WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
December 16th 2007
Third Sunday in Advent
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“Go and Tell”
Isaiah 35: 1-10, Matthew 11:2-14
Hope is dangerous… And hope that knows the current arrangement of the world is, in the words of Daniel Berrigan, a mirage, is the most dangerous of all. Isaiah speaks the powerful vision-message of God with beautiful poetic imagery. He tells us that the jackals and lions and beast of the world have done a good job of making the people of God compliant to the current arrangement of the world. The power of these beasts has numbed the ability of the people of God to recognize that imperial myth is nothing more than a grand distraction.
For some, the numbing has come from soft robes, compromised beliefs, or crumbs from the masters tables. For others, it meant living in the world as less than human. Either way, the trouble, the wrong doing of the world drives us down an unfortunate path. For many, and varied, reasons we begin to avert our eyes or to close our ears and before we know our ability to speak out, our voice is gone. It doesn’t take long before we no longer even walk with the same confidence and bounce in our step that used to drive us along. It is for this reason that Jesus tells John’s disciples to:
Go and tell John what you hear and see: 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.
Jesus tells the disciples of John that people are no longer numb and are indeed being liberated.
But before we get there, we have to admit that on many days, if we are paying attention, it is not a very pretty picture. It is not easy to keep our eyes open to the hunger and violence at our doorstep. How long can any of us continue to listen to the stories of inequality that looks to be part of the very fabric of our society? What shall we do when children are used as pawns in the games of adults? What shall we do when we spend a lifetime seeking change only to feel like we are slipping backwards? Well, I can tell you that yelling at the television is not particularly effective and the latest distraction doesn’t work all that well either.
So this is where we find ourselves as we approach the doorstep of Christmas. And, at this time of year we have some choices to make. In this season where the list of things to complete becomes ever longer being attentive is not easy. However, trying to ignore the discord between the message of the good news in Jesus birth and the message of our consumer culture is not a particularly healthy choice. No matter how often we, as people of the great good news try, the voice of Isaiah, the voice of John the Baptist, and the voice of Jesus will not allow us to remain in despair or to ignore their message of hope.
Hope is like the image of grass growing up in the cracks of a sidewalk. Hope tells another story about the jackals, lions, and beasts of the world. The beasts who feast on those most vulnerable are not welcome in the kingdom of God. It is a surprising message of exclusion from Isaiah. Unless they abandon their predatory practices these beast are barred from the holy mountain of God. As you might imagine this is not welcome news for the jackals, beasts, and lions. So when John the Baptist comes along proclaiming this vision of God and inviting others to join in this new, yet ancient, way, the beast throws John in prison.
And from the lonely place of prison John might just wonder what has happened. Jesus has indeed come, but the new day which is supposed to have dawn appears to be delayed. The Romans are still in power; the religious leaders are still working closely with them and on top of this John is in Jail. It is safe to assume that the questions began to arise in John’s head. Wasn’t Jesus supposed to change all this? Where are the armies of God? Where are the fruits of the new age where injustice is supposed to end? In order to deal with his questions, John goes strait to the source. He sends his disciples to Jesus with this question: “Are you the one who is to come? Or are we to wait for another?” In other words you can hear him thinking: If you are the one who is to come this is not what we expected. This question comes from the voice crying out in the wilderness that is seeking some clarity and possibly reassurance.
Jesus sends words of reminder and encouragement. Go and tell John what you have seen. Testify to John that the grass is growing up in the crack of the sidewalk. Rome may still be in power but the people can now see that the peace of Empire is a charade. The religious leadership may be corrupt but people are hearing the Good News anyway. And, you may be in prison, but your work was not in vain. It lives on in the testimony of your disciples. After all, Jesus says, you are the messenger and did prepare a way in the wilderness for all of this to happen.
It is a message of good news but we know that it is not easy news. Encountering John the Baptist and the voice of Isaiah in advent can seem rather out of place. However, their witness is an invitation to all of us. It is an invitation to go and tell, to testify to the places in the world where we have seen grass growing in the cracks of the sidewalk. Testify to the good news you hear which reminds us there is hope even now. Testify to the places where your eyes have been opened, your ears have heard and you have been set free. Because people are hungry we must go and tell how this good news story has moved us and has brought us to new life. Go and tell! Amen? Amen.
