WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
December 2nd 2007
Second Sunday in Advent
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“Who Told You?”
Isaiah 11:1-11, Matthew 3:1-12
In case you haven’t noticed, a new season has begun. But the season I am talking about is not Christmas, or Advent, or even winter. The season I am talking, which is well underway, is the upcoming presidential election. Much like Christmas, it seems to come earlier and earlier each time. We know that the season has begun because of all the nice things that those running for president will say about one another.
One of the traditions of this season is the “stump speech.” It is a particular speech which candidates use in order to frame the debate and to tell their story. For the candidates who win elections, the stump speech becomes the official transcript of political reality. So the “stump speech” is the one which lays out the way the world is, for those in power.
When the prophet Isaiah uses language about the stump he is not giving a political campaign speech. However, it still conveyed the official transcript of political reality. The language about the stump of Jesse was image which acknowledged that Israel was no longer a military power. The tree from which the great king David had come was cut down. From all appearances the tree of Jesse was dead. As a result, despair reigned supreme. The political reality or the givens of Isaiah’s time were well known. Snakes, bears, wolves, leopards, and lions always destroy; lambs, oxen, calves, and children. The stump speech of conventional wisdom was clear: Violence, chaos, and death had the last word.
But along came the Word of God through the voice of an unwelcome prophet. Isaiah was unwelcome because his stump speech said that the stump wasn’t dead. There was a pesky little shoot that was going to rise up and undermine the official transcript. The stump speech of Isaiah had the audacity to claim that that there would be a day when the predators and the prey of the world will live in harmony as equals. The vision of God’s intended plan is that kings, rulers, and leaders will actually use their power to ensure justice and shalom for all people, not just those at the top. And, the most outrageous claim of all was this: When people really learn the ways of God violence, destruction, and even war will end. So Isaiah was unwelcome and even dangerous because his stump speech told another reality, the reality of God.
While it was for different reasons, John the Baptist’s stump speech was just as dangerous to the established order. John is located in the wilderness and calls people to repentance, to turn from their ways. The whole event is rich with intended symbolism of the Exodus from Egypt. In the Exodus, the people of God were liberated from the slavery of the Egyptian Empire. However, this was not just a physical release from captivity; it was also intended to free the mind as well. The habits learned in captivity, the internalized oppression, had to be challenged and changed. The rough ways of wilderness life was the perfect setting for just such a change.
Like the Israelites in the wilderness, John had turned from the ways of empire, the ways of domination, and the ways of violence. John’s stump speech was made the audacious claim that God was doing a new thing outside of Jerusalem, the religious center of the faith. The stump speech of John even makes the claims that God doesn’t need the religious leadership or that God’s favor is not a privilege of the few. John’s stump speech was rather popular drawing large crowds of people hungry for the freedom and new life promised by this wild wilderness preacher who wore camel hair and ate bugs.
At first glance it is easy to miss that the official transcript of the empire is present. Often times the arrival of the religious leadership, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, is seen as their endorsement of John’s work. However, their arrival can really be translated to read that they were coming against the baptism of John. Even as they came to be baptized themselves, they are standing against it. In other words, while they were participating in the action they were coming out to oversee, or maybe even co-opt this troublesome wilderness preacher. But, the Baptist would have none of it. All attempts to conform or control this stump speech failed. And that is why he will end up beheaded at the request of the king.
It was clear that the draw of this wilderness preacher was strong. The Sprit was at work again. From the stump of Jesse to the desert places outside of Jerusalem, the givens of the world are being upended. “Who told you?” This question, while directed toward the religious leadership, is a question to all who encounter the message of John the Baptist and the vision of Isaiah. It is a call for all of us to reconsider the givens, the official transcripts, and yes even the stump speeches in light of the new life God brings in the midst of the places we believed there was only death. In this season as we wait for the fulfillment of God’s promises let us keep focused on the long history of God acting in powerful ways to bring life out of death. Let that memory be the guiding force as we encounter the places of violence and opposition which seems to permeate our lives. Contrary to the stump speeches of this world, God is at work, even in the places of death, bringing new life. Violence does not have the last word, chaos does not have the last word, war does not have the last word, and death is not the end. Amen.
