Psalms 1, 2, 3 * 4, 7; Isaiah 1:10-20; 1Thessaolonians 1:1-10; Luke 20:1-8 We are in a new church year! In the Sunday lectionary we have switched from an emphasis on Matthew to an emphasis on Mark. In our Daily Office lectionary, we have not switched, in fact we are picking up right were we left off on Saturday: Jesus having made his entry into Jerusalem and is teaching and preaching in the temple. There is an interesting question raised in today's reading. Jesus is approached by the leaders of that temple asking him, basically, who the heck he thinks he is and who gave him permission to teach and preach! You can almost hear the harrumph! Jesus responds with a trap, remembering back to his cousin John's work of preparation, of baptism.
This is a good thing to think about in Advent: preparation. For in preparing ourselves for the birth of Christ, of God among us, we are giving ourselves the authority to experience Advent in new ways: in putting God's love for us first. If we make that the center of our dwellings these next four weeks, we will have an Advent Authority unlike the shallow materialism we are called to by the world around us.
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Copyright 2008, John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.
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