The end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be serious and sober for prayers. Above all, let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sins.
--1 Peter 4:7-8
Lo, I am sending my messenger
to prepare the way before me;
And suddenly there will come to the temple
the Lord whom you seek,
And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.
Yes, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.
--Malachi 2:1
It's been a long time since I studied Malachi and the rest of the "lesser" prophets. "Lesser" because they did not write as extensively as Isaiah (three different writers over decades) or Jeremiah (both First Isaiah and Jeremiah served in the court of the King of Israel before it fell to Babylon), or even Ezekiel, he of the mad visions (the joke in seminary was that Ezekiel found some interesting mushrooms on the banks of the Chebar). But clearly Deutero-Isaiah (writing during the Exile) wasn't the only prophet to say a messenger would come to prepare the way of the Lord.
Again, this "prediction" is more of a promise to a shattered people in need of a word of hope. The messenger coming was the one who would precede the one sent from God to restore the fortunes of Israel. In time that was seen as Cyrus, the king who let the Israelites return to Jerusalem and ended their exile.
There's more than a bit of Malachi for today.
Like a fire there appeared the prophet Elijah
whose words were as a flaming furnace.
Their staff of bread he shattered,
in his zeal he reduced them to straits
By God's word he shut them up in the heavens
and three times brought down fire.
How awesome are you, Elijah!
Who glory is equal to yours?
You were taken aloft in a whirlwind,
in a chariot with fiery horses.
You are destined, it is written, in time to come
to put an end to wrath before the day of the Lord,
To turn back the hearts of parents toward their children,
and to reestablish the tribes of Jacob.
Blessed [are those who shall see you before they die];
O Elijah, enveloped in the whirlwind.
--Sirach 48:1-4, 9-12
I know I said I like to add some exegesis to scriptures, because they are really the words of a community, not a newspaper account meant to be read by the general public. I'm playing something of a Biblical theology game here, looking for common themes/threads in these readings; but without reducing them to some utilitarian purpose, the way too much proof-texting and reading of scriptures in public fora is done (you know what I'm talking about). Here I would just point out two interesting things: 1) the idea that Elijah is destined "to put an end to wrath before the day of the Lord." We'll have some passages this week about "the day of the Lord" being a "day of wrath." And certainly John the Baptist in Matthew's telling warns of the "wrath to come." So there's that (what does it mean? I’m not sure myself) and there's the promise of reversal, a theme constant this Advent for me. So, 2): "To turn back the hears of parents toward their children [what has turned them away? What could?] and to reestablish the tribes of Jacob."
Just keep it in mind.
And the disciples questioned him: "Why, in the light of this, do the scholars claim that Elijah must come first?"
In response he said, "Elijah does indeed come and will restore everything. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him but had their way with him. So the son of Adam is also going to suffer at their hands."
Then the disciples understood that he had been talking to them about John the Baptist.
Matthew 17:10-13 (SV)
Lo, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and terrible day.
--Malachi 3:23
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