December 2nd 2007
Second Sunday in Advent
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“Who Told You?”
Isaiah 11:1-11, Matthew 3:1-12
In case you haven’t noticed, a new season has begun. But the season I am talking about is not Christmas, or Advent, or even winter. The season I am talking, which is well underway, is the upcoming presidential election. Much like Christmas, it seems to come earlier and earlier each time. We know that the season has begun because of all the nice things that those running for president will say about one another.
One of the traditions of this season is the “stump speech.” It is a particular speech which candidates use in order to frame the debate and to tell their story. For the candidates who win elections, the stump speech becomes the official transcript of political reality. So the “stump speech” is the one which lays out the way the world is, for those in power.
When the prophet Isaiah uses language about the stump he is not giving a political campaign speech. However, it still conveyed the official transcript of political reality. The language about the stump of Jesse was image which acknowledged that Israel was no longer a military power. The tree from which the great king David had come was cut down. From all appearances the tree of Jesse was dead. As a result, despair reigned supreme. The political reality or the givens of Isaiah’s time were well known. Snakes, bears, wolves, leopards, and lions always destroy; lambs, oxen, calves, and children. The stump speech of conventional wisdom was clear: Violence, chaos, and death had the last word.
But along came the Word of God through the voice of an unwelcome prophet. Isaiah was unwelcome because his stump speech said that the stump wasn’t dead. There was a pesky little shoot that was going to rise up and undermine the official transcript. The stump speech of Isaiah had the audacity to claim that that there would be a day when the predators and the prey of the world will live in harmony as equals. The vision of God’s intended plan is that kings, rulers, and leaders will actually use their power to ensure justice and shalom for all people, not just those at the top. And, the most outrageous claim of all was this: When people really learn the ways of God violence, destruction, and even war will end. So Isaiah was unwelcome and even dangerous because his stump speech told another reality, the reality of God.
While it was for different reasons, John the Baptist’s stump speech was just as dangerous to the established order. John is located in the wilderness and calls people to repentance, to turn from their ways. The whole event is rich with intended symbolism of the Exodus from Egypt. In the Exodus, the people of God were liberated from the slavery of the Egyptian Empire. However, this was not just a physical release from captivity; it was also intended to free the mind as well. The habits learned in captivity, the internalized oppression, had to be challenged and changed. The rough ways of wilderness life was the perfect setting for just such a change.
Like the Israelites in the wilderness, John had turned from the ways of empire, the ways of domination, and the ways of violence. John’s stump speech was made the audacious claim that God was doing a new thing outside of Jerusalem, the religious center of the faith. The stump speech of John even makes the claims that God doesn’t need the religious leadership or that God’s favor is not a privilege of the few. John’s stump speech was rather popular drawing large crowds of people hungry for the freedom and new life promised by this wild wilderness preacher who wore camel hair and ate bugs.
At first glance it is easy to miss that the official transcript of the empire is present. Often times the arrival of the religious leadership, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, is seen as their endorsement of John’s work. However, their arrival can really be translated to read that they were coming against the baptism of John. Even as they came to be baptized themselves, they are standing against it. In other words, while they were participating in the action they were coming out to oversee, or maybe even co-opt this troublesome wilderness preacher. But, the Baptist would have none of it. All attempts to conform or control this stump speech failed. And that is why he will end up beheaded at the request of the king.
It was clear that the draw of this wilderness preacher was strong. The Sprit was at work again. From the stump of Jesse to the desert places outside of Jerusalem, the givens of the world are being upended. “Who told you?” This question, while directed toward the religious leadership, is a question to all who encounter the message of John the Baptist and the vision of Isaiah. It is a call for all of us to reconsider the givens, the official transcripts, and yes even the stump speeches in light of the new life God brings in the midst of the places we believed there was only death. In this season as we wait for the fulfillment of God’s promises let us keep focused on the long history of God acting in powerful ways to bring life out of death. Let that memory be the guiding force as we encounter the places of violence and opposition which seems to permeate our lives. Contrary to the stump speeches of this world, God is at work, even in the places of death, bringing new life. Violence does not have the last word, chaos does not have the last word, war does not have the last word, and death is not the end. Amen.
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