Welcome back to the Sunday Mass notes. This week we open with the first reading from Isaiah and then move to the second reading from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Thessalonians. Finally, we close with the Gospel lesson John’s Gospel concerning John the Baptist.
Introduction to the First Reading:
The first reading is from Isaiah 61. The first verse and a portion of the second were the ones that Jesus read while He was teaching in the temple as is recorded in Luke 4:18. It is important to note that Jesus stopped reading halfway through verse two because the subsequent verses dealt with His Second Advent. With the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to see this, although His listeners would not have been able to catch this important detail (see for example John 12:16). The verses in question (2b – 9) were omitted from the text of the reading covered in the Mass, although we have included them below in the section that is separated by the blank line. These intermediate verses (2b – 9) won’t be fulfilled until after the church age when God pours out His judgment upon the earth during the tribulation period of the end times. As you read this Old Testament prophecy from the Prophet Isaiah, you can almost imagine Jesus standing in the temple proclaiming His Word.
First Reading:
1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; 2 To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD
Omitted section:
And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, 3 To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified. 4 Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins, They will raise up the former devastations; And they will repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations. 5 Strangers will stand and pasture your flocks, And foreigners will be your farmers and your vinedressers. 6 But you will be called the priests of the LORD; You will be spoken of as ministers of our God. You will eat the wealth of nations, And in their riches you will boast. 7 Instead of your shame you will have a double portion, And instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion. Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land, Everlasting joy will be theirs. 8 For I, the LORD, love justice, I hate robbery in the burnt offering; And I will faithfully give them their recompense And make an everlasting covenant with them. 9 Then their offspring will be known among the nations, And their descendants in the midst of the peoples. All who see them will recognize them Because they are the offspring whom the LORD has blessed.
10 I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, And as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up, So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise To spring up before all the nations. (Isaiah 61:1-11)
God revealed to Isaiah some important truths about the ministry of the Messiah Jesus. First, the Spirit of the Lord would dwell upon Him (v. 1). This truth is corroborated in the New Testament by eyewitnesses to Jesus’ baptism during His time on earth. The baptism of Jesus was recorded in three of the four Gospels. In the Gospel of John, John the Baptist said this about Jesus’ baptism: “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him” (John 1:32). Jesus, as God in the flesh, was in union with both the Spirit of God and God the Father as we find in the chronicle of Jesus’ baptism. Saint Matthew detailed the event as follows. “After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased’” (Matthew 3;16-17). Here, the entire Trinity of God is present. Jesus is being baptized, the Spirit descends upon Him, and the Father announces His pleasure in the Son.
Isaiah announced a second truth from God about the Messiah (that was of course yet future in his day) and provided some details about His ministry. The Messiah would be appointed by the LORD to do the following:
- “To bring good news to the afflicted” (v. 1b). Jesus brought the “Gospel,” a word which means “good news.” The Gospel was the good news for those who (and are) being afflicted, or poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3).
- “He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted” (v. 1c). Jesus was the spiritual healer. When someone heals an injured person’s wounds, they “bind them up.” Jesus did this to the injured world’s heart. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12, we will read this in context during the Gospel lesson).
- “To proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners” (v. 1e-ff). The world has been held captive by sin, Jesus came to redeem the world and to free everyone held captive by it.
- “To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD” (v. 2a). The coming of the Messiah, Jesus was the most “favorable year of the LORD” since the creation of the universe. Had the people accepted Jesus as their Messiah, Jesus’ eternal reign would have begun. Jesus’ coming would fulfill an untold number of Old Testament prophecies and open the way to the future renewal of the world through worldwide peace in the Millennial and eternal kingdoms.
Finally, if we move to the closing verses 10-11, we see some additional detail about the future ministries of Jesus as follows:
- The Messiah will give those who trust in Him a reason to rejoice: They will exalt the Name of the Lord in whose righteousness they will be adorned. “I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (v. 10).
- In the future, the world will be a place of universal righteousness and the earth’s curse will be reversed. “For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, And as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up, So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise To spring up before all the nations” (v. 11).
The intermediate verses that were omitted in the Mass reading explain more about Jesus’ ministry, but these details are concerned with things that will happen after His Second Coming.
- After the Day of the Lord, referred as “the day of vengeance of our God” (v. 2), Jesus will comfort all those who mourn because of the terrible series of events that unfolded on the earth (v. 3). Part of what will happen during that time is terrible persecution of believers alive during that time. We see in the Book of Revelation how God comforts those who were martyred for their faith during this Great Tribulation period. “When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Revelation 6:9-10).
- The war torn world will be rebuilt after the devastation brought about by the AntiChrist and God’s vengeance of his evil rulership of the global commercial empire and false religious empire known as “Mystery Babylon” (v. 4).
- Gentiles will be engrafted in the kingdom (“strangers,” v. 5), as foretold by Paul in Romans 11:11-17. God will use the Jews’ rejection of their Messiah during the unforeseen “church age” in order to bring the Gentiles into His eternal kingdom.
- The rightful priesthood will be restored to Israel with their honor restored with a double blessing (vv. 6-7). God said, “For I, the LORD, love justice, I hate robbery in the burnt offering; And I will faithfully give them their recompense and make an everlasting covenant with them. Then their offspring will be known among the nations, And their descendants in the midst of the peoples. All who see them will recognize them, because they are the offspring whom the LORD has blessed” (vv. 8-9).
That’s a lot to digest. The key point of all of this is that the coming of the Messiah was a crucially important mystery that was fulfilled by the miraculous birth of Jesus that we will celebrate in just two short weeks from the date of these Sunday Mass study notes. We cannot under emphasize the importance of Jesus and as we transition to the second reading. Let’s pause for a moment and ask God to help us to celebrate the upcoming holiday season with Jesus foremost in our minds.
