2nd Advent Sunday Cycle C

Jeff Bagnall • 25 November 2024

The first reading is from the book of Baruch which is not part of the Jewish Hebrew Bible but is included in the Greek Bible originally used by Greek speaking Jews in the Diaspora; Catholics have books from this source in their Bibles under the heading Deuterocanonical books, but many other Christians have bibles without these extra books. The Greek version of the Bible was made about 200 BC in Alexandria in Egypt which had a large Jewish population and was a great centre of learning at that time. The first reading appears to be about the city of Jerusalem, but it is the idea of ‘Jerusalem’ as the mother of the Jewish people. So the reading sounds, at one level, as though it is from a time when the Jews had been in captivity in Babylon for about a generation, and obviously were feeling downcast – you may remember the song by Boney M, ‘By the Rivers of Babylon’ based on psalm 137 in which the people bemoan their lot; the expectation is announced that God will bring them back in triumph. And yet this passage could equally well have meaning for a later date when the city or the people were further distressed due to domination by the Greek empire, then it would have a similar meaning, or perhaps in Roman times under the oppression of those claiming the one and only god – and later especially Christianity. The upbeat theme is similar to the well-know passage from Isaiah (Chapter 40:1-5) and the classical presentation of it in Handel’s Messiah , a passage also quoted in the gospel; readers today will be able to put their own interpretation on the passage to match their present circumstances, taking it as a sign of hope in whatever difficult times.

Paul’s letter to the Philippians actually looks like a combination of extracts from three separate letters to them. In the passage we read today ( Philippians 1:4-11 passim ), Paul is writing from prison in Ephesus, where he was being held quite restrictedly. And yet he would have needed access to someone who could write for him since his Greek and Jewish education would not have taught him to write very well and we know he used secretaries for others of his letters. Also it seems that Epaphroditus had visited him and brought gifts from Philippi. There was a very active house Church in Philippi that was hosted by Lydia who had been among the small Jewish group that Paul preached to at their meeting place on the fringe of the town. At this early stage of his ministry, Paul and all the Christians felt that the end was near and Christ would shortly come again. This is an upbeat tone applauding their faithfulness and encouraging their continuance and preparation till the End should come.

By the time of the writing of the gospel of Luke, the delay of the ‘Second Coming’ was accepted and hence the view that Christians just have to work on following the way of Christ to the best of their ability. So the passage we have today makes three points. Firstly, it sets the coming of Christ on the stage of history, by following the way history was written in those days – dating according to the year of the Emperor’s rule; some of Luke’s information in this section doesn’t quite square with what we know of the history of the time from other sources, but the point he tries to make is clear: Christ came at a particular time into our world and this was significant for the great Roman empire as well of for the local Jewish people. Secondly, the message of John the Baptist prepared for the coming, but is basically relevant also to all who want to be good Christians: it is a message of conversion, of starting to leave old ways behind and to change one’s attitude to life; this is the meaning of the word translated as ‘repent.’ Thirdly, in the words of Isaiah, there is the message to prepare, in quite a radical way, for the coming of Christ.

Jeff Bagnall was a lecturer for many years at Craiglockhart College teaching RE to many future Catholic Primary teachers.

by Jeff Bagnall 18 September 2025
The first reading is from a section of the book of Amos ( 6:4-10 ); it is introduced with the opening words of the chapter: “alas for those who are at ease in Zion.” Strong words against the city dwellers come from Amos, the country fellow – words and woes against the northern kingdom of Israel. We hear the third and last woe against the excessive luxury in which they are living although their prosperity is declining visibly; they seem to live for the moment and care little of the future, even their own. They are, unusually, referred to as a group under the eponymous name of Joseph; this could be because of the account of Joseph’s interpretation of the Pharaoh’s dream (Exodus 41) of seven years of plenty followed by seven of crop failure, and his wise management under the Pharaoh of storing up supplies for the future. The exile that will come will be the disaster that follows this decadence. In the second reading ( 1 Timothy 6:11-16 ) Timothy is addressed as a ‘man of God.’ Unlike the people of the first reading and in contrast to those addressed in this letter just before this section, Timothy is chosen and enabled by God to be a minister in the Christian community. Paul’s athletic imagery appears here also, saying “compete well,” that is, ‘run the race’ or ‘fight the good fight.’ The Christian at baptism made confession that “Jesus is Lord”, and Jesus made a similar confession before Pilate according to John’s gospel (18:37); Timothy was baptised but was also a leader in some way, and that meant not to be a covert Christian but to speak the truth even before accusers, as Jesus did before Pilate; the writer could be referring to either of these situations. The requirement to keep the commandments or ordinances is most likely not to the ten commandments of the Jewish religion but to the requirements of being a Christian or, more likely, the specific orders for acting as a minister. He must act as a servant of the King who will eventually appear, and he must be selfless in his work towards the kingdom of God. In today’s gospel reading from Luke ( 16:19-31 ) we have the parable often call that of Dives and Lazarus; but ‘dives’ is just the Latin word for rich man. In many ways the story is straightforward once we accept the different understanding of the afterlife that it portrays. However, whereas the rich man is anonymous, the beggar at his gate is named Lazarus. Luke is writing about 40 years after the resurrection of Jesus but still there are people who aren’t believers; and John’s gospel, uniquely, has the story of the raising of Lazarus which Luke’s readers may have known; but Luke’s point is not about accepting the truth of the resurrection, of Jesus or of Lazarus, because believing is more a way of living than accepting facts – of loving God and your neighbour as yourself, which the rich man in the parable didn’t do.
by Jeff Bagnall 11 September 2025
The Sunday readings only use the prophet Amos three times; this and next Sunday are two of those. Amos was a country man used to living a simple life: a herdsman tending sycamore trees. Somehow he came to be a prophet of God in the city of Bethel, though he wouldn’t claim the title of prophet and was different from most of them. Such a man coming from the country to the big and prosperous city just had to speak what he thought in order to deliver a ‘scolding’ from the Lord, for the hiking of prices, lowering of measures and fixing of scales (Amos 8:4-7). His natural reactions to the corruption that he saw is described as visions from God, and they are nearly always expressed with an impressive literary style: matching couplets and triplets. Yet it is the language of wrath and condemnation, though elsewhere Amos does tell of a remnant few who will be spared and at the end of the book there is a very positive prophecy though this ‘epilogue’ may have been added later to end on an upbeat note of hopefulness.
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