December
16, 2007
Advent 3A, Year C
RCL
To
read the lessons for the day click here:
http://www.io.com/~kellywp/YearA_RCL/Advent/AAdv3_RCL.html
Isaiah 35:1-10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11; Psalm 146:4-9 or Canticle 3 or Canticle 15
Pray with me, that the words I speak may be those God wants us to hear.
We are 3 weeks into Advent now. Three weeks into the new church year…the time of preparation for the celebration of the Nativity. Most of us are busy getting ready for Christmas. But in the church, as opposed to what goes on in the rest of the world, this is traditionally a time of quiet waiting and reflection…a time when we prepare our hearts to welcome God anew.
Since John the Baptist was the one who prepared people for the coming of the kingdom we get to hear about him 2 Sundays in a row on our scriptural journey towards Christmas.
In last week’s Gospel, John appeared in the wilderness,
calling the people to repentance. John was a pretty impressive speaker. He
spoke with such authority that the people of
John had definite ideas about the messiah. He told his followers “one who is more powerful than I is coming after me”…He painted a vibrant picture of what was going to happen : “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."
Elsewhere in the Gospel of Matthew, we hear of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordon river. Before he baptized Jesus, John recognized that Jesus had more authority than he. John said, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
But in this week’s Gospel reading, we get a very different picture of John. He is in prison, but only because Herod is afraid to execute him due to his popularity with the crowds. John knows that he will probably die soon, and he is having doubts. The things Jesus is doing do not match John’s expectations. Where are the power and might? Where is the judgment? Perhaps John is even wondering if his life’s work, preparing sinners for the coming kingdom, was worth it, or if he has been a fool and it was all for nothing.
John sent his disciples to ask Jesus: "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?"
Jesus rarely gives a yes or no answer, and this time is no exception. Maybe it would have been easier for Jesus to say, “Yes, I am the one you have been waiting for.” Or maybe not—because if John was waiting for a messiah who was like the one he preached about, he wasn’t going to get it.
So instead Jesus pointed to signs of the kingdom mentioned by the prophet Isaiah… because only in the presence of the real messiah would these signs of the kingdom be evident:
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.
Then he says,
“And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”
The Greek word used for “offence” here has a connotation of stumbling over, or unbelief. So in other translations you will find
“God will bless everyone who doesn't reject me because of what I do.”
Or “Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."
Or “Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me."
Many of us can relate to John in his doubts. We have expectations of God’s kingdom, too, and plenty of questions for Jesus, although our questions have more to do with asking the why of things. If God is really in charge of the world, why doesn’t he take charge? Why is evil rampant, why is there hunger, disease, homelessness, why do awful things happen?
When we are disappointed, or our expectations of God’s Kingdom are not met, perhaps it is because we are not looking for the signs of the Kingdom that are all around us. We may be looking for the kingdom according to our own agenda, and we tend to reject the mystery. Mystery makes us uneasy, it takes too long to unfold and understand, it’s messy, it seems impractical, and feels like nothing is getting done. It makes us feel powerless. We like to have results now, we want them to make sense, and we want to be able to recognize them and point to them and to know we had something to do with them.
But when that happens we are looking for a kingdom of our
own making, not God’s. The
And that is a blessing of the Advent season. A time of quiet waiting, listening, and preparing our hearts…a time to encounter the mystery.
The last line of this lesson has always bothered me. Jesus said:
“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”.
This passage, as we get it in our reading, sounds like some
kind of riddle. You have to read further along in the passage to find that
Jesus isn’t talking so much about John himself as about his placement in
history, about cosmic time. John is the prophet at the great hinge in time. He
is the last one who will point to the coming of the messiah. The
During this season of Advent, we are to prepare and strengthen our hearts for the coming of the Lord. How shall we do that?
First, watch for the signs of the kingdom that are all around us—look even in unlikely places, and expect to be surprised. Each day, ask yourself where you have seen signs of the kingdom. Pray for the kingdom—that is what Jesus told us to do. It is part of the Lord’s prayer.
Continue in your Advent explorations, such as reading the Gospel of Matthew one chapter a day, as Lynell suggested.
Prepare your heart by helping others. This can take so many forms, and bring so much joy, both to you and to those you help. Helping others is even more fun when you do it in community, because those who share ministry together build bonds of friendship unlike any other. So get together with a friend or two and see what you can do!
Prepare your heart by an intentional preparation prayer.
Last week I heard of the Counting Prayer, which was started by Jon Den,
co-director for
The world now has the means to end extreme poverty, we
pray we will have the will.
If you would like to join in the counting prayer effort, you can get more information and sign the pledge at http://www.countingprayers.org/home. But even if you don’t sign up, I urge you to pray this prayer. It is simple, only takes a few seconds, and it is a good prayer. We tend to become what we pray.
Finally, prepare your heart with thanksgiving. Think back over your day and bring to mind those things that you are the most thankful for. You may even want to recall those things you are the least thankful for…that is also enlightening.
Let us pray.
God of all hope and joy,
Open our hearts in welcome,
That your son Jesus Christ at his coming
May find in us a dwelling prepared for himself;
Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
One God, now and forever.
Amen.