it's him alright

Preached at St. David of Wales, December 12th

Isaiah 35:1-10
Psalm 146:4-9
James 5:7-10
Matthew 11:2-11


Jesus, set us free, open our eyes, and lift us up,
So that we may help set others free, open their eyes, and lift them up

its already the third Sunday in Advent. this strange darkening season that leads us gently by the hand into the deep mystery of the incarnation, and we celebrate the tipping of the world back towards the light. in this dim shadowy season, we prepare for the coming of God as a baby who turned the world upside down and then left us again, after conquering death, saying I’m coming back for you. How do you prepare for something like this?
that’s what the season of Advent tries to answer.

Isiah says:
the desert shall rejoice and blossom;
waters shall break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water
*
Jesus says:
the blind receive their sight,
the lame walk,
the lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear,
the dead are raised,
and the poor have good news brought to them
*
but THEN James says:
*
Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord.
The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth,
being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.
You also must be patient.


Patient?

this is the worst good news ever-
all we be healed you will sing and dance see and hear, and be healed of everything that hurts in the new Jerusalem with the prince of peace deeply in love, drinking from desert streams-
but not yet not yet.
rejoice! its time to wait.
be patient
patient???
seriously?

we can smell the rainstorm coming in the desert and you want us to be patient?
we can feel in our bones that this world you speak of is just around the next corner.
this is the painful paradox of Advent,
the already not-yet-ness of Advent.
when Jesus who whispers to us from just beyond our reach in the gospels that the kingdom has come.
and we look around and say where Lord?

We want to see your kingdom, but we are too often blind to your love
We want to hear your gospel, but we are deaf to good news
We want to run to you, but our legs are stiff
We want to sing the glory of your truth,
but our tongues cleave to the roof of our mouths and
we stay silent.


When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”

John wants to know if he was right. after the amazing baptism in the Jordan River with the descending of the holy spirit- he gets thrown in jail, and is sitting there in the dark, having glimpsed Jesus’ love and power and possibility. he wonders
if he is going to miss the fulfillment of everything he hoped for and preached, at least let him have not been wrong about who Jesus is. So he sends his disciples to ask him
Are you the one?
it’s the refrain of the gospels, who are you???

who are you ?
who are you?

Jesus, as usual, does not seem as interested in the title of Messiah, as the question of what the questioner is experiencing.
"are you the one?" they ask him
are you the one?

and Jesus, as usual, answers a bit sideways –Go, tell John what you see

when they get back to John, they can say, “you were right John, this is the one we have been waiting for all along. this is the light in the darkness, the living water in the desert. You might not live to see it, but its coming John. take heart, because everything you said in the wilderness is coming true.”

~~~*~~~

If John the Baptist's followers came to Saint David’s,
what could they go back proclaiming ?
if they came and asked us if Jesus was the one, what would we show them?
what good news could we give them to carry back to a dark and lonely prison cell?

in times of darkness and fear it is beautiful and hard to imagine good things rather than destruction. that is the true boldness of the prophet Isaiah, that he can envision a world gone right. He can envision a people healed and a nation restored. how many of us can do the same.

if we find ourselves running out of hope and vision, and the world around us seems impossibly dark, and the morning feels years away
we can ask ourselves what we are forgetting?

what have we not seen?
what have we not heard?
what have we not said?
where have we not gone?

picture it a new world, like this one but healed
and whole
and just.

what will we see when we open our eyes?
what will we hear if we have the courage to listen?
where will we go when our knees are no longer feeble?
what will we say when our tongues are finally loosed from the tyranny of fear?

• we will see this wasteland world burst forth in blossom, the purple headed crocus pushing up through cracked sand, and we will see the whole world as beloved and precious. We will see the poor with the eyes of the God who loves them, and our hearts will leap to help them.

• we will hear the sound of rushing living water, bubbling up in the desert, as the burning sand becomes a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water. And we will the hear the cries of those who have no water, and we will rush to get them a cool drink.

• we will dance on strong legs down the highway of God’s people, and it shall be called the Holy Way; Where no traveler, not even fools like us shall go astray. And we will go farther, on legs restored and made whole, than we ever dreamed. We will dance all the way home inviting everyone we meet on that Holy Way to dance with us.

• and We the ransomed of the LORD will come Home with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon our heads; we shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. We will rejoice and delight in strong voices and shout the truth of Love in the world. We will employ our loosened tongues to preach righteousness and sing of justice.

when they see us dancing and singing, with clear sight and sharp hearing, then they will know who Jesus is.
they can take our story back to John the Baptist and say
we saw it ourselves
the waiting is over—
its him alright


amen