“Expectations”
The Third Sunday in
Advent
15 December 2013
Saint Francis
Lutheran Church
San Francisco, CA
Isaiah 35:1-10
Psalm 146:4-9, or Canticle 15
James 5:7-10
Saint Matthew 11:2-11
INI
The Question
It’s good to be standing here again, and a lot has happened
in the decade since I stood here last.
A lot has happened for the both of us, but more about that later. I especially like the readings for this
day because they make us think.
They pose questions, and provide answers – the trick is to match them
up. John’s question that he sends
via his faithful disciples reminds me of another question, one that Jesus asks,
“Who do men say that I am?” which is followed by another, “Who do you say that I am?” These are both questions that are asked
in the Gospel of Matthew, and before we look at this inverse of the question of
the Baptist, we need to put it in context. I had a professor in college who
loved this particular text, and who told it like this:
When Jesus went into the
region of Caesarea Philippi* he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man
is?”
They replied, “Some say that
you are the Ground of All Being, the Ultimate Concern, the Omega Point. “And Jesus said to them, “Huh?
This was my professor’s not too hidden dig at the
theologians Paul Tillich, and Theilard de Chardin. And before we dismiss their answers out of hand, we need to
realize that the question is asked of us as well. “Who do you say that
Jesus was?” That there have
been brave men and women who have endeavored to answer the question is God’s
gift to us. Often the answers seem
evasive or not congruent with our own way of thinking. They are, however, an attempt to
connect with Jesus, and to understand.
For the Matthew the questions, the one asked of the
disciples by Jesus, and the one asked of Jesus by the disciples of John, are
important ones. The communities
out of which the Matthew traditions were flowing were wracked with division
amongst families, communities, and the religious. Those who saw Jesus as leading Israel to something new, to
something not supported by the Hebrew Scriptures, were at odds with those who
saw Jesus as the Messiah, as Emmanuel, God-with-us. And then there were those Gentiles, who, with the encouragement
of Paul, were bringing a totally new flavor to those who followed Jesus. So the questions are proper. We might well join in the Baptist’s
advent prayer, “Are you the one, or should we look for someone else?”
The Answers
We shouldn’t concern ourselves so much with the questions as
we should explore the answers.
Jesus’ question is answered by St. Peter, “You are the Messiah, the Son
of the Living God.” That’s quite a
leap, isn’t it, and I think that the Matthean community intended it as a final
answer to the question of the Baptist.
The answers that Jesus gives to John’s question, however, are much more
intriguing and helpful. To see
them for what they are we need to go back to Isaiah, and his answer.
The question for Isaiah was not about the nature of God or
the aspects of the Messiah. It was
more about how God was loving and protecting Israel. The history didn’t look too good. The northern tribes had been deported by the Assyrians, and
now in the midst of a war with Babylon and Edom (Judah’s not so nice neighbor)
or perhaps later when Babylon had conquered Jerusalem there were hopes of
returning from the Babylonian exile.
God seemed to be absent, silent in Israel’s ears. Isaiah sounds a note of hope. He has a vision of a verdant wasteland
that stands in sharp distinction from the wastelands of Babylon and Edom. Here there are flowers, and flowing
springs, and a holy highway (something quite different than the Holy Way of
Marduk that made its way into Babylon).
This was a way reserved for the righteous, the chosen of God.
The blooming desert and the Holy Way, is just a
setting. The righteous who actually
walk this way are distinguished from the rest of us in a manner of
speaking. These are the
blind. These are the deaf. These are the lame. These are the dumb. Each of these, by virtue of their
disability were evidence of some ritual impurity among the people of Israel =
and yet Isaiah sees them as the righteous ones. The blind see, the deaf hear, the lame leap, and the dumb
speak; the sign and evidence that God protects and cares for Israel.
Isaiah’s answers inform Jesus’ response to John.
“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.”
Jesus’ answer goes well beyond that of Isaiah, including the
dead and the poor. Nor is it only
Isaiah’s dreaming. The psalm for
today closes with similar expectations, posed as both question and answer:
“Who made heaven and earth, the seas, and
all that is in them; *
who keeps his promise for ever;
Who gives justice to those who are
oppressed, *
and food to those who hunger.
The LORD sets the prisoners free;
the LORD opens the eyes of the blind; *
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
The LORD loves the righteous;
the LORD cares for the stranger; *
he sustains the orphan and widow.”
Likewise in the alternate response to the readings, the Magnificat, sung by the Blessed Virgin
Mary in Luke. Mary highlights
other answers to John’s question:
“He has lifted up the
lowly, he has filled the hungry, he has come to the help of Israel.”
These are the answers for the church and the world to
ponder. These are the answers that
our society needs to take seriously for they are beyond politics, and they are
beyond economic ideology and policy.
These are the expectations that God seeks to meet through our following
Jesus.
The Waiting
Whoever wrote the Epistle of James seems to have had an
experience with agricultural life.
Perhaps he sat at the side of the road, or in the courtyard of a rural
home, and observed what was going on all about him. The comings and goings of urban life, and the immediacy of
society have been hushed for him – and in this silence he teaches us to
wait. Yes, to wait.
“Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the
coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth,
being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also
must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.”
You know about
waiting here, and it may be for you a discipline that you thought was not
helpful. James calls us to wait
for the coming Lord, and in earlier chapters of his letter, to be active in our
waiting. You know the part, the
helping the blind, the lame, the leper, the poor, the dumb, and the widow, the
orphan. Waiting gives us time to
hear and see the need, to awaken to the call.
When I left this
place you were on the cusp of a huge victory for justice and the church. It was only a matter of a little time
until the church could begin to see the righteousness of LGBT people. It would only be a matter of months
until the church was filled not only with ministry to the disenfranchised but
also with deacons, priests, pastors, and bishops, who had walked with us and
who knew our life, our sorrow, and our subsequent joy. Congratulations. Your waiting has been a time of
celebration. Now it needs to be a
time of Advent, of expectation.
In a short time you
will call a new pastor, and what will you do? Or to paraphrase a couple of questions, “Who do people say
that you are – that you are all about?”
“Are you the ones who bring new ministry to the church, or should we
look for another?” Only a portion
of those who need to hear Good News have been reached by your ministry, and
already you have reached out in concert with others to feed, to heal, and to
lift up. So then, what will your
Advent expectations be? How will you
form the image of Christ in your midst, and in your ministry to those who
hunger for good news?
Isaiah countered
the wisdom of his time when he urged the Jews in exile to “build homes” and “to
plant fig trees” where they were – in Babylon, in exile. Ministry was best placed where both
people and need were. The young woman Mary was called to be something she never
dreamed of. Now is the time. Now the questions are for you. What are
your dreams here at Saint Francis?
What shall you become in Christ?
I’ll be waiting,
and watching.
SDG
