My other thoughts on these readings can be found below in the italicized text. If you would like to discuss or debate what I have written, or if you would like to share your own opinions and questions, I invite you to write in the comments below. I pledge to respond to all comments.
Zephaniah 3:14 - 20
14 Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!
15 The LORD has taken away the judgments against you, he has turned away your enemies. The king of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more.
16 On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands grow weak.
17 The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing
18 as on a day of festival. I will remove disaster from you, so that you will not bear reproach for it.
19 I will deal with all your oppressors at that time. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth.
20 At that time I will bring you home, at the time when I gather you; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the LORD.
- The entirety of Zephaniah reads like a shorter version of Isaiah 13 – 23, which is a series of woe oracles against Israel and the surrounding nations. Here in Zephaniah, the Lord declares a punishment against Jerusalem and Israel because the people have worshipped foreign gods. The Lord also declares a punishment against the nations that mock Israel during its suffering. The mood changes at the end of Zephaniah: the Lord will gather together the faithful remnant of Israel, re-establish the city of Jerusalem and the nation of Israel, and defeat the nations that are oppressing the Israelites.
- Zephaniah may be one of the reasons why many Jews rejected Jesus. Zephaniah tells of the Lord arriving in the city as a warrior, perhaps a warrior king. This was paired with the saving of the lame and the gathering of the outcast, which were hallmarks of the ministry of Jesus. Therefore, the people may have connected his miracles to Zephaniah and expected that Jesus was the promised warrior king.
Isaiah 12:2 - 6
2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the LORD GOD is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.
3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
4 And you will say in that day: Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known his deeds among the nations; proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be known in all the earth.
6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
- It’s interesting that we cut verse 1 out of Isaiah 12: “You will say in that day: I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, and you comforted me.” (Isa 12:1 NRS)
- We are quick to read “the Holy One of Israel” in Isaiah 12:6 as Jesus. But what/whom did the Israelites at the time of the exile identify as “the Holy One of Israel.”
Philippians 4:4 - 7
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
- Back when Advent was a penitential season similar to Lent, the third Sunday of Advent was the one Sunday in the season during which the mood was playful and joyful. The pink/rose candle in the Advent wreath represents this day to “rejoice.”
Luke 3:7 - 18
7 John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 9 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."
10 And the crowds asked him, "What then should we do?" 11 In reply he said to them, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise." 12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, "Teacher, what should we do?" 13 He said to them, "Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you." 14 Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what should we do?" He said to them, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages."
15 As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16 John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."
18 So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.
- The empire asked tax collectors to collect a prescribed amount of taxes from an area. It was common for tax collectors to charge even higher amounts from the citizens within their zone of responsibility; these additional taxes became the tax collector’s salary.
- It was also common for military members to force non-Roman citizens to carry equipment, weapons, and other items for a mile so that the soldier could rest. It appears that these military members have also been intimidating local citizens until the citizens paid a “protection fee.”
- We immediately understand the tree about to be cut down as representing one person. But what if we read it as representing one nation, instead?
- While the wheat (the good) and the chaff (the bad) are separated on the threshing floor, each grain of wheat originally comes with chaff around the grain of wheat. We tend to read this as the good people go to heaven and the bad people go to hell, but what if this is more like purification? Each of us is “threshed” until our chaff is separated from us and tossed away/into the fire.
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