Episcopal Church of
the Incarnation
The Second Sunday of Advent (C)
Baruch 5.1-9 Canticle: The Song of Zechariah
Philippians 1.3-11 Luke 3.1-6
Baruch 5.1-9
1) Baruch dates from the time
of the fall of
a) The book is often grouped
with Jeremiah and Lamentations, referring to the exile of the Jews.
b) Much of the book is of much
later composition.
i)
The book, even the early parts, is written in Greek, not Hebrew.
2) Baruch comes to us from the
Greek version of the Jewish scriptures, the so-called “Septuagint.”
a) The name refers to a
translation by seventy scholars.
b) This was the “Bible” known
to the early Church fathers.
3) Jesus, in referring to the
Scripture, would have been thinking of the “Tanakh,” divided into three parts:
a) The Law (the five books of
Moses); the Prophets; and the Writings (which includes the psalms and wisdom
literature).
b) Baruch is grouped with the
Writings, but was not a part of the Hebrew Tanakh.
4) In chapter 5, Baruch
addresses the people of
a) He assumes the role of
comforter at a ceremony of mourning.
b) He tells
c) The people of
i)
The “diadem of glory” refers to the miter of Aaron, upon which is
written words “sacred to the Lord”
(Exod. 28.36-37).
d)
i)
Note the parallels to Isaiah 40.3-5, 9-11; 41.18-19; 49.22-23.
ii) The parallels may refer to
the return of the Jewish Diaspora to
Canticle: The Song of Zechariah (Luke 1.68-79)
1) A canticle (a song from
Scripture) substitutes for a psalm on the second, third, and fourth Sundays of
Advent. In each case, the canticle
focuses on the fulfillment of God’s promises, reminding us that God’s will for
us is made complete in Jesus Christ.
2) The Song of Zechariah is
what is spoken by the father of John the Baptizer after his tongue is loosed at
the naming of his son. Luke describes
the prophecy as the result of Zechariah being “filled with the Holy Spirit”
(Luke 1.67).
3) Throughout Zechariah’s
prophecy, the focus is on God and His mighty acts for His people. Only at the end does the focus shift to John,
and then this is in the context of his relationship to Jesus.
a) Space does not here permit a
detailed review, but in each phrase what Zechariah speaks of can be related
back to a specific prophecy in the Old Testament.
i)
One example: The fate of the
individual merges with the fate of God’s people (the people are delivered from :our enemies” and “those who hate us” [v. 71]. Compare Pss. 18.17; 106.10; and see
2 Sam. 22.18.
(1) The deliverance of
(a) The “enemies” are here not
those who oppose the
(i) The
4) The focus shifts to John the
Baptizer at v. 76. In v. 78, the
reference to the day dawning from on high (“the dayspring from on high”) is
rendered in the Latin Vulgate as “oriens ex alto” (“the eastern light
[or star] on high”) has been taken traditionally to refer to Jesus at His
second coming.
a) This is why graves and
altars face East (they are “oriented”).
i)
“[T]hose who sit in darkness ...” (v. 79) can thus be compared with
Isaiah 9.2 (“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light ...”).
(1) The “dawning” of the Messiah
will be a dawning for all people, heralded by the Forerunner, John.
Philippians 1.3-11
1) Philippi was a leading town
in the Roman
a) The town, the site of the
defeat of Brutus and Cassius by Mark Antony (31 B.C.) became a colony of
retired Roman soldiers.
b) The town enjoyed a
privileged status as a Roman colonia; the citizens considered themselves
to be of privileged status, and in fact were.
c) The names in the letter make
it clear that the Philippian Christians were not Jews but Gentiles (Romans).
2) Paul wrote this letter from
a Roman prison in
a) The opening of this letter
follows a set rhetorical formula common in ancient letters:
i)
The writer gives thanks for the good will of his correspondents.
b) Paul greets the
“saints”: Christians are saints in that
they are God’s “holy people,” the eschatological
3) Only in this letter does
Paul single out a distinct group of officeholders, the “bishops and deacons”.
a) Both terms, episkopoi and diakonoi
had widespread secular usage in the Greek-speaking world.
b) Episkopos denotes oversight and
administration.
i)
In the post-Pauline writings (e.g. Acts 20.17, 28; 1 Pet. 5.1,2) the corresponding term for episkopos is prebyteros,
“elder”.
c) Diakonos denotes “attendant” or
“minister” (in a verbal sense).
4) Joy overflows in this
letter. Paul gives thanks and is
overjoyed at how the Philippians have shared in the Gospel (through being
ostracized).
a) The “day of Jesus Christ” is
a reference to the second coming.
b) The Philippians are to grow
in the Gospel, that at the second coming they may be perfect.
c) The “harvest of
righteousness”: For Paul, righteousness
is the eschatological (end time) right-standing with God granted already to believers
(Rom. 5.1).
i)
Christian ethical life is the fruit of this new relationship with God.
Luke 3.1-6
1) Luke here focuses on John
the Baptist’s ministry.
a) John should be referred to,
more properly, in English, as “John the Baptizer.” His title is in the form of a participle.
b) The Eastern Orthodox refer to John as the “Forerunner,” a usage made real to us
in the canticle for this day.
2) Luke’s point in ch. 3 is
that the responses given to John’s ministry are those which will be given to
Jesus’ ministry, when He comes.
a) This whole section focuses
on John’s call to prepare the way of the Lord.
3) Luke tells the story of John
from a Christological perspective.
a) The story of John, and that
of Jesus, is set by Luke in a matrix of world history (hence the references to
Tiberius, etc.)
b) John is God’s prophet (3.2),
who does not belong to the period of promise but inaugurates the period of
fulfillment (Acts 1.22; 10.37) in which the central figure is Jesus.
c) As John completes his
preparation (1.80) and becomes an itinerant preacher who prepares the way of
Jesus, he does so in fulfillment of God’s prophecy: that of Gabriel (1.15-17); that of his
father, Zechariah (1.76-79); and that of Isaiah (3.4-6).