They will call him blessed

Watching for the Morning of January 3, 2016

The Sunday of the Epiphany

The appearance of the magi is both majestic and terrifying. In a world where Herod killed his own children in fear they conspired to seize his throne, the obeisance of the magi before the child of Bethlehem is not only a threat to the current regime, it imperils the holy family – and, as we shall hear, every child in Bethlehem.

A thousand years before, the village elders of Bethlehem quaked when the prophet, priest, and kingmaker, Samuel, arrived. They knew his presence could well expose them to the wrath of Saul; prophets have a habit of acclaiming new kings. But Samuel masked his secret mission as a public sacrifice, and anointed David in the privacy of his father’s house (after God rejected all his strapping older brothers and they had to fetch David from the fields).

The clash of kings – only this is not one king against rivals, but human kingship against divine kingship. So the first reading and psalm soar with the vision of God’s just and righteous reign over all creation. Isaiah proclaims Israel’s restoration and exaltation, that “nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn” bringing gold and frankincense and proclaiming the praise of the LORD. And the psalmist declares that the just and righteous king “will rule from sea to sea.” All nations will bow before him, “for he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help,” and the kings of this earth will kneel “and present him gifts.” (This is why the magi become kings in the tradition.)

Sunday is about the clash of kingships. And the gathering of the nations in Christ is witness that this is the dawning of God’s righteous reign when “all nations will be blessed through him; and they will call him blessed.”

The Prayer for January 3, 2016

Gracious God,
by a sign in the heavens
you proclaimed to all the earth
the advent of your son Jesus,
who would receive the throne of David
and reign in justice and righteousness over a world made new.
May he reign in us and in our world bringing his perfect peace;
through your son, Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.

The Texts for January 3, 2016

First Reading: Isaiah 60:1-6
“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” – In the years after the return from exile, the prophet heralds a restoration of the nation: though Jerusalem and the temple are now only a pale reflection of their former glory, the Glory of God shall be upon them, the sons and daughters of Israel scattered throughout the ancient world shall return, and the people of all nations will make pilgrimage to “proclaim the praise of the LORD”.

Psalmody: Psalm 72 (appointed 1-7, 10-14)

“Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness.” – A royal psalm, likely composed to celebrate the ascension of a new king, has become a promise of the anointed of God (Messiah/Christ) in whom all creation is made new.

Second Reading: Ephesians 3:1-12
“This grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ.” – Paul is privileged to proclaim God’s plan, once hidden from our eyes but now revealed, to gather all people into one body in Christ.

Gospel: Matthew 2:1-23 (appointed 1-12)
“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Judeans?” – the visit of the magi, representing the nations coming to bow before the dawning reign of God in Christ, and his rejection by Herod and the Jerusalem elite who plot to murder the infant king.

 

Image: Altar frontal from Mosoll.  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3A074_Frontal_d’altar_de_Mosoll%2C_els_Reis_d’Orient.jpg  By Enfo (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Every beastly empire

Saint Michael, the Archangel, slaying the dragon

Thursday

Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14

As I watched,
thrones were set in place,
and an Ancient One took his throne,
his clothing was white as snow,
and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames,
and its wheels were burning fire.
¹⁰A stream of fire issued
and flowed out from his presence.
A thousand thousands served him,
and ten thousand times ten thousand stood attending him.
The court sat in judgment,
and the books were opened.

The artists of the medieval church gave us graphic and frightening images of the last judgment. Christ and his apostles sit over a scene where demons drag the condemned down into the fiery pits below, while angels escort the righteous up into the heavenly city. It is an image repeated often. On the town clock in Prague a skeleton turned an hourglass at the tolling of the hour to remind us all we were one hour closer to death and judgment. The ministrations of the church were required to save you from the pits of hell and, even then, we were not ready for bliss without the millions of years required to purge us of our sinfulness.

It is a vivid image, now mostly forgotten. We live in a society where there is either no afterlife, or the afterlife is a blissful reunion with loved ones open to all. The notion we are all destined for peace is not shaken by texts such as this from Daniel – for the scripture has lost its authority. We know better. Or, at least, we prefer our own sentiments to those of the ancient world recorded in the holy books.

