Second Sunday of Advent
December 8, 2013

Reflection on Lectoring

In our recent annual lector meeting a deacon in our parish offered us an important insight into our ministry.  He said the proclamation of the Scriptures is not meant to be an exercise in exegesis, interpretation or instruction.  Rather, the job of the lector is “to make the Word of God come alive” for our hearers at Mass.

We shalll spend this week and next thinking about what he said.  This week: a brief explanation of exegesis and why it is not the goal of the lector ministry.

Dei Verbum, (Word of God) is one of the documents of Vatican II, and one of the resources our deacon recommended to us.  In section 12, the document makes a distinction between two types of exegesis: an historical and literary approach to exegesis, and a theological exegesis.  Both are valuable.  Both deepen our understanding of the Scriptures.  Both employ different methods and norms.

Historical and literary exegesis seeks to understand what the human writers of the Bible wanted to say.  To do this, it employs technical analysis that includes textual criticism, source criticism, form criticism, and a few others.  According to Dei Verbum, “Attention must be paid to the customary and characteristic styles of perceiving, speaking and narrating that prevailed at the time.”  Much of the background materials provided by Scripture commentaries help us understand how the culture and forms of expression of Old and New Testament writers influenced their choice of actual words and the analogies which they drew.

Theological exegesis is the other way of finding authentic meaning in the Scriptures.  In his essay, Vatican II on the Interpretation of Scripture, Avery Cardinal Dulles demonstrates how Dei Verbum also stresses the need to understand what God, the divine author, intended to say.  Deepening our understanding of what God is saying is the focus of theological exegesis, an approach that is guided by the Church and follows a set of norms for determining the authenticity of interpretation (Catholic tradition and a recognition that the entire Bible is inspired by God are among those norms).

Proclaimers of the Word and hearers of the Word can both benefit from a knowledge of how the Scriptures came to be.  But as lectors know, they cannot in their two or three minutes at the ambo provide this kind of background or exegesis.  At times, they might even feel a sense of frustration that they cannot.  But that is not their job.  As our deacon said, their job is to make the Word of God “come alive.”

More on this next week.

_________________________

First Reading  -  Isaiah 11:1-10
Waiting for the Good King

Who is this “he” whom Isaiah is talking about in today’s first reading? 

He seems to be saying that something good is going to “sprout from the stump of Jesse.”  He is obviously expecting a lot from a stump.

Prophets like Isaiah have a knack for recognizing all the bad behavior going on around them.  These same prophets can go on for pages describing the truly horrible outcomes resulting from this bad behavior.  Nevertheless, they can also see the good that comes from following God’s commandments.

Isaiah did not know that Jesus would arrive on earth centuries later.  But he did know that Jesse was king David’s father and God had promised David his dynasty would endure.  Finally, he knew the difference between a bad king (like Ahaz) and a good king who will have “the spirit of the Lord” resting on him.

The “he” in today’s reading is the ideal, good king who “shall judge the poor with justice and decide aright for the land’s afflicted.”  And, when the ideal king comes along, “the root of Jesse” will be “set up as a signal for the nations.”  Perhaps that why Advent is a time for hopeful waiting.

_____________________________

Second Reading  -  Romans 15:4-9
Harmony in Diversity

No matter the undertaking, no matter the goal you set out to achieve, you have to take into account the different personalities and agendas you will encounter.

In his Letter to the Romans, Paul tells the Roman Christian community about his plans to bring to Jerusalem the money he collected for the city’s impoverished Jewish Christians.  He then plans to visit Rome personally before moving on to Spain. 

Despite his good intentions, he gets arrested in Jerusalem and spends two years in jail.  Ultimately, he is taken to Rome as a prisoner and is put under house arrest.  There he was martyred even before getting to Spain.

Today’s second reading extols the value of thinking “in harmony with one another.”  In this passage, Paul prays that his readers, despite their differences, “may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Sometimes it may seem that things are no different today in 2013 from the way they were in Paul’s time.  Differences can create divisions - often resulting in cruel consequences.  Perhaps, however, Christmas has a way of creating good will and harmony among all people, while also respecting and valuing their differences.  Perhaps, also, this second reading may make a small contribution to strengthening that harmony.

© George Fournier 2013