5th Sunday of Advent
This Sunday's Summary
All of today's readings proclaim that God is infinitely greater than humanity, yet graciously he draws near and strengthens those who humbly trust Him. Isaiah emphasizes God's unmatched power and His promise to renew the strength of those who wait on Him; Hebrews reveals that the Son of God himself, humbled himself to suffer and serve humanity in order to lift us out of our slavery to sin. And Luke's parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector teaches that humility, rather than self-righteousness, is what God honors. These readings and lessons come together in this Advent season of repentance and preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ into the world and into our hearts. For only by humble dependence on the will of God and humble service of him and each other, will we find the great source of strength and joy that Christ brought to the world and still brings us to this very day.
This Sunday's Readings
Old Testament Reading
Isaiah 40։18-31
To whom then will you liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare to Him?
The workman molds an image,
The goldsmith overspreads it with gold,
And the silversmith casts silver chains.
Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution
Chooses a tree that will not rot;
He seeks for himself a skillful workman
To prepare a carved image that will not totter.
Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
He brings the princes to nothing;
He makes the judges of the earth useless.
Scarcely shall they be planted,
Scarcely shall they be sown,
Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth,
When He will also blow on them,
And they will wither,
And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.
“To whom then will you liken Me,
Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high,
And see who has created these things,
Who brings out their host by number;
He calls them all by name,
By the greatness of His might
And the strength of His power;
Not one is missing.
Why do you say, O Jacob,
And speak, O Israel:
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
And my just claim is passed over by my God”?
Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
Epistle Reading
Hebrews 4։16-5։10
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness. Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins. And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was.
So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him:
“You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.”
As He also says in another place:
“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek”;
who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, called by God as High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek,”
Gospel Reading
Luke 18։9-14
Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
This Sunday's Lesson Plans
Ages 5-8
Ages 9-14
Ages 14-17
This Sunday's Sermons & Video
This Season's Saints
Saturday, Dec 12
St. James of Nisibis
Saturday, Dec 19