Introduction to Advent and Christmas
How are we waiting?
Missio Dei in Advent and Christmastide
December 3-December 31, 2017
We all have a birth narrative, a story of how we came to be. Even if our birth parents were not part of our lives, we still have a story of our arrival and can speculate about the anticipation of our birth. Advent and Christmas seasons begin the church year highlighting the anticipation of the miraculous events surrounding the incarnation of God, the birth of Jesus Christ as a small helpless Hebrew child. This ultimate act of missio Dei, the mission of God, foretold in the Old Testament and an example and anticipation of the eschaton, made a way for the redemption of all people through the sacrifice of Jesus, the Son of God. A church community's view of Advent is largely dependent on its understanding of Christmas. The main point is that without the incarnation, there would be no atonement through Christ's death and resurrection. There would be no hope for reconciliation or the Savior's return as the ruler and restorer of all of creation. The missio Dei is the ultimate demonstration of God's love for, salvation and redemption of his best creation, humankind. The Kingdom of God came to earth through God's Son, fully human and fully divine.
The focus of the following homiletical reflections helps us to look again in a different way at the Advent and Christmas season through the lens of the missional heart of the triune God. The concept of missio Dei reminds us that mission is not limited to the action of the church; rather, it is the inherent nature of the relationship found in community that is modeled for us within the Trinity. The mission is God's deepest desire to restore and redeem that which was lost and fallen from his good and perfect creation. The actions of discipleship and outreach in the church are part of the greater plan. Over the next six weeks, the journey will take us once again to that familiar story that culminates in the celebration on December 25th. Yet if we limit our focus to one day, we miss much of the anticipation of the greatest gift we could ever receive. If we consider the seasons of Advent and Christmastide from the missional viewpoint, we must consider what was the missional activity of God and who was it for both then and now. Martin J. Connell reminds us that what we wait for determines the way we wait. (Connell, "The Origins and Evolution of Advent in the West," in Between Memory and Hope: Readings on the Liturgical Year, 2000).
The Old Testament readings recall the writings of the prophet Isaiah. Considering the nation of Israel, the prophet calls for the acknowledgement of sin. All of the characters involved in the narrative in these texts are included within the fallenness of humankind, a message that remains relevant for us today. No one is without sin. Likewise, the psalmist calls for restoration among the nations, which includes both individuals and the wider community. The words of Isaiah paint the picture of a comforting shepherd who will establish the year of the Lord's favor and bring good news to the poor. The way must be prepared for a savior who will carry out the missio Dei through to the restoration among nations by establishing his eternal reign on David's throne. The restoration of joy is echoed in Mary's song from generation to generation (Lk. 1:26b-55).
Little did anyone know that God would come incognito in the most humble of beginnings, in human form, as a helpless infant. The sense of expectancy and the culmination of God's ultimate gift to us once again reminds us of the extreme lengths our loving God goes to for the accomplishment of his mission; the redemption of ALL his creation! The words of the Psalmists and Prophets herald the anticipation of the Messiah, one sent from God to accomplish the mission. Characters such as Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary, and Joseph give us a glimpse into the all-encompassing love of God as priest, women and laborer are part of the missional story. The mission of God extends from common folks of the working class, such as innkeepers and shepherds, to the halls of royalty as the wise men sought audience with the earthly King Herod. All creation announced His glory from the company of angels to the unique star that appears in the heavenly realm. The religiously dedicated Simeon and Anna rejoice in the news that the Kingdom of God has come for the redemption of the world, God's ultimate mission!
The following blog entries will bring fresh insight into the birth narrative of Christ as we begin the church year with the season of Advent and Christmastide. The authors have offered her or his thoughts on the lectionary texts and how they fit into the idea of missio Dei. They come from various backgrounds with insights gained from their own research and missionary experiences. Their six entries are based on "The Revised Common Lectionary - Year B" for the four Sundays of Advent, Christmas Eve/Day and the first Sunday after Christmastide as found on the Vanderbilt Divinity Library website. Each commentary begins with the liturgical day and associated texts and then provides exegetical insights, thoughts on God's mission in the text and finally the missional connection for our current context.
What will we see by examining the texts through a missional lens? What is at the heart of God's mission? How are we as pastors and teachers to share the good news of the missio Dei that begins in the first season in the church calendar year? How will we, and those whom we lead, share the anticipation with others? Will we agree with Connell that what we wait for determines the way we wait? May we wait well with joy and expectation of participating in the mission of God to redeem the world!
Almighty God, who has poured upon us the new light of [your] incarnate Word: Grant that the same light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord who [lives] and [reigns] with [you], in the unity of the Holy Spirit in God, now and for ever....Amen.
(The Book of Common Prayer: According to the use of The Episcopal Church, New York: Oxford University Press, 1990, 161.)
Biographical Summary
Jody Fleming, M.Div., Ph.D. is Associate Editor for Advent and Christmas Season, MissionalPreacher, Board of Publication, American Society of Missiology. She is a seminary professor in practical theology and a researcher and writer concentrating in the area of pneumatology in global Christianity and mission. Her publications include studies on Africa and Latin America with field experience in Venezuela. She is an ordained elder and endorsed chaplain in the Church of the Nazarene and served many years in ministry as a corporate, hospital and hospice chaplain. She lives in South Central PA with her husband Cole.
First Sunday of Advent
December 3, 2017,
Isaiah 64:1-9
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Mark 13:24-37.
With sullen faces turned toward the sky, the Black Eyed Peas's music video Where is the Love? cries out, "Father, Father, Father, help us; send some guidance from above" and then fades away with the haunting words:
One world, one world (We only got)
One world, one world (That's all we got)
One world, one world
And something's wrong with it (Yeah)
Something's wrong with it (Yeah)
Something's wrong with the wo-wo world, yeah.
