He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near…. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household. Ephesians 2:17, 19
As we near the culmination of the celebration of Advent, the juxtaposition of today’s Hebrew and Christian lectionary texts provide an interesting meditation on the journey and transformation this Advent makes possible. Indeed, the incarnation demonstrates for us what Willie James Jennings in The Christian Imagination calls an “intimate joining” we are called to manifest in our own lives.
As those who have been grafted into another’s story, made fellow citizens and also members of God’s household, one would think by now that Christians would be better witnesses to learning from others’ varied experiences, reconciling and loving across differences. Instead, we too often use religion—whether Christianity broadly or denominations more specifically—to exclude.
By contrast, today’s Hebrew text from Micah reflects a monotheism, to be sure, but not a closed monotheism. Even in “the last days,” it allows that “all the nations may walk in the name of their gods.” Likewise, Revelation 21 surprises us with the mention of “nations” and “kings of the earth” in the New Jerusalem. Both Micah (4:2) and Revelation (21:24) speak to the nations seeking God’s wisdom and coming to walk in God’s paths.
May this Advent season’s example of humility and emptying inspire us anew to empty ourselves and open our hearts, eschewing our own “wisdom” that we may seek God’s alone and walk in the ways set before us.
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