A Sermon – Rev. Whitney Bruno – December 4, 2022 – Isaiah 11:1-10 ; Matthew 3: 1-12
Listen or watch this service here
Doesn’t it seem really strange to have John’s reading here in the middle of us revving up to Christmas? Sure, it is part of the story of Jesus appearing on scene… but it has nothing to do with babies, or mangers, or God coming in the flesh. It seems… way more appropriate for lent.
I told my spouse this week that I didn’t know how to turn John into good news. In seminary, they taught us to read the scripture and ask where is God, what is God doing, and what is God’s good news? What is God’s good news through John calling people vipers and snakes? I said to my spouse, “John reminds me of a street preacher throwing insults and damnation at everyone who passes.” Both of them seem to be demanding people follow the faith how they interpret it. I was recalling a particular street preacher near my college who liked to scream at me in a megaphone every morning that I was a whore for wearing pants instead of dresses. “Repent!” He’d yell. “Repent and be saved!” And what is John preaching? Repent! Repent and be saved!
Without missing a beat, my spouse showed me this video.
(Strange animal mouth going up and down on a glass window.)
Our daughter asked, “What is that?”
“It’s John the Baptist.” My spouse replied.
I’ve been laughing ever since. That’s actually a manatee.
And that’s John. A huge mouth. His huge mouth eventually gets him killed. But it also gets him in the history books of the ancient world via Josephus, and in the Bible, and in the Quran. He also shows up in several other faiths including a faith called Mandaean who call themselves John’s original followers who didn’t leave for Jesus, and who see him as God’s final prophet to humanity. John is important.
But he’s not… sparkly joy and Christmas cheer.
Then, of course, this season we’re in is not technically Christmas by the church calendar. It is advent. 1500 some years ago, monks fasted on the Sundays of Advent to prepare themselves for Christmas. This rose and fell out of fashion over time. In the middle of the dark ages of Europe, people found themselves not in a holly jolly spirit in the middle of winter. While we have lost roughly 1 in every 1200 people alive to covid, they lost roughly 1 in every 4 people to the bubonic plague. We have shortages in our supply chains, we have inflation, we have political and global chaos and anger and fear. Imagine how much more they had. Plenty of people believed they were in the last years of human generations. We face that now with climate change. Anxiety. Longing. Then and now we can feel the anxiety and longing of our ancient Israelite faith ancestors in scripture. Then and now we understand why we tell one another keep hope, look East, seek the dawn, search a light, hold a candle up, tend the sacred fires within and don’t let your hope, joy, peace and love be snuffed out.
In the 1300s, advent took on the theme of sorrow, repentance, longing, and preparing for a new world. Much like Lent still has today. So we have plaintive songs like O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. Like: A Voice Cries Out. Like: Come Thou Long Expected Jesus. The themes in John’s preaching.
Advent is a Latin word meaning “to come.” The advent of a new day means the coming of a new day. This is the advent of Jesus. The coming of Jesus. How do you prepare for such a special arrival?
Well, we prepare for special guests today by getting the house in order. By taking a shower or freshening up with a wash cloth. We prepare special food, go to extra measures for perfection, and the anticipation builds.
In the same manner, Advent was pictured as a time to get our spiritual house in order. To have baptisms, to repent and seek reconciliation; a time to fast; a time to pray and build up anticipation.
You may remember from your childhood, or your parents’ or grandparents, that Santa used to bring the Christmas tree. It arrived overnight on the 24th into the 25th! Or maybe your family set it up on Christmas eve, as has been done for centuries. Either way – this time of Advent could not be mistaken for Christmas time. No decorations. No trees. No presents. Nothing to make the season bright.
All of that brightness began at the stroke of midnight on Christmas eve.
Today, Christmas time sort of begins on the first of December or four Sundays before Christmas and it *ends* on Christmas day. The day after Christmas stores are taking down their décor. Trees come down. In the church we have to explain again and again why we’re “still!” singing Christmas music after Christmas Day. And the reason is 700 years ago, or even a few generations ago, Christmas didn’t start until Christmas Day.
Our experience of the season is flipped. We expect a big finale of Christmas Day versus a giant opening of Christmas Day and then winding down from that. Our cultures have changed. And that’s not wrong or bad.
But it means we have readings like John today that just are jarring! Repent! Vipers! Fire! Damnation! The end is near!
Well, yes and no. The end of the shortening of days is near. The end of feeling hopeless. The end of the season that can be very lonely for some. The end of the frantic preparations for others. The end of wondering and longing for some new day, some new dawn, some new hope in the middle of hopelessness.
The end of the world? No. The end of sin present in the world? No.
But the end of feeling we’re facing this life alone. We are not. We are not alone. God is with us. Emmanuel.
And that is good news.
Our Jewish siblings speak of the time Elijah will return. Elijah, as you know, didn’t die but was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire. He is prophesized to return to announce the messiah – the promised savior of God who will restore all things to how they ought to be. To this day, some Jewish people open the door in their Seder dinners to welcome Elijah in and leave an open seat for him at the table, or in their synagogues. For any moment, he could come wandering in openly or in the guise of a stranger!
Many people asked John if he were Elijah. In some of the scriptures, he says no. In some, Jesus says John is Elijah. In some, Jesus says John has the spirit of Elijah, or acts like Elijah. In our reading today Matthew wants to be sure we have no question that John is Elijah returned. He has John wearing the same clothes as Elijah, eating the same things, doing the same things, and preparing the way for the coming, the advent, of the messiah.
That is also good news. The messiah is coming. The one to bring about the peaceful time Isaiah predicted; and the just time Mary sings; and the wholeness we all long for.
As Elijah left and is to return, for our Jewish siblings. We Christians know Jesus left, and is to return. Together we siblings, year after year, keep the fire of our souls alive. Keep the stories alive. Keep the hope alive. Together we know God is doing a new thing and we are part of it. We know the world isn’t how it ought to be, but that it’s not always going to be like this. We can repent. We can stop the evil we are doing and turn from it. We can restore relationships, restore land, restore the world. We are not alone.
God is with us.
What good, good news… for humans and manatees alike. Amen.
Pastor Whitney Bruno Sermons 