12 December 2010

“Joy”
Third Sunday in Advent – cycle A
12 December 2010


So what has the Season of Advent been for us, this year, thus far?
We have heard that it is a season of HOPE – HOPE, in the return of Jesus Christ to earth, as he has promised, as we confess, as we gather together each week around Word and Meal to remember and celebrate.
It is a season of PEACE – PEACE, as John the Baptist proclaimed, peace borne of repentance, a posture, a lifestyle, of “turning around,” of putting others first, of setting aside our all-too-human sinfulness which clings to place and power and prestige … we are called to repent, to turn around; like John the Baptist, we point to Jesus and then get out of the way, so others can see him and serve in their own unique, gifted, called ways.
And now … now, today, we have the word before us … that this season of Advent, is a season of JOY.
The JOY of this day has been reflected, symbolically, traditionally, by the light of the Pink or Rose Advent candle. Historically, this day has been called “Gaudete” Sunday – Gaudete being the Latin word for “Rejoice!”
We mark JOY and REJOICING on this Third Sunday in Advent because at one time, it was the corresponding day to the JOY and REJOICING day in the season of Lent … back in the Middle Ages when Advent and Lent were seen as bookend times in the church year, in the calendar year, either side of winter, either side of seasonal death and darkness … both Advent and Lent were to be somber times of introspection, repentance and renewal.
That corresponding pink Sunday in Lent, the Fourth Sunday in Lent is called “Laetare” which is Latin for “be joyful.” The Anglican church continues this tradition, using pink or rose-colored vestments and altar paraments on both the Third Sunday in Advent and the Fourth Sunday in Lent.
It is a good thing to remember to rejoice, even in the midst of somber times, because we do have HOPE … hope in the forgiveness of our sins, hope in the end to sin, death, and the power of evil; hope in the resurrection promise of Jesus and the life everlasting.
But we’ve moved away from that sense of the season of Advent being a fall/winter counterpart to the season of Lent; the preferred Lutheran color for this season of Advent isn’t Lenten purple but the more hopeful blue, as I’m wearing, as the altar displays … because Luther saw Advent not as a “little Lent” but instead as a time when we stand with our heads raised up … raised up, in three phases of HOPE, if you will:

HOPE in the promise throughout all of Scripture that God Will Save His People, in sending Jesus to earth, God as man, fulfilled in that first Christmas so long ago;
HOPE in the promise of Jesus’ presence, God With Us, now, as we gather in faith community around Water and Word and Meal, and are sent in service to one another and others in Jesus’ name;
And HOPE in the final promise of Jesus, that he will come again with power and great glory, not to punish, but to save us.

So for next year, let’s retire our purple and pink Advent candles … and instead go with HOPE … and four blue candles … because the sense of HOPE and PEACE, JOY and LOVE which we explore in this season of Advent is far different from the introspective path we take in Lent as we walk with Jesus on the path to the cross.
So what of today’s word-theme? What of JOY?
Certainly our reading from the prophet Isaiah today has a wonderful air of JOY about it.

“The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom;
Like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing …
The lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way;
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing;
Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

Yes, there’s a lot of JOY here, in the words of the prophet. This Isaiah, he’s commonly called “Second Isaiah” because his time comes about a hundred fifty years after the Isaiah who wrote the verses we read last week. That Isaiah was worried about, prophesying about war … and the effects of war on his people. This Isaiah’s been through the war … his people’s defeat … their exile into Babylon … and now, he’s rejoicing that they are coming back … returning to their home after many, many years.
Ah … but this JOY … it does come with a “prophet’s edge.”
What do I mean by that?
This verse ought to make it clear.
“Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense.”
For Isaiah, for his people, taken into exile, and now, coming back home, there was a certain amount of JOY for them, in hoping, trusting that “those people who did this to us” were “now going to get theirs.” God’s people, once losers, were now winners … and their Babylonian captors, once the big winners, well, now, the hope, the prayer of Isaiah and his people was that God was going to deal with them harshly … “God’s losers,” if you will.
That’s the way of prophetic speech, after all … the great reversal of fortunes is foreseen, foretold, and for-hoped … hoped for.
But does revenge bring joy?
Certainly it CAN. When that jerk speeds past me on 405 … and then, a few minutes later, I see him pulled over by WSP … yes, one of the emotions I feel is JOY … joy at someone else’s pain and suffering … of course, they brought it on themselves …
… and certainly the world of politics can quickly make for JOY from someone else’s pain and suffering … the gleeful winners of two years’ ago are now on the other side of victory … and the losers who were belittled then are now the ones who can do the gloating.
Revenge can be sweet … revenge can bring JOY … but is that the JOY which is to be before us today, in this season in which HOPE in Christ’s return and PEACE springing forth from repentance have thus far held sway?
Let’s see what Jesus has to say … in a passage that, at face value, doesn’t seem to contain much JOY.
John the Baptist … last week’s feisty preacher … is now in prison … wondering if Jesus is really the one who he was proclaiming, and to whom he was pointing?
You can almost crawl into John’s mind, there in prison … as he’s thinking, hey, if Jesus really is the One who is to bring justice and peace and righteousness on earth, then, how come I’m stuck in prison?
John’s a prophet, all right, a speaker of prophetic speech, and he’s looking for his revenge – JOY.
Ah … but Jesus hears of John’s current state … so see and hear what he says about the JOY he – Jesus - brings.
“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.”
For Jesus, real JOY comes with the end of blindness, lameness, ill health, death … and good news being proclaimed to the poor. In other words, the LOSERS whose reign-end brings Jesus JOY … these are not WHOs, but rather, WHATs.
Mark those words well. For in them, through them, Christ is calling us to something other than a prophet’s revenge-JOY.
St. Paul – elsewhere, later in his letter to the Romans – he gives us a clear picture of what’s to become of revenge in the Kingdom of Heaven:

