St. Andrew’s Pictou, ADVENT II December 4^th 2005 Holy Communion

 

Confronting Images

 

Isaiah 40:1-11

Mark 1:1-8

 

There is a phrase that people use that I have a problem understanding. Someone will accomplish something and people will cheer that this is an example of “the triumph of the human spirit.”

 

Maybe someone will persevere and accomplish a great thing in spite of a physical handicap, in spite of hardship, social put downs, prejudice, adversity, they will have accomplished a goal and someone will say that this is an example of the triumph of the human spirit.

 

The triumphs of the human spirit are always touted as good things: a wheelchair athlete gets a gold medal.

 

But what do we call it when people, under great hardship achieve bad things?

 

Let’s say four robbers conspire and against tremendous odds, evading police and sophisticated security devices and rob a bank of millions of dollars of other people’s money and get away with it. Why do we not call that event a triumph of the human spirit?

 

The police have what they call, “cold case files.” These are usually terrible crimes that some evil person has committed and decades later, are still unsolved. Why do we not say that that criminal has achieved a triumph of the human spirit? In spite of massive efforts to the contrary, they got away with it. Are they not human beings who triumphed?

 

There are two confronting images here: we call humans doing good things as examples of  triumphs of the human spirit, and… humans doing bad things, we don’t…, even though they are both examples of human beings who triumph!

 

When Adolph Hitler ruled all of mainland Europe and had achieved phenomenal greatness, we didn’t call his triumph an example of the triumph of the human spirit, we called it “evil.”

 

So my point is that when human beings achieve something great, some we call examples of the triumph of the human spirit and some… we don’t. It is obvious that we call the good things as triumph, and we either ignore the bad human triumphs that humans achieve, overlook them, or call them “evil.”

 

So the question is, “What is the human spirit?” If human beings do both very bad things and very good things, then which one of them is human? Is the human spirit to be good or to be evil, or both?

 

We are left with the confronting, opposing images and are still left with the reality that human beings do both good and bad things.

 

On the other hand, the reading that we have today from Isaiah is a litany about “the spirit of God.”

 

Earlier in history the Babylonians had come into Judah; the Jewish state, destroyed it, slaughtered the people and took many of them into exile in Babylon, and in this passage, we see the people returning home, and tasting freedom after a long and depressing exile.

 

After longing and hoping for years that they might return home, we open with the word, “Comfort.” God comforts his people; a double imperative that emphasizes both compassion and urgency. The phrase, “My people” evokes the covenantal relationship between God and his people.

 

Handle’s Messiah is probably one of the most successful works of music ever written. For over 250 years it fills every concert hall and church when it is performed. Great choirs, mediocre choirs, it doesn’t matter; people are drawn to this most wonderful conveyance of the spirit of the eternal God. And what is the first word, sung in this masterpiece? “Comfort.” The tenor soloist begins with, “Comfort. Comfort ye my people says your God.”

 

This passage in Isaiah speaks to God’s eternal message that what Spirit of God wants is only our faithfulness, our friendship, our connection, and gives comfort in return. The Spirit of God only wants to be connected with us. God only wants to be in communion with us.

 

God desires comfort for us: the valleys will be lifted up and the hills and mountains made low; the uneven ground will be made level and the rough places plain.

 

What does God say about the human spirit here: as beautiful as it may be, like the flowers, as rich and green as the grass may be, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever.”

 

We are to shout from the high places about the glory of God:

“He will feed his flock like a shepherd;

He will gather the lambs in his arms,

And carry them in his bosom,

And gently lead the nursing sheep.”

 

So this passage leads us along a path of confronting images: all the way from the pain and depression of exile, to the images of comfort and compassion of God.

 

With any image we might have about a coming Messiah, a King, of Royalty, of pomp and circumstance, we would not be ready for the herald of our Messiah: here we have John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus:

“Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.”

 

Two contrasting images confront us: We have what looks like a low class messenger announcing a high class king.

 

We might have expected a golden gilded herald trumpeting a blast from the ramparts of the castle with a dictate about what was to be, but we didn’t get that.

 

In contrast, for a sin sick world, we have John in his camel’s hair cloak and his preaching: “John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

 

And that kind of contrast, that is to say, “confronting images” were to mark Jesus’ reign:

-a king who came to a an anonymous young couple in the humblest of surroundings, whose crib was an animal’s manger,

-a king who came in vulnerability and with threat of death from King Herod, instead of power,

-a king who came to serve; who washed his disciple’s feet,

-one who touched the untouchable and healed them,

-one who forgave instead of condemning,

-one how loved instead of hating,

-instead of exercising power over us, he was the one who gave his power to you and to me to love and heal our world.

 

Jesus Christ came to us with God’s message of love and healing for our world, yet was betrayed and murdered in collusion with civil and religious authorities. We are always looking at confronting images of Jesus and his life and world.

 

When we partake of the sacrament of Holy Communion, all the confronting images are resolved into a sacramental spiritually nourishing meal: the simplicity of the bread and wine of life, freely given to all who believe us, no matter who we are.

 

All the confronting images of life and faith are resolved in Holy Communion: pain and agony are transformed into forgiveness, grace and mercy. This sacrament blesses us all in that Spirit of Christ which transcends and heals, in spite of all: the bottom line is that our response is only to love, to forgive and then, to love again.

 

AMEN                 Rev. Alan Stewart