Sunday, December 15, 2013

Sermon for the Third Sunday of Advent - Saint Francis Lutheran Church, 15 December 2013

“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

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