BCP Daily Office Lectionary for Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2004
Source: http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/index.htm
Morning Psalm(s): AM Psalm 119:49-72 [PCUSA: 50:1-23]
Evening Psalm(s): PM Psalm 49, [53] [PCUSA: 53:1-6]
Old Testament: Isa. 9:8-17
Epistle: 2 Pet. 2:1-10a
Gospel: Mark 1:1-8
Presbyterian Readings with Biblical Text for the Current Day:
http://www.pcusa.org/cgi-bin/lectiond.cgi
Old Testament: Isa. 9:8-17
Today’s lesson is the first two of four stanzas which denounce sins of the northern Israelite kingdom (Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, Isa. 9:9; including Manasseh, 9:21). Each stanza concludes with the refrain, which is also used in 5:25:
For all this his anger has not turned away;
his hand is stretched out still. (Isa. 9:12c,d, 17e,f, 21c,d; 10:4c,d; cf. 5:25f,g)
The refrain’s second line announces judgment, referring to a practice “common in the ancient Near East (apparently originating in Egypt) to represent the king holding a mace in his raised hand beating down his enemies . . . Israel (and Judah) have become God’s enemies” (John Oswalt, The NIV Application Commentary, based on the NIV translation, “his hand is still upraised). The first stanza denounces “pride and arrogance of heart” (v. 9) and the futile attempt to repair the damage already incurred.
The bricks have fallen,
but we will build with dressed stones;
the sycamores have been cut down,
but we will put cedars in their place. (v. 10)
The second stanza denounces “elders and dignitaries” as “the head,” and “prophets who teach lies” as “the tail” (v. 15), the “whole animal,” so to speak, for leading the people astray (v. 16), and for having no pity or compassion (v. 17a,b). “Everyone was godless and an evildoer” and “every mouth spoke folly” (v. 17c,d). Israel may have blamed Assyria for her troubles, but Isaiah reminds them that judgment is coming from the hand of God. Assyria is God’s instrument for punishment, his “rod” (10:5, 15), “ax,” “saw” and “staff” (10:15).
Having reminded his readers that the tradition received from the Apostles is trustworthy (Tuesday’s Epistle reading), Peter warns them about the false prophets and teachers “who will secretly bring in destructive opinions,” and “will even deny the Master” (2 Pet. 2:1).
“Many will follow their licentious ways” and “the way of truth will be maligned” (v. 2). “In their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words” (v. 3). These false prophets and teachers will be like “false prophets” who “also arose among the [ancient] people” (v. 1). The consequences in the past, God’s casting “the angels” who sinned “into hell” (v. 4), his not sparing Noah’s generation from the flood (v. 5), and his destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (v. 6), though he rescued Lot (v. 7), need not come upon the Christian’s who heed Peter’s warning. For, as Lot’s case shows, “the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment” (v. 10).
Mark’s Gospel starts with a striking phrase–begins with a bang, as they say. “The beginning of the good news [footnote “gospel”] of Jesus Christ [the Son of God]” (Mk. 1:1). Some early manuscripts omit “the Son of God,” but other early manuscripts include the phrase. The absence of this phrase in a few manuscripts “may be due to an oversight in copying, occasioned by the similarity of the endings of [three successive words]” (Bruce M. Metzger, Textual Commentary): Christou huiou theou. “On the other hand, however, there was always a temptation (to which copyists often succumbed) to expand titles and quasi-titles of books” (Metzger). Assuming that Mark wrote the phrase, it is interesting to find it echoed in the words of the Centurion, “Truly this man was God’s Son” (Mk. 15:39). Mark surely knew what he was doing. The voice of God from heaven refers twice to Jesus as “my beloved Son” (Mk. 1:11; 9:7). Jesus implies as much when he says, “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (13:32), and Caiaphas comes close, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” (14:61), but he regard’s Jesus’ affirmative answer (v. 62) as “blasphemy” (v. 64). Otherwise, only the demons call Jesus “the Son of God” (3:11; 5:7; cf. 1:24). We might say, “They ought to know!” Surely Mark knew what the demons knew. But there’s more to Mark’s story than Jesus’ identity. A series of miracles in the first part of the book leads to Jesus’ teaching about taking up the cross in the later part of the book (e.g. Mk. 8:34). John the Baptist’s life style and preaching of repentance point to Jesus, “The one who is more powerful than I [who] is coming after me” (Mk. 1:7).
Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.