Matthew 4:12-23 is the text for Epiphany 3... and it is beautiful, to be sure.
I would submit that with Ezekiel 37:1-14, Matthew 4:12-23 offers a powerful Advent message for those under the occupation of Rome in the days of the Jesus of the Gospels.
Sure, Isaiah 9:2-7, the lectionary text for Nativity of our Lord, is beautiful about a people walking in the darkness of exile into a foreign, hostile land from their land, also annexed by the Assyrian Empire.
In Matthew 4, it is that the people who SAT in darkness now see the light of hope.
They were under the occupation of Rome for a long time. They were oppressed by Rome's imperial brutality, exploitation of their economy and outright enslavement of their people, with the corruption of their own political and religious leaders. They were barely surviving. It seemed hopeless for a LONG time as they SAT in their despair in this darkness.
Of course, Ezekiel 37 is all about the hope of life being restored to a long dead nation of people who had been exiled from their land into Babylon and had sat in it for a long, long time, so that their bones were long dry... so, why not include Ezekiel's vision of restoration (with resurrection implications) during Advent, especially in the lectionary year of Matthew?
And perhaps the message for us is that we, or many of those among us, have been sitting in the darkness and despair of this empire. Maybe this Advent is a time to look at the brutality of empire that still marginalizes, exploits and destroys life for many within this nation and across the world. Maybe this Advent is a time to look at our sitting in darkness again, and need for the intervention of God with God's presence, the power of the Good News of a different and faithful way of living, and the love upon which it is founded. Certainly there are parallels with the corrupt political leaders who have sat with corporate execs to promote their economic imperialism and its exploitation of cheap labor here and abroad, and who have used our military to occupy other nations on their behalf, to take the resources that provide cheap goods for those with means in our nation and provide great wealth for the few elites at the top of empire here, who enjoy the fruits of empire by promoting its values of greed, power and status as faithfulness to (a) god.
Perhaps for us, the Word made Flesh needs to be re-examined in light of our time and circumstance. Perhaps we need to invoke the God who reached into this existence with Agape Love and Grace as a response and resistance to the greed, power and status of empire. Perhaps we need to have these long dry bones of hopelessness for so many lifted up, put back together and breathed on by the breath of God to give us new life. How many people have struggled to survive under this empire and need this Good News of Hope in God? How many have sat under the false teachers who have promoted the evils of empire - the (imperial) church growth, prosperity theology and blessed/highly favored personal salvation theology that have kept them under the thumb of imperial occupation for so long?
How many have suffered under the corrupt political leaders, even neo-liberal ones who have promised change and have instead continued their collusion with imperial systems that have held them down, back and out from sustainable livings, justice, equitable treatment and breathable air, potable water and viable, clean land? For how long have they been occupied by empire? Thirty-eight years is a long time. Their bones are quite dry. Their hopes have been dead for quite long enough. Perhaps the Good News of Jesus and the Agape Love and Grace of Kingdom Values have a place here and now, in giving hope to millions, even billions across the world who have suffered under the insidious evil of empire for so long.
Yes, I believe Ezekiel 37:1-14 would be a great text with Matthew 4:12-23 in the Advent season of Year 1 of the Lectionary.
Matthew 11:2-11 and Isaiah 35:1-10 are very nice for December 15, but I advocate Ezekiel and chapter 4 of Matthew for the living of these days in the light of the Good News of Jesus.
What do YOU think?
Pastor Jamie
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