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." No, "if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Make no mistake … God is God, and God will take care of working out righteousness and justice here on earth, and setting everything right. But it’s not our job to exact revenge, or to gain joy from someone else’s loss. Our faith-walk with Jesus calls us to something else.
But what exactly is that? That’s the question. It’s the question Jesus poses to the crowd there with him, when he asks them, why did they go out into the wilderness, chasing after John the Baptist? What exactly was it that interested, that intrigued them?

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,
'See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.'
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.

Jesus’ question is really addressing the same issue as John’s question of him … namely, speculation.
For John, the question was, is this Jesus really the sure thing?
For Jesus, scanning the crowds there following him, it’s also an issue of speculation. What exactly had these people come out, gone out, looking for?
Why do people go after religion anyway?
For some of those going out into the wilderness, it was surely, in the pursuit of a good time. There was a new, good show out there in the middle of nowhere, put on by the hair-shirted bug eating freak, John. “Let’s go and see what the crazy windbag has to say today.” Speculation.
But there was also a sense of intimidation. We got that in last week’s Gospel. “You brood of vipers!” John called the Pharisees and Sadducees. “Prove your repentance by the fruit you bear!” Those words are pretty intimidating, for sure, if those he addressed had ears to hear them.
Finally, though, Jesus points out that the only real reason for the crowds to have gone out into the wilderness was proclamation. God was being about something … doing something new there in the wilderness … through the words and acts of John, God was keeping promises … pointing to Jesus, announcing that the Kingdom of Heaven was drawing near … Jesus was about to dawn on the scene of humanity, to come and save us.
And so that same question falls to us this morning … why are we here? What have we come out after, searching for, to see, to hear, to find? What is the point of our religion?
Is it speculation? Are we here because we’ve tried everywhere else, so we might as well try God?
Or are we here just because … we like it, we’re churchy people and we love the organization and the structure and the committees and socialization of it all … church nerds … churchites … churchianists … for us, all this is fun, all this is cool, and if God shows up, well, that’s OK, but you know, it really doesn’t matter.
Or is it intimidation? Do we view God as an angry judge, Christ as vengeful retributionist, we may have had some good times going for us once or maybe even right now … but eventually we just know that the other shoe is going to drop, and something bad is going to happen, so we better hedge our bets and cover our … well, you know.
Or … could there be something else? Could we be here because of this kind of proclamation … calling us, encouraging us, pushing us toward the Kingdom of Heaven?

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Proclamation. It is, in the end, the only reason for our religion, for our faith, for our being here, gathering here week after week, month after month, year after year.
We come together in HOPE, HOPE in the promises of our God, kept from days of old, kept in the wonder of the birth of his Son on that first Christmas … kept now, in the Word and Meal in which we share … and kept for the time to come, when Jesus comes again to save us and this old, tired world.
We come together in PEACE, confessing our sins, receiving forgiveness, being sent in service, walking, witnessing, proclaiming the posture of repentance; living humble lives of service; pointing to Jesus and then getting out of the way so that others can see their own salvation, and live it out in their own way of serving.
And we come together in JOY. Rejoicing, not from the misfortune of others, but in the great Good News that our God loves us … this world and all that is in it, and us people … so much … that he chooses to come to earth as one of us … not to destroy, but to save.
Tidings of comfort and JOY, to be sure.
A Word that must be shared, lived, and proclaimed.
And we are the ones called to do it.
So REJOICE, o people of earth. The Kingdom of Heaven indeed comes near, to and for us.
Then, and now, and in days to come.
Amen.