Today we enter another season of Advent, a season in which we lament the state of the world and yearn for God's kingdom to come. We give vent to a universal dissatisfaction born from a sense that our planet is broken and "surely there must be something more!" Our call to participate in God's mission arises from the foundational conviction that "there's something wrong with the world" and our only hope rests in God's coming.
Exegetical Missional Insights
Our text from Isaiah is situated in the period when the post-exilic Jews were once again settling in their homeland, but times were tough and God seemed far away. The people had a rich historical memory of times past when God had stepped in and done something mighty and magnificent on their behalf, but now he seems hidden and unconcerned. The good old days of the first exodus come to mind, when God shook the mountains, showed up in fire, made himself known to his people and their enemies in fearful, compelling ways. But, alas, the present reality fails to live up to expectations, and it is hard to sustain faith and hope when you feel helplessly trapped and God seems to have withdrawn from action. Isaiah seems to suggest that God's silence has pushed the people into deeper sin and a giving up on seeking after God.
Isaiah's lament culminates with a note of resignation and a reminder, "you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand....Now consider, we are all your people" (8-9). In other words, "We are counting on you, God, not to forget who we are!" Lament always takes place within the context of covenant community, it is a complaint to God for not holding up his end of the bargain and a way of reminding God that we are still here, waiting, longing, and hoping for his intervention in our world. C. Clifton Black expresses this well: lament is "the deep and irrepressible conviction, in the teeth of present evidence, that God has not severed the umbilical cord that has always bound us to the Lord" ("The Persistence of Wounds" in Lament: Reclaiming Practices in Pulpit, Pew and Public Square, Sally A. Brown and Patrick Miller, eds. Louisville, Westminster John Knox, 2005: p.54).
Paul's opening words to the Corinthians are not framed around lament, yet Advent tension rings in the passage. While he rejoices in the ways God's grace has taken root and born fruit in the lives of this community, he reminds them that they are in a posture of waiting "for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ." While Isaiah coaxed God into action on behalf of his people, Paul is confident that we can rely on God's faithfulness because of the bond of covenant established through "fellowship in his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." This tension between the already and the not yet is called Mission Between the Times in Rene Padilla's popular collection of essays on the kingdom of God. God's new work among us has begun, yet it is incomplete; we continue to long and wait for the second Advent, the "day of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Mark's Gospel describes this day with cataclysmic detail, with similar phenomena to that expected by Isaiah. Isaiah longed for God to "tear open the heavens and come down" (64:1) and Jesus prophesies that "the powers in the heavens will be shaken" (13:25) and "they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory" (13:26). It is both a day of dread and a day of anticipation, shrouded in the mystery of God's secret timing. The point of this little apocalypse is stated three times, "keep alert" (13:33), "keep awake" (13:35), and again, "keep awake" (13:37).
God's Mission in the Text 
Advent rekindles hope, challenges our cynicism, and calls us to believe in fresh possibilities, new beginnings, and opens us up to a new encounter with God. Our default setting is to become deadened to hope, resigned to the way things are, unable to imagine any way out of the mess we humans have conspired to create. Looking back at the long list of hurricanes, earthquakes, mass shootings, the mammoth refugee crisis, and tensions between nuclear powers that have characterized 2017, it is hard to believe that anything will change, that anything can fix this "wo-wo world."
But our historical memory jump starts our weary spirits and gives birth to new dreams. We remember how God brought Pharaoh to his knees and liberated his people from slavery with one powerful showdown after another. We take heart in a God who brought exiles back from captivity and resettled them in their precious homeland, through the unexpected benevolence of a Gentile king. We celebrate with awe and wonder a God who smuggles himself into human history through a virgin's womb and declares that a new order has been inaugurated.
Mission Connections for Our Context
In Advent, we echo the world's lament that there is something wrong with the world, even though Immanuel has made his dwelling among us and God's grace has taken root. Yet our lament is grounded in a narrative of hope, secure in a future that nothing can extinguish. And so, people of God, we carry on his mission of planting seeds of the kingdom, seeking justice, inviting others into God's love and forgiveness, caring for wounded creation, all the while keeping alert, awaiting the coming of the one who will complete the feeble work of our hands and bring shalom in all its fullness.
Biographical Summary
Allan Effa teaches mission and spiritual formation at Taylor Seminary, Edmonton, Canada. He grew up as a missionary kid in Brazil and served as a career missionary in Nigeria, and received his PhD in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary.
Second Sunday of Advent
December 10, 2017
Isaiah 40:1-11
2 Peter 3:8-15a
Mark 1:1-8
Exegetical Missional Insights
Throughout history, Christians have observed great festivals to acknowledge and celebrate their faith. Today, we observe the second Sunday of Advent and consider its message of promise and hope.
From three Scripture readings (paraphrasing from The Message), we see a pattern of what God's eternal plan is for all the peoples of earth. Isaiah 40:1-11 announces that there is Good News to be shouted from the mountain tops that our God is here! Even though we people are like little wildflowers that quickly fade, we are to declare, as His brave messengers, that God's promises are true and lasting. He speaks tenderly and comfortingly about how our sin has been taken care of. The Lord God holds us to his heart and tells us not to be afraid.
Our second reading (2 Peter 3:8-15a) assures us that God's time-frame is not like ours. For Him, 1000 years is as only a day on our calendars. There will eventually be a new heaven and earth, but God is holding out in sending judgment. Because He is patient, we are being given a chance to change our ways and live holy and godly lives. The Message version of the passage phrases it this way: "Interpret our Master's patient restraint for what it is: salvation." We, as God's people and as part of an eternal plan, are to live well during our time.
Mark 1:1-8 refers back to the Isaiah passage, and what does this writer tell us? He describes John the Baptist, a wild sort of man who is a messenger telling us that Jesus, the Son of God, is coming among us. This messenger, John, claimed that he was sent to prepare the way for Jesus, as the Christ. While serving in Ethiopia, I had the privilege of watching many dramas put on by Ethiopian young people. They are very creative, spontaneous and uninhibited. I remember one very special occasion when we were privileged to watch a drama in which children in an orphanage enacted the Christmas story.
