Sermon by The Very Rev Chris Yaw, Advent 2, 12/4/2022, Matthew 3:1-12
My friend Denise is married to a pack rat.
That wouldn't be so bad, but Denise is a bit of a minimalist neatnik, and prefers drawers that are not hard to open because they're so stuffed with stuff, closets she can walk into without tripping over something, and being able use her garage to house her car instead of as a storage unit.
This means that every so often Denise has to have a talk with her husband... She's not as harsh or brash as John the Baptist, but her convictions are not dissimilar as she kindly asks him to neaten up, get rid of the junk, and to put back in place the things that are needful.
Went to the dentist this week with the little ones.
"What do you mean I have a cavity?" Asked one of them, “I always brush my teeth the same way with the same brush with the same toothpaste!"
"That's a problem," the dentist explained, "You've gotten so used to doing everything the same way, that some teeth are spic and span while others are totally neglected.”
It's not the ritual, but it’s about keeping teeth clean!’
My friend Steve had the plumber out.
The drains in his house were not working like they should. Apparently, he has so many trees on his lot that the roots broke a pipe, started growing inside, and backed up all the house drains.
His plumber told him: “You really should get these pipes regularly cleaned out, or you’re going to see me a lot more often!”
Brush your teeth, clean out the pipes, clean out the house!
How else can we analogize the work of John the Baptist, who greets us on this Second Sunday of Advent, with no lack of conviction and nothing but transparency as to the consequence of failing to clean up and clean out?
For this is the way we prepare to meet Jesus at Christmas: clean it up, clean it out, make room for God to do something big in your life.
As we all know, Christmas is not so much about the twinkling lights, bowl games, fancy meals, cookies, presents, or sleigh rides - it’s about getting more serious about what life is calling us to do and how we are going about doing it.
Dressed in the attire of the poor of that place and time:
not soft wool, but scratchy camel hair -
not a woven belt, but one of animal hide -
not eating shish-kabob, but insects - which you can still get there today - in case anyone’s hungry...
Nothing about John the Baptist was designed to take away from the message:
That you and I are to live in expectation - in hope, in readiness, and in possibility -
To live knowing that what we say and do has weighty consequence - for ill - but also for good.
To clean up, and clean out, making room for God to do something big in our lives.
A Rabbi and a Priest go to a boxing match.
They watch as the two contenders take to the ring for their introductions.
The first jumps up and down with his fists raised as his name is called.
The second, a Christian, kneels, makes the sign of the cross, and appears to pray as his name is announced.
The Rabbi asks the priest, ‘Is that prayer going to work?’
‘I dunno,’ says the priest, ‘It depends on how well he can box.’
Our Gospel reading included a warning to the religious leaders of the day, the Pharisees and Sadducees, who came out to be baptized by John at the River Jordan.
It appeared they were relying upon their rituals - positions - ordination - tradition - to be enough for God.
No, you’ve got to be able to box!
Yes, God is with us: we pray!
But God also looks to us to bring our best game into the ring.
Part of that game means participating in Advent's annual invitation to do a thorough, searching, inventory of our lives.
We can choose to make this last month of the year a time not a coast, but to sprint.
We can clean up and clean out, anticipating that God is doing big things through us.
I recently read a treatise on inspiration, in which the author argued that waiting around to be inspired is a non-starter, and that imagination is piqued by actively seeking fresh, new, and diverse experiences, going museums, reading books, befriending people we might not normally befriend, in other words inspiration is not fully divine, but is really human, coming from our hands as much as anywhere else.
The work of Advent is no less active:
As the old country preacher says, God can't steer a parked car.
What is it we are sitting around waiting for to show up at our door?
How is God inviting us to get active and to get busy with the things on our plates?
What risk or chance is God inviting us to take?
Advent gives us this invitation to draw near to the one who is coming at Christmas, and it warns us that this is serious business.
John the Baptist declares that God is looking for willing workers! And we cannot rely on our reputations or traditions.
"God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham."
The work is that important.
That’s why God sent an Advance Man.
According to a dictionary on political science, an Advance Man is charged with all of the important duties needed for success of the One who Comes.
Job #1: The Advance Man has to find a crowd!
He's got to find a good a crowd!
And he's got to deliver a good crowd to the One who Comes - so that the message can go out.
The Advance Man has to prepare the way -
The Advance Man has to clear the way -
The Advance Man has to remove all obstacles, be they people or things - that would prevent the message from going out.
The Advance Man does not seek the spotlight.
The Advance Man focuses the spotlight on the One Who Comes - so the message can go out.
That was John’s job - to pave the way for the Gospel
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One holiday the kids were complaining about all the work that goes into hosting a big dinner: ‘Why do we need to sweep the kitchen, polish the silverware, empty the trash?’
And if we were to dwell on these less-enjoyable aspects of holiday festivities, we probably wouldn’t have holiday meals at all!
And we would miss the point.
The same is true with this passage.
This is not a ‘good news’ passage all on its own - with its stark words of preparation, repentance, and judgment - it needs to be put into the context of the Feast - the larger Gospel that we embrace as this season evolves.
Just as cleaning the house, setting the table, and cooking dinner are essential to the feast - so is the Baptist’s cry for you and me to prepare for the Feast with self-examination, repentance, and judgment.
After all, the coming King is about forgiveness, wholeness, healing, and provision.
It’s a feast of everything our deepest souls have ever craved: safety, security, meaning, and purpose.
These are the ‘big things’ that God wants us to make room for in our lives.
This past few weeks, my wife and I have noticed road ragers doing stupid things out on the roads.
Just this week, I was following a white Jeep, that apparently wanted to go faster than the person in front of him - who was going at or a little above the speed limit - so this white Jeep, dramatically and dangerously, passed that car in a no-passing zone - just so he could speed up to the red light in front of us and get there first.
He could’ve hit an oncoming driver.
He could have flipped his vehicle.
All for what?
Am I the only one who’s noticed this?
Why are people so angry?
Well, one good definition of anger is grief turned outward.
When we lose something, when we grief something, and we’re totally out of control - we can get angry - turning that grief outward.
So I wonder what the driver of that white jeep was grieving?
Did COVID dash his dating life?
Has the stock market bottomed out her retirement plans?
Did he lose bidding war for a house, a job, or a promotion?
Clean it up, clean it out, make room for God to do something big in your life - that ‘big thing’ may be a better way to deal with our grief.
How many of us are in church this morning under the weight of an expectation that’s not being met?
People who are disappointing us?
Bodies that are acting up?
Friends, the world’s answer to grief is anger -
Get mad at the government -
Get mad at politicians -
Get mad at the news media -
Get mad at people who vote differently -
But John the Baptist is hailing the arrival of a better way -
He’s announcing a new way to deal with our grief -
He’s suggesting that the One who is coming can help.
This One will preach a Gospel of new beginnings - that we can be forgiven, accepted, and cultivate a way of life where anger does not become our default setting.
For the second week in a row, I’d like to end with a poem - this one by John O’Donahue called ‘For A New Beginning’ - do close your eyes if you like - as I read:
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time, it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this?
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
Amen.