Snakes. Why Did It Have to be Snakes?
Dec 4: Second Sunday of Advent
If today’s reading from Isaiah sounds familiar, that’s because we read it on Tuesday.
Surprised, I asked our priest why we’ve got reruns only a week into Advent. He told me the Sunday readings are on a three-year cycle (which I knew), but the daily readings are on a two year cycle.
Which means this particular coincidence occurs only ever six years, but it just happened to pop up nine days into this little experiment of mine.
Weird.
Reading 1
Is 11:1-10
On that day, a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD, and his delight shall be the fear of the LORD. Not by appearance shall he judge, nor by hearsay shall he decide, but he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land's afflicted. He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips. Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them. The cow and the bear shall be neighbors, together their young shall rest; the lion shall eat hay like the ox. The baby shall play by the cobra's den, and the child lay his hand on the adder's lair. There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD, as water covers the sea. On that day, the root of Jesse, set up as a signal for the nations, the Gentiles shall seek out, for his dwelling shall be glorious.
The idyllic nature of this prophesy is rightly remembered in the popular imagination, but it’s worth noting the peacefulness and harmony that Isaiah describes comes only after justice is achieved.
The shoot of Jesse will come with a spirit of wisdom, knowledge, and strength. We, too, need these things in order to bring peace to our times. You can’t just lay your child in the adder’s lair, i.e. put your kid in the care of people who are untrustworthy. You need to bring the Holy Spirit with you before you be neighbors with a bear or play with a corbra.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17
R. (cf. 7) Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
O God, with your judgment endow the king,
and with your justice, the king's son;
he shall govern your people with justice
and your afflicted ones with judgment.
R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
Justice shall flower in his days,
and profound peace, till the moon be no more.
May he rule from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out,
and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.
He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor;
the lives of the poor he shall save.
R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
May his name be blessed forever;
as long as the sun his name shall remain.
In him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed;
all the nations shall proclaim his happiness.
R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
We’re happy to have a King who governs with justice, but God’s judgement is not cold-hearted. Pity is also part of His rule. Because the truth is, no one could stand in the face of true, unforgiving justice. We all fall short, we’re all poor in some way, and require forgiveness.
And just as the psalm says, we should all be grateful to have it.
Reading 2
Rom 15:4-9
Brothers and sisters: Whatever was written previously was written for our instruction, that by endurance and by the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to think in harmony with one another, in keeping with Christ Jesus, that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Welcome one another, then, as Christ welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I say that Christ became a minister of the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, to confirm the promises to the patriarchs, but so that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written: Therefore, I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing praises to your name.
Paul is writing about a different kind of harmony, one that actually seems to be more achievable. It’s not wolves and sheep getting along, but fellow Christians.
The Scriptures are our shared heritage, a common ground we can meet on. Even in Paul’s time, when there was a divide between Jews and Gentiles, he encouraged Christians to glorify God for his mercy (as in the Psalm we sang today).
Alleluia
Lk 3:4, 6
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths:
all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Can’t have Advent without John the Baptist shouting in the dessert.
Gospel
Mt 3:1-12
John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: A voice of one crying out in the desert, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. John wore clothing made of camel's hair and had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. At that time Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region around the Jordan were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins.
When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones. Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor
and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."
Isn’t it funny that John the Baptist doesn’t have his own book in the Bible? He is, I believe, the final prophet. But until Jesus makes his appearance,1 John sounds very much like Isaiah. He even quotes him!2
Another thing my parish priest mentioned is that the Sunday Gospel is chosen first, and the first reading (usually from the Old Testament) is chosen to somehow reflect that. While they’re both obviously prophesying about the Messiah, there are some other interesting parallels between these two passages.
First, they both mention belts. The Davidic King will wear a belt of Justice and faithfulness on his hips, which doesn’t sound much like John’s camel hair outfit and leather belt. But think about how John only wears the bare necessities, and it’s probably uncomfortable. If you think about the justice you or I deserve, it’s probably uncomfortable, too.
The other interesting correspondence3 between the two are the references to snakes. John calls the Pharisees and Sadducees vipers. John tells them to repent, because they're easily replaceable. Do they repent?
Well, according to Isaiah, at least some of them do, because “The baby shall play by the cobra's den, and the child lay his hand on the adder's lair.” We’re used to thinking of the Pharisees as the bad guys in most Gospel narratives, and they usually are, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for redemption.
God’s justice is perfect, but so is his mercy and forgiveness. We all need it, which is why we all need Christ. That’s what the Advent season is for, looking forward to Jesus’ arrival to redeem the world.
This is one of the few Gospel readings we hear that doesn’t actually feature Jesus as a protagonist.
Although that quote isn’t in today’s first reading, which bugs me to know end.
Coincidence?