Opening December 8
In our gospel for today, what a strange figure John the Baptist must have
presented. He appeared in the wilderness. He was dressed in camel hair with a
leather belt around his waist. He lived on locusts and wild honey. His dress
reminds us of Elijah, who is described in 2 Kings 1:8. Elijah, the prophet who was
taken into heaven in a chariot without dying, was long expected to be the one to
return to pronounce judgement as well as to inaugurate the new age. The Old
testament ends with this saying, (read Malachi 4: 4-6). John is clearly this Elijah.
Jesus explicitly identifies John with Elijah in Matt. 11:14. The jubilee year, the
restoration of land and people outlined in Lev. 25 and interpreted by Isaiah 61, the
long- awaited overturning of injustice that John said was coming-all these Jesus
claims are accomplished in his ministry. John is found in the wilderness eating
food that can John’s sermon, “only be gathered. John, as Elijah, recapitulates the
wilderness wanderings that Israel experienced after its exodus from Egypt. Israel’s
experience in the wilderness was at once a punishment for its abandonment as
well as a place for its formation. In the wilderness Israel learned to be without
possessions so that it might be led by God’s fiery cloud as well as to live on food
that came only as a gift. In Amos 2:10-11 God reminds his people (read Amos)
“repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near,” is not as obscure as it may appear.

So, what would it have meant for John to call for repentance? Our temptation is to
think of repentance in individual terms, but John is a prophet of Israel. He
represents God’s decisive action on behalf of Israel to save Israel from its failure
to live as God’s people. That John baptizes in the Jordan is a reminder of Israel’s
baptism in Exodus by Moses’s parting of the waters. Israel had to face death as it
walked across the dry land between the walls of water. John’s baptism calls Israel
again to face death that it might live.
Finally, John was not offering a better way to live, though a better way to live was
entailed by the kingdom that he proclaimed was near. But it is the proclamation of
the “kingdom of heaven” that creates the urgency of John’s ministry. Such a
kingdom does not come through our trying to be better people. Rather, the
kingdom comes, making imperative our repentance. John’s call for Israel to repent
is not a prophetic call for those who repent to change the world, but rather he calls
for repentance because the world is being and will be changed by the one whom
John knows is to come.

December 8, 2019 Sermon
Today is the second Sunday of the advent season. We have yet caught site
of the pregnant Virgin Mary, or the dazed and confused Joseph. We have
yet to see angels. It’s seems surly we would have arrived at the gates of
Bethlehem by now. Yet our readings have yet to give us any of those
familiar advent events.

Instead, we get guesses, predictions of prophet and poet. Prophets staring
into a distant future their eyes would never see. The visions of Isaiah and
the psalmist, the visions as abstract as they are thrilling, as they are
hopeful, speak of the world as it might be.

But not only that they speak of the Messiah, long promised, long expected,
who will finally make the dream a reality.

The prophet Isaiah dreams of a peaceable kingdom, a kingdom where the
wolf snuggles with the lamb, and lions with goats. He dreams of world
where children no longer need to fear the serpents bite. He dreams of a
world as Eden, a return to creation, before things went bad, when creation
lived in harmony, when peace reigned. Before the forbidden fruit, before
Cain killed Able, before violence came and blood soaked the ground. That
is the dream, the world as it might be, as it might be again.

But that world in Isaiah’s vision can only come with the Messiah. And so,
he also dreams of a Messiah. The vision of the Messiah starts beautifully
strong, he would bond with the meek, he will love and support the poor.

That sounds good. But then things get confusing.

Because that same Messiah starts breathing fire. And that beautiful,
peaceful vision goes up in smoke. “With the breath of his lips, he shall kill
the wicked.”

Mostly hopeful, thrilling, if not exactly peaceful. The psalmist takes the
same path, “he shall usher in peace, but crush his oppressors. Probably all
that crushing will disturb the peace.

And then we come to John the Baptist. He doesn’t say much about peace.
Not accused of being subtle, not known for his sunny disposition, John lays
out his own vision of the future. And it is chalked full of wrath. He also
describes his vision of the coming messiah. The messiah will baptize with
the Holy Spirit. That’s sounds good. And also, that messiah is carrying a
winnowing fork in his hand, and if you are curious, a winnowing fork looks
like a giant Freddie Kruger hand. And with this fork he will clear the
threshing floor before he sets it ablaze, with unquenchable fire. So again,
something of a mixed bag.

We have yet to see the Virgin Mary, we have yet to see the gentle Joseph,
the angels have not yet made an appearance. But what we do see is an
unsettling vision of the coming messiah. Are we expected to be excited or afraid?

For centuries the prophets of old have waited for the messiah to come.

They waited and waited and waited. And the expectations grew. They
waited for a king, they waited for a warrior. They waited for a messiah who
breathed fire, who crushed oppressors, who carried the winnowing fork.

And then he came, the messiah, but he did not meet the expectations. The
prophet Isaiah imagines that when the messiah arrives, the people will no
longer hurt or destroy. He imagines peace on the hills of Jerusalem.

But the messiah came, and the people hurt him, the people destroyed him.
And instead of peace on the hills, there stood on the hill an old rugged
cross. The cross that held the long-awaited messiah.

The psalmist says that when the messiah arrives, he will rule the people,
and crush the oppressors. But the people were not interested in his rule.

Once upon a time they thought he might make a suitable king, he was good
at bread production. They saw potential. But then the bread dried, and he
offered them his body instead. And they realized he was not at all what
they were looking for, not what they wanted. They wanted someone who
would either make them rich or make them safe, and he would do neither.
The people walked away, and the oppressors crushed him.

And John the Baptist imagines that when the messiah arrives, he will finally
usher in the coming judgement. He will separate the good from the bad and
punish those in the bad pile. But Jesus did not make separate piles, instead
he prayed that they might all be one. And the only fire that came was the
fire of Pentecost, it was unquenchable, but no one was burnt. And instead
of punishing the bad folks, Jesus ate with them. He invited some of them to
be his disciples, and he forgave them from the cross.

John was so confused, he sent some of his followers to ask, “are you the
messiah, or should we be waiting for someone else?” For centuries faithful
people had been waiting for the messiah to come, to conquer. The first time
he came he did not meet the expectations.

So perhaps the second time, maybe the second time he comes he will
meet our expectations and be the powerful ruler we need, or at least we
want. Faithful people are still searching the skies for this divine conqueror.
We are still waiting for the messiah with blade in hand, fire in hand, smoke
in nostrils, and violence in his eyes. We are waiting for the messiah who
will destroy our enemies. Jesus said, “Love your enemies, pray for those
who persecute you.”

The first time the messiah came, he came wrapped in baby soft skin. No
sword, no fire, no violence, not what we expected. Now we await his
second coming.

God willing, he will fail to meet our expectations again.