Sermon for Advent 3A-RCL
December 11, 2016
When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he
sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or
are we to wait for another?” Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you
hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are
cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news
brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”
As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds
about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken
by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes?
Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out
to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one
about whom it is written,
“Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has
arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is
greater than he.”
John
the Baptist asked, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for
another?” This is John the Baptist who
we hear about in the gospels preaching repentance and baptizing people has gone
form declaring to the crowds that Jesus is “the one” to asking, from his prison
cell, “Are you the one?” John goes from
one of great faith to one who questions.
This great man of faith is having some doubts. And perhaps that is the good news this
Sunday. That doubt is not the opposite
of faith. We are no less faithful when
we have doubts than when we believe.
On
this third Sunday of advent –as we prepare for the yearly remembrance of Christ’s
birth we too may wonder. How is it we
can remember the birth of one we call the prince of peace when there is still
way to much violence in the world? How
can we put up our Christmas decorations when a loved one has died? Our society puts a lot of hype into the
season leading up to Christmas – especially our retail establishments. We are enticed to sing Christmas carols and
buy the newest and greatest thing. We
are told that we need to go visit all the bright lights. We need to shop. We need to attend holiday gatherings. We need to have Christmas cheer.
It,
quite frankly, can be too much. And in
the words of one of my hero’s, Charlie Brown, “Can anyone tell me what
Christmas is all about?” rings through many during what the church calls
advent. It is an echo of John the
Baptist. Are you the one or should be
look for another? How are we to prepare
when, for many, things don’t look like they are getting any better. People are still hungry. People are still getting sick. People are still dying. And you, you wonderful people know this
better than most after serving 280 people dinner last Monday – you know there
is hunger in this world.
So
we are right to ask, like John, how do we know that Jesus is the one?
Jesus answer to John’s question can
be perplexing. He didn’t answer a simple
question with a simple answer. As seems
to be Jesus way he answers indirectly.
Jesus tells John to look to the fulfillment of the prophet Isaiah. To see that the things that Isaiah predicted
are happening. The lame are walking, the
blind are seeing, the hungry are being fed.
Jesus
tells them, and us, to look because that is what God’s kingdom looks like. Not the kingdom and the messiah that many in
John’s time really wanted. They wanted
the messiah to come with a sword to usher in – by force –a kingdom of
peace. And unfortunately we still seem
to think that using force can bring peace.
But Jesus tells us if we want to see the God’s peaceable kingdom we need
to look around us.
I
saw the kingdom here yesterday.
Yesterday we remembered the life of Lisa. We remembered someone who many in our society
would not think of as ushering in the kingdom of God. But the crazy thing is that people like Lisa
are the ones that usher in the kingdom of God in very real ways. Seeing Lisa play timpani on Easter and seeing
her faithfulness – along with Christine’s to this church reminds us about what
being a Christian is about. Being a
Christian is about accompanying each other.
And what a gift that Lisa gave us for the years that she and Christine
attended St. Matt’s. In her own rather
quiet way she accompanied us just as we accompanied her. She provided healing to many just as we
hopefully provided healing to her.
It
reminds us that being a Christian means walking with the others. God became incarnate – to be with us. Not to conquer but to accompany. David Lose,
one of the preachers I follow said, “… Jesus,
Matthew confesses, came and comes as Emmanuel, God with us,
the one who does not eliminate all our troubles but accompanies us through
them; the one who holds onto us when the world feels like it’s falling apart;
the one who enters into our suffering and struggle and so reminds us that we
are not alone; and the one who promises to bring us through all things even and
ultimately through death to new life.”[1]
Yesterday at the reception for Lisa I
witnesses, again, an example of what being a Christian is about. Christine, who is mourning the death of her
companion of 27 years, and her wife, was talking to The Rev. Mary – whose
mother also died this past week, and wanted to pray for her mother. Christine wanted to make sure that Mary knew
that Christine was praying for Mary and Mary’s family too. Christine acted to remind us that indeed
there is healing in this world.
For some reason having a memorial service
during advent feels very appropriate. It
reminds us that Jesus came to be with us.
He came to accompany us through this earthly journey from birth until
death. And that through Christ death has
been conquered. And it reminds us that
our job is to continue to accompany each other on this journey.
We are called to continue the ministry that
Jesus set for us as an example. We are
to continue to make sure that “the blind
receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the
dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.” Because it is in doing so that we help continue
to bring God’s dream to fruition. A
dream of love for all creation.
And in doing so we can answer the question “Are
you the one?” by action. By feeding the
hungry, clothing the naked, healing those who are sick. And especially by accompanying each other on
this journey of life.
In two weeks we will gather to remember the
birth of the Christ, Emmanuel, God with us.
To remember that the gift we are given at Christmas is the gift of
presence. The gift of a God who walks
with us on this journey of life and who dreams of an earth where all of God’s
creation is loved and accompanied with love throughout life and beyond life to
death to everlasting life.
So when we have doubts all we have to do is
look around us and if we look closely we can answer Charlie Brown’s question of
“What is Christmas all about?” when we see the amazing ministry that happens in
usually very quiet ways on this corner of Edison and Bell – and indeed in many
other corners. That amazing ministry is
what Christmas is all about. My prayer is that the ministry embodied in this
place may spread through out the world. So
that indeed we can say that we say, Look and see! “The blind
receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the
dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment