Author: Chip Salzgeber

Matthew 4:12-23

 

After I graduated from seminary Susan and I moved to Siren, Wisconsin where I began work as a parish pastor.

• Shortly after arriving I was invited to join a community study group.
• It was a small group of people all of whom worked in some form of ministry.
• I was the newest in the group…the newest to Siren…and the only Lutheran.
• They were very interested in how I got from being a would-be history teacher to being a Lutheran Pastor.

 

“Tell us the story of your conversion” they said.

• “Tell us how you found Christ and became a pastor.”
• “Well…” I began. And then there was silence. I thought hard about the question.
• I started again. “Well” …more silence.
• Then I said: “You know…it was just always there…a sense of connection…relationship…longing.
• I cannot remember a time when it was not there.”
• One of them asked: “There was not a particular day or event?”
• I shook my head. So did they. They were clearly disappointed and maybe even a bit doubtful about me.

 

I think that conversation highlights one of the difficulties with today’s gospel reading.

• It sounds as if one day Jesus shows up and immediately…we walk away from our old life and leave everything behind.
• That’s how Matthew describes it for Peter and Andrew and James and John in today’s reading.
• But for me it was a continuous and steady experience of Jesus.
• Others would tell a story of struggle and wrestling…give and take…back and forth.
• How does any relationship begin…continue and grow?
• There is no one way or even a right way.
• There are probably as many ways of being called…finding Jesus…being found by Jesus…as there are people.
• It is unique and personal to each one of us.

 

But you know what? Our entire life is a conversion.

• We are always on the way…on the road…being shaped and formed into the likeness of Jesus.
• Repeatedly…Jesus comes to us saying: “Follow me.”

 

Our relationship with Jesus is grounded and experienced in the people and events of our lives and world.

• So…it was for Peter…Andrew…James and John.
• Throughout the remainder of Matthew’s gospel…
• He describes the life and ministry of Jesus and the ongoing shaping and forming of those four disciples’ lives.
• That shaping and forming was moved by Jesus’ teaching of the beatitudes…by his healing of the sick…by his telling parables…by his feeding the 5000.
• By Peter complaining that they had left everything behind…By James and John arguing with the others and hoping to sit at Jesus’ right and left…by Jesus’ crucifixion…by his resurrection and ascension…and by the coming of the Holy Spirit.

 

Every one of those moments echo with Jesus’ words: “Follow me.”

• Turning points always resound with the invitation to follow Jesus.
• They are the intersection of our lives and his life.
• That is what is happening in today’s gospel.
• We hear it in Jesus’ words: “Repent” and “Follow me.”

 

Repentance is more than just a moral change.

• It is a life change…a turning point.
• We look in a different direction.
• We see with new eyes.
• We establish new priorities.
• We travel a new road.

 

OK then…let’s think about our turning points…times when our lives were turned around:

• Moving out and beginning life on our own.
• Falling in love and getting married.
• The birth of our child.
• The death of a loved one.
• Words or actions that hurt another and forever changed a relationship.
• Graduation from school and beginning our first job.
• The failure of a business or the loss of a job.
• A divorce.
• A success or accomplishment that was significant or meaningful.
• Discovering the passion that excites…inflames…and drives our life.
• An anniversary grounded in commitment and deep satisfaction.
• Going to a first AA meeting.
• Our new role as caretaker of a spouse or parent.
• A longtime dream that finally came true.

 

We can all tell stories of our lives’ turning points.

• Our lives are a series of turning points…some big and others small.
• Regardless…with each turning point we see ourselves…others…and the world differently.
• We think differently…we focus on different concerns…we ask different questions…and we move in a different direction.
• What they all have…though…is Jesus’ invitation…” follow me.”

 

Each turning point comes with the opportunity to refashion our lives.

• That’s what Jesus did for Peter…Andrew…James…and John.
• “I will make you…” he says.
• That is what he does for us as well.
• He makes us more who we truly are to become.
• In him we begin to recognize ourselves.

 

This happens in and through our life’s circumstances.

• That’s how it happened for Peter…Andrew…James…and John.
• Their turning point came in sailing the same boats…on the same lake…using the same nets…doing the same work they had done the day before…and the day before that…and the month before that…and the year before that.

