Text Matthew 11:2-11; Isaiah 35:1-10; Psalm 146:5-10; James 5:7-10
Theme The Joy that Overcomes Stinkin’ Thinkin’
Subject John wonders from jail if Jesus is the Messiah
Occasion Advent
3 – 12/16/2007 –
The Norsk Club has had their
Christmas dinner
The Swedes celebrated St. Lucia this last Thursday
The Weinhachten service is this afternoon here at
Zion
So many traditions erupt on
the calendar during Advent
This Wednesday candlelight vespers will shape our Advent worship
here at 5:45
Evening prayer is ancient among us – I hope you’ll
be able to join us
- - - - - - -
Originally Advent was 40 days
like Lent
A time for the instruction of new Christians
It was then, like Lent, a dark repentant time
John shouting from the wilderness:
Repent, for the kingdom of God has come near (Mt. 3:10)
The
Baptist’s cry has been retained but the season has become one of preparation to
receive The King
It
was the Swedish Church that decided blue was the more fitting color to receive
The King (perhaps since Sweden’s flag is, after all, blue and yellow)
Regardless, the paraments and stoles
are blue
But there linger memories of
that repentant time when the color for Advent was purple
The 40 days have been shortened to the 4 Sundays prior to Christmas
And it was the 3rd Sunday where the penitential
load needed to be lightened
So the theme was a preemptive joy
This 3rd Sunday became
known as Gaudate Sunday
Rejoice – be gaudy
about your preparations
There’s the banner (large banner
hanging behind pulpit announces “Rejoice”)
Easy
enough to say – Rejoice!
The Christmas tree is up – Rejoice!
The tubas played on the Old Capital
steps – Rejoice!
The readings:
Isaiah so full of hope and confidence
James so encouraging for us to be as patient as a farmer
The Psalmist starts with “Happy” and ends with “Praise”
Rejoice – Gaudate!
- - - - - - -
Wait – as much as we’d like
to celebrate scripture and delight in the reason for the season
Reality
is pressing in on us
gifts to buy parties
to plan trips to make
cookies to bake work
to get done
Could
it possibly be worth it? Will anybody notice or anybody care?
When we get this way
(maybe
some of you don’t but I suspect I’m speaking for the majority of us)
When we get in this
“puny-sort-of-way”
We’re
in good company – the prophets could easily tend toward this
Before us is
the last prophet of the Messiah
3rd
Sunday in a row that he gets named
He
is John the Baptist
Reported
in the gospel reading as doing what many call “stinkin’ thinkin’”
Now when I tried this sermon-idea
on Lilah Sass, a long-time member of
Zion now living at Mercy Hospital’s Hallmar Unit in Cedar Rapids
The idea of stinkin’ thinkin’ was confusing
Kathleen Bauscher, the music
therapist, had joined us
Both
Kathleen and Lilah encouraged me to explain “stinkin’ thinkin’”more clearly
Stinkin’ thinkin’ is when we insist that
life is black and white. Rigid extremes - good or bad,
right or wrong,
love it or leave it,
one or ten.
No room for any gray area - only the
black and white extremes.
John’s in prison
He got
put there because of his condemnation of Herod’s marriage to Herodias’, wife of
his brother Philip
The jail is cold, provisions are slim, sleep is rare
Nothing
but time to think
What’s
gonna happen to him?
Was
he too harsh; too righteous?
And
there was news about Jesus
He
had prepared the way for Jesus,
pointed to him as the promised Messiah of Israel
Thinking
about what he heard gave him second thoughts
Jesus did not match up point-for-point with his
expectations.
John’s was hoping Jesus would bring it on!'
smite the wicked
overthrow Rome
re-establish the Kingdom of David
It would be like heaven – the Kingdom of Heaven
Right?
That’s
not what was happening
Jesus is more interested in healing than torching,
more interested in raising the dead than smiting the
wicked."
Could his whole life been wrong, wasted, spent for naught?
Have you been there in the
land of Stinkin Thinkin?
Where everything you’ve done seems wasted
Where all the relationships you have seem artificial or
contrived
Could we be in league with
John?
disappointed that Jesus does not match up
point-for-point with our expectations.
Some
still expect the incineration of wickedness that John anticipated
Some observe that all manner of illnesses (from
HIV/AIDS to lung cancer) are God's judgment on human sin.
"What
can people expect who do not clean up their act?"
Now surely God hates and judges human sin.
Friends in Christ, God hates human sin because
God loves our neighbor and the rest of creation as
much as God loves us
anything that hurts the neighbor or the earth torques God out of shape.
-
- - - - - - Back to John
John sent messengers to check
out his worst fears
"Are you the one who is to
come, or are we to wait for another?" (Mt 11:3)
Jesus
answered with fulfillment
Without smiting, political upheaval or
military revolt
Prophecy was being fulfilled
That’s what John
devoted his life to accomplish
To prepare
the way for the fulfillment of prophecy
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. (Mt 11:5)
This is right out of Isaiah 61
Jesus’ text when he preached at Nazareth, his home town,
for the first time
Sounds a lot like what’s in today’s first reading and
Psalm
The Messiah is not concerned
with the land and the boundaries
The anointed one of God attends to the needs of the people
God’s people are not a landed-people – not Holy
Land but Holy People
Joy for the people of God is
wholeness and life
Surely this is news that came back to John as good news
Though well beyond his
imaginings of what the Kingdom of Heaven might be
That even in the midst of the Roman Empire
The people of God could know God’s gentle rule
Sounds great; even sweet
But too
polite and too politically correct
Our problem is that we don’t
expect much to change with the Messiah's advent.
Our
problem is that we think the best the Messiah can do is “take the edge off”
The Messiah's mission is so much bigger than that.
Claim
the prophets’ promises
open the eyes of the blind,
raise the dead,
give the poor a real future and a hope
There
is a now-ness to these prophesies
Can a guy over 50 change?
Can we walk again after being laid low by years of
grief?
Can a woman actually hear it and believe it when
someone says to her, "I love you"?
But Jesus
is more than a cosmic bellhop eliminating pain and maximizing pleasure?
Isaiah knew it would be this
way
He prophesied that there would be fertility in a desolate
land
Even to those caught in the
grip of stinkin’ thinkin’
Say to those who
are of a fearful heart, "Be strong, do not fear!” (Is 35:4a)
There is
Joy beyond Stinkin’ Thinkin’
It is not a contrivance
Rather it is outside one’s self
Bud Buchheim brought it to my
attention not so long ago in some Eastern wisdom
I
slept and dreamt that life is joy
I woke to discover life is duty
I acted and behold:
Duty is joy
We are not waiting for
Christmas
We know the Messiah has come
There is no reason, not one,
for us to wait for his healing
We are healed
Eyes wide open, power to move, healing to bring,
good news to accomplish
This is the Joy beyond Stinkin’ Thinkin’
Jesus is the One
Bring the joy!