Revised Common Lectionary - New Year's Day - Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Revised Common Lectionary - New Year's Day - Wednesday, January 1, 2014

PRAYER: Thematic

God of new beginnings,

you wipe away our tears

and call us to care for one another.

Give us eyes to see your gifts,

hearts to embrace all creation,

and hands to serve you every day of our lives.

We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Intercessory

At the beginning of this new year,

we implore God's blessing upon our work

and pray for the needs of this new year of grace.

Prayers of the People, concluding with:

Throughout all time you have blessed your people, O God,

and dwelt among them.

On the eve [first day] of this new year,

inspire and guide us,

that all we do may find in you its beginning and fulfillment. Amen.

Scripture

How majestic your name in all the earth, O Lord our Sovereign!

The heavens reflect your glory

and the earth proclaims the wonder of your loving care.

In the fullness of time you crowned creation

with the birth of your Son.

Continue your work of salvation among us

and form us into a new creation

that, as we behold the vision of a new heaven and a new earth,

we may sing your glory. Amen.

Ecclesiastes Everything Has Its Time

3: For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

2 a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to throw away;

7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.

The God-Given Task

9 What gain have the workers from their toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. 11 He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; 13 moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil.

Psalm 8: Divine Majesty and Human Dignity

To the leader: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.

1 O Lord, our Sovereign,

    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.

2     Out of the mouths of babes and infants

you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,

    to silence the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

    the moon and the stars that you have established;

4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them,

    mortals[a] that you care for them?

5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God,[b]

    and crowned them with glory and honor.

6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;

    you have put all things under their feet,

7 all sheep and oxen,

    and also the beasts of the field,

8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,

    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord, our Sovereign,

    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Footnotes:

a. Psalm 8:4 Heb ben adam, lit. son of man

b. Psalm 8:5 Or than the divine beings or angels: Heb elohim

Revelation The New Heaven and the New Earth

21: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

“See, the home[a] of God is among mortals.

He will dwell[b] with them;

they will be his peoples,[c]

and God himself will be with them;[d]

4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes.

Death will be no more;

mourning and crying and pain will be no more,

for the first things have passed away.”

5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.

Footnotes:

a. Revelation 21:3 Gk the tabernacle

b. Revelation 21:3 Gk will tabernacle

c. Revelation 21:3 Other ancient authorities read people

d. Revelation 21:3 Other ancient authorities add and be their God

Matthew 25: The Judgment of the Nations

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,[a] you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Footnotes:

a. Matthew 25:40 Gk these my brothers

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John Wesley’s Notes and Commentary for:

Ecclesiastes 3:1-13

III Solomon proves, that we ought to make use of what God has given us, by shewing the mutability of all human affairs, ver. 1- 10. The immutability and unsearchableness of the Divine counsels, ver. 11-15. The vanity of honour and power, often an instrument of oppression, for which God will judge the oppressors, ver. 16, 17. Whose condition in this world is no better than that of brutes, ver. 18-21. Therefore live well, ver. 22.

Verse 1. A season - A certain time appointed by God for its being and continuance, which no human wit or providence can alter. And by virtue of this appointment of God, all vicissitudes which happen in the world, whether comforts or calamities, come to pass. Which is here added to prove the principal proposition, That all things below are vain, and happiness is not to be found in them, because of their great uncertainty, and mutability, and transitoriness, and because they are so much out of the reach and power of men, and wholly in the disposal of God. Purpose - Not only natural, but even the voluntary actions of men, are ordered and disposed by God. But it must be considered, that he does not here speak of a time allowed by God, wherein all the following things may lawfully be done, but only of a time fixed by God, in which they are actually done.

Verse 2. To die - And as there is a time to die, so there is a time to rise again, a set time when they that lie in the grave shall be remembered.

Verse 3. To kill - When men die a violent death. To heal - When he who seemed to be mortally wounded is healed.

Verse 4. To weep - When men have just occasion for weeping.

Verse 5. Stones - Which were brought together in order to the building of a wall or house. To embrace - When persons perform all friendly offices one to another.

Verse 6. To life - When men lose their estates, either by God's providence, or by their own choice. To cast away - When a man casts away his goods voluntarily, as in a storm, to save his life, or out of love and obedience to God.

Verse 7. To rent - When men rend their garments, as they did in great and sudden griefs.