 

So today we look at our lakes…our boats…and our nets.

• The circumstances of our lives.
• What is the turning point we face today?
• Somewhere in our lives today is a turning point…a place of repentance.
• It is there and so is Jesus…beckoning…calling…longing…desiring.
• He stands there and says: “Follow me.

John 1:29-42

 

 

The two disciples said to him: “Rabbi” – which means Teacher – “where are you staying?” Jesus said to them: “Come and see.”

 

Jose Hobday…A friend of mine who was a Roman Catholic Nun…joined the Saints of Heaven a Few years ago.

• She grew up in the Southwest.
• She shared with me a liminal experience she had on a Saturday when she was being very difficult.
• She said: It was summer.
• And it was time to go out and play.
• And my friend Wauneta was coming over…but she was not coming yet.
• And I was getting more and more upset…And more and more obnoxious.
• But instead of being helpful and generous around the house I was yammering.
• Where is Wauneta…Where is Wauneta…
• And I went on and on like this.

 

And daddy after a certain amount of this said…

• Joe…go get a blanket…a book and an apple…and get in the car.
• And I said:
• I can’t…Wauneta is coming over and we have a busy day planned.
• And my father said…do as I told you.
• And he was big…6’4” …you know…you kind of think it over.

 

I was 12 at this time.

• So…I did…I went and got a book…an apple and a blanket.
• And I was kind of all the way…just crumbling along.
• And then he drove me about 8 miles from home.
• Down to a canyon rim.
• And it was very…very…desolate.

 

And he said: Get out…and take your blanket and your book and your apple.

• We cannot stand you.
• I do not want you around for the day.
• You stay out here and figure out what makes you decent to live with.
• What makes you decent to be with.
• And I’ll come back and pick you up at six o’clock tonight.

 

Well…I thought…the heck with him.

• The nerve of him.
• I got out of that car and took my stuff.
• And I was really mad.
• And I thought…I’ll walk home.
• I’ll show him.

 

And I looked out and I saw the dust of the car going across that desert road.

• And I was really upset…I was really frustrated.
• So…I started to cry.
• And I cried until I remembered there was no audience.
• You know…any good cry loses force if there is nobody to appreciate your agony.
• But I could not get these feelings worked out.

 

So…I took the blanket and the apple…and the book and I just pitched them over the edge of the canyon as far as I could.

• And it was a long way down.
• But that didn’t satisfy.
• I stamped around up there…I was frustrated…I was mad.
• I thought…the nerve of him.
• I’ll walk home.
• And then I thought of him when I got there.
• And I decided I would not walk home.
• And I felt I was stuck…for the day.

 

Well…I fooled around like that for about three or four hours.

• Until it was noon.
• And I got so hungry…I was looking over the edge of that canyon.
• To see where that apple rolled.
• So…I finally crawled down…and I recovered my book and my blanket and my apple.

 

I climbed back up and spread out that blanket under a pinion tree.

• I’ll never forget the blanket.
• It was a Native American patterned blanket.
• Red and blue with green and black borders.
• It was not a good blanket because you did not haul off good blankets to take to the desert.

 

I spread it under that pinyon tree…and it was the only tree around there.

• And I can still see the gum on the bark.
• And I took that book and I lay down to eat that apple.
• And once I got myself in a position of up-ness…
• Once I looked up through that pinion…
• And saw that blue sky…
• And the clouds were there…and it was peaceful.
• And I was not…I did not fit.
• For the first time…in all that space of the day…I began to look at myself.

 

And it did not take me too long to see that I was not fit to live with.

• That nobody wanted me around the house…
• Acting like that…talking like that…being difficult like that.

 

But the longer I lay…and the more I admitted that was not the way to act…

• The more the sky and the world began to talk to me…
• Saying…Come and see.
• Come and you will see.

 

I got a sense of peace…and then I got to thinking about God.

• And then I got to thinking about getting this sense of peace more.
• And that’s when I got my first understanding of contemplative prayer.
• God was saying to me…come and see.
• There was an experience of solitude…
• That was not empty…that was really good.
• It was good to be there.
• I did not mind it.
• I saw things that I had never seen before.
• Come and see.
• I got a sense of peace and wellbeing.

