethically and righteously. Our other two scriptures talk about preparing the way of the Lord. That’s what we’re to be about. If we’re ready for the Lord, if we haven’t prepared the way, the parade is going to pass us by.
Mark 1:1-8
Mark’s gospel begins abruptly. No angels, no birth story, no shepherds. Just boom! Just Jesus and John the Baptist at the beginning of the good news!
But there’s more there than you think. These first verses are heavily freighted with Genesis, Isaiah, Exodus, Malachi — all the major signposts on the journey of God with the people!
Arche, the Greek word translated as “beginning” is the same as the opening of Genesis 1:1 in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, known as the Septuagint. The reference to Genesis is intentional. The beginning of creation is called to mind as we share the beginning of the new creation. This good news (gospel is derived from godspel, an old English word meaning just that) is a Greek word generally used to announce a military victory or the rise of a new ruler. This announcement of power will now be used to refer to a much different kind of ruler. Christ, meaning “anointed one”, a reference to the king, and “son of God,” a term co-opted by the Roman emperors to indicate divine ancestry, is part of the powerful good news, and it will take Peter eight chapters to make the connection and say, finally, “You are the Messiah.” (8:29) But almost immediately after Peter makes this proclamation, Jesus begins to teach that power in the new kingdom is defined different, for “…he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” (8:31)
And when Mark says he’s quoting the prophet Isaiah, he’s actually combining language from Exodus 23:20, Malachi 3:1, and Isaiah 40:3. The Exodus verse reminds us that God will send an angel/messenger (in both Hebrew and Greek the same word is used for both) to guard and guide us. The verse is set within the context of the great nation-building event of the liberation from Egypt. Malachi (which is exactly that word used to meant both angel and messenger) tells us God is sending that messenger before us, and according to Isaiah, that angel or messenger calls out to us to prepare a way for the Lord! A great processional is about to begin, and that’s why we need that good news to go ahead of us.
In Mark’s good news or proclamation of power, it is John who comes out of the wilderness, dressed like a prophet, right out of central casting, or Christmas Pageant Central. Jesus is baptized, commissioned, and is sent out into the wilderness (in the verses immediately following this passage.
Just as Mark mixes up all these images and passages into one powerful mélange, we mix Matthew’s Magi and Star with Luke’s shepherds, angels, and manger, sprinkling a little bit of John’s awe and majesty into one Christmas pageant. So, in some ways though Mark has no prelude of preparation such as the gospels of Matthew and Luke — and the season of Advent implies — in its own way it includes all of the above. The Royal Highway, El Camino Real, beckons. Let us process!
