Episcopal Church of the
Incarnation
The Fourth Sunday of Advent (C)
Micah
5.2-5a Canticle: Magnificat Hebrews 10.5-10 Luke
1.39-45
The propers for the Fourth Sunday of Advent focus on Mary as the vessel prepared for the coming of the Word as flesh.
Micah
5.2-5a
1) Micah, the last of the eighth century (B.C.) prophets, came from S.W. Judah, and is thought of, generally, as a prophet of doom (cf. Jer. 26.18-19).
a) Micah’s preaching is concerned with sin and punishment, not with political and cultic matters.
i) He is not a “political” prophet.
ii) He is preoccupied with social justice, showing no fear of princes, prophets and priests.
(1) Micah is very much an “independent” prophet.
b) Micah’s chief concern is with the people’s rejection of the Lord.
2) The Book of Micah follows the classic prophetic structure of oracles of doom followed by oracles of promise.
a) All of chapter five is included in the section setting for oracles of promise.
3) The oracle of the birth of the Messiah follows immediately upon an oracle of destruction and exile (ch. 4, vv. 9-14).
a)
The reference to
i) This verse is quoted, directly, at Matt. 2.5-6.
b) Much of the present verses consists of cross-references to other prophets:
i) Note the messianic texts at Isaiah 7, 9 & 11; 2 Sam. 7; Ps. 89.
(1) The language used by Micah is designed, clearly, to evoke these oracles.
c)
The verb “come forth” in verse 2 is in Hebrew a
reference to Micah’s usage at ch. 4, v. 2 (that the law shall “come forth” from
i) The Messiah is equated with the fulfillment of the law.
(1) Cf. Matt. 5.17, where Jesus says, in the Sermon on the Mount: “I have come ... to fulfill [the law].”
Canticle: Magnificat (Luke 1.46-55)
1) The Magnificat is also called the “Song of Mary.” The title comes from the first word of the Latin translation, “Magnificat.”
a) This is one the most famous prayers in all of Christian belief, recited daily in the Daily Office.
i) There are significant and intentional parallels to the “Song of Hannah” ( 1 Sam. 2.1-10), in which the aged, childless, Hannah, praises the Lord that he has given her a son (the prophet Samuel).
ii) The prayer parallels in structure a traditional canticle of praise.
b) What God has done for Mary (she of “low estate”) He does for all “those who fear Him” (v. 50).
2) Vv. 51-55 are a grammatical minefield in Greek. The problem in English translations is that past tense verbs are used, raising the question: How has God done all these things in the conception of Jesus in Mary’s womb?
a) Greek uses a verb form known as “aorist” [AY-Ō-WRIST], which connotes continuing action (past into present):
i) The verbs (e.g., “he has shown”) may be interpreted as “gnomic aorist” or “inceptive aorist”:
(1) Gnomic aorist = what is done characteristically (what it is God’s nature to do).
(2) Inceptive aorist = what God is beginning to do.
3) God does not, here, favor the proud or the rich.
a)
This may reflect Luke’s theology that the poor are
favored because they are poor (the so-called “Ebionite” theology) or that the
rich and proud are here symbols of the Gentile oppressors of
4) V. 55 (“as he spoke to our fathers”) reflects, yet again, the God keeps His promises!
Hebrews
10.5-10
1) This lesson is taken from the section of Hebrews in which the argument focuses on the fact that Jesus made His sacrifice once, for all.
2) The quotation in v. 5 is from Ps. 40.7-9a, here attributed to the Son at His incarnation.
a)
The quotation follows the form of the psalm found in
the Septuagint [LXX](the Hebrew Bible
written in Greek), consonant with the Letter to the Hebrews being written by a
Greek-speaking Jew in
i) Thus, the Greek version, “but a body thou hast prepared for me” may be contrasted with the version found in translations of the psalms from the Hebrew (the so-called “Masoretic Text” [MT]).
(1) Ps. 40.7 reads, in the versions we are familiar with (e.g., the Revised Standard Version)(from the MT): “but thou hast given me an open ear”.
(a) The LXX reflects different vowel pointings, which are much older than the MT pointings.
3) God prefers obedience to sacrifice. Ritual is not repudiated, but it is of lesser importance than a change of heart.
a) Jesus’ obedience was expressed in His willing offering of His sacrifice of His body.
i) The LXX reading of the psalm is, thus, clearly more apt.
Luke
1.39-45
5) This section sets forth Elizabeth’s and Mary’s pronouncements about the meaning of Jesus in God’s plan of salvation.
a) Luke’s narrative intent is theological.
i) The two mothers-to-be are brought together that they might praise God together.
ii)
6)
“[T]hose days” referred to in v. 39, are in the sixth
month of
a)
That the “babe leaped in [
b) The leaping of the child in the womb parallels the leaping of Esau and Jacob in Rebekkah’s womb (Gen. 25.22 LXX–remember, Luke is written in Greek), as a foreshadowing of future relationship.
c)
Through the gift of the Holy Spirit (v. 41),
3) Mary’s response comprises the Magnificat. See the discussion of the canticle, above.