Bible Study 30th November 2021
Theme: Love
Last Week: hope, Now love, followed by joy, and peace.
Readings: Malachi 3:1-4;Luke 1:68-79; Philippians 1:3-11;
Comment:
Why celebrate advent? Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, “celebrating Advent reminds us that we are “poor and imperfect, and… look forward to something greater to come.”
He also compared the picture that Advent paints to “A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes — and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside.”
This second week of advent, we look at how God opened this door in love for His creation from the outside; in fact he not only opened the door but he went through it, and entered his creation in incarnation, in the person of Jesus. An act of selfless love. An act of incarnation.
Interestingly, we do not find the word love (agape in Greek) directly in any of the scripture narratives describing the birth of Jesus Christ. However, without such divine love we would not have Christmas at all. We know this because the biblical writers told us so in other passages:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 NIV)
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. (1 John 4:9 NIV)
Agape is sacrificial love—the Father God giving up his son as a sacrifice for the sins of the world, allowing Jesus to leave his presence and become human.
Charles Wesley wrote about this love, “Love Divine all loves excelling, Joy of heaven to earth come down, Fix in us thy humble dwelling, All thy faithful mercies crown.
On the second week of Advent we find that a lot of planning went in to this act of divine love .
https://evaburkholder.com/2020/12/20/advent-hope-peace-joy-and-love/
As we read these advent scriptures, please do ask these questions to help us in our conversations and meditations.
•What word or words in this passage caught your attention?
• What in this passage comforted you?
• What in this passage challenged you?
1) It was a Committed Love: A Messenger Sent with a message of tough love!
Malachi 3:1-4. New International Version
3 “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.
2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.
Comment:
The author of Malachi is unknown; The title of this book Malachi actually means “My Messenger” in Hebrew.
Known as a minor prophet, However, this minor prophet had a big message to share. That “the Lord would send a messenger of the covenant to prepare and refine the people in preparation for a day of judgement. This was to be a message of tough love. Just as silver requires refining, so do human beings through repentance, salvation and renewal.
In Christian tradition, it is John the Baptist who is seen as being “the one” who fulfilled this role of being God's messenger.
In giving God praise for the birth of his son, John’s father, Zechariah, saw and spoke prophetically of how John would be “the one” to prepare the way of the Lord.
Luke 1:68-79. New International Version
68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has come to his people and redeemed them.
69 He has raised up a horn[a] of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David
70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
71 salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us—
72 to show mercy to our ancestors
and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
79 to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
Footnotes
a.Luke 1:69 Horn here symbolizes a strong king
Comment:
When a President or Prime Minister of a country is scheduled to make a public appearance, his staff prepares weeks and even months in advance to make certain that the proper protocol will be observed and the leader’s security will be assured. Similarly, detailed preparations precede the appearance of other political figures, celebrity entertainers and rock singers. When rock stars make a tour, elaborate preparations are made for their coming. Their entourage arrives ahead of time to get things ready for their concert. Stages are set; lighting is adjusted and sound checks are made.
So with the coming of the Messiah, God’s one and only son. However, in contrast to earthly celebrities, there was no cast of thousands involved in this preparation. Just one man, John.
The young John grew into adulthood. Let’s hear Luke’s account of John’s ministry .
Luke 3: 1-6; New International Version
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
3 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— 2 during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
5 Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
6 And all people will see God’s salvation.’”[a]
Footnotes. a.Luke 3:6 Isaiah 40:3-5
John was preaching in what was physically the lowest place on earth. He spoke of how the Messiah would level things up; the humble exalted and the exalted humbled.
Jesus was to be born as a sign and a gift for ALL people. Qu? Even the rogues gallery of characters identified in the opening verses. But salvation starts with repentance, even for the exalted of this world. All before God are equally in need of his love and mercy. In John we find the forerunner of Jesus, preparing the way for the one who truly provides the means of transformation to all.
If John was preaching from the lowest place on earth physically, in his letter to the Philippian Church, the apostle Paul was writing from prison, one of the lowest places, emotionally that a person can find themselves in.
Amazingly, from such a place, Paul writes to encourage those he had nurtured in Philippi to complete the good work that God was doing in and through them.
Philippians 1:3-11. New International Version
Thanksgiving and Prayer
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/arts-faith-advent-second-sunday-imaginative-prayer-exercise-3/
Questions:
1: How do we prepare our hearts and lives for Jesus our Saviour to be reborn in us during this Christmas time.
2) How do we “fill in the “valleys” of our souls” , or straighten any crooked paths we may have been walking?
3) What is the place of repentance in dealing with tendencies to harbour grudges or hatred, or failing to be reconciled with others, or holding on to deep-seated resentments, or indulging in fault-finding, or being unwillingness to forgive?
4) What might be the mountains that need levelling in our lives?
Prayer:
Father, prepare our hearts to celebrate your birth joyfully! We thank you for faithfully doing what you promised long ago when you sent your Son to earth so that we might have the chance to become part of your family. May the promise of your second coming inspire us to live humbly with hope and purpose.
As we wait for your plan to unfold, give us the patience we need. Remind us of the peace we can access when we take time to still ourselves before you and remember that you are God. We thank you that you are both sovereign and gracious. In Jesus you restore and renew . Hallelujah. Amen.