The Sunday of John the Baptist is
always the most challenging Sunday for preachers during Advent. We don’t expect
to hear his harsh words at this time of year. In this Advent/ Christmas time of
year we expect to hear words of hope and peace. That is part of the magic of
this season. I love the lights and the Christmas movies. People are more generous.
There is so much to love about this time of year. And we are filled with
expectations for each other, our families and our community. Then we come to church
and hear the gospel reading and instead of hope, peace, joy, love and we hear
“Repent!”
But if we are being honest about this
time of year it is not always easy for people. I think of the people who don’t
have enough money to buy food let alone gifts. For parents, or at least this
parent, it can be challenging as the excitement builds to maintain some normal
routines. Advent, the season leading up to Christmas can be difficult for so
many other reasons. A loved one is away from home. You or someone you care
about is sick or dying. Or perhaps there’s been a death of a loved one tints
the season with sadness. Or maybe there is a private burden that you can’t find
the words to talk about. This season of joy can also be hard for so many.
Those Christmas movies I love, sell
us short on the fullest or deepest meaning of this season. It’s not all tree
lights, festive parties and family gatherings. It is about preparing the way of
the Lord. It’s about what God did in Jesus and the coming of God’s kingdom. The
promise of the prophet Isaiah is that “A shoot shall come out form the stump of
Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. Righteousness shall be a belt
around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. The wolf shall
live with the lamb. …They will not hurt or destroy on my holy mountain; for the
earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord.” (Isaiah 11:1, 6, 9)
Isaiah shares with the people who
are like that stump with no hope that God promises a future where peace will
reign. God promises a day when there will be harmony among the nations. The
promise of a world remade in God’s image is what drove John the Baptist out
into the wilderness crying out, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come
near.” (Matthew 3:3)
Prophets are hard to listen to. They
tell us things that we don’t want to hear. The call us to live in new ways. When
John says “Repent” he is not talk about saying I’m sorry but how to turn to
something new. Repent is like an invitation do and see things in a new way.
Prophets don’t only live on the
pages of the bible. There are modern day prophets – like Martin Luther King,
like Mother Teresa, like Ghandi. They all called for a turn from oppression and
suffering to justice, mercy, compassion and love. This week the world lost
another prophet. Nelson Mandela called for, demanded, invited and led the way
to the end apartheid. In his autobiography, Long
Walk to Freedom, Mandela wrote, "I have no epiphany, no singular
destiny, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a
thousand unremembered moments, produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a
desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people."
What is more amazing is that after all those years in prison, when he
finally had the power seek vengeance for all that had been done to him and for
that system that imprisoned his people. He could have done it. Instead he
called for reconciliation – a far harder path. It reminds me of Isaiah words,
“The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead
them. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will
be full of the knowledge of the Lord.” (Isaiah 11:6, 9)
Nelson Mandela started the work and it is now ours to carry on as we
find ways to live into the promise of all God’s people living together in
peace, with justice for all and compassion for all God’s children. That is the
true gift of Christmas – a world remade in God’s image.
It is a gift that transforms the
world and individual lives. Barbra Lundblad writes “There is a man on my street
I've known for years. We often met in the morning at the newsstand. Then, his
wife died -- forty-two years together changed to loneliness. I watched him
walking, his head bowed, his shoulders drooping lower each day. His whole body
seemed in mourning, cut off from
everyone. I grew accustomed to saying, “Good morning” without any response.
Until a week ago. I saw him coming and before I could get any words out, he
tipped his hat, “Good morning, Reverend. Going for your paper?” He walked
beside me, eager to talk. I could not know what brought the change that seemed
so sudden. Perhaps, for him, it wasn't sudden at all, but painfully slow. Like
a seedling pushing through rock toward the sunlight. There must have been
an explanation, yet he appeared to me, a miracle.” (www.workingpreacher.org)
In this season of watching and waiting, let us listen to the words of
the prophets who call us to live out our faith by following in the footsteps of
Jesus. His earth shattering, world changing ministry changed lives and
communities. Jesus reordered the world around him and transformed lives with the
gifts of welcome, healing and wholeness. Do you hear the prophet calling you?
Let us prepare the way of the Lord! Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment