Second Sunday of Advent
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VIII, Cycle B
Revised Common
Isaiah 40:1-11
2 Peter 3:8-15a
Mark 1:1-8
Roman Catholic
Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
2 Peter 3:8-14
Mark 1:1-8
Episcopal
Isaiah 40:1-11
2 Peter 3:8-15a, 18
Mark 1:1-8
Theme For The Day
Prepare!
Old Testament Lesson
Isaiah 40:1-11
From Condemnation To Comfort
These lines begin the portion of the larger Isaiah collection known as Second Isaiah. As such, they mark one of the most significant transitions in the Judeo-Christian tradition -- and indeed, in all of human religious thought. With the ringing proclamation that begins this passage, "Comfort, O comfort my people ... Speak tenderly to Jerusalem," the prophet's message changes from condemnation to comfort. Isaiah pushes back the very boundaries of human religious imagination: daring to envision a God who is larger than a single nation or culture, whose zeal for justice is tempered by tender love. Prepare the way for this just and loving Lord, Isaiah proclaims, who will lead dispirited exiles home again!
New Testament Lesson
2 Peter 3:8-15a
Like A Thief In The Night
"But the day of the Lord will come like a thief...." To modern ears, that sounds like bad news -- not to mention a mixed metaphor that depicts God in morally questionable terms. To the ears of the recipients of this letter, however, it would come as good news (this also happens to be a metaphor Jesus himself uses, in Matthew 24:43). The church of 2 Peter is struggling to maintain the integrity of its teaching against the competing messages of certain contemporary Greek philosophers, who fault Christians for continuing to wait for their Lord's appearing. Not to worry, the author says: the Lord will come when the Lord will come. The reason for his delay is to allow time for repentance (v. 9); but when that time is up, his coming will be swift and unannounced. All is still unfolding according to plan: so be patient, and continue to live faithfully.
The Gospel
Mark 1:1-8
John The Baptist Prepares The Way
In his typically sparse narrative style, Mark launches right into telling "the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." Unlike his synoptic colleagues -- who begin their gospels with nativity stories -- Mark locates his first scene on the banks of the Jordan, with the fiery John proclaiming a gospel of repentance, sealed by the sign of baptism. Mark's narrative imagery is vivid: to the admiring throng of penitents who have removed their sandals in order to wade into the river, John proclaims that he is not worthy even to perform the slave's gesture of untying the sandal of the holy one who is to come. An obvious problem (corrected by some later scribes, in textual variants) is that the first part of John's Old Testament citation (v. 2b) -- which Mark attributes to Isaiah -- is actually from Malachi 3:1. The rest of the citation (v. 3) is a rough translation of Isaiah 40:3 (the lectionary's Old Testament selection for today -- see above). This loose attribution is perhaps faithful to the spirit of the fiery John: he is not the sort of person to be troubled by scholarly documentation!
Preaching Possibilities
A common theme linking today's passages -- although one that means something a little different in each instance -- is that of preparation. Isaiah hears a voice that thunders, "prepare the way of Yahweh!" -- meaning: blast out a highway in the desert, more grand than the processional avenues of Babylon, down which your captors used to parade their puny idols on wheeled carts! The author of 2 Peter advises his long-suffering church, "prepare yourself," for you never know when the Lord is coming. Mark adapts Isaiah's words (which originally meant something quite different) to name John the Baptist as the one who prepares the way of the Lord. Rather clumsily, he links the Isaiah passage with similar, unattributed words from Malachi 3:1, which in their context actually refer to the Messiah himself -- rather than his forerunner -- as the one who prepares the way.
In any event, the concept of preparation is prominent, both in the texts and in the hearts and minds of our people -- who have by now been inundated with secular admonitions to prepare ("How many more shopping days till Christmas?"). Due to the diverse meanings of "preparation" in each of the lectionary passages, however, it is wise to preach on just one text, thereby avoiding considerable confusion.
So what does it mean to be prepared? When I was growing up as a Boy Scout, it meant to always carry a dime in your pocket in case you needed to summon help for an accident victim (ten cents for a phone call certainly dates the story!). An entire industry -- the insurance industry -- exists to help people prepare for adverse financial circumstances. Several burgeoning educational businesses ("test preparation" companies, they call themselves) help college applicants prepare to take standardized examinations.
