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Sermon for
Advent 2 - Evening 4.12.2016
Isaiah
29 15 - end
Matthew 13.44 - end.
Telling it like it is!
That is what prophets do traditionally.
No minced words. No carefully constructed phrases. No euphemisms.
They just come straight out and say it!
"So it will be at the
end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil
from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where
there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Prophets are not there to bring
us comfort or ease. Rather, they are sent - as messengers of
God (which is another way of saying angels!) to stir us up and
disturb us.
This morning we were thinking
especially about John the Baptist. He stands of course at the
crossroads between the Old and New Testaments. Between the Prophets
of the Hebrew scriptures and the Saints of the Gospels and Epistles.
And what of Jesus himself?
Many thought at the time that he was a prophet - a particularly
gifted and talented prophet, but that was the nearest thing they
could liken him to. Apart from those who knew him best - those
among whom he had grown up.
To them he was just a jumped
up know-it-all. Son of the local jobbing carpenter and builder.
One of their own. What right had he to come spouting all this
theological stuff? Where did he get his learning from? Hadn't
he learned his lessons alongside them from the local Rabbi and
the women of the village?
No such thing as a university
or theological college of course. I doubt if Jesus would today
be accepted for ordination training! He doesn't have the necessary
academic credentials!
And in Jesus we are given something that is beyond the prophetic,
beyond simple, honest judgment and truth-telling. We are given
someone who points to models of the Kingdom, and tells us that
life could be like that here and now - if we only wanted it to
be! The God he shows us is a God of vulnerability and love. Jesus
says I am here to show you a God who turns the world upside down.
A world that you can turn upside down too.
But the lack of faith that
those of his home town had in him was crippling. Jesus could
do no works of wonder among them, because they would not let
themselves believe. They were incapable of wonder at the power
of God to do the impossible, the unthinkable.
But another prophet - one of
those who we now think of as Isaiah, was able to write - long
before the time of Jesus.... "those who err in spirit will
come to understanding and those who grumble will accept instruction."
So it is never too late for
us. As we journey through Advent, it is tempting sometimes to
think that Christmas is just for the children. A charming fairy
story about a young couple and a baby. About a stable and shepherds
and mysterious visitors from the East. Well it is of course.
All that and more.
But it is most definitely not
just for the children. Let's tell it like it is. Let's admit
that we do not understand fully the significance of this wonderful,
magical story. But let's claim it as our own and suspend our
scepticism and make our hearts ready to welcome the Christ child
back into our lives this Christmas.
Go on, what's stopping you?
All you have to do is admit that you don't have all the answers
and that God is far more powerful and wonderful than we can possibly
imagine. And when we act, filled with God's grace, for love and
justice, when we step into changing our world, the end of the
world, the Kingdom, has come in our hearts, in our actions.That
is the prophecy I offer you this evening. That is forth-telling
- telling it like it is.
A prayer for the prophets:
Lord God,
we bless you for those who,
without much light, but with great longing,
looked for the coming of salvation for the whole human race,
and, through suffering and joy,
through harsh oppression and hard-won freedom,
at great cost and with great resilience,
prepared for the Day.
For we have entered into their joy
and by their stripes we are being healed.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
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