Father Denny Dempsey

Epiphany Sunday January 6, 2008

Reading 1, Isaiah 60:1-6  Chapters 56-66 of Isaiah prophesy the return of the exiles to Jerusalem, an event which transpired after Cyrus of Persia defeated the Babylonians in 539 B.C. and treated the people of conquered territories with a tolerance hitherto unknown in the East. Rather than oppression and deportation, the policies of previous conquerors, he treated the various races with respect. He granted religious freedom, allowed resettlement to their original territories, and even funded reconstruction for the Jews. The prophesy envisions the new Jerusalem as a commercial center with the concomitant blessings of stature, activity, and financial benefits.

Holy Family Sunday December 30, 2007

Reading 1, Sirach 3:2-6,12-14  The book of Sirach is named for the author “Jesus, son of Eleazar, son of Sirach”, a teacher from Jerusalem around 200 B.C. His grandson translated the work into Greek and added a foreword. The first 43 chapters deal largely with moral instruction and were so commonly used in the early Christian Church that Latin manuscripts entitled the book “Liber Ecclesiasticus”  (Book of the Church). Until 1898 no Hebrew copies of Sirach had been found. Since then about two thirds of the Hebrew text has been recovered from manuscripts dating back before the Christian era. Sirach is one of seven O.T. books from the Greek Septuagint not found in the more limited Hebrew canon of the the 1st century A.D.

Fourth Sunday of Advent Sunday December 23, 2007

Reading 1, Isaiah 7:10-14  Ahaz was the grandson of Uzziah, the Judean king following whose death Isaiah had received his prophetic call. Four years old at that time, Ahaz became king at the age of twenty and reigned for sixteen years. His not wanting to tempt the Lord was not an indication of respect but of lack of faith in the Lord. The hills surrounding the city of Jerusalem were ringed with temples to foreign gods. Ahaz sacrificed and offered incense at all of them. Worst of all was the altar in the Hinnom Valley (Gehenna) on the south side of Jerusalem where infants were burned as a sacrifice to the god Moloch. Ahaz immolated his own son there seeking Moloch’s favor ((2 Kings 16:3-4). Contrary to the advice of Isaiah, Ahaz allied himself with the king of Assyria to whom he sent all the treasures of the Jerusalem Temple as a present.

Third Sunday of Advent December 16, 2007

Reading 1, Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10 Lebanon has an average annual rainfall equal to or greater than SE Minnesota (36 in./yr.), the wettest area in our state. Areas not under plow were covered with dense forests, famous for their huge Cyprus trees. The fertile Mediterranean coastal plain of Sharon, 6 to 12 miles EW and 55 miles NS, reaches from Carmel to Joppa. Today it is a covered with groves of citrus trees. Spring flowers of many varieties grow profusely in the plain. Average annual rainfall in the Holy Land decreases as one goes from north to south. Jerusalem receives up to 26 in./yr. while, less than 20 miles away, Jericho and the desert to the south receive less than 6 in. annually. As rainfall brings the desert to life, so will the return of God’s people to their land.

Sunday Readings Preview December 9, 2007

Reading 1, Isaiah 11:1-10 When I was a child there was a box elder tree on the property line with our next-door neighbor. We cut it down, but a small grove of new shoots grew up from the roots. We cut those shoots back every spring. Years after I had left home, a couple of those shoots grew into 30 ft. trees again. Olive trees, the most popular variety in the Holy Land, grow from new sprouts in the same way. Jesse was the father of King David. All the generations of kings of Judah had grown from Jesse’s “stump”. Isaiah envisions a time when a new king will come from that same root and stump to usher in a messianic era of peace.