I think it’s rather funny that we talk about rejoicing in God’s love on this Sunday, when our favorite bug eating desert preacher begins our gospel lesson today by shouting, “You brood of vipers!” Doesn’t exactly strike me as a reason to rejoice, but thankfully, John doesn’t leave us there. John, like the prophets before him does not want anyone to “domesticate” God, and we are all guilty of that. It’s especially easy to do this time of year as we send out Christmas cards and set up our favorite nativity scenes and Christmas trees. We have sanitized the birth of Christ in so many ways, and we fall into the possibility of doing it again as we await Jesus’ second coming. It is a beautiful thing to meditate on a nativity or on a lovely piece of artwork that shows us the infant Jesus. We will do exactly that, here on Christmas Eve as we contemplate the birth of Jesus while we sing Silent Night with candle light. However, it’s also helpful if we can remember that God entered the human world that night, and did so in a way filled with fear and pain for his mother and Joseph. It’s important for us to remember that God cannot be tamed and that God acts in human history in wild, uncontrollable, and unexpected ways, and the birth of Jesus is perhaps the wildest, most uncontrollable and unexpected way of all… just look at what happened when people tried to stop God from doing so…
John wants his followers to be ready; to be prepared for the one who comes after him; John is the prophet and herald; he knows his place in the story and doesn’t attempt to change that; he gets people ready, by telling them to turn away from the sinful habits and behaviors that separate them from God; he gives them practical advice about how to prepare; we, like them, cannot just sit and wait for God, there is much work to be done. Even those who work for the Empire, those who are soldiers and tax collectors are expected to prepare in the ways that they can; by not harming people, and by behaving in ways that help the cause of justice, rather than lining their own pockets. Remember our favorite tax collector who shows up later in Luke’s gospel… dear Zaccheus who’s life was so changed by meeting Jesus that he promised to be a better person in his dealings with people and make right the situations where he acted wrongly. It’s an incredible message to say that even those who are part of the work of the empire can be part of the kingdom of God. It’s a powerful message of wild, uncontrollable acceptance that only God is capable of. And, the instructions are clear; share what you have, give to all who are in need, and live your life honestly and with integrity, and generosity. John is pretty clear that his teaching is only the beginning… one is coming who will baptize with the Holy Spirit… and everyone must be ready; ready not just to hear the teaching, but to live the teaching…
So, getting back to rejoice…”Rejoice in the Lord, always… again, I say, Rejoice!” We are called to be people who are filled with joy, not just when we are happy, but always. We are to be joyful in the knowledge that God’s love is wild, God’s love is uncontrollable and God’s love is unexpected. It isn’t sanitized; God doesn’t love who WE say God should love; God loves without regard to who we think is worthy… which is good, because honestly, we almost always get it wrong.
I love the season of Advent… I think its because my soul lives in a constant state of Advent. it’s not a bad place to be as a follower of Jesus. We are called to be in a constant state of preparing and waiting… preparing for Jesus to come again, doing the work of making this world into the kingdom of God by doing works of mercy and justice… and while we work, we wait; we wait with hearts filled with joy, hearts that cannot and will not despair, no matter what is going on around us… we shall rejoice. We shall also be heralds of the savior who is to come, and our hearts shall be filled with joy, because we know that God’s wild, uncontrollable and unexpected judgment first came as love that was born in Bethlehem. Hard to top that…I can hardly wait to see what God will do for an encore…
Come O come Emmanuel… God with us… now and forever.