In the drama, Mary was about thirteen years old, wearing a tattered taffeta dress. She was just working around her humble home when she saw that bright angel and heard that amazing message! Nine months later, she groaned in labor as she kept hitching up the pillow which gave her an appropriately swollen stomach. The shepherds were squabbling over bread crusts when they were suddenly shocked with the message from heaven. Then Jesus was born amidst all the hubbub. After a pause, John the Baptist appeared in the drama. A wild teenager, dressed in skins with hair all askew, shouted and charged his way down the aisle of the auditorium waving a horse tail. God's great promises came tumbling out of his mouth. "Make straight a way for the Lord! He is mightier than I am and will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." The reality of the biblical story that day struck me so strongly that I just sat there and wept. These orphaned children portrayed a much more powerful, terrifying and realistic version of the Great Story than we ever see performed here in our churches.
God's Mission in the Text
In celebrating Advent, how then should we live and respond? What do we see that causes us to reflect and take action? There is Good News that needs to be to be shouted out and transferred to others . . . on and on . . . to the ends of the earth, through all time. The art I selected for today pictures Elizabeth and Mary when they met each other and discovered they were both pregnant. Their babies were destined to become a powerful part of this amazing story. Elizabeth's John became the wild guy who knew what he had to proclaim. And Mary's Jesus was the promised Savior. Both the mothers and their sons were utterly possessed with their glorious message and hope, rejoiced in it, and declared the truth. We discern in the painting that both Elizabeth and Mary are excited about their news and rejoicing in their involvement. Their surroundings are very simple and rural, but they are content with life and thrilled to be a part of God's great plan.
Missional Connection to Our Context
Today we rejoice in the great promises that came true, and we are also responsible for the ongoing proclamation of salvation in the world. God sent Jesus. Jesus sends us. It is always and now happening. We are part of that great missio Dei in the world. My husband and I had the joy of serving in Ethiopia for almost a half century. We saw churches born and nurtured. And now the Ethiopian churches themselves are sending out their own missionaries to far-flung places like Chad, Afghanistan, and China. How beautiful are the feet of those who carry the Gospel . . . always moving on, always proclaiming the story of Jesus.
On this Advent Sunday in 2017, what is the challenge to which we may respond? I share two of my favorite Christmas season quotes. The first one challenges us personally to be a part of the great drama in our own lives:
Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born;
If He's not born in thee, thy soul is still forlorn.
(Johann Scheffler)
Secondly, having experienced Jesus Christ in our own lives, we are challenged to share in the mission of God in the world:
That's how it is with God's love.
Once we've experienced it . . .we want to pass it on.
(Kurt Kaiser)
Just like Mary and Elizabeth, our lives are steeped in the larger vision of God's great plan. We continue to live within the Christmas story and, in our own generation, are a vital part of the mission of God.
Upper Room - Nov/Dec 2012
Cover art courtesy of Our Lady of the Missions in Vietnam. © 1997, Mai Nhon.
Biographical Summary
Lila Balisky was raised in Kenya in a missionary family. She and her husband, Paul, served in Ethiopia under SIM from 1967-2005 in a variety of ministries with the Ethiopian Kale Heywet churches. Now retired in Alberta, Canada, they are both actively involved in writing, and Lila is currently publishing a book on the songs of an Ethiopian soloist.
Third Sunday of Advent
December 17, 2017
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
John 1:6-8, 19-28
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Exegetical Missional Insights
Biblical scholars usually divide the book of Isaiah into two sections. The first, chapters 1-39 during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, the nation of Judah experienced great material prosperity. However, this bred an environment of spiritual degeneration through idol worship, injustice, violence and moral decay. Inevitably despite warnings by prophets like Isaiah and contemporaries, decay spiraled out of control towards God's judgment, conquest by powerful neighbors, eventual exile. Isaiah Chapter 39 ends with impeding judgment. We have to look at 2 Kings 25, 2 and Chronicles 36 to get the devastating stories of Israel fall and exile. In parts of Jeremiah and Ezekiel we catch a glimpse of the grim life of exile. We can then turn back to Isaiah chapter 40 through 66, a foretelling of post-exilic restoration and beyond. In this second half, Isaiah charges Israel to give up apostasy, trust Yahweh and act in accordance with a restored faith. Yet Isaiah is known as the prophet of hope for good reason. Beyond the devastation present historical he infuses his message a strong undercurrent of a final deliverance of God's people, prefigured in what are known as the "servant songs", in Isaiah 42, 49, 50 and 52-53. They tell of the "Lord's servant", the identity of who is debated by biblical scholars. Perhaps it is specific heroic individuals who would deliver Israel from ongoing oppression, or the righteous remnant after Jerusalem's conquest. For some scholars, the servant is identified with the remnant of Jewish people after exile, circling back to the Egyptian deliverance narrative where as they were called by God to be a "a treasured possession out of all nations, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation" (Exodus 19: 5-6). Christians will of course later name this person as the Messiah (See North, 2005, pp. 1-5).
I go into the detail of context because the full import of today's Advent reading cannot be adequately appropriated apart from this much bigger picture. It is remarkable that when Jesus comes into the public as a teacher, early on, he makes this text the anchor of his ministry. The passage itself is about the servant's commission to care for the poor, heal the brokenhearted, free captives, release prisoners, comfort mourners, and effectively bringing justice. However, whatever Jesus says of himself as an extrapolation of Isaiah 61 passage is so preposterous that the people of Nazareth do a double-take to confirm he is the same young man who grew up in their midst. They kick him out of the synagogue and try to throw him over a cliff.