 

I began to like daddy again.

• And by the time he came to pick me up…
• I knew I had been wrong.
• I got in that car.
• I did not have to say anything.
• He did not have to say anything to me.

 

But the impact was that from then on.

• Until I graduated from high school.
• All during the summer…once a week.
• I would take a day and wander out by myself.
• I packed a lunch.
• And took a jug of water.

 

But I went out by myself…and I finally got so I did not even need a book.

• I could just be alone…for a day.
• I could walk.
• I could look over the rim.
• I could watch the hawks sailing.
• And not be lonely.
• And not be afraid.
• Come and see.
• Be still and know that I am God.
• Come and see.
• Jesus teaches us this kind of oscillation.
• Constantly engaged and forever withdrawing.
• Come and see.

 

Jesus invites the first disciples…and us…

• To “come and see” the good things that we have shut out of our lives.
• Jesus invites us to break out of the emptiness that imprisons our spirits and hearts.
• Jesus said: “Come and see.”

Matthew 3:13-17

 

When my son…Jason…was about seven years old he came home one afternoon and told me about his day.

• It had been a difficult one.
• Something had happened.
• Things had not gone like he wanted.
• I don’t remember what happened but whatever it was…it messed up his day.
• I listened as he told me all about it.
• And when he finished…I asked what he did:
• “Oh” he said… “I just dealed with it.”

 

There’s wisdom in what he said…and it applies to any age.

• I’ve held on to those words for many years.
• They remind me that whether we are seven years old or seventy-seven…we all have situations asking to be “dealed with.”
• Here’s what I mean.

 

Have you ever had days when life caught you off guard and took you completely by surprise?

• Has life ever given you what you could neither plan for nor foresee…something unexpected?
• Have you ever had your plans disrupted?
• When have you felt like more was being asked of you than you had to give?
• You didn’t feel up to it or didn’t feel like you were enough.
• Has life ever left you feeling confused and lost?
• Have you ever had a situation you wanted to say “NO” to…something you didn’t want to have to deal with?
• Well…I think that’s exactly where John the Baptist is…in today’s gospel.

 

Jesus has come from Galilee to John at the Jordan…to be baptized by him.

• It’s something John never expected or foresaw.
• He didn’t plan on this.
• “I need to be baptized by you and do you come to me?”
• Baptizing Jesus does not fit into John’s idea of who Jesus is.
• What about the ax…the winnowing fork…the unquenchable fire?
• John’s world is being turned upside down.
• Jesus is the “more powerful” one and John is “not worthy to carry his sandals.”
• Jesus is supposed to increase and John decrease.

 

Everything about this moment is contrary to what John believes…wants and expects.

• We’ve all be there.
• We know what it’s like.

 

What do you do when your prayer is not answered…the money doesn’t go to the end of the month…hopes are not met?

• Plans don’t come together…a relationship ends…life is interrupted?
• It’s a hard day and you just want to say no and run away?

 

Two choices are set before us today:

• We can resist and try to prevent what is coming.
• That’s what John wants to do.
• Or we can permit it and “let it be.”
• That’s what Jesus tells John to do.
• “Let it be so now” Jesus says to John.
• Then John consented.
• This morning…Jesus is saying to us: “Let it be so now?”

 

The consent to which Jesus calls us is not about giving up…acquiescing…or agreeing.

• It’s about a way of life.
• It’s about Jesus’ way of life.
• It doesn’t mean we have to like or want what is happening.
• It means that we face it and deal with it.

 

Consent means we show up and be present to whatever is before us.

• Even if it is difficult…painful…or the last thing we want.
• Consent is not about being in control or having all the answers.
• It means we don’t turn back or run away from what is in front of us.
• We don’t have to do everything that is set before us.
• But neither can we resist doing what is ours.

 

Consent doesn’t mean passively accepting whatever happens.

• It means actively giving ourselves to the circumstances…relationships and people before us.
• It’s an act of risk and vulnerability.
• And it’s a profession of faith…hope and love.
• It means staying open to whatever in that moment is being asked of us in the name of God.

