Zephaniah 3:14-20

Zephaniah only appears twice in the 3 year Lectionary cycle. Flip through this book and you'll find prophecies and judgments. Zephaniah spent some time pondering what it would be like if God showed up. It wouldn't be pretty. But the Protestant Lectionary tends to skip by that stuff, and gives us this, the final oracle, filled with celebration and joy. Judgment was expected, but it has turned to mercy. But this isn't about Jesus.

The book is set during King Josiah, a reformist from the 7th century BC. His reforms were of the "cracking down on the law" type. He relied on the dubious book of Deuteronomy. The legend is that they were restoring the temple and a High Priest "found" a scroll. They claimed it was written by Moses himself and Judah's problems were due to them not following these laws. There was still worshipping of other gods happening, and that needed to end. There were some who saw God as uninvolved and indifferent to the Israelites, and that's not good. With this happy ending though, is the message; despite all that, God will come and forgive our sins? That is the message of Advent. What would really be great is if along with that, the promises of verse 19 came with it. The promises of saving the lame and gathering the outcast.

Isaiah 12:2-6

I've mentioned elsewhere there is something called "Second Isaiah". It's not a book, but a second author or set of authors that are included in this book. It switches to that voice at chapter 40. But this could be something from that author that got inserted here. He is trying to inspire people back to faith after Jerusalem had been torn down. What are the results of this attempt at inspiration? We can argue about the meaning of salvation, but it can't be denied that the culture survived.

Luke 3:7-18

In Year A, we also hear this story of John the Baptist, telling people they are a brood of vipers. Satan was depicted as a snake, so he's calling people sons of Satan. There is a wrath to come, like we heard in detail if we read the earlier chapters of Zephaniah. This is a core tenant of Christianity, although mainstream preachers tend to not preach this. It is saying there is something wrong with you. The crowd buys it and asks what they should do. We are only hearing from those who hung around to hear this, and really we're hearing from an author who claims they were buying it. We would need to study all the other religions and philosophies and other varieties of Judaism of that time to hear what others thought.

His answers start out sounding like a preview of the Sermon on the Mount; share your wealth, embrace your whole community, be honest in your work, don't pillage. These are the parts that the conservative fundamentalists tend to skip. John shows us how to start up a religion here. First, point out something is wrong. There are plenty of people who see problems in their society in every age, so you get their attention. Second, tell them they can do something about it. Give them something inspiring, something that speaks to a human value, like helping someone who is hungry. This will associate you with higher spiritual (non-material) values. Those who are not hearing these values expressed elsewhere will now see you as uniquely qualified. Then, be humble, say you are not worthy. It's not you who has the power. But, throw in a little exclusivity because there is a higher power that requires their attention. Warn them that if they don't go to where you are pointing there will be hell to pay.