N.T. Wright points out that the reason that the people became furious is that Jesus confidently and emphatically takes upon himself Isaiah's identity of "the servant". "In proclaiming God's grace for everyone, including the nations" Jesus is taking on an exalted role of the long-expected servant Messiah (Wright, 2001). The author of the gospel of John also sees this identity of Jesus with crystal clarity and declares right at the start of his gospel, "In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind." He then records in John 1: 6-8, John the Baptist equating himself with the messenger in Isaiah 40 who goes ahead of the forthcoming messenger to make a highway for God will "come forth with power, rule with a mighty arm, tend his flocks like a shepherd, gather the lambs in his arms, gently lead those that have young" (paraphrased). To Luke, John, even Mark and Matthew, it is quite clear that God has passed on the mission that belonged to his chosen servant Israel, to Jesus of Nazareth. I do not think it is fair to say that Israel failed in its mission, rather "In the fullness of time, God sent forth his son, born of a woman... to redeem all those under the law and beyond the law, essentially that Jews and gentiles can, through Jesus and the Spirit have access to the Father as "Abba, Daddy!" (Galatians 4: 4-6, paraphrased).
As Wright argues, once Jesus takes on the mission of the servant, he resolutely proceeds to announce the kingdom of God in ways close to the job description of the servant in Isaiah. In Luke 7, John the Baptist has a crisis of doubt about Jesus, despite announcing him a short while earlier. He sends messengers to ask, "Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?" Curiously, Jesus does not reply immediately. Instead he fulfills Isaiah 61, "At that time, Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits and gave sight to many who were blind". Then he looks at John's disciples and tells them, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy as are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor". The style of the Nazareth manifesto is exactly in the same style of Isaiah 61.
In Luke's breathless narrative, Jesus proceeds with certain firmness, as though Luke is progressively confirming Jesus was indeed the servant running through Isaiah's songs. (N.T, Wright, The Narrow Gate (Video), 2012). In Luke chapter 8, Jesus travels from one town to another healing, teaching, bringing hope to an oppressed people. Chapter 9 and 10 he sends out the 12, then 72 disciples on a similar mission. At each point they are growing in their understanding of who he is. So, Jesus shifts towards teaching them how they are to differentiate themselves as a community of the kingdom of God while still ministering to the world. They try to pin the kingdom to physical or political realities, to which he emphasizes, "The kingdom is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, here it is, there it is, because, the kingdom of God is in your midst" (Luke 17), and he goes on to do more kingdom work. Then Luke shifts in chapter 20 to the confrontation with religious leaders, on to the pending confrontation with larger powers in destruction of the temple and signs of the ends of the times. These build up to the crucifixion and his apparently tragic death. By chapter 24, where to disciples express dismay that everybody's hopes had been dashed, the risen Jesus refocuses them to the fulfilled mission as he "explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself" (Luke 24: 27). Luke will go to write about the commissioning of the disciples in the book of Acts, and in their Holy Spirit-powered action from Acts 1 to 28 to confirm that the mission of the "servant" has passed on to the new community, which Paul later calls the body of Christ. The rest is the history we know as the Church in and beyond the New Testament, through two thousand years to the present moment.
God's Mission in the Text
Raise your hand up if every time you have heard this Isaiah 61 or Luke 4 passage, the reading was extrapolated first to Jesus and a few heroic Christians, or a social development project of a local church community. That is understandable. In fact, the Advent scriptures have this common factor: they offer an endless encouragement in times of personal crises of significance. For those committed to God's mission these passages are often our personal commissions. And that as it should be, for in so far as "All scripture is God-breathed and useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction and for training in righteousness so that the man and woman of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work (2 Tim 3:16), these passages are signposts and lampposts for us when we are in spiritual, physical or material poverty.
That said, there is great premium in the thematic big picture running right out of the Old Testament, to Jesus and the church to date. In Genesis, Israel is called and blessed to be a blessing to the nations. In time Israel becomes enslaved, is delivered, gets its own constitution (law) and land, eventually a full identity as a kingdom under kings. In the centuries of decline and exile the mission of the chosen nation shifts to the anointed servant, recalling the nation of priests in Exodus and Deuteronomy, which Peter will echo in the New Testament. Jesus in the gospels first takes on the mission of the servant then passes it on to his new community, and on, today when, "The earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9), or, as the 18th century missionaries went forth singing, "Jesus shall reign wherever the sun / Does its successful journey run/ His kingdom stretch from shore to shore/ Till moon shall wax and wane no more." Amen. The kingdom of God has come, and is already here. As N.T. Wright insists, it is not a disembodied, otherworldly kingdom, much as that is part of it at the end of time. In the bible, human history is the arena of Gods work, and continues to be the arena of God's activity through the embodied presence and work of the church.
Mission Connections for Our Context
If we are engaged in the mission of God, we all know, with that other hymn, "The task is unfinished". Billions of humanities are yet to have firsthand access the gospel. Millions are debilitated by abject poverty. Depressingly, there is a current of political and social despair sweeping the world, and a debilitating world-weariness about the church, making it seem the church has failed. This Advent, might we recover hope, faith and strength if we look back at how the kingdom of God has come and is here, because the church was and is here. If you have trouble believing this, read some history with Rodney Stark, Scott Sunquist, Mark Noll and a great deal of literature on world Christianity across the global south. A particularly easy access reading to see the impact of Jesus and his church through history is John Ortberg's Who is this Man? (Ortberg, 2012). In these historical witnesses you will hear and see that healthcare, literacy and higher education, human rights, cultural renewal, inventions that have grown into technological solutions find their roots in the work of Christians who saw their work as Christian vocation even when they could not overcome darkness of their times.
The world would be a much darker place without the redeemed people of God who "rebuild ancient ruins and establish justice". John saw that "the light shines in the darkness," (and yes there is still darkness), "but the darkness has not overcome it". With the writer of Hebrews, this advent, let's look to the "great crowd of witnesses" testifying that God has been at work through the church in history right up to the present. The long hall of faith is still being decorated, the "now and but not yet" of the kingdom, as David Bosch puts it (Bosch, 1991). Much has been done; that gives us hope. Much more to be done; that refocuses us from despair to faith. Let us run the race set before us in our time with the certainty of a purposeful God and a sure commission from our Lord.
