Third Week of Advent: Wednesday

Above: “YHWH” in Hebrew

The One and Only

DECEMBER 20, 2023

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Isaiah 45:5-8, 18-25 (Revised English Bible):

I am the LORD, and there is none other;

apart from me there is no god.

Though you have not known me I shall strengthen you,

so that from east to west

all may know there is none besides me:

I am the LORD, and there is none other;

I make the light, I create the darkness;

author alike of well-being and woe,

I, the LORD, do all these things.

Rain righteousness, you heavens,

let the skies above pour it down,

let the earth open for it

that salvation may flourish

with righteousness growing beside it.

I, the LORD, have created this.

Thus says the LORD, the Creator of the heavens,

he who is God,

who made the earth and fashioned it

and by himself fixed it firmly,

who created it not as a formless waste

but as a place to be lived in:

I am the LORD, and there is no other.

I did not speak in secret, in realms of darkness;

I did not say to Jacob’s people,

Look for me in the formless waste.

I the LORD speak what is right, I declare what is just.

Gather together, come, draw near,

you survivors of the nations,

who in ignorance carry wooden idols in procession,

praying to a god that cannot save.

Come forward and urge your case, consult together:

who foretold this in days of old,

who stated it long ago?

Was it not I, the LORD?

There is no god but me,

none other than I, victorious and able to save.

From every corner of the earth

turn to me and be saved;

for I am God, there is none other.

By my life I have sworn,

I have given a promise of victory,

a promise that will not be broken;

to me every knee will bow,

to me every tongue will swear,

saying,

In the LORD alone

are victory and might.

All who defy him

will stand ashamed in his presence,

but all Israel’s descendants will be victorious

and will glory in the LORD.

Psalm 85:8-13 (Revised English Bible):

Let me hear the words of God the LORD:

he proclaims peace to his people and loyal servants;

let them not go back to foolish ways.

Deliverance is near to those who worship him,

so that glory may dwell in our land.

Love and faithfulness have come together;

justice and peace have embraced.

Faithfulness appears from earth

and justice looks down from heaven.

The LORD will grant prosperity,

and our land will yield its harvest.

Justice will go in front of him,

and peace on the path he treads.

Luke 7:18-23 (Revised English Bible):

When John [the Baptist] was informed of all this (Jesus working miracles] by his disciples, he summoned two of them and sent them to the Lord with this question:

Are you the one who is to come, or are we to expect someone else?

The men made their way to Jesus and said,

John the Baptist has sent us to ask you, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to expect someone else?’

There and then he healed many sufferers from diseases, plagues, and evil spirits; and on many blind people he bestowed sight.  Then he gave them this answer:

Go and tell John what you have seen and heard:  the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers and made clean, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, the poor are brought good news–and happy is he who does not find me an obstacle to faith.

The Collect:

Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

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There is one deity:  God, whom Judaism and Christianity describe.  The God of the Bible is the only god.  Any statement to the contrary is false.

And Jesus is the incarnation of God.  John the Baptist, who identified him, sent emissaries with a question which reflected doubt, and received and answer.  The Judeo-Christian God demands social justice, sole adoration, and obedience to rules which exist for excellent reasons.  Freedom can exist only within rules, and God’s laws liberate us to become what we need to be.

I add one note of caution, however.  To attempt to establish a new, presumably divinely-sanctioned social order by force leads to injustice and theocracy.  New England Puritans of the colonial era hanged Quakers (Quakers!) in the name of God.  Today the leaders (whom I presume believe in their cause and perceive it as righteous–wrong though they are) of the Islamic Republic of Iran persecute dissidents.  And, over a thousand years ago, the Byzantine Empire engaged in Iconoclastic controversies, which entailed persecuting monks who protected sacred images.  Nobody can impose righteousness by force, and the effort is oxymoronic.

Rather, righteousness grows and spreads by consent, hopefully become a privileged concept.  The United States has never been a Christian nation, but it has been more Christian than it is today.  And it can become more Christian via the changing of minds.  Yet one must not mistake Christianity for reactionary, regressive politics, namely misogyny, racism, homophobia, and contentment with lip service for economic reform to help the poor.

KRT

Written on June 1, 2010

http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/the-one-and-only/