2023 12 17 Advent 3 B
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 •
Psalm 126 • 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 •
John 1:6-8, 19-28
“Rejoice,
and again I say Rejoice” is the traditional antiphon of the 3rd week
in advent. We might greet our Children
with a similar sentiment, “How exciting!
It is nearly Christmas! Rejoice!” And we may have visions of various
gatherings and celebrations, however the setting for these words of Saint Paul,
were very different.
The
background information on this letter to the Thessalonians informs us that they
had been grieving the death of a church member.
St. Paul addresses this earlier in his letter and then he exhorts them; “Rejoice
ALWAYS”. Now this seemingly insensitive
statement is not what I would ever recommend in similar circumstances, however,
St. Paul has a unique relationship with these people, who know the trials that
St. Paul has also been through. Saint
Paul had been stoned, whipped and thrown in prison…. More than once. Yet this is the man who says, “Rejoice
always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the
will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
This
verse, “Rejoice, Always”, and some other similar “Christian” exhortations have
been used in the past almost like a Pollyanna type Christianity that denies any
negative emotion. That is not what
Saint Paul is encouraging. For those who
are unacquainted with “Pollyanna”, “Pollyanna” is the old movie featuring a
young girl who always found something to be glad about. A great attribute to encourage, but sometimes
this unending positivity can be like salt on the wounds of those who are
hurting… and we remember the lamenting and desperate crying out to God in the
Psalms and from the prophets.
Saint
Paul’s exhortation to the people to rejoice always, and to give thanks in all
circumstances is, however, reminiscent of Job who, after loosing everything,
refused to curse God and die – but instead says, “Though He slay me, yet will I
wait for and trust in Him;”. We submit
our lives to God even though we are hurting, because we know He loves us. Our act of praise is a step of faith and
trust in God’s bigger and better plan. This
praise is a break through in the spiritual realm, where we prove our allegiance
to God…. And it causes demons to flee.
You
might have already noticed that there is a link between the season of Lent and
Advent. We use purple for both. Both are a time when we reflect, and we put
special effort into turning to God and getting our lives to line up with the
values of the Gospel. The penitent aspect
has traditionally been part of Advent, and we see this reflected in our
readings calling us to Repent and PREPARE.
Over the years, we seem to have put more emphasis on the joyful
expectation as we prepare for Christmas, but perhaps ironically, on this
Sunday of Joy, we rejoice in the gift and promises of God against a back drop
of suffering. This is not a
“Pollyanna” joy, but a deeper act of faith – a sacrifice of praise that we
offer to God, regardless of the darkness in our world.
Last
week, I was asked to pray for the youth in this Christmas period. We have an ever-increasing problem with youth
crime and the request was motivated by a desire to intervene for those youth
facing the temptation to make wrong choices which could set them on a path to
destruction.
I
reflected afterwards that these are the kinds of things that we need to be
doing during our “Purple” advent time, praying for the concerns of our
community and being involved in actions where appropriate. We also have a growing population of
homeless. I shared last week that a
friend has a daughter who turned 14 a couple of weeks ago. A week after she turned 14 she ran away from
home to be with her 16 year old boyfriend.
My friend was totally devastated but can not legally do a thing. Please keep them all in your prayers. She is one of three of my close friends with
very similar stories… these things are happening all the time and I ask you to
pray. And perhaps pray without ceasing. These are dark times.
I
know that God is wanting us to pray about our community’s issues– in the
least. And praying leads to caring and
caring leads to action and action leads to change… In our praying, we praise God and we
rejoice. Why? Because when we rejoice in the face of
hardships, we are making that statement of faith which declares the victory. In this, we declare that we trust in God and
we have faith that God will have the victory.
We thank God for his answers to our prayers because we trust in His Love
and care for us and for the things that concern us. We pray with Joy that God has given us a part
to play in caring for the people he loves.
We
need to be involved in the issues that are faced by our community, not just
because we suspect that Jesus cares about them too…. We KNOW that he does – but
the ministry of Jesus on earth has been left to his body on earth – and we are
that body of Christ.
One
of my favourite readings is the one we find in our 1st reading from
Isaiah; “The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has
anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind
up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the
prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance
of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to provide for those who mourn in Zion”. This is a scripture that is repeated in the
Gospel of Luke, where we are told that Jesus read this passage from Isaiah,
then sat down and said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” This was the ministry of Jesus and because we
are the body of Christ, this is our ministry also.
Social
Justice is a major part of the Christian church. However, more than that, Social Justice
should be a major concern for every Christian.