December 16th 2007
Third Sunday in Advent
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“Go and Tell”
Isaiah 35: 1-10, Matthew 11:2-14
Hope is dangerous… And hope that knows the current arrangement of the world is, in the words of Daniel Berrigan, a mirage, is the most dangerous of all. Isaiah speaks the powerful vision-message of God with beautiful poetic imagery. He tells us that the jackals and lions and beast of the world have done a good job of making the people of God compliant to the current arrangement of the world. The power of these beasts has numbed the ability of the people of God to recognize that imperial myth is nothing more than a grand distraction.
For some, the numbing has come from soft robes, compromised beliefs, or crumbs from the masters tables. For others, it meant living in the world as less than human. Either way, the trouble, the wrong doing of the world drives us down an unfortunate path. For many, and varied, reasons we begin to avert our eyes or to close our ears and before we know our ability to speak out, our voice is gone. It doesn’t take long before we no longer even walk with the same confidence and bounce in our step that used to drive us along. It is for this reason that Jesus tells John’s disciples to:
Go and tell John what you hear and see: 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.
Jesus tells the disciples of John that people are no longer numb and are indeed being liberated.
But before we get there, we have to admit that on many days, if we are paying attention, it is not a very pretty picture. It is not easy to keep our eyes open to the hunger and violence at our doorstep. How long can any of us continue to listen to the stories of inequality that looks to be part of the very fabric of our society? What shall we do when children are used as pawns in the games of adults? What shall we do when we spend a lifetime seeking change only to feel like we are slipping backwards? Well, I can tell you that yelling at the television is not particularly effective and the latest distraction doesn’t work all that well either.
So this is where we find ourselves as we approach the doorstep of Christmas. And, at this time of year we have some choices to make. In this season where the list of things to complete becomes ever longer being attentive is not easy. However, trying to ignore the discord between the message of the good news in Jesus birth and the message of our consumer culture is not a particularly healthy choice. No matter how often we, as people of the great good news try, the voice of Isaiah, the voice of John the Baptist, and the voice of Jesus will not allow us to remain in despair or to ignore their message of hope.
Hope is like the image of grass growing up in the cracks of a sidewalk. Hope tells another story about the jackals, lions, and beasts of the world. The beasts who feast on those most vulnerable are not welcome in the kingdom of God. It is a surprising message of exclusion from Isaiah. Unless they abandon their predatory practices these beast are barred from the holy mountain of God. As you might imagine this is not welcome news for the jackals, beasts, and lions. So when John the Baptist comes along proclaiming this vision of God and inviting others to join in this new, yet ancient, way, the beast throws John in prison.
And from the lonely place of prison John might just wonder what has happened. Jesus has indeed come, but the new day which is supposed to have dawn appears to be delayed. The Romans are still in power; the religious leaders are still working closely with them and on top of this John is in Jail. It is safe to assume that the questions began to arise in John’s head. Wasn’t Jesus supposed to change all this? Where are the armies of God? Where are the fruits of the new age where injustice is supposed to end? In order to deal with his questions, John goes strait to the source. He sends his disciples to Jesus with this question: “Are you the one who is to come? Or are we to wait for another?” In other words you can hear him thinking: If you are the one who is to come this is not what we expected. This question comes from the voice crying out in the wilderness that is seeking some clarity and possibly reassurance.
Jesus sends words of reminder and encouragement. Go and tell John what you have seen. Testify to John that the grass is growing up in the crack of the sidewalk. Rome may still be in power but the people can now see that the peace of Empire is a charade. The religious leadership may be corrupt but people are hearing the Good News anyway. And, you may be in prison, but your work was not in vain. It lives on in the testimony of your disciples. After all, Jesus says, you are the messenger and did prepare a way in the wilderness for all of this to happen.
It is a message of good news but we know that it is not easy news. Encountering John the Baptist and the voice of Isaiah in advent can seem rather out of place. However, their witness is an invitation to all of us. It is an invitation to go and tell, to testify to the places in the world where we have seen grass growing in the cracks of the sidewalk. Testify to the good news you hear which reminds us there is hope even now. Testify to the places where your eyes have been opened, your ears have heard and you have been set free. Because people are hungry we must go and tell how this good news story has moved us and has brought us to new life. Go and tell! Amen? Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment