Jeanyne Slettom

I Samuel 15:34-13

All these readings make a point of lifting up the smallest and the ones typically overlooked. It is both a subtle way of challenging our societal values of biggest and most impressive as best, and, at the same time, a way to demonstrate the intrinsic value of all life to God.

Isaiah 6:1-8

Acts 1:15-17, 21-26

This text follows the general theme of legitimating the early Jesus movement via appeals to the Hebrew bible and the work of the Spirit. It also emphasizes continuity with Jewish history by reinforcing the number 12—12 disciples/apostles, 12 patriarchs, 12 tribes of Israel. A quick Internet search results in literally millions of sites that discuss the significance of “12” in numerology, mathematics, and the Bible.

Acts 8:26-40
Psalm 22:25-31

Exegetically speaking, the text from Acts is preoccupied with the prophecy-fulfillment task of Luke—to show Jesus as the fulfillment of Hebrew Bible prophecies, and to link Jesus specifically with the “suffering servant” verses in Isaiah. By specifying a black, African Gentile, the text also illustrates another strong theme of Luke’s; namely, universalism. That the encounter is precipitated by an “Angel,” and the “Spirit” of the Lord reinforces the legitimacy of the nascent church and its outreach.

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

I Kings 3:5-12

Psalm119:129-136

Isaiah 55: 10-13

Psalm 65: (1-8), 9-13

Acts 2:14a, 36-41
If we read the entire book of Acts as a narrative arc that brings the gospel from Jerusalem to Rome, then these early chapters are essential for establishing the kernel out of which the Christian church will grow. Therefore it is interesting that the key message in this passage is the call to repent—which parallels the start of Jesus’ ministry (Matthew 4:17, Mark 1:15).

These Advent texts have focused a lot on what I’ve been calling—borrowing from Isaiah—the Holy Way of God. This is the way of economic and social justice, where goods are distributed in such a way that everyone has enough to sustain life, where power is not used to oppress, where compassion and respect guide all interpersonal (and interspecies) relationships. It is the message that Jesus will preach in parables and the beatitudes and such powerful examples as Matthew 25:40, where he asks us to evaluate ourselves by the criterion of how well we treat the “least of these” among us.

This Sunday’s texts again invite criticism of the status quo—what Crossan and Borg call the “domination system”—by describing an alternate vision of creation. They raise the question of true authority, and how to recognize it, and return to the theme of repentance, interpreted as turning away from one path—the path of kings and nations, Caesar and empire—and taking another—the path of God, Christ, and Creation.