BCP Daily Office Lectionary for Monday, Dec. 6, 2004
Source: http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/index.htm
Morning Psalm(s): AM Psalm 25 [PCUSA: 122]
Evening Psalm(s): PM Psalm 9, 15 [PCUSA: 40]
Old Testament: Isa. 5:8-12,18-23 [PCUSA: Isaiah 5:8-17]
Epistle: 1 Thess. 5:1-11
Gospel: Luke 21:20-28
Nicholas of Myra: -- 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
The readings from the Book of Common Prayer for today are full of judgment and warnings! They include:
Isa. 5:8-13, 18-23 presents an application of the meaning of the Song of the Vineyard (5:1-7, yesterday's reading) to the prophet's contemporaries in Israel. The prophet rebukes those who “join house to house,” “field to field,/until there is room for no one but you,/and you are left to live alone/in the midst of the land” (v. 8). He goes on to rebuke drunkenness and carousing (vv. 11-12, 22), mocking God (vv. 18-19), calling evil good (v. 20), and pervert justice for a bribe (v. 23).
1 Thess. 5:1-11 a warning to be ready for the coming of the Lord, which "like a thief in the night" (v. 2) brings "sudden destruction" (v. 3), but the "hope of salvation" for those who "belong to the day" (v. 8). Those who “say, ‘There is peace and security’” will meet with “sudden destruction . . . as labor pains . . . and there will be no escape!” (v. 3). But Paul assures the Thessalonians, “But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief, for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness” (vv. 4-5).
Luke 21:20-28 describes the time when Jerusalem was to be/will be "surrounded by armies" (v. 20) and "trampled on by the Gentiles" (v. 24), and follows in the next paragraph (vv. 25-28) by reference to "signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars" (v. 25) and seeing "'the Son of Man coming in a cloud' with power and great glory" (v. 27). “These are days of vengeance,” says Jesus, “of all that is written” (v. 22).
But even in all this darkness and gloom there is hope and promise for God's faithful people. The passage in Luke concludes with this: "Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near" (v. 28). The passage in 1 Thessalonians concludes with this: "Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing" (1 Thess. 5:11). And, while it is not explicit in the Isaiah reading for today, as we noted in yesterday’s reading, the judgement on the bad vineyard in the Song of the Vineyard of chapter 5 is balanced by 27:2-11, which promises that Israel will be "a pleasant vineyard" (v. 2) that is guarded (v. 3) and is invited to "make peace with me [God]" (v. 5).
In days to come Jacob shall take root,
Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots,
and fill the whole world with fruit. (v. 6)
We should encourage one another and build each other up. We are called to be faithful and lift up our heads to see God's promised blessings.
(Note: The above is revised from thoughts on the readings for Monday, second week of Advent, that were included in my devotional email for December 9, 2002.)
Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.