The Second Sunday of Advent, Year A

Isaiah 11.1-10

Psalms 72.1-7, 18-19

Romans 15.4-13

Matthew 3.1-12

“EVERY”

            Last week, in the sermon, the title of which was “Let”, we talked about the importance of this season of Advent and how we should not miss what is most important in all the hubbub of celebrating Christmas.  What are some of the important things in being a human being?  God is at the top of the list.  We are creatures, created by God and so we need to be in a relationship with God.  Belonging is important—we look for a place, or family to be a part of.  Also security—we want some sense that where our lives are headed is in a good direction.  We want peace in our lives.  Some think a voice would be on this list—that we matter as individuals and contribute to the whole.  These are all ways we have an identity with significance in the world.  If we think about it, every person wants these things.

            As I get older, I have a harder time figuring out what I want for Christmas.  Part of it is that I am in a position now as an adult to get more of what I want.  I don’t have to wait like I did as a child for Santa to bring me things.  But also, I find that what I want can’t be wrapped, can’t be bought, even with a good charge card, can’t be sent by FedEx or UPS or the Postal Service.  I remember the Christmas I got my toy orange cement mixer, and it was enough.  Now, I would like the chance for all people, not just the billionaires, to make a living, I want healing for those who need it, peace in the world.  That is bigger stuff.

            St. Paul concludes the letter to the church in Rome with the appeal to them that they live in unity.  Unity is one of those bigger things I mentioned.  What we know of that church is that it had groups within it of believers in Christ who were of Jewish origin and other believers in Christ who were of Gentile (non-Jewish) origin.  They had, as most groups do, some trouble getting along together.  They valued different things, looked at life differently.  So Paul tells them to have Christ’s attitude rather than their own.  As God welcomed them in Christ, so they are to welcome one another.  To the Jewish believers, he says that God has still remembered and is honoring the promises made to the ancestors.  That is what they valued.  And to the Gentile believers he quotes Scripture that says that God will give mercy to them.  God includes them all.  Every one.  That is important to them.

The Gospel reading this morning tells us about John the Baptist.  He appeared in the wilderness, wearing camel-hair clothes and eating locusts and honey.  In other words, he was an old school prophet.  His message went out to everyone, each person.  And his message was that those who heard him needed to change their lives.  They were to do that because the kingdom of heaven was coming.  Everyone had the opportunity to respond.

We tend to quickly pass over that message, but Advent is a time, too, of considering our lives and what we need to do to make them better. We might not need to go out to the wilderness, but there are things in our lives—envy, anger, greed, perhaps too much time spent on things that do not matter while we ignore the things that are important.  This season is for changing those things.

There are those who need that message very obviously.  Despite the fact that we want to have peace among us, make sure that all people are valued, all people belong, we know that it does not always happen that way.  Steve Wilcox posted on a Reddit.com thread which asked users ‘what things have you overheard that have broken your heart?’  One woman had a phenomenal answer —a friend of her son at a pizza party told about his life at home.  He was taken away from his mother for substance abuse and lived with his father who had just lost his place to live.  He waited for his father every night at the library sometimes until seven when the woman started having the boy come over to her house for homework and dinner with her son.  Eventually the father asked that she keep the son for “a while”.  Now the young man is headed for college.

            If we hear John’s message, not only are we to take inventory of ourselves and change what is not right in them, we are to do those things which make that change real.  Some people need to find what is really important in their lives.

            The story of the woman who took in the boy who needed a mother also shows us something that is in the Gospel story.  There is mercy for those who look to God.  Those who say they don’t need it, those who are more impressed by something like their ancestry, are sent away.  For some, that mercy is forgiveness for what they have done wrong, for others it is getting a new chance in life.  And even those who are caught in the bad behavior of others find mercy, like finding people who care.

            This is part of the whole message: God creates and even when we are not faithful to God, God redeems.  God makes a way back for us.  Philip Gulley talks about porches, he likes them a lot.  He trusts people with front porches.  He doesn’t trust people with back porches.  And patios.  He notes that to make one the right way takes a lot of work.  To do it quickly and easily is fine, until in a couple years you have to take it all out and do it right.  Another option is to let someone else build it.  But he doesn’t like that one because the joy in creating something is one of the best joys in life.  As the work is done, it gives us joy in creating something.  He writes this: “I imagine this is God’s joy as he fashions his creation one child, one songbird, one flower at a time.  It is enough to make you glow, to know there is a God in heaven who delights in you, who gazes with quiet love at what he has fashioned.”

And in this message we hear God’s purpose for the world and to come to know that we belong, that we are loved, we are part of a whole, we have meaning and direction in our lives.

            The last part of the Gospel message is that the One is coming who will be even greater than John.  He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and his time is coming.  That is what this season is about.  It is the time when what was temporary with John in the wilderness becomes permanent.  The message is to every person, to each one.  Let us, then, be ready.  Let us hear God’s promises.  Let us find mercy.  Let us be ready.