Advent 2A - 12/4/2022

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’ ” Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

sound of possibilities - axe

Death and rebirth - a normal cycle of nature. So it is with societies, communities, empires…nothing lasts forever

Peacable kingdom - requires cooperation from both sides - predator to stop attacking and prey to trust and also not to retribute

Prophesizing - it is rarely pleasant - as I said in confirmation - you wouldn’t become popular any time soon -> it is an important service, nonetheless

John the Baptizer was preparing the way for Jesus - we too are, in some way, in that role and not everything we may say is pleasant.

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Good morning!

And happy second week of Advent - isn’t the time flying? Our Gospel reading is a fun one - so evocative, full of dialogue, and descriptions! John the Baptizer was an interesting fella just like many prophets and the messengers of the Lord have been. Last week in confirmation, we talked about the Hebrew Bible and noted that prophets and books about them were a big part of the canon, so many books to keep track of. Pastor Linnea devised a game, where you have to recognize whether the name is a Pokemon or a prophetical book. It was a fun game, after all…Malachi, for example, could easily be a dragon’s name! And two other facts were mentioned - firstly, that prophets mostly dealt with the present and perhaps some near future and then a little bit of far off future, unlike the popular culture’s portrayal of prophecy. And secondly that prophets usually weren’t very popular in what we call “Biblical times” - they often spoke of repentance, called out the depravity and godlessness of society, and in general said the truth people definitely did not want to hear. In short, they could say goodbye to that popular citizen of the year award, for sure!

And John the Baptizer is not much different - sure, people are coming to him, but I wonder if people are a bit resentful of John and his message - kinda when you get that registration renewal and emission test notice and you go do it, because it is the right thing to do, but you don’t really enjoy it.... The ritual cleansing of an individual for the forgiveness of sins wasn’t new within Judaism and the region in general, but it goes to say that all those people sought out someone with authority to do so…despite his rough language and hermit chic appearance. Times weren’t really all that great for the rural folk under the Roman empires’ rule, so I am sure they appreciated any hope they can get!

But John The Baptizer is like towards the Pharisees and Sadducees - hold up, hold up! This ain’t a car wash for your sins! It’s not like that - that you would come in, get a scrub and a shine, and off you go without a worry in the world! Oh no,nonono…(wag a finger), it’s more complicated than that! I would assume he singled them out, because unlike the other folk, maybe they thought - hey, we don’t really need it, we have Abraham, but let’s go for this John’s baptism anyway, seems like the hip thing to do and we don’t want to miss out on that! So we might understand that John got a little bit extra spicy there.

Folks, he said, you gotta bear the good fruit worthy of repentance! Don’t think you get all this care and then just let it fizzle it out - that is not God’s will! God IS interested in a return of investment. And if there is not one, God will start over with someone else, which is where our Hebrew Bible reading comes handy - out of a stump, you may get a lot of shoots, life bursting once more from what may be assumed dead, new beginnings at the site of an end. Just like much of nature - death and rebirth, over and over again, as long as there is something to be reborn! Again and again, we come back to trees because they are a big wonder of creation - they communicate with each other, warn each other of dangers, and also share nutrients through their roots! A forest is a caring and supportive community, and I think we have much to learn from them. As Peter Wohlleben says in his book The Hidden Life of Trees : “forests matter at a more fundamental level than most of us realize.”

But I digress a little. Just as Paul stresses over and over again - we are all important to God, but we are also a part of the whole Kingdom of God work. Not one person can do it all and nor should they try. The existence of families, communities, cities, villages, regions… is cyclical - it has a beginning somewhere, typically supported by a stump (an existing nurturing structure) of some sorts, grows, sometimes for a short or long time, bears its fruit (hopefully) and then eventually dies. What I think we sometimes forget, because we are so separated from the natural cycles of nature, is that such death, such an end, may once more become a stump for new shoots of families, communities, cities, villages, regions - a launching pad, an undergrowth, a canvas on which something new may grow! While we may not agree with the Eastern idea of reincarnation as what happens to an individual when they die as it makes it incompatible with our faith in bodily resurrection and coming life in the Kingdom of God, I think we can appreciate how it is rooted in the natural cycle of nature. An end can be a beginning....and that one will eventually become an end that may result in another beginning…and so on and so forth!

So how is it relevant to us this Advent season in expectation of Christmas, the celebration of our Lord’s birth? I think it comes down what is expected of us this season and any season really. In a world of immense fear and never ending competition for resources, we are called to hope and generosity. Granted, very few are called to what John The Baptizer did - it comes with great responsibility and also temptation. I have seen my share of loud preachers and prophets that ended up shouting their agenda, their religious disdain for the world disguised as the gospel - misrepresenting God that allegedly condemns diverse expressions of love and sexuality, supports exclusionary immigration policies that put people in cages, somehow “blesses” invasions of other countries, or doesn’t care about the greedy destruction of God’s own creation....and thus further fueling fear and the mentality of scarcity.

We are awaiting the Messiah - in our liturgical year we are counting down towards Christmas and in our lives we are waiting for Christ’s second appearance among us bodily in the world. That gives us hope beyond the fear and nihilism of this world - after the cultural and commercial part of Christmas is over on the 25th, it’s not like there is only the partying on New Years Eve to look forward to - we continue our celebrations beyond that. In Christmastide and well into the rest of the year. In that we are living into the cyclical nature of our existence - the high point of Christmas to the low-point of Good Friday and back again. Birth-death-resurrection.

I believe that the cultural Christmas/Winter holiday season is for everybody - it is about immense love and bottomless generosity out of this world, whether one believes it ultimately comes from God or not. God shares this generosity and love without condition. However, to tie it to the hope and justice beyond this world, a hope for existence beyond the greed, fear, and hate of this world, the coming Kingdom of God, for that God entrusted the church in many forms to point to that by telling and living the story of Jesus Christ that came to this world, so that we know what God really wants for us - for us all to bear spiritual fruit that points to the coming Kingdom. A world, where people are not put into cages, are accepted in their diversity, bombs and weapons are no longer prematurely ending people’s lives, and one’s happiness and prosperity is not built on destruction of the planet. A wolf shall dwell with the lamb… Amen.

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