Episcopal Church of the
Incarnation
The Thrid Sunday of Advent (C)
Zephaniah
3.14-20 Canticle:
The First Song of Isaiah
Philippians 4. 4-7 Luke 3.7-18
Zephaniah
3.14-20
1) Zephaniah (a descendant of King Hezekiah) prophesied during the reign of Josiah (640-609 B.C.), during a period when Josiah sought to undo the apostasy of his predecessor, Manasseh.
a) Zephaniah’s prophecy forms a part of the early phase of Josiah’s reforms (see. 2 Chr. 34.3-7).
b) Zephaniah emphasizes that the fate of nations is in the hands of the Lord.
c)
Ch. 3, from which this week’s lesson is taken, focuses
on the salvation of
i) This follows ch. 1 (oracles of doom) and ch. 2 (exhortations based on threats against the nations).
2) Beginning with verse 3.14, the remainder of Zephaniah is a summons to rejoicing.
a)
The lesson contains sayings about the coming day of
vindication for
i)
The Lord
intervenes to save
ii) Parallels may be noted to Isa. 12.6-7; 52.9; Zech. 2.14; 9.9, and to the “kingship” psalms (e.g., 97, 99).
3)
Following the summons to rejoicing is an oracle of
reassurance to
a) As elsewhere in Scripture (e.g., in Isaiah, Jeremiah, 2 Kings and 1 Chronicles) the language “fear not” (v. 16) accompanies assurance of the Lord’s presence to save.
4)
The words “lame” and “outcast” (v. 18) are in the
feminine, and thus refer to
Canticle: The First Song of Isaiah (Isaiah
12.2-6)
1) The so-called “First Song of Isaiah” is likely a later addition to the writings which comprise the first 39 chapters of Isaiah.
a)
Isaiah 1-39 is written to a people is crisis, and to
those in exile in
i) However, as is made clear in the preceding verses (11.10-16), the writer/editor is now speaking to people after the exile.
b)
The “First Song” is, therefore, a thanksgiving song
which concludes the first twelve chapters of the writings, as a sort of
overview of the activity of the Lord
in the crises of
2) The language in the song reflects the psalms, particularly the psalms of individual thanksgiving, as opposed to prophecy.
a) Three times in this brief section the Hebrew yĕšû'a (“my salvation”) appears. This is a cognate of “The Lord saves,” which is rendered in the Greek of the gospels as “Jesus”. (This is typology with a vengeance!)
3)
In verse 1 the term for “you” is singular. Thus, a specific herald is addressed, one to
speak on “that day” (which is the day of a return of the remnant of
a) But, “you” then sitches to the plural for the rest of the thanksgiving. Now the people are offering thanks for deliverance.
Philippians 4. 4-7
1)
See the notes regarding
2) Continuing in his exhortations, in ch. 4 Paul focuses on unity (vv. 2-3), joy and peace (vv. 4-7), and on imitation of Paul (vv. 8-9).
a) “The Lord is near ...” (v. 5) parallels in Greek the early acclamation found at 1 Cor. 16.22 (“Our Lord, come!, in Greek maranatha!)(cf. Rev. 22.20).
b) The peace of God “surpasses all understanding” (v. 7) either because it is beyond the power of human understanding to grasp or because it accomplishes more than we can conceive of (cf. Eph. 3.20).
3) “Whatever is true ...” The list of virtues commended by Paul to the community, for emulation, is taken from Greek (Stoic) philosophy.
a) Paul calls on the community to imitate him. This recitation of Stoic virtues provides evidence of Paul being trained both in the Jewish Law and in Greek philosophy.
i) Paul uses Gentile language here in writing to a Gentile (Roman) community.
Luke
3.7-18
1) Verses 7 to 9 are often cited by scholars as evidence of an older Gospel source, common to both Luke and Matthew. This hypothetical source, “Q” (from quelle, the German word for “source”) was probably an oral tradition among the disciples.
a) 60 out of Luke’s 64 words in these verses match the 63 words of Matt. 3.7-10.
b) It is possible that both Matthew and Luke are based only on Mark; however, these words do not appear in Mark, lending support to the “Q” hypothesis.
c) Luke refers to the “crowds,” whereas Matthew refers to “Pharisees and Sadducees.”
i) The term for crowd is interchangeable in Luke for “people.”
ii) However, it is made clear at Luke 7.30 and 20.5 that the Pharisees and Sadducees rejected John’s baptism.
2) This example of John’s preaching makes it clear that he did not understand repentance to involve adoption of his (John’s) style of life (living in the wilderness, fasting).
a) John’s injunctions are not of fasting, but of a more radical, selfless concern for one’s unfortunate brethren.
b) The fact that tax collectors come to John for baptism is significant:
i) Tax collectors were despised in Jewish society.
ii) As throughout Luke, “normal” expectations are reversed; the marginalized are those who seek the kingdom first.
iii) The “soldiers” referred to would have been Jews in the service of Herod Antipas, enforcing Roman law, and thus also despised.
(1) Note that the first Gentile convert (Cornelius the centurion, at Acts 10-11) was also a soldier.
(2) Luke, throughout his Gospel and Acts, depicts Roman military authority in a positive light.
3) Verses 10 to 14 are unique to Luke. He emphasizes that it is not the religious leaders, but the ordinary people (both Jewish and those at the fringe of Jewish society) to whom comes the message of salvation.
a) These are the same people who respond positively to Jesus’ preaching.
4) The fact that people ask John whether he is the messiah indicates that there were Jews then looking for the messiah.
a) “[O]ne who is more powerful”: compare 11.20-22. Jesus is more powerful than John in repulsing the powers of evil.
5) To untie the sandal of a person was the work of a slave.
6) The imagery of the winnowing fork is of a piece with that of wrath (3.7) and the axe taken to the root (3.9) This may explain why at 7.18-23 John appears to question whether Jesus is the messiah, for John is looking for specific manifestations of God’s judgment.
a) Note, however, that Luke finds so many similarities between John and Jesus that he describes John as proclaiming the “good news.”