Scripture for Advent 3C can be found here
Joy, Hope, Locusts and Honey
I’m not going to give you statistics—you have mpr for that. I’m not going to describe some horrific scene
of terror, you have cnn for that. I’m not going to frame or spin or detail or
op ed this or that for you—pick up any paper or scroll through any newsfeed for
that.
What I’m going to do is preach the Gospel. I’m going to proclaim good news. I’m going to
look to scripture and mine it for hope. I’m going to point to Bethlehem and
every hope, and every dream, and every glimpse of that love that breaks into
those places most desperately in need of love.
Because, we need hope and we need joy—because, if we lose sight
of hope and we forget the joy that God takes in us, then we lose the potential
to work towards the transformation of what is, into what God calls into being.
Hope keeps on going. Hope knows that we are worth saving. Hope
sees the potential. Hope proclaims that today is not tomorrow and that tomorrow
will be even better than today.
Hope keeps us alive and launches us into a new tomorrow. Hope
claims our belovedness.
Hope proclaims good news of a better tomorrow to all the people.
Hope reminds us that we have the power to be akin to Christ. Hope
shares coats, hope shares food, hope refuses to exploit others because hope has
enough.
Hope knows that we are broken, but hope also knows that God’s
grace and mercy are not hindered by our brokenness.
Nothing we do or don’t do can separate us from the love of God
and the prophet proclaims rejoicing and the author of the epistle enjoins us to
gentleness.
Be gentle, rejoice,
The peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Peace which makes no sense, hope that makes no sense, love that
makes no sense, good news that makes no sense.
Here we are then, a senseless people—embracing the absurdity of
hope and in that embrace ushering in the long expected Jesus.
God is not waiting for us to get our act together and be perfect
parents in perfect places, God is going to be born head first into a world that’s
awash in violence and despair.
A baby in a pit of vipers--rejoice people of God, rejoice!
It would be hard to find a more jarring juxtaposition! And yet, beyond all understanding, here we
are.
John who sups on locusts and wild honey and woos his congregants
by calling them snakes. Zephaniah who
castigates those who break the covenant with God. Paul who writes from his jail
cell an enjoinder to rejoicing.
Each of them addressed a broken world—and each, in their own
way, offered a reason for rejoicing.
Let’s focus for just a moment on John the Baptist…cheerful
fellow, an optimist really. Glass always half full with that one!
Really…I’m serious. This
Gospel is just that good news! And, it’s
because of a truth that John the Baptist proclaims—a truth about who we all are
and what we are capable of being.
Luke, the author of the Gospel, tells us that John’s audience is
composed of tax collectors and other people on societies’ margins—these are not
the good and respectable people, these are people of disrepute. Tax collectors in John’s day were considered
fundamentally corrupt, in fact, a tax collector’s presence in a home was
considered, by some, to make that home unclean. Tax collectors embodied the
abuses of Rome and the emperor who commanded them. And, so here they are—outcast
from society for their role in the exploitation of the Judean people.
If these tax collectors and sinners had been satisfied with
their state, they would not have gone out into the wilderness to be berated by a
moody prophet. They are looking for something better than what they are. And, John
sees in these people the potential to be transformed and to become other than
what they are—or perhaps, more truly what they might be.
So, John greets them quite cheerfully, “you brood of vipers!”
And, then John the Baptist identifies their potential and their
desire to be transformed.
And, when they ask what they need to do to be transformed, his
advice is simple…
Share coats and food, treat others with respect and dignity.
You can do it, you can be better, you can transform yourselves
and the world you inhabit.
This is good news. Amazing news really.
And, this is exactly the news we need in the here and the now.
As we read the statistics, as we despair over the news, as we
wonder at a society that seems literally hell bent on its own destruction.
We can listen to the words of the wild haired prophet and see a
fundamental truth—we are all capable of doing God’s will in the world around
us.
We are not powerless, and there is hope. And, today we take joy
in that hope!
Prophets, apostles and martyrs—rejoicing in the inbreaking of
God and the fulfillment of God’s promise.
Peace beyond all understanding! Children out of stones! Trust
without fear!
These are holy fools, proclaiming a wisdom the world would call
foolish.
Fools proclaiming a new hope and a truer truth!
So, foolish ones, let us embrace the absurdity of hope in this
day and age. Let us, accept the gift of
peculiar peace. Let us proclaim, from
the prison of our own making, that there is a way out of despair and Christ in
our captivity.
Poet and modern day prophet, Daniel Berrigan writes…
Daniel Berrigan (born 1921)
Advent Credo
“It is not true that creation and the human family are doomed to
destruction and loss—
This is true: For God so loved the world that He gave his only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have
everlasting life;
It is not true that we must accept inhumanity and
discrimination, hunger and poverty, death and destruction—
This is true: I have come that they may have life, and that
abundantly.
It is not true that violence and hatred should have the last
word, and that war and destruction rule forever—
This is true: Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given,
and the government shall be upon his shoulder, his name shall be called
wonderful councilor, mighty God, the Everlasting, the Prince of peace.
It is not true that we are simply victims of the powers of evil
who seek to rule the world—
This is true: To me is given authority in heaven and on earth,
and lo I am with you, even until the end of the world.
It is not true that we have to wait for those who are specially
gifted, who are the prophets of the Church before we can be peacemakers—
This is true: I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and your
sons and daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions and your
old men shall have dreams.
It is not true that our hopes for liberation of humankind, of
justice, of human dignity of peace are not meant for this earth and for this
history—
This is true: The hour comes, and it is now, that the true
worshipers shall worship God in spirit and in truth.
So let us enter Advent in hope, even hope against hope. Let us
see visions of love and peace and justice. Let us affirm with humility, with
joy, with faith, with courage: Jesus Christ—the life of the world.”
Amen.
(From Testimony: The Word
Made Flesh, by Daniel Berrigan, S.J. Orbis Books, 2004.)
