About Sunday’s Lectionary…
Isaiah: Well, this is wacky – ‘your’ Lord, ‘my’ Lord, ‘the’ Lord – what’s all that about – you’ll have to consult a commentary about that! A few things stand out to me, though. One is God’s exasperation about about the people’s refusal to hope. Maybe we too can hope. Are there ways we can understand the story of what is going on in our times differently, and discover some hope? And is that story of hope also about what we can do? And who’s in charge of stories anyway? This is a crucial question in an age of social media, newspapers that are happy to call honest judges ‘traitors’, and ‘post-truth’. Second, no doubt you’ve heard many times that the prophecy is about “the young woman”, rather than a “virgin”. Third, “…before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good…”. We Christians often picture Jesus as perfect, and indeed it is fairly basic to our faith that he embodies God in a human being. But he was once a child – was he perfect then? How can he have known the difference between good and evil at a young age? How can any small child know the difference between good and evil? That knowledge can’t be a single thing anyway, it must be a developing understanding. The grown up Jesus criticises the Pharisees, but they thought they were doing right – as adults. Anyway, this thing about knowing good and evil is not just academic, it makes a difference to lives – see the BBC drama, ‘Responsible Child’. BTW, I fear for the future of the BBC as an impartial force. They too are in charge of the stories, but a voice not so often heard now.
Psalm 80: Here’s verse 6 … “You make us the scorn of our neighbours; our enemies laugh among themselves.” I hate it when that happens – don’t you?
Matthew: Just to note that Joseph doesn’t seem to be a very traditional man – or at least he wouldn’t seem to be in UK culture, and I guess not in first century Palestine either.
Merry Christmas to all my readers … correction … both my readers … correction … to you, Janet!