 

Jesus’ life was a continual yes to the world…to you and to me…he lived a life of consent.

• He consented to bring good news to the poor.
• He consented to welcome the outsider and foreigner.
• He consented to hospitality for the hungry and thirsty.
• He consented to forgiveness for the women caught in adultery.
• He consented to raise Lazarus into the fragrance of new life.
• He consented to intimacy when Mary anointed and kissed his feet.
• He consented to compassion and healing for the blind…deaf and lame.
• He consented to abundance when the wine ran out.
• He consented to be a servant of all and wash dirty feet.
• He consented to peace and nonviolence in a world of swords.
• He consented to speak truth to power.
• He consented to struggle with God and himself in the Garden of Gethsemane.
• He consented to courage and perseverance as he took up and carried his cross.
• He consented to reconcile with Peter after being denied by him three times.
• He consented to humility when soldiers mocked and beat him.
• He consented to life in the face of death.

 

Jesus never turned away…he was present and showed up to whoever or whatever was before him.

• Every time Jesus consented…he stepped into the river of humanity.
• And immersed himself in the waters of your life and my life.
• Jesus asked John to stand with him.
• And Jesus stands with us.
• And he asks us to stand with him.

 

The opportunities for consent come to us daily.

• Maybe we are being asked to consent to love…forgiveness…peace…
• Compassion…welcome…courage…
• Hope…beauty.

 

When we consent…we wade into the deep waters of life.

• We stand with Jesus in the river of humanity.
• And together we fulfill all righteousness.
• Nothing gets left undone.
• No one gets left out.

Luke 2:15-21

 

 

The theme song of that classic TV series… “Cheers” contains these words:

• Sometimes you want to go…
• Where everybody knows your name…
• And they’re always glad you came.
• You wanna be where you can see…
• Our troubles are all the same…
• You wanna be where everybody knows…Your name.

 

We all want to be where everybody knows…and uses our name.

• There is power in naming something…or someone.

Luke tells us that on the eighth day after His birth…Mary and Joseph took their newborn son to be circumcised…

• As was…and is still the requirement for Jewish males.
• During the liturgy of circumcision…the baby boy is named.

 

Throughout the ancient Near East…it has always been thought that names carried with them a description of the person or thing named.

• A “good” name would say something about who the parents hoped and prayed their child would become.
• Jesus is a Latinized version of Joshua or Yehoshua which…in Hebrew means “Yahweh is Salvation” …
• Or “Yahweh delivers” or “Yahweh rescues”.
• The Angel of the Lord had come to Mary and told her that she would have a son and would name him Jesus.
• So…God had ordained that this child would be known as God’s salvation…
• Or God’s deliverer or God’s rescuer.
• There is something powerful about GIVING that name to THIS child.
• Let me explain.

 

One of the tenets of Judaism is that the name of God cannot be said or written by humans.

• People cannot possibly know the character or true identity of God.
• So…they cannot possibly name God.
• Jews write God’s name with asterisks where the vowels would go.
• Y*HW*H…and they do not speak it.
• If you really want to impress your friends at cocktail parties…
• This way of expressing God is called the tetragrammaton.
• There have always been ways for Jews to express that it is God about whom they are speaking.

 

From the time of Creation God was referred to as Elohim meaning: “strong God”.

• Which was taken from the name of gods in the days when the people had individual household gods.
• Before they became acquainted with the singular God of all creation.
• Later the chosen name to speak became Adonai…
• Which became translated as “Lord” in English.

 

OK…so the world into which Jesus was born knew only a God who was so distant from the people…so apart…so “other worldly” that God’s name could not even be spoken.

• This was the same God who spoke with Moses from a burning bush and warned him not to look at God…or else Moses would die.
• Moses asks…” who are you?”
• And God says: “I am who I am…thus you shall say to the Israelites…’I am has sent you.’”
• Elijah tried to glimpse this same God in gale force winds…earthquake and fire.
• But could only find God in the still…small voice.
• This was the same God about whom the prophet Ezra said the people could not lift their faces heavenward…
• Because they were not worthy to be seen by God.

