| HYMNS A&M Rev. (NB – No Gloria in Advent)
50 On Jordans Bank the Baptist’s cry
53 Hark the glad sound! The savour comes
219 Hail to the Lord’s anointed
51 Lo! He comes with clouds descending
The Third Advent Candle
We have this Advent Ring to remind us
Of the coming of Jesus, the Light of the World!
We light the third candle to remind us of John
the Baptist, who passed on God’s message – “Get ready for your King”
The dark picture of destruction of chapter 34, for an Israel that has rejected God, gives way to this wonderful poem of hope and re-creation as God brings his people safely home. Transformation of both an arid landscape and a disabled people is achieved by an active, powerful God. And joy is the result. The American theologian, Buechner, writes; “Joy is home…God created us in joy and created us for joy…not all the darkness in the world and in ourselves can separate us finally from that joy. We have God’s joy in our blood.”
First reading
Isaiah 36;1-10
The dark picture of destruction of chapter 34, for an Israel that has rejected God, gives way to this wonderful poem of hope and re-creation as God brings his people safely home. Transformation of both an arid landscape and a disabled people is achieved by an active, powerful God. And joy is the result. The American theologian, Buechner, writes; “Joy is home…God created us in joy and created us for joy…not all the darkness in the world and in ourselves can separate us finally from that joy. We have God’s joy in our blood.”
First reading
Isaiah 36;1-10
Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them.
2And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field.
3Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah’s son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph’s son, the recorder.
4And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?
5I say, sayest thou, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?
6Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.
7But if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?
8Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.
9How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
10And am I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it? the LORD said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.
Alleluia, alleluia, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Alleluia.
John has spoken out, as prophets do, far too fearlessly for his own
safety. Herod Antipas (son of Herod the Great) had seduced the wife of
his brother and then married her: John had publicly rebuked him, and
for this he was thrown into prison. Understandably, he needs re-
assurance; confirmation that Jesus was the One in whom John had
invested so much hope. Jesus’ reply would give John that assurance –
the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled in the deeds Jesus was accomplishing.
But Jesus does not leave it there: He proceeds to give an eloquent and
powerfully worded tribute to John, a man who was ‘more than a
prophet’.
Gospel
Matthew 11:2-11
2Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,
3And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
4Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:
5The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
6And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
7And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?
8But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses.
9But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.
10For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
11Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
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