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Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year A, December 23, 2007 |
Enter the prophet Isaiah. He is confident that God will protect Judah and king Ahaz, who is, after all, a descendant of David. Isaiah also knows that only mischief can come from getting cozy with the Assyrians. He tells Ahaz to be have faith and not ally himself with Assyria. But Ahaz won't hear of it; he's going ahead with his alliance. Isaiah tells him the Lord wants him to ask Isaiah for a sign of the truth of what he's saying. Ahaz doesn't want to be dissuaded from his plan, so he piously demurs, "I will not ask." In frustration, Isaiah announces a sign anyway, the birth of a son, whose very name reminds everyone that God is with these people.
(Web users can refer to the commentaries in the links below for more on some finer points broached here, like who are the mother and son (Ahaz' wife and his successor, most certainly), how the birth of a child could persuade the king of anything, how the Greek translation of the Hebrew makes the woman of the prophecy into a virgin.)
Your Proclamation: In proclaiming the dialog between the prophet and the king, make Isaiah sound exasperated, as if you were pleading, "Come on, Ahaz, I can prove it to you. Give me a chance, you numb-skull!" Pause. Then make the king sound like the hypocrite he is. What Ahaz says amounts to: "Oh, no, Isaiah. We pious people never ask God for signs." Then pause again, take a deep breath like Isaiah did, play your trump card and pronounce the prophecy, building the dramatic tension until the last word that means "God is with us," Immanuel.
Only two phrases of this passage seem "seasonal," the reference to promises made through the prophets, and the reference to Jesus' descent "from David according to the flesh." Those helped some Jews see Jesus as the Messiah, although Jesus fulfilled few other of their Messianic expectations.
Paul is more interested in recasting people's expectations of what God might do in human history. The Apostle insists that God's newly revealed agenda goes beyond giving the Jews a new David. It's about resurrection from the dead and bringing the Gentiles (pagans!) to obedient faith now. That is a very big deal, indeed.
The Lector's Proclamation: Proclaim this, then, with the gravity it deserves. The sentences are long, but you can break them sensibly into phrases. Don't rush. Be sure to announce it as "The beginning of the Letter of Paul to the Romans," rather than another "reading from ..."
You might try to imagine what the historically first reading of this letter was like. The Christian congregation in Rome was small, not yet persecuted, meeting in someone's home. These were first-generation converts; their heritage: some Jewish, some Gentile. The religion was still genuinely new to them. They did not celebrate Christmas. They had not divided into Catholics and Protestants. There was no church-sponsored sports program. They knew the reputation of Paul, former persecutor turned apostle, and the word has gone out that he has written them a letter. The church assembles one Sunday, and you have the letter. You stand to read it.
A bit melodramatic, yes. But every time a lector stands to read in a twenty-first century assembly, there's a chance that someone there will hear the words as if for the first time.
| Several other commentaries on these passages. All are thoughtful, all quite readable, from the scholarly to the popular.
Links may be incomplete more than a few weeks before the "due date." | |
| Lutheran pastor and college teacher Dan Nelson's notes for a study group | The Text This Week; links to homilies, art works, movies and other resources on the week's scripture themes |
| Father Roger Karban's column about these readings from 2001 | A great variety of resources about celebrating the Sunday and understanding the readings, from the Center for Liturgy at Saint Louis University. |