Sermon for December 14, 2014
The readings:
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has
anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the
prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance
of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to provide for those who mourn in Zion--
to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of
mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called
oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, to display his glory. They shall build up the ancient ruins, they
shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.
For I the LORD love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing; I will
faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant
with them. Their descendants shall be
known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see
them shall acknowledge that they are a people whom the LORD has blessed. I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my whole
being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of
salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks
himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and
as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause
righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all
circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but
test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of
evil. May the God of peace himself
sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and
blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he
will do this.
John 1
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light,
so that all might believe through him.
He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. This is the testimony given by John when the
Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are
you?" He confessed and did not deny
it, but confessed, "I am not the Messiah." And they asked him, "What then? Are you
Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the prophet?"
He answered, "No." Then they
said to him, "Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us.
What do you say about yourself?" He
said, "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight
the way of the Lord,'" as the prophet Isaiah said. Now they had been sent from the
Pharisees. They asked him, "Why
then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the
prophet?" John answered them,
"I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one
who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his
sandal." This took place in Bethany
across the Jordan where John was baptizing.
The message
Every few months, there is a story that pops in the news
about the new senior pastor at a large church somewhere around the country. He
or she decides to teach, challenge and test the new congregation by attending
worship in disguise. They usually choose to wear dirty or very old clothing,
carry bags, ask for money, and if they decide to go all out, smell pretty
bad. The new pastor wants to see how
serious his or her new church takes God’s clear instructions to welcome all people, walk
with those in need, include everyone regardless of who they are or what they
have and to love one another as God loves us.
The expectation is that the new senior pastor would be welcomed with
celebration, by everything getting cleaned up, by people who usually wear
shorts and tee shirts putting on suits on for that morning, that the church
staff, readers, choir, and worship assistants would be very ready and that a
special meal would be prepared and served. People would make efforts to ensure
that things were perfect. At the same
time, the expectation is that the homeless person would be seen as a problem, avoided,
ignored, or even asked to leave. In most
cases these stories end with varying degrees of failure on the part of the
congregation to welcome people who are not like them and a sermon about the
church welcoming and accepting all people just like God welcomes us.
The TV show “undercover boss”, uses the same principle as
owners, CEO’s and executives put on disguises and go to work at different, lower
paying and lower status jobs at their
own companies. At the end of each
episode, they have meetings where their true identities are revealed to the
shock and surprise of the people they worked alongside during the show. They
also learn important lessons about how things are really operating in their
company, lessons we are lead to believe they could only learn by really being
there. This interplay of disguises, assumptions and mistaken identities is
nothing new. Our world is filled with
the stories, old and new, funny and sad, that all make use of this principle,
We are in a world of make over shows, weight loss advertisements and amazing
physical transformations, we have all seen and heard the stories of a big
person who picks a fight with a small little guy only to find out the little
guy has been doing martial arts since he was two years old or a student who
makes a comment to impress a stranger only to find out he is really talking to
his professor or new boss (and totally wrong).
We have all seen, heard, laughed at, been amazed and learned
from these stories before. At the same
time, it exposes a difficult truth about us. We obviously do not put much stock
in the old saying ”don’t judge a book by its cover”, we consistently treat
people based on what they look like, what they have or what they can do for us.
This calculation of how to treat people can
make us very uncomfortable when we do not know who we are dealing with. This morning, we see one of the bible’s most
obvious examples of this. We hear about
the appearance of John the Baptist into the 1st century religious
world. John is one of the major figures in this church season of Advent, this
time we set aside to prepare for God’s entry into the world. He is related to
Jesus by family and by work. He challenges
the religious authorities and leads us to question how we interact
together. By family, John and Jesus are
connected since John’s mother Elizabeth and Jesus mother Mary are cousins. Both
women have miraculous births, Elizabeth because of her advanced age and Mary
because of the role of the Holy Spirit.
Both births are celebrated and suspected as being connected to the long
expected Messiah or promised savior.'
By work, John and Jesus, are connected since they both
announce that the Kingdom of God has come. That the saving work God promised to
suffering people through the words of the prophets, was being fulfilled. John knows exactly who he is and what his
work is in the kingdom. This morning, we hear John claiming and owning his role
in God’s plan “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness; make
straight the way of the Lord”. Even with
this declaration, John, more than any other figure in the scripture really,
confuses and challenges the religious authorities in terms of who they are
dealing with. He defies normal
categories. John could easily be the
leader of a new faith, a poor man in wilderness, a prophet or a liar; he could
be Elijah, the Messiah, or the local crazy man.
John
scares the religious authorities, he has no formal education, no title or status
in their leadership, performs no miracles, wears no robes or symbols of
authority, but John has a large and growing following, and no regard for the
established ways of religious life. (Later we hear John call the religious
authorities snakes and vipers before chasing them off). In some ways, for the religious leaders,
encounters with John are like a game, a complicated series of interactions,
political decisions and power plays.
They want to treat John like he should be treated according to his station
in the world, for them, who john is, will determine how they treat and react to
him. That’s why they keep coming with questions, Are you the Messiah, are you
Elijah, are you the prophet, the frustration of “well then who are you?”
John is not even playing the game though. From its very start, the message of the kingdom
is that God is not like us. God does not
respect our categories or our divisions between people based on what they have,
what they know, what they do for a living or what they look like,
John sees everyone as children of God, he is preparing all
people for God’s entry into the world. John does this with a simple call for
repentance and for a change in the way they live their lives. The symbols of this new way of life john
offers are universals, Baptism, Water and washing, some of the few things each
and every one of us depends on. This
applies to the religious leaders, farmers, kings, prophets, rich or poor,
family or stranger, educated or untrained, believers or doubters, No matter what, people had things in common:
all people sin, all people hope for something better, all people are treated
with care and welcome in the kingdom, all people are loved by God. Amen
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