Advent preparation, of course, is different. A time-honored goal of Advent preaching, in a consumer culture, is to help worshipers shift their idea of preparation from commercial to spiritual activity. In Advent, we do not so much prepare for something, as we prepare ourselves. The focus is not so much on doing, as on being -- always a tough task, in a season of multiple, conflicting demands on our time. Isaac Watts -- in a hymn never intended as a Christmas carol, incidentally, but which has subsequently become one -- puts it memorably: "let every heart prepare him room...."
It's like an expectant couple preparing to welcome a new baby. There are certain things couples do to prepare for a birth: scheduling prenatal doctor's appointments, attending Lamaze classes, purchasing nursery furniture. A well-known psychological phenomenon is the "nesting instinct," in which a woman in late pregnancy launches into frenetic activity to prepare a room of the house, after which -- or even during which -- labor begins. As chronos-time rolls over into xairos-time, however, a transformation takes place. Preparation, for the expectant parents, becomes not so much a matter of doing as of being: of preparing their hearts for the life-changing experience that awaits them both. Advent preparation, at its best, is a transition from chronos to xairos: from doing to being.
The figure of John the Baptist can help us focus on this transformative task. His is a call to radical repentance, to transformation. John appears from an unexpected quarter: a stranger, an outsider, an alien. He is a man of the wilderness, calling us out of the well-worn grooves of our workaday lives into a simple place of stark spiritual choices.
The wilderness, by the way, should never be portrayed as barren desert; what's meant by "wilderness," in biblical passages such as this, is merely uninhabited land. It's possible to "live off the land," in such a place -- on locusts and wild honey, in John's case, or on quail and manna as the Israelites of old -- fully dependent on God's provision.
And that, ultimately, is the spiritual goal of Advent: repentance, simplicity, total dependence on God. Our listeners, for the most part, already know they need to make such a transformation; nearly all of them are aware of the seductive spiritual pitfalls of yuletide commercialism, and don't need a preacher to enlighten them on this point. A sermon that communicates John's call to repentance -- in a way that gently confirms this truth our people already know, but need to hear once again -- will surely advance the gospel.
Prayer For The Day
Our lives, O God, are often filled with distractions. Time and again, we put our heart's desire on hold, forsaking the truly important to chase after the merely urgent. Give us, in these Advent days, the grace to discover moments of peaceful contemplation: that we may prepare ourselves aright to welcome the Savior. Amen.
To Illustrate
Stephen Vincent Benet once wrote a Christmas play in which the wife of the innkeeper, who intuitively realizes something momentous has happened back there in the stable, remarks: "Something has been loosed to change the world, and with it we must change."
Such is the message of John the Baptist. We must change.
***
We have become so accustomed to the idea of divine love and of God's coming at Christmas that we no longer feel the shiver of fear that God's coming should arouse in us. We are indifferent to the message, taking only the pleasant and agreeable out of it and forgetting the serious aspect, that the God of the world draws near to the people of our little earth and lays claim to us. The coming of God is truly not only glad tidings, but first of all frightening news for everyone who has a conscience.
Only when we have felt the terror of the matter, can we recognize the incomparable kindness. God comes into the very midst of evil and of death, and judges the evil in us and in the world. And by judging us, God cleanses and sanctifies us, comes to us with grace and love. God makes us happy as only children can be happy.
-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas (Farmington, Pennsylvania: Plough Publishing House, 2001)
***
There's a recent book by Brian Czech on environmental and economic issues with the intriguing title Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 2002). It's a good metaphor. The damage we've done to the natural environment and society by our insistence on unlimited "growth" is the runaway train, and we keep doing things to make the damage worse....
The message of John the Baptist, the message of Advent, is "You're going the wrong way. Stop shoveling, slow down, and turn around. Repent." It's not surprising that we have trouble hearing that simple message because it calls for radical change. Turn 180 degrees and go in the other direction. The Greek word for "repent" in the New Testament, is equally radical. Metanoeo means "I change my mind" -- not in the trivial sense of deciding to order soup instead of a salad, but making a fundamental change in the way I think. The wrong way is to put myself first. The right way is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind -- and your neighbor as yourself."
-- George Murphy, writing for The Immediate Word internet sermon resource, December 14, 2003
***
A young rabbinical student once asked his teacher, "When is the best time to repent?"
The rabbi thought for a moment, then answered, "The best time to repent is at the last possible moment."
After he said that, the student replied, "But you never know when the last possible moment will be."