There are so many people today, who need to have the message of Good
News proclaimed to them. There are so
many who need their broken hearts healed and so many oppressed, who need to
know that God, through us, brings them love and freedom.
Now
all this is easy to say, but what does it actually look like in our own
experience? The Anglican community has
articulated the five Marks of Mission.
These are: To proclaim the Good
News of the Kingdom; To teach, baptise and nurture new believers; To respond to
human need by loving service; To seek to transform unjust structures of
society, to challenge violence of every kind and to pursue peace and
reconciliation; To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain
and renew the life of the earth.
Unfortunately,
even in the church we can disagree over just what these social justice issues
are, and so our voice is divided and loses power. What I would like us to consider is, which is
the voice least heard?
Doctor
Sues wrote a book called, “Horton Hears a Who”.
The plot of the story is that the whole world of the who’s was built on
a dandelion seed. The world of the who’s
somehow came unattached and adrift. One Whoville
scientist built a machine to cry out for help, in the hope that someone out
there would hear and save them. It just
so happened that Horton was a huge elephant with huge ears, and he heard the
cry for help and acted. Unfortunately
for Horton, no one in his world believed him.
They thought he was crazy and treated him like a mental case and tried
to imprison him… they took the dandelion seed to destroy it.
To
me this is speaks so clearly as a parable of many issues where the weak and
vulnerable have no voice. The powers in
control call the shots and have the rest of those who would like to stand up
for the vulnerable, walking on eggshells for fear of facing their own
persecution. Would it change our
perspective in standing up and speaking for the vulnerable if we lived in the
reality of the imminent return of Christ?
John
was a man, sent by God. John’s very life
was a miracle. His mother was yet
another of the many significant barren women in the Bible. An Angel appeared to John’s father, Zechariah
to announce that his wife, Elizabeth, would bare a son, and he should be called
John. John mean’s “God’s Grace.” – Very
significant!
God’s
chosen messenger was John. John
proclaimed a message from God and people responded. To put this into perspective; remember that
the last book of the Old Testament was 400 years before the ministry of
John. For 400 years there had been no
“Word of the Lord”. There was no prophet
and there was no revival. The people of
God continued to go through the motions of the traditions of the Law of
God. Did they still believe that the
Messiah would come? The messiah had been
promised for at least 4000 years. In
that time there were prophets and there were miraculous interactions from God…
then 400 years of silence.
John
appeared and proclaimed, “Repent for the Kingdom of God is near”. He describes himself as the voice prophesied
about in the book of Isaiah,… a voice in
the wilderness that cries, “prepare the way of the Lord”. The
Israelite nation was under Roman control at the time of John. In the light of hardship and friction in the
nation, John calls the people to repent and be baptised… the Kingdom of God is
near.” I imagine that there were plenty
who said, “sure… I’ll believe it when I see it”. However, this voice of one crying out in the
wilderness brought a sense of expectation and joy in the midst of the
darkness.
There
is friction in our world now. And we are
called to be a voice crying out, “repent for the Kingdom of God is near”, but there
will be more than a few who will say, “sure, I will believe it when I see
it.” BUT, the Kingdom of God IS
near. The Kingdom is part of who you and
I are, as we have the Holy Spirit of God in us… and that Holy Spirit is upon
us… anointing us to proclaim Good News to the oppressed etc.. and the year of
the Lord’s favour.
The
year of the Lord’s favour is a
reference to the Old Testament “Year of Jubilee” which was celebrated every 50
years. It was a prophetic ritual foreshadowing its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. At this time, land was returned to family
clans, debts were cancelled and slaves were set free. The fulfillment of the prophecy was when Jesus
came and paid the price for our sins and cancelled the debt that was owing for sin
in turning away from God. It is the year
of God’s favour or Grace – John… “God’s Grace” – God’s undeserved favour.
The
ministry of Jesus, was to set PEOPLE free.
People need to know the message of God and of God’s care… God’s love and
God’s grace. They hear this and they
experience this through us. The world is
dark with the rising cost of living, homelessness, war… depravity… confusion and rebellion. So much brokenness.
We
don’t light the candle of joy lightly.
We light it as a statement of faith.
We know that Christ has already defeated death. He has paid the one sufficient sacrifice for
the sins of the world. Fully aware of
the darkness in our world, we claim the joy that we have in the complete and
finished work of Christ and the love of our God. It is a sign to the powers and principalities
that we trust in God. There is a power
in praising God that breaks through the chains that bind us… and we are truly
set free. Rejoice, and again I say
Rejoice!
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