Advent 2 2024

I was s little confused preparing, today we read an apocalypse in St. Luke, that is a parallel passage from St. Matthew, and that text we did a few weeks ago. The warning of Jesus about the fall of Jerusalem and its parallel in the heavenly spaces.

Fortunately every week give us 4 different reading options to explore together so I turned my focus instead to the OT reading.

The Wednesday I had the joy of doing some Bible study with everyone, and we talked about Isaiah and its basic structure. The first 39 chapters are prophecies and warnings to the people living in that say. The people of Judah were behaving badly and God was going to save them from destruction as an act of his mercy and Grace not their worthiness. Then chapter 40 is a prophecy of hope to the people of Judah 150 into the future as God already know that the people of Judah would survive the attacks of the Assyrian empire only to fall to the Babylonian empire 70 years later and spend 70 years in captivity. God prophecies to them that the journey back from Babylon would be under his care. But we are reading is in that third part of Isaiah. God predicts a coming suffering servant that will redeem the people of Judah and restore them to their greatest fortunes.

Let look at todays text carefully.

When you are on the bottom socio-economically in this era your greatest challenge is finding enough to eat day to day, and the Jews in exile were at the bottom. They are living in a dry climate. and God says, come to me , drink eat, without cost. Their greatest daily struggle now will be gone one day in the care of the suffereing servant who brings about God’s kingdom. And not only will they eat, but it will be the Choicest food.

Second thing that they daily worry about, sudden death, but verse 3, Because David and God had a special relationship and God had made a promise of an everlasting reign of Davids line, he will care for the people of David. Not because they are faithful but because God is. And the suffering servant will rule in Davids place.

Verse 4, 5 His rule will be not just of the ethnic people of God, but an expanded multi ethnic gathering. It will be a rule of proclamation of the Glory of God.

Let us pause here, we can pick up other verses the next time we come around in a year.

What will this mean in our lives.

First off the promise of water: THe promise of an effectual baptism that will cleanse us and bring us into the family of of the life giving suffereing servant. Remember that water in a dry climate like there was everthing it was life itself.

Then a second promise of food, a provision, the best food. A food eaten with God, a foreshadow of our communion table. Not food that we eat by the sweat of our brow or our cost, but the choice food that God provides.

These sacraments, the tokens or sure signs that we are Gods covenant family or partners. We are the continuation of that promise that was made to David. Sings that we will be ruled by a Dividic partner. And most of you have let your minds do the fact that Jesus is of the line of David. 500 years before the arrival of Christ, God prophisize these things, water, food, Davidic rule to his people.

So for us we are welcome into this reality, not by our own work but by the work of Christ.

Advent:

The returning people of Israel waited in hope that this Messiah would come one day, and it colored their whole lives that God would send someone.

We two are taking a season to live with that same tension of this arrival. That is what Advent means, arrival. That is why I encourage us to wait a hot second before saying Christmas is here and just leaning it. The baby in the manger means so much more when we wait.

Its a strange thing in a our world of right now. Immediate uploading of apps. Amazon same day delivery. Fruit available our of season at the Grocery store. buy now pay later. The idea of waiting is so odd to us.

Are we any happier for having everything right not, or would we be more well adjusted for learning to wait.

Know this when the Suffereing servant finally arrives, It is Jesus who goes to the cross, he suffered and dies for our disobedience so that we would have his obedience. Our moral failures, including our instant want of self gratification are on, Jesus. Paid in full, so I say to you Christian.

Isaiah 55:1 ““Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”