May the words of my mouth be yours O Holy One, but if they are not let these clever people hear in them what you need them to hear. Amen. One of the things I enjoy about moving from the BCP readings, which we used to do, to the Revised Common Lectionary readings is the way that all four readings generally tie together with a common theme. Todayʼs readings throw a bit of a curve ball though. We have three readings of hope in Isaiah, Psalm 72 and Paul's letter to the Romans and then, well we have John the Baptist in the Gospel, who throws things a bit askew, but this is generally Johnʼs role in the world, to throw things askew. Pastoral, natural delight and hope runs through Isaiah, particularly when you wade through the poetry and unpack it a bit. I am not a fan of poetry, my logical being sometimes simply doesn't have the patience, which irritates my English teacher mother to no end I am sure, so The Book of Isaiah which is not only poetry but highly complex, prophetic poetry is a particular challenge for me. The Book of Isaiah is cited more often than any other prophetic book in rabbinic literature, and more haftarot are taken from Isaiah than from any other prophetic text. (Haftarot are the prophetic readings chanted in synagogue during Sabbath, holidays and fast days). It was also a primary text for the early followers of Jesus. I am honestly not entirely sure whether this poetry was designed to castigate or comfort the Hebrews, but since it is Old Testament prophetic literature I am going to go with BIG castigate and little comfort. The verb forms throughout the book are ambiguous and I am not sure whether events are predictions of the future or refer to events of the past. Thankfully there is quite a bit of rabbinic
commentary to help me along. There is somewhat general agreement that chapters one through thirty-nine of Isaiah were written by a prophet, Isaiah, living in Jerusalem in the 8th century BCE. Rabbis and scholars debate whether the rest of the Book of Isaiah was actually written by Isaiah or whether there was some additional input from other prophets and scribes who lived later than the historical Isaiah, but for our purposes here this morning I am going to forgo that debate and just call the author Isaiah. Chapters two through twelve contain prophecies about Judah and Jerusalem. These prophecies are rooted in Isaiah's time and place and many address current events of his day. Of course he generally neglected to inform his readers of what these events were because his intended audience knew full well what they were as they were living in the midst of them. For us reading more than two millennia later though we encounter challenges which require a brief reconstruction of the era. The Assyrian empire was growing in size and strength during the 8th century, putting more and more pressure on smaller kingdoms along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, which included the two Hebrew nations of Israel and Judah. Sometimes these eastern kingdoms cooperated with Assyria paying tribute and relying on the Assyrians for defense, and sometimes the kingdoms attempted revolts. Attempted because these revolts generally ended in disaster. The Northern Kingdom of Israel, which did not include Jerusalem, was destroyed by the Assyrians after a revolt in 722 BCE, and the population of Israel was mostly deported. Chapter eleven of Isaiah, which we heard today, is the third part of a three part prophecy on a divine plan that affects not only Jerusalem but the entire world. In part
one Assyria, is God's agent to punish the Hebrews, for their sins. Sin according to Isaiah is Israelʼs continual pattern of forgetting that first great commandment, that God alone is to be exalted. Then in part two Assyria gets punished for being haughty, believing that the victory was theirs rather than remembering that they are merely tools for God and that the victory belonged to God alone, that first commandment again. As trees, Assyria is cut down leaving only stumps, stumps that are not dead but are capable of supporting new life. Part three begins with chapter eleven, which we heard today. In part three we have the reign of this new king in Jerusalem, descended from King David who was the son of Jesse. This new king turns all of creation upside down as we return to an Eden like existence, where natural enemies are enemies no longer, and small children can play around snakes. But this new age will not be perfect, for there will be those who are poor, those who are meek and those who are wicked, The difference will be in this new kingʼs response to the problems, always rendering accurate and fair judgements, and not just for Jerusalem but for all the nations. This does make this new age sound as though it is an age of jurisprudence, which should make the lawyers happy. Today we heard three wonderful readings of hope and delight in God and then we get to the Gospel where John quite upends the apple cart with his fiery rhetoric. I have spent a good part of the past several weeks feeling flustered about John the Baptist, because I have spent time trying to figure out this man who I simply do not understand. I even spent time frustrated that I had to again preach on Advent 2, when Advent 2 is always about John the Baptist, wondering a bit why God keeps sending this particular lesson back again. Until on Friday I was offered some clarification from a member of the
congregation who said John was crazy. Of course he was crazy, his family alone could have dictated that. Remember his mother was sterile until she became pregnant with John, rather late in life, and his father was struck dumb, while he was faithfully attending the temple because the angel Gabriel himself chose to announce the pregnancy. Johnʼs cousin Jesus is the Messiah, which in itself would be enough to cause some family stress, but there is also some curiosity about his cousinʼs conception. I suppose that it would have been more unusual if John were normal. Then John grows up, and spends time wandering in the desert, wearing camel hair clothing, and eating the only kosher insects, locusts, and wild honey, and yet has this Spirit filled charism which draws people out of town to the river just to spend time with him. While they are there he baptizes and preaches fiery sermons predicting that the wrath of God is coming AGAIN, which was not exactly a novel prediction for the Jewish people. He even preaches about unquenchable fire and the last time the Jews had to deal with unquenchable fire it was Moses talking to a burning bush and they got 613 commandments out of the deal. If I were at the river Jordan I have to admit that I am not entirely sure that I would be looking forward to this one who is coming that John is referring to, who seems to be in all contrast to the one that Isaiah refers to. Which begs the question...who is coming this Advent? Which Messiah will it be? Is it the Jesus who brings hope springing from a stump in Isaiah? Or is it Johnʼs Jesus, bringer of the Holy Spirit and fire? It is both and it is neither, because Jesus surprises us by doing what is not expected and for what he does not do. He begins his ministry with baptism, a ritual of purity, and then for the rest of his ministry he breaks virtually every
purity law on the books. He doesnʼt use military force to bring people to his way, to become king, bringing people together with absolute power and force. He brings people together by dying on a cross, and sending OTHERS out to transform the world. He brought together those who were enemies, and sometimes broke apart those who were friends. Jesus comes amongst us again and again to do this work. This week we had three readings that appeared to fit together perfectly and then a completely different Gospel message, which creates a tension in me as to what I am to expect, but a tension that is completely Jesus. Paul refers to the root of Jesse directly taken from the book of Isaiah in his pastoral letter to the Romans. Reminding those Gentiles and us, that what was written in the past was written not just for the instruction of those who came before but for us as well. The concept of the Messiah developed out of the first forty chapters of Isaiah although the word Messiah is never written there, and while it would be inaccurate to say that the book of Isaiah was written to for tell of the coming of Jesus the early Christians clearly looked to Isaiah as they continued to try and make sense of this wondrous being who was and is Jesus. In Isaiah the early Christians found new clarity. They found a way to begin to make sense of Jesus, this man who was both and neither, who brought together and pulled apart. Who is in his very nature discordant and harmonious. Who doesnʼt quite fit the nature of what we would assume is the Messiah, because I know our children are not playing around snakes comfortably, and the lion might lie down with the lamb but the lamb isnʼt going to get any sleep. Perhaps this is the opportunity that these readings provide for us, a time to sit with the tensions and to allow ourselves to
exist in the tension. To allow ourselves to feel the tension that is Advent. A tension when the church season says slow down, be aware, wait, it is Advent and the world outside says buy presents, the Christmas season begins after Halloween, you have holiday parties 4 nights this week, and oh there are school Christmas programs too. To be conscious of this season and the fact that we know what is coming with the birth of the Messiah, and yet have no idea what else this Messiah might bring us or who he might be this time around. Living as a Christian in this world means living with a tension, knowing how the Kingdom of God on Earth could look and knowing that we have a responsibility to find our way there, with the lawyers. Amen.