Introduction to the Second Reading:
The second reading is from the First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians. The context is Paul’s teaching on the upcoming calamity we mentioned in the first reading, the “Day of the Lord’s judgment” (1 Thessalonians 5:2). Someone in Thessalonica had been teaching the false doctrine that the Lord had already returned (2 Thessalonians 2:2). Here, Paul introduced the concept that the church would be taken up into the air along with church saints who had already died (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17). Chapter 5 opens with Paul’s teaching on the real return of the Lord, for those alive during that generation when God will outpour His wrath upon the unbelieving earth. During that time many will come to faith in the Lord Jesus during perhaps the greatest turning of people’s hearts to God since the creation of the world. Paul addressed these future believers and told them that “God had not destined them to wrath” (1 Thessalonians 5:9) and provided a list of instructions to them (vv. 11-15) including, “See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people” (v. 15). It is in this context that Paul provided the following instructions that are applicable to believers of all ages, and especially to those undergoing terrible persecution in the last days.
Second Reading:
16 Rejoice always; 17 pray without ceasing; 18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not quench the Spirit; 20 do not despise prophetic utterances. 21 But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; 22 abstain from every form of evil. 23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-24)
Paul directed the believers to live in a state of unceasing joy and thankfulness (vv. 16-18) while holding to the truths of the Gospel message (v. 20, “do not despise prophetic utterances”). Because of all the false teaching that will happen in that era (and is already happening now, 1 John 2:18), they are to “examine everything very carefully” and only adhere to those things that are actually true (v. 21b, “that which is good”). Finally, Paul pronounced a blessing upon them, wishing that God would find them blameless upon His return, and noted that the written prophecy regarding what would happen in these last days would indeed prove to be true (v. 24). Paul’s instructions to the Thessalonians give guidance to us who would also live in the light of truth. We do not do these things in order to be saved, we live this way because we are saved. It is God who sanctifies us—literally, sets us apart—so that our lives reflect His value system when we do not quench the Spirit of God who lives inside us. God is faithful.
Paul’s message is important to us as we move towards the celebration of the birth of Jesus by the blessed virgin Mary. God calls us as believers to remember the work that He has done through sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. During the Christmas season, we are to “set our sights upon Jesus.” Although many in the world have set their sights upon Jesus in the manner of directing their weapons of unbelief against Him, Paul said that regardless of the circumstance and even in times of terrible persecution we are to “abstain from every form of evil” (v. 22, emphasis added).
Introduction to the Gospel Reading:
The Gospel lesson focuses on what John the Baptist did to prepare people for the coming of the Messiah. John was a few months older than Jesus. They were cousins, so they very well could have spent time together as they were growing up and beginning to understand their unique place in God’s redemptive plan. Today’s reading concerns the prophecy about this John the Baptist.
Gospel Reading:
6 There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.
19 This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21 They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.” 24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him, and said to him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them saying, “I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. 27 It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” 28 These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. (John 1:6-8, 19-28)
John the Baptist wasn’t the Light but came as a forerunner of Jesus, the Light (v. 6-8). John the Baptist’s purpose was to testify about Jesus so that people may believe (v. 7b). When the Jewish leaders asked John who he was, they inquired about whether he was Elijah, or the prophet spoken of by Moses in Deuteronomy. The Jews were aware of these two prophecies, first, that Elijah would return (Malachi 4:5) as well as the coming of a great prophet as predicted by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15. John answered them clearly by saying that he was neither the Christ (v. 20), Elijah (v. 21), or the prophet of Deuteronomy 18 (v. 22). Instead, he quoted from Isaiah 40, with which they would have been familiar, “I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD’” (v. 23). Isaiah’s description of John the Baptist was very accurate, as he was the one proclaiming Jesus in the wilderness “beyond the Jordan” (v. 28). John told them that the Messiah was among them, but they did not know Him (v. 26) and that he was unworthy of even untying His sandal (v. 27).
The reading skipped a large section of text including verses 9 – 18. We are covering these verses because they are not being covered during the Mass during any soon upcoming Sundays.
9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’” 16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. (John 1:9-18)
Even though Jesus created the world, many of His own people rejected Him as the promised Messiah (v. 10 – 11). However, this didn’t stop the plan of God to grant salvation to all who believe (v. 12). Jesus was the “Word that became flesh” that “dwelt among [the disciples]” (v. 14). He is the one about whom John the Baptist testified, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me’” (v. 15). Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Testament Law (v. 17), and was the fleshly manifestation of God, because God the Father exists in the form of a Spirit that cannot be seen by man (v. 18). Jesus is eternal, because He existed before John the Baptist, although He was born physically some months after this greatest of men (Matthew 11:11). These are some profound truths that we can ponder as our lives move towards the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ on Christmas Day.
Reflection Questions
1. In the Gospel lesson we learned about John the Baptist who came as the fulfillment of the prophecy concerning the coming of a forerunner announcing the ministry of Jesus. Later in the Gospel, we learn that John’s life was cut short by King Herod in an outright persecution for the content of John’s message to repent. Jesus took over where John left off and continued the calling to repent (Matthew 4:17), then His life was also cut short. What difference does knowing that you will be persecuted for your faith make in your life as you carry on this same message?
2. How does your understanding of the context of the second reading from Paul’s First Letter to Thessalonians help you to place Christian persecution in a different context?
3. Review the list of what the Messiah was appointed for in the Old Testament passage of Isaiah. Pick one of the bullet points that resonate with you and talk to God about how this truth impacts you. Let God know that you want Jesus to be that kind of Messiah for you.
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