Friday December 13 Advent 2
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Psalm 31
I am being attacked from all sides but trust that God will rescue me. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus quotes from this psalm as he is dying. Appropriate for Friday as the weekly mini-anniversary of the crucifixion.
Isaiah 7: 10-25 What’s Isaiah about?
The abusive king Ahaz has decided to align himself with the pagan Assyrian empire instead of trusting in God to defend him. Isaiah says that in response to Ahaz’s distrust of God, God will summon Egypt and Assyria who will arrive like swarms of flies and bees to destroy the Israelites and their cultivated land. Isaiah says this will happen within the next couple of years—that any child being born now will see this by the time they are two or three years old.
When this passage was translated from Hebrew into Greek centuries later, the translators made a mistake, and used the Greek word for “virgin” in describing the child’s mother instead of the word “young woman.” Unaware of this error, early Christians saw in this statement a prediction of Mary’s virginity in giving birth to Jesus.
While these ancient conflicts can seem arcane and irrelevant to us, they illustrate the struggle we continue to have about whether we will trust in military violence or trust in God’s way of ensuring all have enough for dignity. These ancient stories drew the conclusion that justice and dignity for all is the only security that works.
Luke 22: 14-30 What’s Luke about?
As the kingdom comes ever closer, Jesus gives himself to us under the signs of bread and wine, so that we may feast forever with him.
During Advent we are learning to long for the arrival of that fulfilled world and its eternal feasting.
This week’s collect:
Almighty God,
who sent your servant John the Baptist
to prepare your people to welcome the Messiah,
inspire us, the ministers and stewards of your truth,
to turn our disobedient hearts to you,
that when the Christ shall come again to be our judge,
we may stand with confidence before his glory;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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