Works Cited
Bosch, David J. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission. Maryknoll, N Y: Orbis Books, 1991.
North, Christopher, R. The Suffering Servant in Deutero-Isaiah: An Historical and Critical Study. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2005.
Ortberg, John. Who is this Man? The Unpredictable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2012.
Wright, N.T. Luke for Everyone. London: Society for Promotion of Christian Knowledge, 2001
N. T. Wright. The Narrow Gate, How God became King: Why We've All Misunderstood the Gospels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mks4gYcjpXc&t=7s. Calvin College January Series, 2012.
Biographical Summary
Wanjiru M. Gitau, Ph.D., World Christianity, is a Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF) Visiting Scholar at Center for Religion and Civic Culture (CRCC), University of Southern California. For further bio information, please click here: https://crcc.usc.edu/people/wanjiru-m-gitau/
Fourth Sunday of Advent
December 24, 2017
2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16
Luke 1:46b-55
Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26
Romans 16:25-27
Luke 1:26-38
Exegetical Missiological Insights
God promises David an eternal dynasty in 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16. In a prophecy central to the saga of David and to his continuing significance in Jewish tradition, God (as the Lord, Yahweh) promises that the dynasty of David will be eternal ("established forever," 11:16).
The narrative background is David's successful conquest of both Israel and Judah, which culminates in his taking Jerusalem and designating it "the city of David" (5:7-10) where, courtesy of King Hiram of Tyre, David takes up residence in a cedar house (5:11-12). In a celebratory and controversial pageant, David then has the ark of God, regarded as God's very throne, brought from Baale-judah to Jerusalem, where it is placed in a tent (Ch. 6).
It is this contrast between his own probably elaborate cedar house and God's residence in a tent that prompts David's resolve - implied rather than explicit - to build what David regards as a proper house, a temple, for God. God's response through the prophet Nathan stresses that God has been content with a tent throughout Israel's wanderings since Egypt and that God's focus has been on elevating David from his humble origins to a position of supremacy over all adversaries so that the people of Israel can have a place in which to flourish in peace. It is not David who will build God a house but rather God who will build David a house (7:11), in the sense of an eternal dynasty, and this will ensure security for God's people. (Verses 12-15 are omitted from the lection because, as an insertion designed to anticipate Solomon's building of the temple, they weaken the overall impact of God's promise to David.)
In Luke 1:46b-55, Mary celebrates God's mercy to herself and the downtrodden. Revised Common Lectionary lists the Magnificat first as the selection to follow the Old Testament reading, implying that it is preferred in connection with the day's gospel, which is the Annunciation. In her song - which is how Christian tradition has interpreted it in countless choral and chant settings - Mary responds to her pregnant relative Elizabeth's exultant exclamation when Mary, now pregnant, visits her after the Annunciation (1:39-45).
Whereas in the encounter with Gabriel Mary responds simply as the faithful recipient of startling news, here she boldly celebrates how in mercy and power God has not only looked with favor on her but has, at least proleptically, challenged and reversed situations of deprivation and powerlessness in the world. Luke may have appropriated a preexisting canticle from a Jewish Christian setting, and, if so, he has personalized it to Mary's voice at 1:48.
In addition to various OT allusions, the song depends heavily on the prayer of Hannah when she leaves the boy Samuel to serve with Eli in God's house at Shiloh (1 Samuel 2:1-10). In view of the especially prominent role women play in Jesus' mission in Luke's gospel, it is noteworthy that Elizabeth's conception of John in older years is similar to Sarah's conception of Isaac, son of Abraham, who is recalled at the end of the Magnificat, whereas the situations of Hannah and Mary in their childbearing years are exactly opposite: Hannah cannot conceive, whereas Mary is called unexpectedly to conceive virginally. Yet they sing similar songs.
In Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26, the psalmist praises God for the promise to David. Revised Common Lectionary lists this second as the reading to follow the OT, thereby implying that the Magnificat is to be preferred. Much of Psalm 89, attributed to Ethan the Ezrahite, a famous temple musician, laments an unnamed military defeat, but the verses in this lection are selected because they are a poetic version of God's promise to David in 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16, the day's OT lesson, that David's dynasty will be established forever. Thus the themes and homiletic possibilities are very similar. A missional preacher might find it more helpful to turn to the Magnificat, which extends significantly the import of 2 Samuel and the Annunciation.
In the very familiar passage of Luke 1:26-38, the angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will bear Jesus. The Annunciation highlights the mission of God in intervening in the human situation, Jesus' role in fulfilling the mission of God's people through the kingship of David's lineage, Jesus' unique identity as Son of God, and Mary's discipleship in God's mission as she, a virgin, accepts the call to give birth to the Son of the Most High.
As "the sixth month" (1:26) refers to the pregnancy of Elizabeth, the announcement to Mary echoes Gabriel's announcement to Zechariah of the impending birth of John the Baptizer, but escalated up from an elderly conception to a virginal conception. Missional mode and content are evident in 1:26 and 28: Gabriel is "sent," the Greek verb here being apostello, from which we have the words "apostle" and "apostolate," a synonym of "mission," itself derived from the Latin verb mittere, meaning "to send." The Greek angelos for "angel" means literally "announcer," news of some kind being assumed. Gabriel's initial words, "The Lord is with you," while directed to Mary, can also be taken as reassuring good news for God's people and, indeed, for humanity as the birth of God's Son is about to be promised.
Some terms in which Gabriel describes the child Mary is to bear stem directly from 2 Samuel 7, the day's first reading: the child will be "great"; as he inherits the throne of David, from whose house Joseph is descended, his reign will be everlasting, as promised to David. "Son of the Most High" is a messianic title, while "Son of God" here emphasizes the child's unique filial relationship with God (without, in Luke's case, asserting a preexistent state such as we hear in John's gospel). The name Jesus, derived from the name Joshua, has been interpreted to mean "Yahweh, help!" or "The Lord is savior," emphasizing that God is the source of the chosen people's restoration. Overall, the message is that God is intervening in human history through the extraordinary event of a virgin birth in order to help God's people by restoring the Davidic kingship and establishing it for all time.
