We’re transitioning.
We’re moving.
Since All Saints
we’ve been hearing
about the end of time.
It’s getting more urgent now
as we get closer to Christmas.
Our gospel text isn’t Jesus talking
about when all things are made right.
Jesus isn’t even in the gospel passage today.
We’re getting a hinge
from the apocalyptic
to the immediate,
from when the Son of Man comes in his glory
to the Reign of God is at hand,
now.
Luke grounds the arrival of this messenger
in a real place
in a real time
ruled and governed
by real people.
At the same time, though,
he makes reference to Isaiah.
John the son of Zechariah
goes into the desert
“proclaiming a baptism of repentance
for the forgiveness of sins.”
John is the voice in the wilderness
crying out that things are about to change
and that they will change.
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth;
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
When Isaiah writes that,
he’s talking about God’s messengers
who will make an easy path for captured Israelites
to flee back to their homeland.
Their salvation will be through the wilderness.
Luke is stepping it up, though.
The preparation for salvation
is coming from the wilderness –
as John preaches repentance –
and a salvation for all of creation.
“All flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
As the captive Israelites waited their salvation,
and the first readers of Luke learned this story over and over
and the church today waits for all to be made right
it’s hard to wait!
Finny has started to say
“It’s Christmas time!”
I make no effort to dampen his excitement
but do gently say
“It is almost Christmas!
Right now is Advent.
We’re waiting.”
Followers of Jesus
aren’t the only ones waiting,
and the news this week shows just how much
the world longs for God’s justice –
and God’s judgment! –
even if that’s not how everyone might frame it.
Martial law in South Korea
and protests and votes to overturn it.
The collapse of the government in France.
The end of the Assad regime in Syria,
and perhaps his death.
A health insurance CEO murdered
with “deny,” “defend,” and “depose”
written on the shell casings.
As NBC reports,
“UnitedHealthcare,
a subdivision of UnitedHealth Group,
is the largest private health insurance payer
in the U.S.
and has been the subject of heated controversy
over its relatively high rate
of denial of health-care claims.”
As the church waits for Jesus’ return and birth
the whole of creation groans in labor
waiting for all things to be made well.
The peoples of the earth
can tell that something isn’t right.
The Powers of Sin and Death
run rampant through the world,
and people are crying out for God’s justice.
It’s hard to wait!
But we know that Sin and Death have been defeated
and we wait for that defeat to be fulfilled.
We wait for all things to be made well,
and we wait for God’s judgment,
for God to say “This wasn’t right,
and there will be consequences.
Evil doesn’t get to go unchecked
for all of eternity.”
We can be squirmish
about God’s judgment
because many of us are often the targets
of other Christians saying we’ll be first in line.
John preaching a baptism for the forgiveness of sins
assures us that sin is real
and that it can be forgiven.
As we await Jesus’ return
we look for the day
when valleys are raised
and hills and mountains are made plain
and the salvation of God through Jesus
dawns on all flesh.
Neither Isaiah nor Luke
is talking about just topography here!
In their song
“It’s Hard to Wait”
Rain for Roots sets these few words
to music
but ends with pleas and assurances
of comfort.
They sing this in the context
of the difficulty of waiting
for someone to write you a letter back
or the first sprouts to break soil
after seeds are planted.
Hearing that this week
has made me think about the illustrations
about the differences between
equality, equity, and justice.
These illustrations started
with three people of different heights
each being given a box
to look over a fence into a baseball game.
That was equality.
In the equity frame,
the three boxes were rearranged.
The tallest person didn’t need a box
so shortest got two boxes.
Later iterations of the drawing
change the wood plank fence
to chain link
so you can see through the fence.
(An even further addition
is someone taking wire cutters to the fence.
This frame is called revolution.
I might call it the eschaton,
where Jesus is the one ripping up the fence.)
This is what Isaiah and Luke mean
with the valleys being raised
and the mountains being laid plain.
Jesus’ incarnation and return
bring justice for all.
And it’s hard to wait.
We cry out,
asking how long we have to
and we look to the end of this liturgical season
knowing that it’s not all for naught.
One of the reasons I love Advent
is that Jesus always gets born.
Three day potty training
took six months to the day,
but Jesus always gets born
on December 25.
It’s hard to wait,
but we don’t do it alone.
We wait together,
and we wait with the saints
who waited before us.
We wait with civil rights leaders
who never expected to see
the fulfillment of their dreams
but knew their work would matter
for those in the future.
Syria’s longest serving political prisoner,
Ragheed al-Tatari,
was released yesterday
after 43 years of incarceration.
That’s a long time to wait,
but the hills and the mountains
will be made plain.
John’s voice crying out in the wilderness
wasn’t one ignored.
It was a voice saying that God’s salvation
was on its way.
It’s hard to wait,
but we have comfort:
every valley will be raised.