And the rabbi answered, "Exactly!"
Isaiah 40:1-11
2 Peter 3:8-15a
Mark 1:1-8
Roman Catholic
Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
2 Peter 3:8-14
Mark 1:1-8
Episcopal
Isaiah 40:1-11
2 Peter 3:8-15a, 18
Mark 1:1-8
Theme For The Day
Prepare!
Old Testament Lesson
Isaiah 40:1-11
From Condemnation To Comfort
These lines begin the portion of the larger Isaiah collection known as Second Isaiah. As such, they mark one of the most significant transitions in the Judeo-Christian tradition -- and indeed, in all of human religious thought. With the ringing proclamation that begins this passage, "Comfort, O comfort my people ... Speak tenderly to Jerusalem," the prophet's message changes from condemnation to comfort. Isaiah pushes back the very boundaries of human religious imagination: daring to envision a God who is larger than a single nation or culture, whose zeal for justice is tempered by tender love. Prepare the way for this just and loving Lord, Isaiah proclaims, who will lead dispirited exiles home again!
New Testament Lesson
2 Peter 3:8-15a
Like A Thief In The Night
"But the day of the Lord will come like a thief...." To modern ears, that sounds like bad news -- not to mention a mixed metaphor that depicts God in morally questionable terms. To the ears of the recipients of this letter, however, it would come as good news (this also happens to be a metaphor Jesus himself uses, in Matthew 24:43). The church of 2 Peter is struggling to maintain the integrity of its teaching against the competing messages of certain contemporary Greek philosophers, who fault Christians for continuing to wait for their Lord's appearing. Not to worry, the author says: the Lord will come when the Lord will come. The reason for his delay is to allow time for repentance (v. 9); but when that time is up, his coming will be swift and unannounced. All is still unfolding according to plan: so be patient, and continue to live faithfully.
The Gospel
Mark 1:1-8
John The Baptist Prepares The Way
In his typically sparse narrative style, Mark launches right into telling "the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." Unlike his synoptic colleagues -- who begin their gospels with nativity stories -- Mark locates his first scene on the banks of the Jordan, with the fiery John proclaiming a gospel of repentance, sealed by the sign of baptism. Mark's narrative imagery is vivid: to the admiring throng of penitents who have removed their sandals in order to wade into the river, John proclaims that he is not worthy even to perform the slave's gesture of untying the sandal of the holy one who is to come. An obvious problem (corrected by some later scribes, in textual variants) is that the first part of John's Old Testament citation (v. 2b) -- which Mark attributes to Isaiah -- is actually from Malachi 3:1. The rest of the citation (v. 3) is a rough translation of Isaiah 40:3 (the lectionary's Old Testament selection for today -- see above). This loose attribution is perhaps faithful to the spirit of the fiery John: he is not the sort of person to be troubled by scholarly documentation!
Preaching Possibilities
A common theme linking today's passages -- although one that means something a little different in each instance -- is that of preparation. Isaiah hears a voice that thunders, "prepare the way of Yahweh!" -- meaning: blast out a highway in the desert, more grand than the processional avenues of Babylon, down which your captors used to parade their puny idols on wheeled carts! The author of 2 Peter advises his long-suffering church, "prepare yourself," for you never know when the Lord is coming. Mark adapts Isaiah's words (which originally meant something quite different) to name John the Baptist as the one who prepares the way of the Lord. Rather clumsily, he links the Isaiah passage with similar, unattributed words from Malachi 3:1, which in their context actually refer to the Messiah himself -- rather than his forerunner -- as the one who prepares the way.
In any event, the concept of preparation is prominent, both in the texts and in the hearts and minds of our people -- who have by now been inundated with secular admonitions to prepare ("How many more shopping days till Christmas?"). Due to the diverse meanings of "preparation" in each of the lectionary passages, however, it is wise to preach on just one text, thereby avoiding considerable confusion.
So what does it mean to be prepared? When I was growing up as a Boy Scout, it meant to always carry a dime in your pocket in case you needed to summon help for an accident victim (ten cents for a phone call certainly dates the story!). An entire industry -- the insurance industry -- exists to help people prepare for adverse financial circumstances. Several burgeoning educational businesses ("test preparation" companies, they call themselves) help college applicants prepare to take standardized examinations.