We think we are so much wiser than the ancients, though we still do not know how to build a pyramid. Humility is called for. And some care and caution – for most of humanity has believed for most of human history that there is accountability in the life to come for the way we have lived this life.

But careful reading of the scripture is also called for – for here, in this vivid imagery from Daniel, it is not the individual life that is called to account; it is the beastly kingdoms of the world.

The author of Daniel had very specific kingdoms in mind, writing as he did while Antiochus Epiphanes IV was seeking to “modernize” Israel’s ancient faith. In typical imperial form, he imposed his will on the people, slaying those who refused to eat pork or secretly circumcised their children. When rebellion broke out, he cleverly attacked on the Sabbath, slaughtering the mass of Judeans who refused to break the law by lifting the sword on the Sabbath.

The human imperial impulse manifests itself again and again in death. There are no end to wars, no end to the slaughter of innocents, no end to the stirring of hate and shutting of hearts and doors to those in need. And empire follows empire. The author of Daniel looks back upon Babylon, Medea, Persia and Alexander and his generals. Since then we have had Rome and Caliphates and the Imperial powers of Europe who have left such a devastating inheritance to Africa and the Middle East. We have had Hitler and Stalin and Pol Pot and the American corporate empire. And, in the small spaces in between the great empires, many small terrors of every political stripe. The Arminian Genocide. Rwanda. Idi Amin. South Africa. The Congo. Isis.

Daniel’s vision is not a threat that our lives will be judged; it is a promise that kingdoms will be judged. Every tyranny shall be thrown down, every beastly empire. And, in the end, shall come an empire like “a son of man,” like a human being. An empire from God (thus the clouds) not out of the remnants of the primordial chaos (the sea). A reign of justice, faithfulness and peace. A reign of grace and life.

Daniel saw this promise embodied in a vision. We have seen this promise enfleshed in Jesus. For he brought a reign of healing and life. And he has given us his Spirit. And the day shall come when the beasts are judged and the crucified and merciful one alone shall govern. Every land. Every heart. A world made new.

 

Image: By Bourgogne, second quart du XIIe siècle (Neuceu) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Those lying, lazy…

Friday

Acts 2:1-21

Detail from the Apadana Palace, Persepolis

⁹Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, ¹¹Cretans and Arabs – in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.

I wonder if its possible to translate this list in a way that conveys what it might have meant to first century ears.

Whenever we think about other nations we have, if not a prejudice or stereotype, some impression of these people. France makes us think of the Eiffel tower, at least. Switzerland evokes mountains and beautiful lakes. Germany – well this is dangerous ground, because speaking of stereotypes invites outrage and criticism. But we have them. We think of Saudi’s in certain ways, of Americans in certain ways, of Brits in certain ways.

And the ancient world had very firm stereotypes. So the author of Titus writes: “Cretans are always liars, vicious brutes, lazy gluttons.” And though he is quoting a Cretan, he is in full agreement. It was a world in which to know where someone was from told you everything you needed to know. You’re from Crete? Ok. I know who you are. You’re from Nazareth?  Enough said.  “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  Of course not.

So what would this list of nations evoke in the hearers of this text? Would it sound like Japan, Korea, China and Tibet? France, Germany, England and Spain? Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan? Sudan? Liberia? South Africa? Yemen? Each of those nations conveys a picture to our minds, a set of associations both positive and not.

And what happens when we begin to put them all together? It’s not just geography. It is this vast, complicated, conflicted, combative world. A world in which even the imperial Romans are named. And those lying, lazy Cretans are there, too.

God bears witness even to the Cretans. The mighty deeds of God are told to all. The resurrection, the dawning of God’s age of the Spirit is proclaimed to all. All. So even me. And those unlike me. Gathering all creation into the reign of God.

And we, we who claim the name of Christ, who sit in the pews on Sundays, we are the ones empowered and sent to bear that message to all.

 

Image: By Aneta Ribarska (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons.  Page: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APersepolis_carvings.JPG