ADVENT III St. Andrew’s Pictou, NS December 12^th 2004; Candle of JOY!

 

A Way Forward

 

Isaiah 35:1-10

James 5:7-10

Matthew 11:2-11

 

The skill and artistry of the movie brought us to a depressing, grinding, halt. It was one of those Viet Nam movies. The story focused on some men (a group of friends,) who worked together, fought in the war together, and the story unraveled from their families in a dilapidated industrial town, with aged steel mills puffing out their smoke. We saw them gathered in the family kitchen with the realization that all was lost; the loved ones were gone; they were lost and there was absolutely nothing that could be done. A deep sadness brought everyone to a complete standstill. There was nothing but this depressing, heavy, silence.

 

Then we heard something. One of the women was off in a corner, and there was a sound. It was so quiet that it took a few moments to hear what she was doing. In the softest of voices she had started singing, quietly; a whisper. With humility and strength, she went on and you heard her singing the words, “God Bless America.” Not the pompous benedictions we are used to hearing now, but like a humble, aching, heartfelt, prayer from a good woman in massive grief who loved God, those lost, and her country.

 

With all of the grief, the conflicted feelings issues and beliefs, with all of the death and pain, from that crucible of loss, this woman’s prayer was a pivotal moment in the story. Her faith expressed in that melody enabled the story, and the people involved, to shake the grief lose and move forward.

 

Whatever choices we make in life, there is only one qualifying credential that all of our life’s choices must have: they absolutely must give us a way forward.

 

One of my professors at university once told me, “Never make a change unless it is a

Thousand times better than what you have now!” To say it another way, our choices must be a noticeable improvement, or there is no point in making the change.

 

There is no salvation in moving backwards!

 

The great prophet Isaiah knew that. Isaiah knew that there was no moving backwards.

 

The passage we heard today, was also written from a place of depression: the Jewish people were in exile in Babylon. Times were tough, they had lost everything: their temple, their country, their freedom, and to some extent their faith, since it was rooted in the existence of King Solomon’s Great Temple, now long destroyed.

 

Yet Isaiah was concerned that the people move forward on their journey. The ten verses of this chapter are an exultant hymn of jubilation about what the future holds.

 

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,

The dessert shall rejoice and blossom;

Like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly,

And rejoice with joy and singing….

They shall see the glory of the Lord,

The majesty of our God…

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,

And come to Zion with singing;

They shall obtain joy and gladness,

And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

 

To Isaiah there was only one way, and it was forward!

 

The writer in the book of James is also pointing towards the future. He uses nature and how the farmer waits for his crop to show as a way of illustrating how we might experience the excitement and eager expectation for what is to come: the return of Christ. Since we tend to take out our frustrations on each other, James asks, “Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged.” James knew that grumbling against one another brings disunity to the body of Christ: the church.

 

The issue for those to whom James is speaking is the same for us if we find ourselves in the pit of depression: this is not the end of the story; it is simply just part of the journey. There is more to come, and it is good!

 

In the Gospel reading we have Jesus vindicating courage and commitment for the future in the person of John the Baptist.

 

It is a pivotal issue (both then and now) that when John was in prison, when he heard that Jesus was doing, he sent word through his disciples asking if Jesus was the one he was preparing the people to receive.

 

Jesus just told them to consider the evidence:

“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.”

 

John the Baptist was in a bad place. Like all prophetic truth tellers, he was a threat to those in control, so they put him in jail. But he didn’t give up hope. He heard about Jesus and was excited to know if Jesus was the one. As I just mentioned, Jesus sent the message to John for him to just consider the evidence. The pivotal issue is that the kingdom of God started with Jesus’ arrival; the kingdom started then and is therefore happening now!

 

When questioned Jesus didn’t say, “I am the Messiah,” he just said, “consider the evidence.”

 

When you and I go for a job, we are often asked for references. This passage from Matthew has a reference from Jesus, to us, for John the Baptist. We know from Scripture that John was doing what God called him to do: he was preparing the way for Jesus and calling the people to a new way of thinking. He was fearless in how he preached and paid the price: the authorities jailed him.

 

The interesting thing about this passage is that we have Jesus Christ giving us a reference for John.

 

The reference opens with Jesus asking people as to why they went to John in the first place: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind?”

 

In other words, you didn’t go out to the wilderness to look at the bull rushes, you went for a reason and it was a good one, or you wouldn’t have gone.

 

Jesus takes it another step further:

“What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes?

Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces.”

 

Then Jesus closes the deal:

“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.”

 

Jesus actually tells us that John is even higher than a prophet, because he was the direct, here and now, in your face, live human emissary of God’s Son; blazing the trail for all time for all people.

 

John the Baptist ushered in a new manifestation of the Kingdom of God.

 

Then Jesus gives his reference the final touch:

“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 clinches his reference to John telling the world that he was the greatest ever, and then he adds an astounding phrase never found in any reference ever given:

“…yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

 

Turns out that this phrase is the ultimate “moving forward” line in history.

 

This phrase of scripture is extremely important for theologians because it says that the Kingdom of God is here; the kingdom of God is NOW!

 

What Jesus meant when he said that “the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater” refers to the legacy that we receive from Jesus; we actually receive the kingdom.

 

It is what you and I BELIVE that takes us forwards or not!

 

Believing in Jesus is what takes us forward.

 

There was a story about a little girl who was sick. The doctor told her she would die. Her mother told here that she would live. The little girl decided to believe her mother and she did live. This is not to say that the doctor was wrong. I feel certain that if the girl believed the doctor, she would have died. My point is that what we believe is what takes us forward, or not. The life-giving and healing actions of the mother made her “Jesus” in this story.

 

God in Christ says that you and I are children of God with all of the responsibilities and all of the privileges. If we believe that statement, then we will always be moving forward, no matter what.

 

But is this not God’s purpose in sending us Jesus; to help us move forward and is not that an occasion for expressing and feeling JOY?

 

Let us joyfully move forwards in our journey together, knowing and believing that God has more in store for us and that it is good!

 

AMEN                       Rev. Alan Stewart