This is a sermon based on Matthew 3:1-12 and Isaiah 11:1-10 (the lectionary readings for the second week in Advent, year A). Enjoy!
It’s a little alarming for us
in
this season of soft lights and kind words,
to
come face-to-face with a character like John the Baptist.
In the season of Advent,
we
prefer to hear about Mary and Joseph,
about
messages delivered by angels,
about
the preparation for an important birth in a humble place.
Yet every Advent, we are confronted
with a reminder about
this
strange, almost creepy contemporary of Jesus.
John is alarming in every aspect of
his character:
he
wears clothes of camel’s hair
reminiscent
of the wild clothing of Elijah.
he
eats locusts flavored with honey – a food of the scavenging poor.
his
location is concerning,
he
doesn’t set up shop in the city – speaking his word to the masses
he
dwells in the wilderness.
he has an alarming message:
it
is full of condemnation.
“you
brood of vipers,”
“the
chaff will burn in the unquenchable fire,”
“the
ax is set at the bottom of the tree,”
“you
will be baptized in fire”
It’s a strange time of year to be
hearing words of condemnation and judgment.
It’s
a strange time of year to be told to repent.
It's a strange time of year to think about judgment.
Our churches are meant to
stand as safe-havens in the world.
This is a place where we are invited to feel at home
this is a place where we are welcomed
no matter who we are
and no matter what we have done.
with this, comes an assumption that it is here where
judgments are placed aside.
So it is a little jarring to hear John saying repent.
Is John telling the
church to be a place of judgment?
sometimes it seems so – when we consider the way the
church
has behaved throughout history.
Yet the words of Matthew 7
ring in my ear:
Do not judge, so that you may not be judged.
For with the
judgment you make you will be judged
And the measure you give will be the measure you get.
John is not telling us
that we need to be judgers,
his message is all about repentance.
There was once a holiday
in South Africa called The Day of the Vow.
The vow was taken in the 1800’s during the war
between white colonialists and the black
Zulus.
On the eve of a big battle, the besieged whites took a
public vow
that if God helped them live, they would
celebrate that day for generations.
Generations later, after
whites took control of the land
and implemented a system of apartheid, or segregation
every December 16, whites would teach their
children to celebrate that victory,
often with violence.
Letlapa Mphalele recalls
growing up in this horrible reality Every December 16, whites would come into
his village
and beat up any Africans they could find on
the streets.
As Letlapa grew up, he and
his friends decided to take December 16 back for themselves.
This day would be the beginning of their armed revolt
against apartheid.
He quickly became director
of a violent movement.
If blacks were gunned down by whites, he and his fighters
would
kill white policemen.
Violence mounted and, on a
warm October night,
white soldiers killed five black South African children
sleeping in their home.
So Letlapa ordered the shooting of white civilians at Heidelberg
Tavern in Cape Town.
One of the four people
randomly killed was Lyndi Fourie.
Lyndi’s mother, Jenn received a phone message upon
returning to her home that day telling her that her daughter had been
killed.
Hatred was felt on both sides
Letlapa
felt that the end result was a necessary retaliation
for the deaths of the five children his
community had buried.
that now the whites were going to suffer the
way blacks had suffered.
Jenn Fourie prayed at her daughter’s funeral
saying that her daughter had been killed at
the hands of evil men
that Letlape was the devil
incarnate.
6 months later, Nelson
Mandela was elected president,
and he ended apartheid in South Africa.
December 16 was renamed The Day of
Reconciliation.
Now, a country of people
who had been killing each other for generations
had to look in each other’s eyes and say sorry.
As part of this process, people who had committed
terrible acts
under apartheid
came together to stand before a Truth and Reconciliation
Commission
-which was headed by Desmond Tutu-
to confess all their crimes and ask for
forgiveness.
But Letlapa wouldn’t go, because he did not believe he
was a criminal
for doing what was right.
Jenn was heartbroken at
Letlape’s refusal,
so she decided to personally confront him at a press
conference.
She stood up, identified herself, and accused him of
trivializing reconciliation.
Letlapa explained his side
of the story;
that his fighters were responding to the crimes of
decades of subjugation.
Lyndi’s death was cast in the light of generations of
painful loss.
Jenn had never seen things from Letlapa’s
perspective.