Paul celebrates the Gentile mission as he bids farewell at the end of his letter to the Romans (16:25-27). Many regard Paul's Letter to the Romans as Paul's greatest letter and such giants of Christian tradition as Martin Luther and Karl Barth have mined it as a theological treatise. Yet while Paul was the first great theologian of Christianity, he regarded himself primarily as a missionary charged with proclaiming the faith and establishing catalytic congregations among Jews and Gentiles around the Mediterranean.
Paul writes to the Romans in order to introduce himself prior to a westward mission journey to Spain, during which he wishes to stay with the Roman house churches (1.9-15; 15:22-24). Probably it is reported discord there between congregations of Jewish origin and congregations of Gentile origin that prompts Paul's extended discussions of the Abrahamic covenant, the relation between faith and works, and the status of the Jewish people.
The reading chosen for Advent 4 is the doxology with which the letter closes, an ending that some attribute to later scribes and editors. However that may be, the doxology strikes notes consistent with the import of the letter as a whole. In his proclamation of Jesus Christ Paul has sought to be faithful to God's plan, the "mystery," which is cosmic salvation as prefigured in the scriptures of God's chosen people the Jews and now extended to the Gentiles, the nations of the world. It is to this God that Paul gives glory, much as Mary and Ethan the psalmist extoll the Lord.
God's Mission in the Text
In 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16 the global scope of God's vision for Israel as a vessel of God's presence is evident in God's promise, "I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth (11.9). The predicted eternity of David's line forms the basis for later generations' hope for God's vindication in the world through a Davidic resurgence and the synoptic gospels' identification of Jesus as the son of David, as in the day's gospel, although with a very different form of kingship. Equally striking is the thematic contrast between humility and exaltation. God on mission in the world through the chosen people begins in humble places - "I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep" - to exalt the chosen leader - "to be prince over my people Israel" (11.8). Meanwhile God chooses to remain in the humble abode of a tent. This contrast prefigures the exaltation that Mary celebrates today in the Magnificat and the humility God undertakes in bringing to birth God's Son in very modest circumstances.
In the Magnificat, Mary celebrates the mercy God has shown her: "he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant" (Luke 1: 48). Given the low status of women in first-century Jewish society, this is all of a piece with God's missional concern for all who are excluded, poor and downtrodden. The proud and powerful are displaced while the lowly are lifted up, and the hungry are fed while the rich are sent away empty. This theme of God reversing conventional power relations in the world is congenial to Luke, the evangelist of the poor, who elsewhere particularizes the beatitudes to the poor and pronounces woes for the rich (6:20-26), and who includes such parables as those of the merciful Samaritan (10:25-37) and Lazarus and the rich man (16:19-31)
Unlike Zechariah's question, which Gabriel interprets as culpable doubt (Luke 1:18-20), Mary's question in the Annunciation story is taken as a natural query from a virgin, and the birth to come is attributed to the coming and overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, "for nothing will be impossible with God" (1:34-37). As the Magnificat recalls the prayer of Hannah, so also Mary's willing response may echo Hannah's reply to the promise delivered through Eli: "Let your servant find favor in your sight" (1 Samuel 1:18). Mary becomes a model for discipleship in God's mission.
Missional Connections for Our Context
There are a number of themes a missional preacher might explore. The cosmic gravity of God's entry into the human situation through Jesus can be related to the perennial need to relate that entry to the challenges of today. God's choice of Mary in the humble hamlet of Nazareth can be related to the theme of humility and exaltation in 2 Samuel and God's challenge to worldly power relations in the Magnificat. Mary's faithfulness can be explored as a model of Christian participation in God's mission. In turn, all this can be related to today's challenges of disparities of wealth and poverty, gender relations, and the scourges of war and authoritarianism - and the perennial challenge of receiving the God who wishes to make a home among us.
Showing mercy and generosity across boundaries of social difference is intrinsic to Christian mission modeled on the mission of God, as is challenging the forces of greed and brutality that disfigure persons and human communities. A missional preacher might relate this urgency to needs in today's world. At the same time we note that authentic mission arises out of true encounter with the living God, such as Mary was willing to receive, not simply as a response to ethical mandates.
God's universal mission of reconciling humanity, both Jews and Gentiles (or "the nations") with God through the death and resurrection of Christ is the presupposition of the doxology with which Paul ends his letter to the Romans, and the missional preacher can readily relate this to the Annunciation and the Magnificat. How can Christians bring that mission of God to bear in their daily lives and in the wider world through their Christian communities?
Biographical Summary
Titus Presler, Th.D., D.D. is an Episcopal missiologist with experience in India, Zimbabwe and Pakistan. He is a former president of the Seminary of the Southwest and academic dean of General Seminary having taught at both Episcopal and Harvard Divinity Schools. He specializes in mission theology and gospel-culture interactions. He currently serves as vice president of the Global Episcopal Mission Network and is a visiting researcher at Boston University School of Theology. He is author of Transfigured Night: Mission and Culture in Zimbabwe's Vigil Movement, Horizons of Mission, and Going Global with God: Reconciling Mission in a World of Difference, along with numerous articles and book chapters.
Christmas Eve/Day
December 24 & 25, 2017
Christmas Eve, Morn, or Mid-Day
Isaiah 9:2-7
Titus 2:11-1
Luke 2:1-20
(Psalm 96)
The Night That Changed the World
The texts and the Psalm for the day relate as follows:
The central event - Lk. 2:1-20
The prophecy of the event - Is. 9:2-7
The "REAL GOD" behind the event - Ps. 96
How the Real God wants us to respond to the event - Titus 2:11-14
Exegetical Missiological Insights
The event is down to earth. The story is full of details about an imperial edict, an unwed couple having a baby, and shepherds watching sheep at night, but it does not mention priests, the Temple, ritual, or prayer. The angels are the only "religious" component in a mostly non-religious story, which is focused not on some internal religious sphere of experience but on the intersection of religious realities (angels) and ordinary life.