Verse 8. To love - When God stirs up love, or gives occasion for the exercise of it.

Verse 9. What profit - Seeing then all events are out of man's power, and no man can do or enjoy any thing at his pleasure, but only when God pleaseth, as has been shewed in many particulars, and is as true and certain in all others, hence it follows, that all men's labours, without God's blessing, are unprofitable, and utterly insufficient to make them happy.

Verse 10. Seen - I have diligently observed mens various employments, and the different successes of them. Hath given - Which God hath imposed upon men as their duty; to which therefore men ought quickly to submit. Exercised - That hereby they might have constant matter of exercise for their diligence, and patience, and submission to God's will and providence.

Verse 11. He hath - This seems to be added as at apology for God's providence, notwithstanding all the contrary events and confusions which are in the world. He hath made (or doth make or do, by his providence in the government of the world) every thing (which he doth either immediately, or by the ministry of men, or other creatures) beautiful (convenient, so that, all things considered, it could not have been done better) in its time or station, (when it was most fit to be done). Many events seem to mens shallow judgments, to be very irregular and unbecoming, as when wicked men prosper, and good men are oppressed; but when men shall throughly understand God's works, and the whole frame and contexture of them, and see the end of them, they will say, all things were done wisely. He hath set - It is true, God hath put the world into mens hearts, or made them capable of observing all the dispensations of God in the world; but this is to be understood with a limitation, because there are some more mysterious works of God, which no man can fully, understand, because he cannot search them out from the beginning to the end.

Verse 12. Them - In creatures or worldly enjoyments. To do good - To employ them in acts of charity and liberality.

Verse 13. Should eat - Use what God hath given him.

Psalm 8

PS 8 David extols the majesty, power, and providence of God, ver. 1, 2. And his loving-kindness to mankind, ver. 3-5. In giving him dominion over this lower world, ver. 6-9. To the chief musician upon Gittith, A psalm of David. Title of the psalm. Gittith - This also is supposed to be the name of a tune, or instrument.

Verse 1. In - Not only in Israel, but among all nations. Which shews that this psalm speaks of the Messiah, and the times of the New Testament. Heavens - Where thy throne of glory is established, where the blessed angels celebrate thy praises, where Christ sitteth at thy right hand in glorious majesty, from whence he poureth down excellent gifts upon babes.

Verse 2. Babes - Weak and foolish, and contemptible persons, who are frequently called babes or children. Such are very unfit to grapple with an enemy: and therefore when such persons conquer the most powerful and malicious enemies, it must needs confound them, and advance the glory of God: as indeed it did, when such mean persons as the apostles, and disciples of Christ, maintained and propagated the gospel, in spite of all the wit, power, and rage of their enemies. Ordained - Perfectly or firmly settled strength; that is, the praise of his strength or power, Matt. xxi, 16, it is rendered praise. Still - Silence and confound them. Avenger - The devil, and all who are his vassals and espouse his quarrel.

Verse 3. The moon - Either the sun is included under this general title: or he omitted it, because he made this psalm by night. Ordained - Placed in that excellent and unalterable order, and directed to their several motions.

Verse 4. What is man - How mean and inconsiderable a thing is man, if compared with thy glorious majesty. Man - Hebrew. infirm, or miserable man. By which it is apparent that he speaks of man, not according to the state of his creation, but as fallen into a state of sin and misery, and mortality. Mindful - Carest for him, and conferest such high favours upon him. The son - Hebrew. the son of Adam, that great apostate from God, the sinful son of a sinful father, his son by likeness of disposition and manners, no less than by procreation. All which tends to magnify the following mercy. Visitest - Not in anger, as that word is sometimes used, but with thy grace and mercy.

Verse 5. For - Thou hast in Christ mercifully restored man to his primitive estate, wherein he was but one remove below the angels; from which he was fallen by sin. Crowned - Man, fallen and lost man: who is actually restored to glory and dominion in Christ his head and representative, who received this crown and dominion for man's good, and in his stead; which he will in due time communicate to his members. And so the two expositions of this place concerning mankind and concerning Christ, may be reconciled. For he speaks of that honourable estate conferred first upon Christ, and then by his hands upon mankind. But the words more literally rendered are, Thou madest him a little less than God. And hence some have inferred, that man in his original state was the highest of all creatures.

