December 10, 2023 – Advent 2B

“The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’”

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Mark 1:1-8

There’s waiting…and then there’s waiting. Do you know what I mean? Some waiting is, well, just waiting, the pointless exercise we all have to endure from time to time. Sitting in the doctor’s office just waiting for your name to be called so you can get your flu shot. Sitting in the car shop waiting for your oil to be changed. But other waiting seems to matter, like waiting in the doctor’s office for the results of the biopsy to come back or waiting to see the ultrasound of your coming baby. Some waiting feels empty and pointless, while other waiting is weighty, significant, and really matters. Too often, I think, the kind of waiting we talk about in Advent seems like the former, pointless and unending – waiting for Santa Claus to finally climb down that chimney and get out of our hair for another 364 days.

That is not the kind of waiting Advent seeks to invite us into at all. To get at that, it helps to realize that Advent is all about promises. And not just Advent, of course, but the whole Gospel. Given that most scholars consider the terse, descriptive opening verse of Mark – “The beginning of the good news of Jesus, the Son of God” not to be the actual first line of the book but rather its title, Mark literally begins his account with a promise from the prophet of Isaiah. Mark clearly invites us to see John the Baptist as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s promise. What is that promise? It is that one will come crying out in the wilderness declaring the whole of Isaiah’s promise of comfort, deliverance, and renewal. This is how Mark really intended the Gospel to begin — claiming the Advent, the imminent arrival of the one John heralds.

Christmas has too many traditions that it nearly obliterates Advent – at least allowing us to understand Advent as a time of preparation – a time of contemplating change in our lives.  But, let me remind you that, if Christmas is about an encounter with the “Holy One”, then Christmas must also be about change – changing our priorities, changing our attitudes, and changing the way we treat others.

So, what changes are we supposed to consider this Advent?  What are some of the ways we need to prepare ourselves for an encounter with G-d, to be more sensitive to G-d’s presence in our lives, and to see G-d in the others in our lives?  For some of us it might be that we are working too hard.  For others of us it might be that we have ambition for all the wrongs things in life.  And for others it is that we always have a negative attitude and outlook – or an inner hostility and resentment we hold on to – or the fact that we have a chip that we carry on our shoulder.  And for some it might be an arrogant self-righteousness.  Any and all of these will keep us closed to      G-d’s presence in our lives and keep us from being sensitive to the Spirit of G-d who seeks to mold and change us.   What we offer here, at Trinity is not necessarily the “Holiday Spirit”. What we do offer is an encounter with the “Holy One of G-d” – in Word and Sacrament.  If you are looking for an encounter with the presence of the living G-d then you have come to the right place.  Or if I may be so bold: “You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout I’m telling you why – The Holy One of G-d is coming to town”. 

Pastor Dave

December 9, 2023 – Does the Bible Say…?

“Does the Bible really say they released a murderer instead of Jesus?”

 “After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no case against him. But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover. Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” They shouted in reply, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a bandit.” John 18:38-40

“Then they all shouted out together, “Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us!” (This was a man who had been put in prison for an insurrection that had taken place in the city, and for murder.) Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again; but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” Luke 23:18-21

Barabbas is mentioned in all four of the Gospels in the New Testament. He is named as either a prisoner or a criminal – even a murderer. As the story goes, he was scheduled for crucifixion, but was chosen by the crowd to be pardoned as was the custom of Pontius Pilate during the feast of the Passover. The name Barabbas appears nowhere else in the New Testament. Neither do any of the gospels give any information about his life after his release. According to the early biblical scholar Origen and some other commentators, the full name of Barabbas may have been Jesus Barabbas, since Jesus was a common first name. Therefore the crowd was presented with a choice between two people named Jesus…..isn’t that ironic?

Some biblical scholars have raised the issue of some puzzling similarities between the released prisoner and Jesus himself. The most striking similarity concerns their names. Some ancient Syriac copies of Matthew, and a few other ancient sources, call the freed prisoner “Jesus bar Abbas”. The name Barabbas can be a derivation that comes from dropping the name “Jesus” and changing “bar Abbas” to “Barabbas”. Furthermore, the phrase “bar Abbas” can be translated as “son of the Father”, which could possibly be applied to Jesus himself, since he sometimes used the word “Abba” (father) in referring to G-d.

Another similarity between the two men relates to their possible roles as rebel leaders. The gospel of Mark says that Barabbas had been imprisoned for taking part in a revolt, and his popularity with the crowd suggests that he had been one of its leaders. It is also safe to say that the Romans viewed Jesus as a rebel leader. Many people were calling him the Messiah, a title which implied that he would overthrow the existing government. He had a large number of followers, many of whom might be easily swayed into taking part in a revolt. In fact when Jesus overturned the temple merchants tables during the Festival of the Passover we can see they would consider this a “mini-revolt”. Thus, both men may have had the same name, and both of them could have been considered by the Roman government to be insurrectionists.

We often see crowds today who get whipped into a frenzy who commit atrocious deeds: in particular the January 6, 2021 attack on the capital in Washington D.C. and the recent abominations of the leaders of Hamas who killed and/or also mutilated the bodies of 31 U.S. citizens, 39 French citizens, at least 34 Thai nationals, and Asian workers. Perhaps we can understand even if just to a small degree how emotions can lead people to do unspeakable deeds.

Pastor Dave