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A Right Relationship with God

December 6, 2024

Isaiah 3:8-15| 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12| Luke 20:41-21:4

Advent is a season of spiritual reflection, inward meditation, and self-examination. The readings for today lead us fully into this space, in ways that are thought-provoking and even unnerving.   We find a harsh warning from Isaiah, high expectations from Saint Paul, and in Luke, Jesus’ admonishment of hypocrisy and an example of the way to be right with God.

In Isaiah 3:  8-15, the prophet Isaiah lays out perilous circumstances for the people of Judah.  Remember that a couple of centuries earlier there was a split between the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern kingdom of Judah.  In Isaiah’s day there were significant geopolitical conflicts at work among the massive kingdom of Assyria to the north, Syria, Israel and Judah.  Syria and Israel forged an alliance to attempt to keep Assyria at bay and wanted Judah to join them, but the King of Judah refused. Will the lord be steadfast to Judah?   Isaiah warns Judah of problems due to the people’s opposition to the lord, “For Jerusalem  (the capital of Judah) has stumbled and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence (8).”  In the beginning of this chapter, he prophesies that the Lord will take away all support and staff from Judah and in our reading for today he explains why.  There is a general wickedness in the people!

The look on their faces bears witness against them;
    they proclaim their sin like Sodom;
    they do not hide it.
Woe to them,
    for they have brought evil on themselves.

This harsh prophetic judgment is tempered in the following verses by the observation that the innocent may be spared and that the true oppressors are the rulers who mislead and confuse the people.  The lord is a judge who proclaims to the princes and rulers: 

It is you who have devoured the vineyard;
    the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
 What do you mean by crushing my people,
    by grinding the face of the poor? says the Lord God of hosts.

Isaiah’s words suggest that people may incur disfavor with the lord based on their actions and that rulers are especially to be held to account. 

However, this also begs the question of how the people can be pleasing to the Lord. Fortunately, this question is addressed in our second reading from 1 Thessalonians where Saint Paul urges the Thessalonians to engage in moderation, stay away from lustful passions and to not wrong or exploit a brother or sister.  He further entreats them “to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands…so that you may behave properly towards outsiders and be dependent on no one.”

The theme of a right relationship with God is continued in the reading from Luke.  In earlier verses of Luke 20, Jesus is being questioned by the chief priest, scribes and elders and he answers several questions they pose as they attempt to trap him.  He then turns the tables by asking how they can say that the Messiah is David’s son.  He quotes to them Psalm 110 in which David refers to the Messiah as Lord, saying “David thus calls him Lord; so how can he be his son?’  Jesus then condemns the priests for hypocrisy in seeking the best seats and adulation while destroying the houses of widows.  He famously observes a poor widow who puts two small copper coins in the treasury of the Temple saying, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.’

These readings provide an abundance of questions for self-meditation including:  Am I in a right relationship with God?  Do I live my life in moderation?  Do I avoid exploitation of others?  Do I stay away from hypocrisy, especially with respect to my faith?  Returning to Isaiah, if we wish to heed the lesson of the Judeans, we might ask if we pay sufficient attention to our leaders, holding them accountable for misleading us and for not ensuring equity in the distribution of resources. 

Advent is a challenging season as we prepare for the joy of the birth of Jesus while also looking within our own hearts and asking the tough questions.  Dear beloved fellow parishioners of St. Lukes, I close by quoting Romans 13:15 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Patricia Morokoff