Revelation 21:1-6a

Verse 1. And I saw - So it runs, chap. xix, 11, xx, 1, 4, 11, in a succession. All these several representations follow one another in order: so the vision reaches into eternity. A new heaven and a new earth - After the resurrection and general judgment. St. John is not now describing a flourishing state of the church, but a new and eternal state of all things. For the first heaven and the first earth - Not only the lowest part of heaven, not only the solar system, but the whole ethereal heaven, with all its host, whether of planets or fixed stars, Isai xxxiv, 4 Matt. xxiv, 29. All the former things will be done away, that all may become new, verses 4, 5,

2 Pet. iii, 10, 12. Are passed away - But in the fourth verse it is said, "are gone away." There the stronger word is used; for death, mourning, and sorrow go away all together: the former heaven and earth only pass away, giving place to the new heaven and the new earth.

Verse 2. And I saw the holy city - The new heaven, the new earth, and the new Jerusalem, are closely connected. This city is wholly new, belonging not to this world, not to the millennium, but to eternity. This appears from the series of the vision, the magnificence of the description, and the opposition of this city to the second death, chap. xx, 11, 12; xxi, 1, 2,

5, 8, 9; xxii, 5. Coming down - In the very act of descending.

Verse 3. They shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God - So shall the covenant between God and his people be executed in the most glorious manner.

Verse 4. And death shall be no more - This is a full proof that this whole description belongs not to time, but eternity. Neither shall sorrow, or crying, or pain, be any more: for the former things are gone away - Under the former heaven, and upon the former earth, there was death and sorrow, crying and pain; all which occasioned many tears: but now pain and sorrow are fled away, and the saints have everlasting life and joy.

Verse 5. And he that sat upon the throne said - Not to St. John only. From the first mention of "him that sat upon the throne," chap. iv, 2, this is the first speech which is expressly ascribed to him. And he - The angel. Saith to me Write - As follows. These sayings are faithful and true - This includes all that went before. The apostle seems again to have ceased writing, being overcome with ecstasy at the voice of him that spake.

Verse 6. And he - That sat upon the throne. Said to me, It is done - All that the prophets had spoken; all that was spoken, chap. iv, 1. We read this expression twice in this prophecy: first, chap. xvi, 17, at the fulfilling of the wrath of God; and here, at the making all things new. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end - The latter explains the former: the Everlasting. I will give to him that thirsteth - The Lamb saith the same, chap. xxii, 17.

Matthew 25:31-46

31. When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him - With what majesty and grandeur does our Lord here speak of himself Giving us one of the noblest instances of the true sublime. Indeed not many descriptions in the sacred writings themselves seem to equal this. Methinks we can hardly read it without imagining ourselves before the awful tribunal it describes.

Verse 34. Inherit the kingdom - Purchased by my blood, for all who have believed in me with the faith which wrought by love. Prepared for you - On purpose for you. May it not be probably inferred from hence, that man was not created merely to fill up the places of the fallen angels?

Verse 35. I was hungry, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink - All these works of outward mercy suppose faith and love, and must needs he accompanied with works of spiritual mercy. But works of this kind the Judge could not mention in the same manner. He could not say, I was in error, and ye recalled me to the truth; I was in sin, and ye brought me to repentance. In prison - Prisoners need to be visited above all others, as they are commonly solitary and forsaken by the rest of the world.

Verse 37. Then shall the righteous answer - It cannot be, that either the righteous or the wicked should answer in these very words. What we learn herefrom is, that neither of them have the same estimation of their own works as the Judge hath.

Verse 40. Inasmuch as ye did it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it to me - What encouragement is here to assist the household of faith? But let us likewise remember to do good to all men.

Verse 41. Depart into the everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels - Not originally for you: you are intruders into everlasting fire.

Verse 44. Then will they answer - So the endeavour to justify themselves, will remain with the wicked even to that day!

Verse 46. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life everlasting - Either therefore the punishment is strictly eternal, or the reward is not: the very same expression being applied to the former as to the latter. The Judge will speak first to the righteous, in the audience of the wicked. The wicked shall then go away into everlasting fire, in the view of the righteous. Thus the damned shall see nothing of the everlasting life; but the just will see the punishment of the ungodly. It is not only particularly observable here

1. That the punishment lasts as long as the reward; but,

2. That this punishment is so far from ceasing at the end of the world, that it does not begin till then.

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