Advent 2C 2015 - Baruch 5:1-9; Canticle 16; Philippians 1:3-11; Luke 3:1-6
Advent continues. Our longing deepens. We wait, watch, and wonder if we will ever know peace. Will there be peace on earth—in our cities, in our homes, within ourselves? We long for the kind of peace that passes all understanding, peace that heals and makes whole, peace that allows the wolf to live with the lamb and the leopard with the kid, peace that allows a little child to lead us back to God, peace that ensures there will be an end to gun violence, terrorism, killing and destruction.
We know the way things are isn’t right. But to say that something isn’t right is just the start. We also need a vision of the way things are supposed to be. We have to have some sense of what is right. Only then can we say something is wrong.
In the biblical tradition the vision for how things ought to be is called shalom. We translate this word as “peace,” but it means much more than an absence of warfare or a calm state of mind. Shalom or peace in the scriptures means the presence of universal flourishing, wholeness, harmony, delight.
The prophets spoke of a time when crookedness would be made straight, when rough places would be made smooth, when flowers would bloom in the desert, when weeping would cease, when the lion would lie down with the lamb, when the foolish would be made wise, when the wise would be made humble, when humans would beat their swords into ploughshares. All nature would be fruitful, all nations sit down together for a sumptuous feast, and all creation would look to God, walk with God, and delight in God.
Advent is a time of joyful anticipation of such things. It is time, the prophet Baruch says, “to take off your robe of sorrow and affliction; mourning and misery,” for God is leading God’s people “with his mercy and justice.” God’s people “are wrapped in the robe of righteousness,” and they “will be named by God forever, Righteous Peace.”
The Apostle Paul, too, speaks of joyful anticipation, of waiting for “the day of Christ Jesus.” He is confident that the good work begun in the Christians in Philippi will be completed in Christ. He encourages the Philippians to grow in love, praying their love will overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight, to help them determine what is best, so that they may be pure and blameless, and he concludes with a wish: that they may be found rich in the harvest of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ.
The message of John the Baptist is to prepare the way for this coming of Christ, to make straight the paths and to make smooth the rough ways. In order for all these things to come to pass, we need a “baptism of repentance,” a cleansing from the old ways of complacency and darkness and a commitment to a new way of living. We need to challenge the wisdom of the world in the way it was challenged by that prophet in the desert.
John is not saying things aren’t the way they’re supposed to be and they never will be so get used to it. His is not a message of futility in the face of the brokenness of God’s creation. Rather, it is a liberating and joyful call to realign our individual and collective wills with the purposes of God.
Knowing something of God’s vision of shalom, we can be people who promote flourishing, seek wholeness and restore harmony. We can be repairers of that which is broken. To hear and respond to John’s message is good news, because in spite of the fact that things aren’t the way they should be, they can change and so can we. People can stop killing each other.
Wednesday’s mass shootings in San Bernardino are appalling to me—unacceptable. What, I wonder, is it going to take for gun violence in the United States to stop? I stand with many who are saying “It’s time for people of faith to respond out of their faith and work to stop senseless violence.” It’s evident the epidemic of gun violence in America has become the new normal. I stand with my brothers and sisters who believe we can do something to change the way things are. We can’t just blame gun violence or any other social ill on the brokenness of the world, pray for peace, and move on, worried that anything more will be seen as politicizing tragedy. Saying a little prayer and moving on is not enough. Prayer is powerful and personal and it means taking action.
Sensible gun safety legislation can be enacted. We need to respond to violence not with more violence, but with a firm commitment to find ways to love one another and live together more peacefully. When we pray for the person who is hungry, we then feed them. When we pray for the person who is bleeding by the side of the road, we then stop to help them. And it doesn’t end there. We work to change our laws and systems so that we have fewer people hungry and fewer people being shot in our streets, in our schools, in our churches and in our conference centers.
It’s up to you and me.
God’s shalom cannot come on earth by accepting violence and clinging to our weapons. Nor can it come by defending the status quo. Or by being complacent. Or by throwing up our hands and saying the problem of gun violence is too big. And it sure doesn’t mean expecting God to wave some magic wand to make all the sin and hate and violence go away. That’s not the way it works. We created the problem. We need to act. We need to repent.
The news of repentance for the forgiveness of sins is good news. It’s good news to sinners—those suffering from the consequences of their transgressions, those living with the guilt of poor choices, those who have succumbed to greed and a sense of entitlement. For those of us who have squandered countless opportunities to take a stand against injustice, those of us who have been far too complacent and self-righteous, the news of repentance and forgiveness of sins is good news. It says we’re not hopeless.
In proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, John makes no distinctions between any of us. All flesh shall see the salvation of the living God. All are called to this baptism, to this repentance. We are no better than our enemies, no worse than our critics. And that’s good news!
It is good and, indeed, joyful news to know that we are free to respond to God’s call to shalom in a world that has been created and redeemed by our good and generous God, a world made to be fruitful, abundant, harmonious, life-giving, peaceful, whole, filled with deep and abiding joy.
John prepares us for this way of the Lord. He calls us to examine our lives, our values, our priorities, and our politics. He calls us to look deeply within our own hearts to see what changes need to be made in our lives, in our church, in our nation and in the world. John calls us to understand the ways in which we need to turn around and head in a new direction. He calls us to repent, change our mind, turn around, and reorient our direction toward God and away from sinful ways. John calls us to seek God’s forgiveness, and to prepare the way of the Lord.
The Benedictus (Canticle 16), Zechariah’s great hymn of prophecy, praise and blessing, makes clear that true peace—in our hearts, in our church, in our nation and in our world—will come only when we are right with God.
Sermon sources: commentary Randall Mixon in Feasting on the Word; on-line commentary by Gerald Darring; on-line sermon by The Rev. Dr. Joseph Pagano; commentary by T. Denise Anderson in Christian Century November 25, 2015; Sojourners on line commentary 12/3/15 by Jim Wallis and Joe Kay