The text deliberately convinces. Within the story, the shepherds are convinced by finding the baby in the very unlikely circumstances the angels described, and the shepherds' story helps convince Mary of an angel's message to her nine months earlier. The story also convinces us today because if it were merely a legendary exaggeration or fabrication, it would be an incredibly clumsy, counter-intuitive one. What would be the kernel of truth that later generations exaggerated into this story? Why would any fabricator make lowly shepherds the key witnesses in the story instead of at least some respected businessmen in Bethlehem or some respected elderly people like Simeon and Anna in nearby Jerusalem, known for their decades of prayer and prophecy at the Temple (Lk. 2:25-38)?
The "REAL GOD" behind the story. In the English text of Ps. 96, "LORD" (Yahweh) occurs 11 times in 13 verses. Typically translated "I AM," or "The One who is," Yahweh is more meaningfully translated "the REAL GOD," which implies that all the others, the idols, are fakes. The REAL GOD is; the fake gods are not (do not exist). If Ps. 96 is read and "REAL GOD" is verbally inserted for LORD, the appropriateness of this translation pops out, most emphatically in v. 5, "For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the ‘REAL GOD' [LORD] made the heavens." The Real God of Ps. 96 is the One behind the real event of Luke 2.
The scandal of particularity. The English text sounds like the joy of Christmas is for everyone- "good news of great joy for all the people (laos, Lk. 2:10)", but the Greek is probably narrower, with laos referring to "all the people" (the whole people of God) rather than "all people" (all peoples). That reading fits better with v. 14, ". . . on earth peace among those whom he favors!" We will return to this point in the later note on "Our Context," as this is crucial to God's mission and our response.
God's Mission in the Text
God is proactive and pro-human. This whole story is not about people seeking or approaching God but about God encroaching on human lives and human history. Both the birth and the birth announcement are totally grace-initiated. Neither was requested or expected, much less earned either by the people concerned or by Israel as a whole, as if they had finally done enough good to persuade God to send the Messiah. The human race could not get ourselves out of the predicament we created, so God intervened to inject hope into the human situation by supplying what we could not-a perfect leader at a perfect time and in a perfect way. And the message is not, "The baby you will see is my Son, the Prince. Accept him or else!" It is, "This is the day you have been waiting for! Discover the baby, and celebrate his arrival."
God's mission is Messiah-centered. The birth of Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah, changes everything in our world even before he utters his first word or does his first miracle. In Jesus, heaven intersects earth, the divine intersects the human, in a way never before seen or imagined and never since explained. This one of a kind incident is at the heart of God's mission. It is the hinge of human history, tying this child to God's promises all the way back to Abraham and bringing God's hope all the way forward to our time.
God carefully times and orchestrates the details of the mission. The story of God's mission is the most fascinating, intricate story in the world. God only gets boring when we convert the missional truth of Scripture into timeless truths and morals. Those are so predictable. Contrast the vibrancy of this passage-God gets all the people in the right places at the right time by impossible coincidences, such as the timing of the taxation edict in relation to Mary's pregnancy, the fact that Joseph's family home was Bethlehem (where the Messiah was to be born), the only time of year when the shepherds were in the fields at night (lambing time), the inn being full that night causing the baby to be born in an unusual place the shepherds could not mistake. Yet God does all this without treating any human as a puppet or a subject of the spiritual equivalent of hypnosis. It all is masterfully woven into the warp and woof of the story.
God's mission strategy may appear scary. The prophecy of seeing light in darkness links it to joy not fear (Is. 9:2-3), the Psalm brings creation itself to express joy (Ps. 96:11), and the angel's announcement is meant to bring joy (Lk. 2:10), but at first the whole thing is such a jolt that the shepherds are terrified. How ironic yet how instructive it is that the shepherds were more afraid of the light of the angels than they were of the dark before the angels arrived. They were used to the dark. God's mission is intrusive, bringing drastic and sometimes scary change. The mission may be moved forward by angels, as in this case, or by the Holy Spirit giving specific personal instructions we would never have found in a book or deduced from any teaching. Western culture has taught us that all such "instructions" are not to be trusted, and all unmediated contact with "spiritual" beings is illusory, but if we obey our culture on this point, we throw out the baby with the bath water. While shutting out the untrustworthy voices of auto-suggestion, we also plug our ears against the true voice of the Spirit of God. Then we claim the Spirit is not saying anything to us, and we miss the mission that God is calling us to participate in.
Missional Connections for Our Context
Authentic or hypocritical Christmas celebration? Of course, it is very easy to condemn the commercialization of Christmas and/or the removal of Jesus from the celebrations, but that does not make our own celebrations authentic. Authentic celebration is celebration that trusts God's announcement, "The Messiah is born. The central figure in God's mission to save the world has arrived!" As noted earlier, that news brings "peace among all he favors" (Lk. 2.14). However, it brings war with those who, like King Herod (Mt. 2.13-18), are trying to maintain their own little kingdoms in opposition to the mission God is working out. The point is not that God is playing favorites, but that God is on a mission and he "favors" all who embrace his mission. We celebrate Christmas with authenticity and integrity to the extent and only to the extent that our everyday lives and choices embrace the mission of God. If we are still trying to maintain our own little kingdoms, however we define them, we have not yet accepted the real king, Jesus. Why celebrate the birth of a king we do not follow? "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me" (Mt. 15.8). Rather let us be like the shepherds, whose lips and hearts were in the same place (Lk. 2.20).