Advent preparation, of course, is different. A time-honored goal of Advent preaching, in a consumer culture, is to help worshipers shift their idea of preparation from commercial to spiritual activity. In Advent, we do not so much prepare for something, as we prepare ourselves. The focus is not so much on doing, as on being -- always a tough task, in a season of multiple, conflicting demands on our time. Isaac Watts -- in a hymn never intended as a Christmas carol, incidentally, but which has subsequently become one -- puts it memorably: "let every heart prepare him room...."
It's like an expectant couple preparing to welcome a new baby. There are certain things couples do to prepare for a birth: scheduling prenatal doctor's appointments, attending Lamaze classes, purchasing nursery furniture. A well-known psychological phenomenon is the "nesting instinct," in which a woman in late pregnancy launches into frenetic activity to prepare a room of the house, after which -- or even during which -- labor begins. As chronos-time rolls over into xairos-time, however, a transformation takes place. Preparation, for the expectant parents, becomes not so much a matter of doing as of being: of preparing their hearts for the life-changing experience that awaits them both. Advent preparation, at its best, is a transition from chronos to xairos: from doing to being.
The figure of John the Baptist can help us focus on this transformative task. His is a call to radical repentance, to transformation. John appears from an unexpected quarter: a stranger, an outsider, an alien. He is a man of the wilderness, calling us out of the well-worn grooves of our workaday lives into a simple place of stark spiritual choices.
The wilderness, by the way, should never be portrayed as barren desert; what's meant by "wilderness," in biblical passages such as this, is merely uninhabited land. It's possible to "live off the land," in such a place -- on locusts and wild honey, in John's case, or on quail and manna as the Israelites of old -- fully dependent on God's provision.
And that, ultimately, is the spiritual goal of Advent: repentance, simplicity, total dependence on God. Our listeners, for the most part, already know they need to make such a transformation; nearly all of them are aware of the seductive spiritual pitfalls of yuletide commercialism, and don't need a preacher to enlighten them on this point. A sermon that communicates John's call to repentance -- in a way that gently confirms this truth our people already know, but need to hear once again -- will surely advance the gospel.
Prayer For The Day
Our lives, O God, are often filled with distractions. Time and again, we put our heart's desire on hold, forsaking the truly important to chase after the merely urgent. Give us, in these Advent days, the grace to discover moments of peaceful contemplation: that we may prepare ourselves aright to welcome the Savior. Amen.
To Illustrate
Stephen Vincent Benet once wrote a Christmas play in which the wife of the innkeeper, who intuitively realizes something momentous has happened back there in the stable, remarks: "Something has been loosed to change the world, and with it we must change."
Such is the message of John the Baptist. We must change.
***
We have become so accustomed to the idea of divine love and of God's coming at Christmas that we no longer feel the shiver of fear that God's coming should arouse in us. We are indifferent to the message, taking only the pleasant and agreeable out of it and forgetting the serious aspect, that the God of the world draws near to the people of our little earth and lays claim to us. The coming of God is truly not only glad tidings, but first of all frightening news for everyone who has a conscience.
Only when we have felt the terror of the matter, can we recognize the incomparable kindness. God comes into the very midst of evil and of death, and judges the evil in us and in the world. And by judging us, God cleanses and sanctifies us, comes to us with grace and love. God makes us happy as only children can be happy.
-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas (Farmington, Pennsylvania: Plough Publishing House, 2001)
***
There's a recent book by Brian Czech on environmental and economic issues with the intriguing title Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 2002). It's a good metaphor. The damage we've done to the natural environment and society by our insistence on unlimited "growth" is the runaway train, and we keep doing things to make the damage worse....
The message of John the Baptist, the message of Advent, is "You're going the wrong way. Stop shoveling, slow down, and turn around. Repent." It's not surprising that we have trouble hearing that simple message because it calls for radical change. Turn 180 degrees and go in the other direction. The Greek word for "repent" in the New Testament, is equally radical. Metanoeo means "I change my mind" -- not in the trivial sense of deciding to order soup instead of a salad, but making a fundamental change in the way I think. The wrong way is to put myself first. The right way is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind -- and your neighbor as yourself."
-- George Murphy, writing for The Immediate Word internet sermon resource, December 14, 2003
***
A young rabbinical student once asked his teacher, "When is the best time to repent?"
The rabbi thought for a moment, then answered, "The best time to repent is at the last possible moment."
After he said that, the student replied, "But you never know when the last possible moment will be."
And the rabbi answered, "Exactly!"
