BCP Daily Office Lectionary for Thursday, Dec. 16, 2004

    Source: http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/index.htm

Morning Psalm(s): AM Psalm 50 [PCUSA: 18:1-20]

Evening Psalm(s): PM Psalm [59, 60] or 33 [PCUSA: 126:1-6]

Old Testament: Isa. 9:18-10:4

Epistle: 2 Pet. 2:10b-16

Gospel: Matt. 3:1-12 [PCUSA: Mark 3:1-12]

Presbyterian Readings with Biblical Text for the Current Day:

http://www.pcusa.org/cgi-bin/lectiond.cgi

The denunciation of Israel’s sin continues for two more stanzas (cf. Wednesday’s reading):

            For wickedness burned like a fire,

               consuming briers and thorns;

            it kindled the thickets of the forest,

               and they swirled upward in a column of smoke.

            Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts

               the land was burned,

            and the people became like fuel for the fire;

               no one spared another. (Isa. 9:18-19)

“Moral decay consumes like a forest fire (Hos. 7:6)” (Victor R. Gold and William L. Holladay, NOAB):

            They gorged on the right, but still were hungry,

               and they devoured on the left, but were not satisfied;

            they devoured the flesh of their own kindred;

            Manasseh devoured Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,

               and together they were against Judah. (Isa. 9:20-21)

“Civil war breaks out (2 Kings 15:23-31; 16:5)” (Gold and Holladay). The prophet interrogates the leaders, blaming them for perversion of justice for the poor and needy:

            Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees,

               who write oppressive statutes,

            to turn aside the needy from justice

               and to rob the poor of my people of their right,

            that widows may be your spoil,

               and that you may make the orphans your prey!

            What will you do on the day of punishment,

               in the calamity that will come from far away?

            To whom will you flee for help,

               and where will you leave your wealth,

            so as not to crouch among the prisoners

               or fall among the slain? (Isa. 10:1-4a,b)

It appears that Peter and Jude had similar experiences with false teachers: “–especially those who indulge their flesh in depraved lust, and who despise authority. Bold and willful, they are not afraid to slander the glorious ones’ (2 Pet. 2:10). “Yet in the same way these dreamers also defile the flesh, reject authority, and slander the glorious ones” Jude 8). The phrase translated “the glorious ones” could mean “glorious angelic beings” or “majesties, illustrious persons” (F. Wilbur Gingrich and Frederick W. Danker, Shorter Lexicon). Bo Reicke sees this as a reference to “the magistrates of the society to whom several New Testament writers urge obedience and respect” (Anchor Bible), but J. D. N. Kelly sees them as “celestial beings . . . probably the fallen angels mentioned in ii. 4" (Black’s New Testament Commentaries). After citing the view of another that such reviling of “the glorious ones” might reflect gnostic views, Kelly adds, “What remains clear is that their attitude . . . betokens a blasphemous rebellion against the divinely established order of existence.”

In any event, Peter and Jude criticize the false teachers most severely. “These people, however, are like irrational animals, mere creatures of instinct, born to be caught and killed. They slander what they do not understand, and when those creatures are destroyed, the also will be destroyed” (2 Pet. 2:12). “But these people slander whatever they do not understand, and they are destroyed by those things that, like irrational animals, they know by instinct” (Jude 10). “They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their dissipation while they feast with you. . . . They have left the straight road and have gone astray, following the road of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the wages of doing wrong” (2 Pet. 2:13, 15). “Woe to them! For they go the way of Cain, and abandon themselves to Balaam’s error for the sake of gain, and perish in Korah’s rebellion. These are blemishes on your love-feasts, while they feast with you without fear, feeding themselves” (Jude 11-12a). You and I would also avoid such people, wouldn’t we?

Matthew’s account of John the Baptist’s ministry emphasizes his message of repentance (Mt. 3:2; cf. Lk. 3:3; Mk. 1:4), supported by the quotation from Isaiah 40:3, without the words from Malachi 3:1 (used in Mk. 1:2). Matthew and Mark describe John’s dress and diet (Mt. 3:4; Mk. 1:6), but the description of John’s preaching of repentance is shared by Matthew ( 3:7-10) and Luke (3:7-9) in passages that are practically verbatim.. “Do not presume/begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’: for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham” (Mt. 3:9; Lk. 3:8). The three report John’s messianic preaching, “he [the one coming after me] will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire,” though Mark omits “with fire” (Mt. 3:11; Mk. 1:;8; Lk. 3:16). John’s call to repentance and his announcement of Jesus coming are clear.