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Isaiah 35:1-10, James 5:7-10, Matthew 11:2-11
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, West Valley City, UT
The Rev'd W. Lee Shaw
We reach Rose Sunday, the midpoint of Advent. The tone of our
Scriptures shifts from prepare to look. Look at what
God is doing, has done, in your life. Isaiah points to it in his
vision of the kingdom of God, "The dry land shall be glad, the
desert shall rejoice and blossom.” Isaiah is looking to the
future, the future reign of God for Israel. Isaiah talks about
the highway of God, the Holy Way for it shall be for
God’s people; no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.
What a wonderful promise of the future for those of us who are
geographically challenged and map impaired.
Today we heard a rendition of the Magnificat, the Song of Mary, one of the most sublime texts in all of Scripture. This is one of my favorite passages of scripture, especially as rendered in our Prayer Book as this Canticle. Throughout this song, Mary recounts the mighty acts of God for her and for all. Look, see what God is doing for all of us is what Mary is saying.
James is his practical self. (I have often felt that St. James should be the patron saint of Jr. Wardens.) James also points to the future. He talks of the faith of the farmer who plants the seed and waits patiently on the harvest. His counsel is for us to also wait patiently on the Lord. Wait patiently on the Lord. James’ counsel is to wait patiently, but also to do so in a positive way. Do not “grumble against one another.” We really need to hear his words today in our world and in our church. Do not grumble against one another.
Then there is our Gospel reading, a reading of seemingly some doubt
and hesitancy on the part of John the Baptist. He sends disciples
to Jesus: Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for
another?
This from the man who baptized Jesus in the Jordan and
proclaimed him the lamb of God. If a person of the stature of John
the Baptist can have his second thoughts, cannot we have ours?
But hear our Lord’s response, he notes all that is happening:
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. And blessed is anyone who takes no
offense at me.
Look at what is happening, what I am doing.
Believe in me and my works Jesus says. Look around you.
Jesus could just as well taken another just as realistic approach and said to his cousin: Listen, John, things are not going so well. My family has pretty much rejected me, people do not believe me, I have had followers leave me for what I have said, people keep asking for signs and then not believing them. I think one of my disciples may betray me. John, things don’t look that good. Sorry about that. Jesus. Ps. I hear Herod is planning a party, maybe he will release you as part of the festivities. Let’s get together for a glass of wine when you get out of jail.
But Jesus sees the present reality and then looks forward. See what God has done and is doing. The arc of the message of God is always moving forward. God does not look backwards. God deals in the present with us and points us to the future with him. God continually points us to the reign of God, the both/and: both now and in the future.
Our past, our tradition, is very important to us. It gives us our grounding and provides the background for our present. But we do not live in the past. Jesus calls us to live in our present and to look forward to the reign of God now and in the future. God is coming at an unexpected hour, therefore keep awake. Do not look to those in the past for your salvation; God is the God of the living, of you. Pay attention to you and to your life. God can even raise up stones to be heirs of Abraham as we heard last week. You and your life are important today.
The message of God is always forward pointing. Look to where I am calling you to be. Look to what I am calling you to be.
Our tradition, our past, is important absolutely. It informs us of our heritage as it gives us a grounding for our present life. In so many ways we live and move and have our being in our tradition as God calls us into the reality of present and the promise of our future. That is true for every generation. The world of Jacob/Israel was different for him than that of his grandfather Abraham, yet he honored Abraham and his past.
Some would say God has nothing new to say to us. I firmly believe the Holy Spirit is continually blowing through us, bringing us to new awareness of God’s grace in our lives.
The most controversial change in our church was terribly disruptive and cantankerous. It brought the key leaders of the church toe to toe in angry, verbal debate. Yet, the church at our first council in Jerusalem heeded the promptings of the Holy Spirit: Gentiles, non-Jews, could become Christians without circumscion, without becoming Jews first. This was perhaps the greatest leap the church has taken and it did so in the first century of her existence. God called them to a new reality with one another. God called them to look around.
Our tradition informs, enriches, and enhances our present, absolutely, as we live and move and have our being in God. I value and love our tradition as much as anyone, and I know God calls you and me to live in the present, informed and nourished by tradition, and moving into the future reign of God in our lives and the life of the world. For me, such is the message of Advent. Look at what God continues to do in your life! Look. See. We have good news brought to us. We have only to look and in looking to see.