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It is no surprise at all that the first two Propers for Christmas Day have the same chapter from Luke as the Gospel reading. The nativity scene from Luke is well-known, with no room at the inn, the stable, the manger, the shepherds, the angels, and all the rest. "Nativity scenes" of course get it all wrong, because we're not talking about a wooden barn, and the wizards/magicians/sages/astrologers/whatever they were were not present in the manger, but only showed up later, as recorded in Matthew. But the incorrectness/anachronism of manger scenes aside, the point of Luke's infancy narratives seems to be all about the humble beginnings of this one who seemed to know a lot about what he was doing even at an early age. After all, it is Luke that later records that Jesus said he had to be about his father's business when he was twelve. How would a kid realistically know that? But, so far as the Gospel of Luke is concerned, there is something special about this boy, who otherwise would have been written off as yet another precocious kid of whom the world is filled with abundant examples.
Speaking of precociousness, the Isaiah passage seems to indicate that the worshippers are called on to keep bugging Yahweh until he does what he has promised to do. In this specific case, it is establish[ing] Jerusalem and mak[ing] it renowed through all the earth." This insistence that Yahweh do something is not asking him to do something innovative, but rather to complete a promise given long ago to Abraham, even though the children of Israel broke the covenant repeatedly. The God of the Bible is never one finally to give up on his creatures. Might we not extend this willingness to save as far as possible, and even beyond the limits of what we might think is possible? This is a point to ponder, and if God is a God of love--as we confess--then there might be much more here than meets the eye. But the persistence in asking God, in "reminding" God of something he has promised, in the language of Isa 62, carries the same sentiment, so it seems to me, of the final line of the book of Revelation: "Amen, come Lord Jesus." The Aramaic word there is the somewhat enigmatic Maran atha. This word can also be written Marana tha. The former means "Our Lord, come," while the latter means, "The Lord has come." Both ideas are captured by the single word and, as texts from the first century did not have spaces, owing to the expense of papyrus roles and the need to use up as much of the available space as possible. So we pray that our Lord will soon come, will make good on the promises he has made to us and to our ancestors. And we also bear witness to the fact that our Lord has come, and it is this first coming that we celebrate in particular today.
Psalm 97 is a remnant of the old polytheistic systems out of which the faith of Israel arose; this is in particular reflected in v 9; if Yahweh is exalted above all other gods, this is not the same thing as saying, in accordance with the language of the latter prophets, and especially Third Isaiah from which the Old Testament lesson comes, that Yahweh is the only God over all the earth. Even though this remant is there, however, and even though the final victory of monotheism was not achieved until the Maccabean revolt in the second century BCE (reflected in the book of Daniel), the movement toward monotheism is an inexorable one, and indeed a monotheistic lacquer, so to speak, has been brushed back over the earlier materials to give at least the appearance that this theological idea was in place from the first days of Israel.
And again to Titus, this time from chapter 3. Verse 7 in especially striking. Salvation from sin is clearly not the only story, or not entirely the story. We have also become heirs of eternal life through what Jesus has done, coming to earth as a human, dying, and being raised by the power of God. We also walk in newness of life, says Paul in Romans 6, "dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus" (v 11). But what Titus 3:7 says is that we have become heirs "according to the hope of eternal life." This is why we are to keep on asking, keep on insisting, that God live up to God's word and deliver us from the law of sin and death (Rom 7). It is possible to live free from sin in this life. This is the hope of eternal life, that God will finally deliver on his promises in this life, in this present evil age, and the gates of Hell will not be able to stand against the church that he builds on the rock, the foundation stone, of our confession, with Peter, that he is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. And we wait for the fulfilling of the promise, but we do not wait in vain. For as we continue to ask, continue to demand, continue to insist, the promise comes through in ways we cannot even imagine. Amen.
"Maranatha!" is a cry of the heart,
that's hopeful yet weary of waiting.
While it may be joyful with the burdens it bears,
it's sick with anticpating!
To long for the Promised One day after day,
and the promise that soon he'd return;
it's certain that waiting's the most bitter lesson
a believing heart has to learn.
"Maranatha!"
How many more moments must this waiting last?
"Maranatha!"
We long for the time when all time is past.
A commotion, a call, then that will be all;
though it's not yet the hour
the minutes are ticking away!
"Maranatha" is the shout of the few
who so long in history've been hiding,
who truly believe that the sound of that call
might actually hasten his coming!
For no eye has seen and no ear has yet heard,
and no mind has ever conceived,
the joy of the moment when he will appear
to the wonder of all who believe!
"Maranatha!"
How many more moments must this waiting last?
"Maranatha!"
We long for the time when all time is past.
A commotion, a call, then that will be all;
though it's not yet the hour
the minutes are ticking away!
"Maranatha!"
How hungry we are just to see your face!
"Parousia!"
To finally fall in one long embrace!
A commotion, a call, then that will be all;
though it's not yet the hour
the minutes are ticking away!--Michael Card, "Marantha"
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