Repentance at Christmas time? We associate penitence with Lent and joy with Advent, but might we need to reconsider that pattern in light of God's mission? As we look at the joy of Christmas, with God's mission taking a great leap forward, we may realize how far our lives have slipped out of alignment with that mission. The mission was supposed to move onward through the life of Jesus and work itself out in his Church, "training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly" (Ti. 2.11-12). If we are out of line with that vision, will we paper over that misalignment with Christmas gift-wrap? Why not make Christmas Day a day of authentic realignment (metanoia, often translated "repentance")? And let the realignment be motivated not by a fear of God's judgment but by the sheer joy of being swept up into God's magnificent initiative-the baby Jesus.
Biographical Summary
Dr. Stan Nussbaum is a missionary trainer and researcher with long experience in southern Africa and England, as well as the author of several works including American Cultural Baggage, and, A Reader's Guide to Transforming Mission. As president of SYNCx.org, he is developing an experimental program for making disciples. He lives in Morton, Illinois, with his wife Lorri.
First Sunday of Christmas
December 31, 2017
First Sunday of Christmas
Isaiah 61:10-62:3
Galatians 4:4-7
Luke 2:22-40
Exegetical Missional Insights
This gospel lesson is uncommonly fruitful for missiological reflection. At a human level there are at least two different witnesses to Christ: 1) The righteous and devout Simeon recognizes who Jesus is, takes him in his arms, and bears eloquent testimony to him through praise of God using words of the prophet Isaiah. 2) The aged widow Anna also recognizes the child in Mary's arms and, though the content of her witness is not recorded, she voices her insight by thanking God and speaking to everyone who anticipated the redemption of God's chosen people. Two watchers and waiters for the coming of the kingdom have been transformed by the simple presence of the Christ child into message bearers of the news that it has arrived. At a human level the text is deeply missionary.
Of course, it doesn't end there-or even begin there! Three times in three verses (2:25-27) the Holy Spirit is explicitly recognized as present in the life of Simeon, preparing him with an expectation of the encounter, and actually even making the encounter happen, directing him to be at the right place at the right time. More subtly, but "at that very moment" (v. 38) (the pious reader is left to deduce how this happened to happen), Anna is brought to her own encounter with Christ. Not only so, it's in response to God's command that Mary and Joseph are there in the first place-"to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord" (v. 24). As a matter of fact, there's not a soul in the whole text that is at the encounter by their own volition! The whole affair is driven by God, with divine initiative written large in every corner. And so, also at a divine level, the text is deeply, deeply missionary.
Certainly, Simeon's message is steeped with missionary awareness in a cross-cultural sense. It reflects the expectation of Second Isaiah that God's salvation, now identified with this child, has universal significance. Jesus is declared to be not only Israel's glory, as many Jews of his day would expect of the promised one; Jesus is also for the nations. His coming will be marked by all people, he will be a light for them, and, once again, all this is by God's preparing. Such is Luke's strong conviction, and for him to set these passages as the capstone of his account of the annunciation and birth narratives is to state the conviction as forcefully as possible.
The text from Galatians, coming from quite another direction in an argument for the end of the law, also comes to focus on God's missional initiative. That it happened at "the fullness of time" (NRSV) or "when the right time had come" (Good News), suggests intentionality on the part of the God who is creator of the universe and its time. It makes "his Son" the agent of God's intention, detailing both a missionary strategy and goal. By participating fully through human birth, no less, in a life "under the law," this Son would "redeem those who were under the law," enabling the adoption of these formerly law-bound people as children of God and heirs of God's richness. For Trinitarian believers the participation of God's own Self in this work of this "Son" is self-evident, and the metaphysical risk God takes in reaching out to them missionally is staggering.
The Isaiah text, originally reflections of the sense of joy experienced by the exiles returning from Babylon, may be seen more generally as the believer's response to the result of God's saving activity. The urgent resolution of the prophet in 62:1 reflects the evangelical resolution to make this salvation known.
God's Mission in the Texts
God's driving intentionality and purpose is advanced in several ways in these texts, and it is useful to list them in logical order:
Missional Connections for Our Context
Over the past couple of centuries or so, a secular era of Western thought has proved itself better at knowing than discerning. The volume of apparent available facts has exploded exponentially while a sense of meaning behind these facts has been severely diminished, even extinguished, for many.
The texts invite a sense of a missionary God surprising the unwary secularist with unexpected ultimate reality precisely in the midst of the ordinary. That which seems to be merely interesting might turn out to be more than that- meaningful beyond measure. It becomes so because a meaning-driven God is conspiring behind the scenes to make it happen. The prospect promises refreshment in dry secular places.
On the other hand, more recent New Age-type spirituality is generating a people more affirming of the role of meaning and more open to transcendent power that might want to give it. Alienated from traditional social or religious guidance, many feel free to seek their meaning in many places-from other denominations to other religions, from contemporary shamanism to historic ethnic paganism.
Would not the kind of intentional God proposed by these texts invite fulfillment of this thirst and seeking for spirituality? The watchers and waiters of the new era, though they know not for what, might find the possibilities of the texts intriguing. Is this the place, after all, and is Christ the one, beyond all others.
From yet another perspective, a new generation of highly motivated Christian witnesses seeks to become as effective as possible in proclaiming their faith. Strategizing for maximum impact is a reputable Western methodology. With a commendable concern for good stewardship these evangel-bearers yearn to deploy assets shrewdly to make the greatest possible impact for the gospel.
How intriguing for such committed spirits that these texts point in a different direction. Simeon and Anna were not calculating; they were watchfully waiting. What ignited their witness was not their careful planning; it was God's direct intervention. The text has the potential to be refreshing and hopeful to tired spirits of zealous ones who strain for the coming of the kingdom.
Biographical Summary
Mark Nygard (PhD, Luther Seminary, St. Paul) is a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He has served 22 years in Cameroon, Senegal, and Egypt, most recently at Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo as director of graduate studies. His doctoral work, The Missiological Implications of the Theology of Gerhard Forde (Minneapolis: Lutheran University Press, 2011) traces connections between the work of a classic teaching theologian of the church and its missional task.
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