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Second Sunday in Advent
December 5, 2004 Sermon by Aron Kramer, Associate Rector

There are many spots to launch a sermon from in today’s readings. Take the Isaiah reading, on God’s holy mountain the lion will sit with the lamb and the bears will eat with the cows and the children will play over the dens and holes of some of the most poisonous snakes the world has ever known. The peaceable kingdom is one image that is enduring throughout history. The psalm speaks about what a Davidic King would bring to the injustice in the land, how oppressed people would be freed and righteousness would flow across the land. It is a great complement to the Isaiah reading. Paul’s letter to the Romans asks and explores the question of how the Gentiles and Pagans and the Jews could share worship, the first exploration into ecumenism we have documented. And Paul does not just want to see a superficial exploration of everyone’s beliefs he wants people to get together, tell their story and build ecumenism from there. Hard to imagine in this day and age, Jews, Christians, Muslims and other religions finding common ground to build a shared worship experience that is more than just a group of people sharing prayers from their respective traditions.

Of course it is also Advent; the season of Advent is one of the most fascinating seasons we have in the Church year. Jesus has not arrived yet, we are expectantly waiting the arrival of this King that will supposedly save all of us and free the prisoners and rescue the oppressed and bring righteousness to all the injustice in the world. Advent is an absent time, a dark time, a time when God seems not quite present, but something is ready to pop. Advent is ambiguous and anticipatory, a time of waiting, a time of quietness and even peace.

But then there is today’s Gospel, which, for me anyway, holds one of the most elusive figures within the Biblical story: John the Baptist. Now I have studied this scripture closely in the past and I can tell you all about the intentions behind Matthews placing John against the Pharisees and Sadducees. The writer of Matthew was constantly in conflict with the religious authorities of the time. He was a person who was also steeped in the tradition of Jewish culture, he knew the rituals and he knew the teachings. Therefore he also knew the best way to push the buttons he needed to push. He knew how to interpret the Hebrew Scriptures just right so that they fulfilled his vision of Jesus as the Messiah. He also knew that John was the only person who could fill the prophetic role of preparing the way for Jesus. The writer of Matthew was clear about the role that John played in the greater biblical story.

The writer of Matthew also knew that there were still some followers of John who had not yet converted to be followers of Jesus. There were several people who followed John and did not want to follow this new Jesus. So it was imperative for the writer of Matthew to make it clear that John’s ministry and even John’s presence was not as powerful, or not as divinely inspired as Jesus was. John baptized only with water, and Jesus would baptize with fire. John was not worthy to even carry the sandals of the Lord as he prepared the way. I can tell you all of that based out of a strictly historical and anthropological perspective. It is not one based entirely in theology. And of course there were other reasons that the writer of Matthew presented John in this way. It is to these reasons that I want to turn to now; it is these reasons that challenge my ministry, as well as our ministry in the world and ask us to look at what it is that we are preparing for or what we are preparing the way for.

The first most profound reason for John’s story is how it appears in the Gospel of Matthew. It is not by accident that Matthew moves from talking about the lineage and birth narrative of Jesus right into John’s ministry preparing the way for Jesus. God never works in ways that we expect. I am comfortable saying never because I imagine there are few people in here who have experienced God as they might expect to. When God enters into our life it is most often with a bang and a thud. It is not expected and it turns us on our heads. Too often we walk into the trap of thinking that God is working through a long process to change things, or that God is part of some social progression we are experiencing. God tends to be like John the Baptist with us humans, straightforward and not afraid to call us on our missteps. Are we the Pharisees and Sadducees in this pericope? No, but we definitely need to heed the warning being tossed by John the Baptists, bear fruit worthy of repentance. Our deeds and actions must be in line with our stated commandments and those things we say we believe. We must live a changed life. God is constantly tripping us up in different ways and each time, if we are fortunate to see God’s hand in that work we are called to change or transform our lives and respond to God’s call in a new way.

The other part to John the Baptist that I have never quite fully grasped is his role as preparing the way. What does that mean for us as a community of faith? Did John prepare the way for Jesus; are we the ones that are preparing the way for Jesus? Did John prepare the way for us actually and not really for Jesus? Or does it mean that we as individuals and as a faith community need to prepare the way for Jesus into our hearts, in to our worship? What does that sentence mean, prepare the way for the Lord? One resource I have read talked about John helping us to prepare, in the context of Advent, for the arrival of Jesus and God’s work in our lives and in the world. John is the one that turns our heads slightly oriented towards this new arrival, this Jesus so that we can be more prepared to hear the call of Jesus. I like that, and I liken it to the practices I organize for the soccer teams I coach. Each player has different skills that fit into the team in different ways and at practice we hone and refine and bring out those skills so when the game time arrives we will be ready. We practice set plays and other ways of scoring goals and practice playing positions so that the entire team will work together harmoniously, moving together as a body, communicating and supporting each other at all times. Is that what it means to prepare for the Lord? Is John orienting our heads and hearts towards the plight of the poor and the weak? Is John orienting our heads and hearts to God and God’s presence in the world? Or is John simply orienting our heads and our hearts back towards us so we can look at how we are doing God’s work in the world? What does it mean to prepare the way for you, how do you interpret this passage and envision this story? Jesus is about to arrive into our world with a bang, not as a King but as a little child dependant upon a human mother and father for nourishment and care. Is that maybe what we are being prepared for? To be the mother and father who care for the dependant child or the strong and abundant person who shares our resources with the weak and poor? This Advent what are we preparing the way for and how are we preparing the way?