So it is in this fifth week after the Epiphany that an advent devotion I wrote for the GWU Advent Guide 2010 is finally revealed to the blogging world. Or, more accurately, to those who follow my blog:
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The First Tuesday in Advent, Year One (BCP):
Psalm 5
Isaiah 1:21-31
1 Thessalonians 2:1-12
Luke 20:9-18
*You really need to read the Scriptures before you read my devotional commentary. I suggest reading the Psalm between the Isaiah and the 1 Thessalonians reading.
The parable of the vineyard is one of those parables
I just don’t get. I don’t come away from it with a
simple “The kingdom of God is…” statement. But,
Jesus didn’t spell it out for us like that; he wrapped
up the Truth in a story – a story that is very
unsettling. For instance, why do the vine-growers
act the way they do? Who, in their right mind,
murders their boss’s “beloved son” and then
expects to get the boss’s inheritance? Regardless of
their reasoning, the way they are living reveals their
belief: the Owner is not a force to be reckoned
with. He’s gone “on a journey for a long time” (Luke 20:9).
Isaiah’s prophecy is strikingly parallel to the Gospel
parable: the righteous-city-turned-harlot is suffering
the consequences of its own sin. Its “silver has
become dross;” once the home of “righteousness,”
now its citizens murder and are completely without
concern for the helpless among them.
The psalmist praises: “You are not a God who takes
pleasure in wickedness” (Psalm 5:4). Those who
choose to turn away from God choose selfdestruction.
But the psalmist concludes Psalm 5
with rejoicing – rejoicing in the shelter the LORD
gives those who will look to God as their refuge in
the time of trouble.
Paul and company know all about trouble. They’ve
been evangelizing and have suffered persecution.
They’ve endured their trials – I imagine them
singing Psalm 5 along the way – and are able to live
and preach the Gospel “amid much opposition” (1
Thessalonians 2:2). They stick to their calling,
proclaiming the Gospel of God amongst the church
in Thessalonica by kingdom-living and kingdomspeaking.
Their purpose: “so that [the
Thessalonians] would walk in a manner worthy
of the God who calls [them] into His own
kingdom and glory” (I Thessalonians 2:12).
Maybe Paul and company need to visit the
vineyard in Jesus’ parable, or the harlot-city
described in Isaiah.
Or maybe they need to visit us.
Too often I share in the sinful attitude of those
vine-growers: forgetfulness – or willful
ignorance – of the Owner of the vineyard. Too
often my silver turns to dross; I grow oblivious
to the cry of the helpless and to the still, small
voice of God’s Spirit. Too often my walk is far
from worthy of the God who calls me. What
about you?
During Advent, we are invited to realize the
darkness of our slavery to sin, but also to hear
prophecies of the way things should, and will,
be: “Zion will be redeemed with justice and her
repentant ones with righteousness” (Isaiah
1:27).
God, make us repentant, redeem us, and make
us to walk in the Way worthy of You. Sing with
your Spirit a song of rejoicing in our hearts, and
shelter us even as You are consuming our
sinfulness with holy fire. Remind us that You
will come back after Your long journey, and
give us the Hope we have in our Christ: Jesus,
by whose suffering all bad is made good, and
all wrongs, right. Through Him we pray, Amen.
