Dear Friend, 

Reflection by Gregory Glazov, D.Phil. (Oxon.)

I always wonder about the wisdom and providence that interweave the lectionary readings of the day.

In the First Reading, the Prophet Isaiah concludes his prophecies about the birth of a child from the royal line of David (11:1), whom Isaiah calls “Immanuel” (7:14), "Mighty God, Prince of Peace" (Isa. 9:6), and who, Isaiah announces, will bestow the Spirit of the Lord with its seven wonderful gifts and, as a “little child” pacify the world, and even its deadly serpents (11:10).  Thus will the Messiah accomplish God’s intentions for humanity, as described at the beginning of the Bible. However, in the middle of these prophecies, Isaiah warns that while God’s way is like “gentle waters” and meant to be a “sanctuary,” it will become a stone of stumbling for both houses of Israel, because the Samarians in the north, and Jerusalemites in the south (8:6, 8, 10, 14) will reject it.

Our Psalm 72 explicitly echoes these prophecies. Its last verse (72:17) even emphasizes that the coming of this future King will fulfill God’s promise to Abraham to bless all the earth (see Gen 12:3; 22:17,18). The book of Psalms has two focal points announced by its first two Psalms. Psalm 1 begins by calling “Blessed” those who base their life on God’s word and Psalm 2 concludes by calling “Blessed” those who take refuge in God’s King. Our Psalm closes the second book of Psalms by emphasizing this prophecy. We must take refuge in our King.

The Biblical themes of hospitality are implicit here.  The Bible teaches that human beings are like soil and earth, and that God’s word is like a seed. As a seed transforms the soil that welcomes and keeps it, by turning it into a living tree, so God’s Word transforms the heart that welcomes, meditates on, and keeps it, by bringing it into life.  The Bible thus displays a journey of transformation for the heart-soil of humanity that welcomes God’s Word, sown gently into those who see it, meditate upon it, and embrace it.

At the heart of the Gospel of Luke is a Travel Narrative (9:51-19:44) describing how Jesus initiated his disciples into “His Way” by empowering them to not stumble over His teaching that He must suffer an ignominious death and that we must embrace and join our crosses to His. Our passage is the conclusion of the first section of this Travel Narrative (9:51-10:24) which emphasizes that Jesus taught that the Kingdom is revealed to the childlike and then describes how he was rejected by the Samaritans in northern Israel.

Jesus’ joy in the Spirit about God revealing His mysteries to “babes” echoes, in the Gospel, the leaping of baby John the Baptist in Elizabeth’s womb when she was filled with the Holy Spirit on hearing Mary’s greeting. So John became the greatest prophet by witnessing, in the state of pure babyhood, the joy that comes from the presence of the Messiah.  In our reading, Jesus rejoices with those that are entering this same path.

Near its closure, the Travel Narrative echoes Jesus’s teaching that the Kingdom is revealed to those who welcome Him as little children (18:15-17), but the Travel Narrative ends by showing that after entering Jerusalem, Jesus wept at the knowledge that the “Blessed!”s  with which the crowd welcomed him will be short-lived and be succeeded by tragedy for “the city and its children” because it failed to recognize and follow “things that make for peace” (18:35-19:44).

These Scriptures warn us to not stumble over such things and not welcome Him with superficial “Blessed!”s.  May we thus, with the help of the Lectionary in this Season of Advent, welcome him as mere babes and learn to rejoice and leap along the journey He invites us to take with Him.

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Gregory Glazov, D.Phil, (Oxon.) is Professor and Chair of Biblical Studies at Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology, earned M.Phil. and D.Phil. degrees in Jewish Studies in the Graeco-Roman World from Oxford University in 1989 and 1993, respectively, the former on a Rhodes Scholarship. He specializes in Old Testament Studies and in the Jewish writings of the Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovyov.