I was reading this past week about a fellow priest who was trying to decide whether to move forward in a large capital campaign to build on to his church. He was at a point where he had raised a good bit of the funds needed for this project, but he still lacked six figures to complete the plan that he and the vestry had agreed to. He wrote, “Am I being foolish…. Or faithful?” Am I risking the money that we have raised from hard working folk, or am I following God’s plan? Faith or foolishness?
Many others greater than he have been in the same place.
What was Abraham thinking when he set out with his entire family to go to a land he had never been to, risking everything for a voice he thought he had heard?
Who was Moses to think he could stand up to the most powerful king in the land, or to even attempt it after he had so much doubt about his calling?
Would you have advised or allowed your children to do what Peter, James and John did… leaving their work and their families to follow a man that had just burst onto the scene and some are even thinking that he is God? Or how about Paul, who went from place to place, prison to prison, painfully misunderstood but absolutely committed to proclaiming this Jesus that so many people rejected?
And then this morning we read of Isaiah, and Mary, and a wild man named John who did just that. Followed their faith. Listened to the voice. Trusted in their God to be faithful.
Most stories in the Bible follow a pattern: a pattern of a people who experience anguish and agony… finding themselves in trouble ... and wondering where God is in their lives. Then comes sorrow and sadness… whether sorrowful over something that could have handled better or sadness over something out of their control. But these emotions are always followed by hope and then joy brought on through our faith.
In our Old Testament reading, Isaiah begins by proclaiming his call and calming his people by reminding them of the power and promise of the Lord To proclaim to a people who are wondering where God is in their lives…. : The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me…. Has Chosen me to bring good news to a people who are wondering where God is in their lives…. . to bind up the broken hearted…. To comfort those who mourn…. Those who are filled with sorrow and have lost hope.
Have faith. God is always faithful, he is saying. God will come and relieve our anguish and turn our sorrow into joy. And even though Israel is still in exile, Isaiah gives them hope…. And they revel in this good news. They respond with joy: I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall exult in my God for he has clothed me ... he has fed me… my tears of anguish will bring forth good things. They may still be in exile, but they are rejoicing in anticipation of the relief from their troubles. In the what WILL be.
Fred Craddock, a 20th theologian and brilliant preacher and teacher, once said: To Celebrate the future as a memory and to praise God for having already done what lies before us to do… is the nature of the life as the people of God… as Christians.
And so, as Christians, we know what God has done… and we know what he is going to do. And therefore, when we are troubled and sorrowful, we too can rejoice that God has already done what he promised he would do. And we can then trust that he will do the same for us.
Even the beautiful Magnificat reflects this pattern of angst, sorrow and joyful celebration of the power of the Lord to take care of our needs.
The Magnificat reflects this idea of what is past is present…. And what is old is new. God does the same power but in a new way. Barren older women in the Old Testament miraculously have children: women like Sara, Rebekka, Rachael, Elisabeth, and Hanna. They lacked the hope of ever having a child. For women in biblical times, the one thing she was expected to do to carry on the name of her husband and tribe was to have a child. … specifically, a male child. And while they suffered in anguish for their inability to bear children, they reached out to God … who heard their cries…. And filled their barren wombs with life. And whose children have been a part of God’s plan for his kingdom.
And then we have Mary…. A young girl, not married, not yet having her ability to bear children tested. But she has been chosen by God to bear the Lord… to bring down the powerful, lift up the lowly, fill up those who are hungry and lost … and to empty the purses of those who trust vainly in their riches. She ties the past to the present: God doing something old …but in a new way. The light is entering the world…. in a new way. This is a song of joy… rejoicing on the strength and might and mercy.
And of course, there is John. The man who professes the already but the not yet. The man who …. When asked who he IS ... tells those asking who he IS NOT. I am NOT the Messiah. I am NOT one of the Prophets. I am NOT the Light. I am NOT worthy.
I am the voice crying out in the wilderness. I am the one who is here to say, REJOICE! Do not worry about when Christ is coming. Live your life as a Christian. Profess your faith. Rejoice in what God has given you. Paul says to the Thessalonians “Pray without ceasing”. For life is a continuous prayer… a recognition of all that we DO have and know. That we should live in the present as if Christ is sitting here right now.…We should live in the present in the promise and the hope of what we know of the past… and of the hope that leads to joy.
And if we do that, if we live believing that the one who is promised will return because GOD is always faithful …. If we live in THAT… then we can live with the confidence that we are His and that no matter how hard our lives are, we can trust that the power of God is stronger than any darkness we encounter. And we will not be able to NOT share all that God has done for us. And we can joyfully share that God is present and active in our lives. And like Mary, we will sing with joy. We will sing that He has come to the help of his servants, for he has remembered his promise of mercy, The promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever. And like Isaiah, we will share in being the anointed ones… the chosen and We will greatly rejoice in the LORD, and our whole being shall exult in our God.
And like John, we can be the voice crying out in the wilderness of life and sorrow and hurt that the light is coming. And we can then celebrate the future as if it were a memory.
Last night in our Blue Christmas service, we gave way to the sorrow. But this morning, on Gaudete Sunday, we will revel in the same joy of Isaiah and Mary and John… in the isness of the was. For soon, the light will come, and all darkness will be dispelled. Just as God has told us.
(Podcast Lectionary Lab Two Bubbas and a Bible)