Faith and Hope - Advent 3

Advent 3 - Faith and Hope Today our scripture reading focuses on John the Baptist and his words in the Gospel of John. It's an examination of faith and hope and shows us a much different view of John than we examined last week. As a little gospel background information, John's gospel account is much different than the first three gospels. John Calvin said it this way: "The four Gospels all had the same purpose: to point out Christ. The first three Gospels show his body, so to speak, but John shows his soul. For this reason, I usually say that this Gospel is a key to understanding the rest; for whoever understands the power of Christ strikingly pictured here will then profit by reading what the others tell about the Redeemer who appeared." John Calvin The main character in today's scripture is a man sent from God whose name is John. He is not John the Baptist (as in Matthew), John the baptizer (as in Mark), or John the son of Zechariah (as in Luke). He is just plain John, who humbly doesn't say much when the religious authorities come to question him. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. Now this was John's testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, "I am not the Messiah." They asked him, "Then who are you? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" He answered, "No." Finally they said, "Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.'" Now the Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" "I baptize with water," John replied, "but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie." This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing. John 1: 6-8, 19-28 These religious leaders want to know who this noisy man is, this man who will not shut up about the light he saw fall to earth, who is baptizing people to help them see the same light, although he has no license to do this, from them or anyone else. They want him to say who he is, but all John will say is who he is not. He is not the Messiah. He is not a prophet When the authorities press John to say something about himself, he will not even choose his own words. Instead, he paraphrases the prophet Isaiah. "I am the voice," he says. He is neither the light nor the Word. He exists to testify to the one who is those things. His being is for the sole purpose of bearing witness to the one whom he is not. This week let's spend some time thinking about the ways in which faith and hope can cancel each other out this time of year. Faith, by definition, is radical trust in what God is doing, even when the divine mode of operation is far from clear. Even in the wilderness, even without a proper title for himself or a proper name for the coming One, John the Voice goes on testifying to the light. Hope, on the other hand, can easily assume the dimensions of individual and corporate wants. I hope for a white Christmas, a closer relationship with Jesus, a God who makes sense, the elimination of COVID. While there is nothing wrong with any of these hopes, they still carry considerable cargo, suggesting that I know not only what my community and I need from God, but also how God might best come to us. The only hope that belongs on this Messiah table is the bare hope of God's arrival, sweeping all clutter away. * God of hope, you call us home from the exile of selfish oppression to the freedom of justice, the balm of healing, and the joy of sharing. Make us strong to join you in your holy work, as friends of strangers and victims, companions of those whom others shun, and as the happiness of those whose hearts are broken. We make our prayer through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.