{"id":546,"date":"2019-12-08T14:23:56","date_gmt":"2019-12-08T14:23:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/?p=546"},"modified":"2019-12-08T19:27:09","modified_gmt":"2019-12-08T19:27:09","slug":"second-sunday-of-advent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/2019\/12\/08\/second-sunday-of-advent\/","title":{"rendered":"Second Sunday of Advent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Isaiah 11:1-10, Romans\n15:4-13<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come Lord Jesus, Come!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nApostle Paul expected Jesus\u2019 return to be soon, very soon. In his letter to the\nRomans he quoted Isaiah saying, \u201cThe root of Jesse shall come, the one who\nrises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope.\u201d Of course, we\ntoday understand that Paul was speaking of Jesus\u2019 return, but most people today\nhave no idea who Jesse was and only the greatest scholars of the Gentiles of\nPaul\u2019s time would have known enough Jewish history to know who Jesse was. You,\nof course, like the Jews of Paul\u2019s day, are not among the unknowing! You know very\nwell that Jesse was the father of the great king of Israel, David. So, you\nunderstand that the one who was to come, the one who would be known as the\nMessiah, and the Son of the Living God, and just Jesus, was to have a familiar\nrelationship with king David.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nwonder sometimes whether Paul\u2019s connecting of Jesus to Jesse (a shepherd),\nrather than David (Israel\u2019s great warrior king), had the purpose of making\nJesus less of a political threat and so less likely to arouse the Gentile\nauthorities to persecute those who followed him. It may have been that Paul\nwanted to show his Gentile audiences that Jesus\u2019 rule, if accepted by them was\nnot to be one of war and violence, like that of David, but rather a rule of\nhope and joy and peace with a king descended from a shepherd, displaying the\ncare and love that a shepherd has for his flock, for his followers. With so\nmuch violence in the world, as it was experienced in Paul\u2019s time, such a ruler\nwould be very welcome. I might add that such a ruler for our world, right here\nand now, would also be very welcome! Our times are no less violent and\nunpredictable than the first century after Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul\nfound his words of hope in the words of the prophet Isaiah, but Paul rested his\nfaith in Jesus\u2019 appearance to him and in the stories and words of Jesus that he\nwas taught, but I don\u2019t know that Paul ever went so far as did Isaiah to\ndescribe Jesus\u2019 rule as affecting even the animals of God\u2019s creation. But maybe\nwe will be able to get a truer insight into the nature of Jesus\u2019 kingdom through\nthat description given by Isaiah: \u201cThe wolf shall live with the lamb, the\nleopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling\ntogether, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze\ntogether; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox \u2026\u201d and so on. Today this\nkind of idea would be described as a view into an alternate universe, nature\n(as we know it) doesn\u2019t work that way, and yet so many of us are drawn to this\nimage of harmony and peace and tranquility in nature. It is a bit out there; while\nbears do graze a bit (even down in Delaware County and apparently the state of\nDelaware), bears and lions do not have the teeth and the digestive systems to\nhandle straw and grass; wolves, leopards, lions and bears, would much rather\nfeast on lambs and kids, calves, fatlings and that young child rather than eat\nstraw and grass. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nmay help us to understand that what is being described by Isaiah is a new\ncreation, life and relationships very different from what we now know. The\nanimals, as we know them now, will need to be recreated in order to live the\nlives described; I don\u2019t doubt that so too will we, human beings. Who among us,\nas we are now, would even know how to live within a world of such harmony, live\nlives of peace, and love and joy? And we know for a certainty that none among\nus have bodies that can live forever and can exhibit the attributes\ndemonstrated by Jesus after his resurrection, of both eating and walking\nthrough locked doors. It all makes me curiouser and more curiouser (to quote\nsomeone). We, like the animals, will need to be different. So, how might we be different?\nWill we have less of a desire to dispute and compete with one another? Maybe\nhaving all that we need will take away some of the aggressiveness we now depend\nupon. But, will we be able to control our wants, greed? Again, having what we\nneed and all that we want may make this possible. During this time of year, we\nhappily send out Christmas cards displaying lions and wolves lying with sheep\nand cows, but we might want to consider that such a peaceful environment while\nnice will be hollow if it does not include peaceful and loving human beings,\nother than a child. I wonder if we will be able to handle living in such a\npeaceful and wonderful place as Jesus\u2019 kingdom. Struggle seems to be so\ningrained in our nature, so much so that we enjoy it. Maybe we should start\ntrying to live peaceful and lovingly now. We will, in fact, need to be given\nnot only special body that will be able to live without aging and degrading,\nbut also minds that will be able to accept the ways of the Spirit, that can allow\nus to be happy without the need for constant competition and struggle, that can\nembrace the ways of love and joy. It is, not a problem, people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New\nlife in Jesus\u2019 kingdom is something that we can all look forward to, something\nto celebrate. When the root of Jesse, when Jesus stands before us to signal to\nus this new day, it will be a time for thanksgiving. Oh, what a day it will be.\nBut it is not just a day! His dwelling we are told will be glorious; that\ndwelling is a place for us all, and when I say all, Jesus will open his kingdom\nto all of those who are willing to come to him, trust him and accept his love. And\nagain, it is not just for a day. Jesus will provide for us a life of peace, of\njoy, of happiness, a life centered in love of God and love for each other. And\nit seems it will not just be for humans; can you imagine; the image given us by\nIsaiah prophesies, a world where even the animals will be safe to be around and\nmay even live among us, as suggested by the small child walking among the\nanimals in Isaiah\u2019s prophecy. It is exciting for me, just to think about it. In\nthe meantime, we can begin living lives similar to that life, living lives of\npeace and love. Come Lord Jesus, Come!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Isaiah 11:1-10, Romans 15:4-13 Come Lord Jesus, Come! The Apostle Paul expected Jesus\u2019 return to be soon, very soon. In his letter to the Romans he quoted Isaiah saying, \u201cThe root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope.\u201d Of Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons-and-services"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":547,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546\/revisions\/547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}