BCP Daily Office Lectionary for Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2004
Source: http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/index.htm
Morning Psalm(s): AM Psalm 119:1-24 [PCUSA: 50]
Evening Psalm(s): PM Psalm 12, 13, 14 [PCUSA: 53]
Old Testament: Isa. 2:1-11 [PCUSA: Isa. 2:1-4]
Epistle: 1 Thess. 2:13-20
Gospel: Luke 20:19-26
Nicholas Ferrar: -- See the index (link given above) for special readings.
Presbyterian Readings with Biblical Text for the Current Day:
http://www.pcusa.org/cgi-bin/lectiond.cgi
Isaiah presents a vision of the new age with peace among the nations, who will come to Jerusalem for instruction (Isa. 2:2-4), which is practically identical to Micah 4:1-4 (which adds “up” in v. 1 [“raised up” Mic. 4:1, cf. “raised” Isa. 2:2, and a couple transpositions of “nations” and “peoples”). They were contemporaries, Isaiah of Jerusalem, and Micah of the small village Moresheth, but they shared a common vision of peace among nations.
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation;
neither shall they learn war any more. (Isa. 2:3d-4)
The last four lines (Isa. 2:4b, c) are inscribed on the wall at Peace Park at the United Nations in New York City (http://habitat.igc.org/peace-park/pp03.htm). A bronze sculpture at the UN also celebrates the “Peace” theme: http://flickr.com/photos/pjs-omi/1741691
This sculpture sits at the United Nations in New York City. It depicts this prophecy of Isaiah in its fulfillment. A figure is beating a sword into a plowshare. The bronze sculpture was created by Russian artist Evgeniy Vuchetich called “Let Us Beat Swords Into Plowshares” and was a gift to the UN from the Soviet Union in 1959.
Isaiah continues with a list of Jacob’s sins (vv. 5-11) which is shifted to Thursday’s reading in the Daily Lectionary of the Presbyterian Book of Worship. The sins include the use of diviners and soothsayers (v. 6), idols (v. 8) and pride (v. 11), but resources for war, horses and chariots, stand in sharp contrast to the earlier vision of peace.
Paul again expresses thanks for the Thessalonian believers. He gives “thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word, which is also at work in you believers” (1 Thess. 2:13). He notes that they imitated “the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, ” suffering at the hands of their own “compatriots” (i.e. Jews in Thessalonica, cf. Acts 17:5-8) as they did (v. 14). When Paul was unavoidedly separated from them, “we [i.e. Paul and his companions] were made orphans” and “longed with great eagerness to see you face to face” (v. 17). “Yes, you are our glory and joy!” (v. 20). Paul demonstrates this saying of Jesus, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn. 13:35).
Jesus is confronted with another question intended “to trap him by what he said” (Lk. 20:20). “Teacher, we know that you are right in what you say and teach, and you show deference to no one, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. [Note the irony.] Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” (vv 21-22). They thus present Jesus with a dilemma, which he handles well. After the exchange about the denarius–the wage for one day’s work by a laborer–noting that the coin bears the image of the emperor’s [Tiberius’] head, Jesus says, “Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperors, and to God the things that are God’s” (v. 25). But the coin’s inscription, “TIBERIUS CAESAR, SON OF THE DIVINE AUGUSTUS, AUGUSTUS” (David L. Tiede, HarperCollins Study Bible), together with the image of the head, was a sacrilege for the Jews (cf. Ex. 20:23). A recent interpretation says, “Thus it is very likely that when Jesus said, ‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,’ he was saying, ‘Give back to Caesar his worthless coins, and give to God your whole-hearted and undivided allegiance” (Ben Witherington, following R. David Kaylor, in The Jesus Quest: the Third Search for the Jew of Nazareth, p. 155). Witherington adds:
It seems Jesus is being deliberately oblique at this point, forcing his audience to ponder his reply rather than jump to conclusions that he was either for or against paying tribute money or taxes to Caesar. . . . Jesus turns the discussion to focus on a more primary question, Who is Lord? Jesus’ view then would amount neither to open cooperation with Caesar or violent revolution against him, but recognizing only God’s lordship and thus relativizing Caesar’s claims.
We are certainly advised to “give . . . to God the things that are God’s” (v. 25).
Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.