Letlapa approached Jenn and shook hands with her in a
traditional African way
showing deep respect.
and Jenn forgave Letlapa.
Letlape never said he was
sorry, but not because he wasn’t sorry.
In his culture, it was his actions that mattered more
than his words,
so he invited Jenn to speak at his homecoming
celebration.
Letlapa had not been home as a free man in over 16 years.
At the homecoming, Jenn apologized on behalf of her
ancestors
for what they had done to Letlapa’s people.
Not only
was she applauded, she was given a new name: Peladee
which means mother of Africa. (2)
These two people have
found peace.
On the website for the
foundation created for Lyndi Fourie
Her mother and the man who ordered her murder stand side
by side. (2)
The road to peace was not
short or easy,
the road to peace required repentance,
it required forgiveness,
it required reconciliation.
John’s biggest purpose, and the
reason he is so crucial for Advent,
is
because he points the way for the one who is coming – Jesus.
And
Jesus enters into the world as God incarnate
bringing
the most astonishing combination of acceptance and admonition. (3)
What we discover at Advent and
Christmas
is
not only are we cherished and accepted for who we are,
but
we are also responsible for what we do.
God
loves us enough to care about what
we do
to
care about our lives, to have expectations for us.
This does not mean that our
expectations for ourselves
or
for each other
necessarily
line up with what God expects of us.
In
fact the opposite is probably more often true.
But the fact that God loves us enough
to care about what we do
and
sends John to call us into better lives
and
sends Jesus into the world to teach and guide us
is
an incredible testament to God’s mercy.
There’s a youtube video that went
viral a few years ago.
The
video is called simply “Dog, cat, and rat.”
The
gist of the video is that a man has a rat
that
rides on the back of a cat
that
rides on the back of a dog.
all,
seemingly, by choice.
I
know it sounds more like a Dr. Suess poem, but there they are,
like
the musicians of Bremen.
The video has over 10 million views.
It seems we are fascinated by the
idea of animals living in peace.
We see this in Isaiah’s
prophecy.
To
indicate the extent of God’s powerful peace,
Isaiah
uses the cooperation of animals
The
wolf and the lamb,
The
calf and the lion
The
leopard and the baby goat.
The reason we are drawn to these
animal videos
and
the reason that Isaiah’s image of the holy mountain is so compelling
is
because these do not indicate what is normal.
The wolf usually doesn’t hang out with the lamb.
The lion and the fatling don’t lie down together,
and
the rat never rides on the back of the cat
who
never rides on the back of the dog.
This departure from what appears to
be reality is intriguing
because
it gives us hope.
Nelson Mandela died on Thursday of
this week.
After
spending his early life fighting for the end of apartheid,
the
middle part of his life in a jail cell,
and
the last part of his life destroying a racialist system and bringing about
peace,
this
man is being recognized for his achievements.
He was elected president of a tumultuous country.
He had lots of pressure to retaliate against those who imprisoned him.
To return evil for evil.
But that's not what he did.
In fact, at his inauguration he invited the guards who kept him in prison,
to sit in the front row.
Because nothing is more humbling than receiving forgiveness
when you don't feel you've earned it.
Nelson Mandela understood the peace
process.
He
understood that the way for two people to move from hatred for one another
to
mutual love and respect,
is
through repentance and forgiveness.
It requires asking God for forgiveness,
asking each other for forgiveness.
Because once we forgive each other, once we are that vulnerable with each other,
we understand each other better. Peace can become a reality.
that is the power of repentance an reconciliation,
that is the power of peace.
What we do in Advent is important:
the
hymns we sing
the
prayers we pray
the
ways we prepare our hearts and minds for Christmas.
These things really do matter.
Our repentance is important because it prepares us to welcome God's peace.
It prepares our souls to embody God's world.
So we approach this Advent season
with longing,
with
anticipation,
maybe,
even, with a little apprehension,
but knowing that a shoot shall come
out of the dead stump of Jesse,
into
a dead and dying world,
and
he will be Jesus, God’s son.
and
he will be called the Prince of Peace.
AMEN.
(1) Story taken from radio show Snap Judgment episode #314 (August 1, 2013)
(3) Feasting on the Word. Year A, Volume 1.
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