 

And so…no wonder the coming ministry of this little child…Jesus…would be such a challenge and such a threat to Jewish authorities.

• Jesus…God’s salvation…brought not only a name to God.
• But a face as well.
• Suddenly people could not only speak ABOUT God.
• They could speak TO God and could SEE God’s face as they did so.
• There was POWER in THAT.
• “No one has ever seen God…It is God the only Son…who is close to the Father’s heart…who has made him known.”

 

The Old Testament stories are full of the wonder and might of God.

• They are full of God’s wrath against humanity.
• And who could blame God for being angry and vengeful?
• All God ever asked of humankind was to love God with all their hearts…minds…souls and strength…
• And to follow some straightforward commandments.
• But the people could never seem to accomplish this seemingly simple task.
• Instead…they created false gods…and they broke every commandment given them.
• God tried everything to get their attention.
• Banishment…flood…fire and brimstone…enslavement.
• God sent prophet after prophet to the people to tell them what their mistakes had been…
• And to try to return them to God’s path.
• Nothing worked…until finally God decided to try a new way.

 

As St. Paul tells us in this morning’s reading from the letter to the Galatians:

• “But when the fullness of the time came…God sent out his Son…born to a woman…born under the law…that he might redeem those who were under the law…that we might receive the adoption of children.”
• God decided to approach humans in an entirely different way…as one of us.

 

In the fullness of time…God sent a baby named Jesus…God’s salvation.

• To take us from being fearful subjects of an angry ruler.
• To being children of the Living God.
• Jesus came into the world to redeem us from slavery to sin and to show us the face of a loving God.
• Jesus brought us close to God in a way that had never been experienced before.

 

The angel said to Mary:

• “Behold…you will conceive in your womb…and give birth to a son…and will call his name ‘Jesus.’ He will be great…and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father…David…and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to his Kingdom.”
• Jesus – what a name.

Luke 2:1-14 [15-20]

 

 

Creation is messy business.

And that’s what Christmas is all about:

• God’s supreme act of creation bursting forth into the midst of our messy lives.
• Because the birth of Christ…and the circumstances in which it happened, was a messy affair.

Our nativity scenes are sterilized portrayals of Christ’s birth.

• A beautiful manger with not a trace of dung on the ground.
• A star hovering above…perfectly mid-frame.
• In the center…a pristine baby…perfectly groomed and smiling.
• To the child’s left…on her knees…is Mary with her hair perfectly done…looking like she’s ready to go to the prom.
• Kneeling with her is Joseph…with a look of wonder on his face.
• And all around them are barn animals…obediently standing in silence in a perfect semi-circle.

Well… this is what actually happened.

• As they settle into the manger…Mary swears under her breath as she steps in cow dung.
• She’s cranky and in pain as the contractions come harder and faster.
• Joseph is still furious that the innkeeper could actually be so callous as to turn away him and his pregnant wife.
• They shoo away the barn cats to make room for Mary to recline.
• Mary begins to sob because she is scared.
• She’s 14 years old and has never done this before.
• Joseph looks at her and says he’s scared…too.
• He was taught how to read Hebrew but never instructed in how to birth a baby.
• They allow themselves a moment of laughter.

Oh…the laughter doesn’t last long.

• Mary begins to groan in pain with each contraction.
• Her head rolls back in pain.
• Her skin becomes all sweaty.
• Her hair begins to stick to her skin.
• Her face contorts with each push.

Joseph does his best to maintain his self-control…but he’s never seen anything like this before!

• The pain hits a new level as Mary grabs Joseph’s robe and yells at him:
• “You did this to me!”
• Joseph barks back at her:
• “Actually…no…I didn’t!”
• Mary screams in pain as the baby begins to crown.

The escalating screams cause the animals to spook.

• A cow accidentally steps on a chicken which then begins to squawk and run around frantically.
• There are feathers flying all over the place.

With one final push and a desperate scream…the baby is born.

• He looks like a mess!
• He doesn’t look human.
• Jesus is covered in blood and amnionic fluid.
• Next…the placenta comes.
• Joseph looks at it and says: “What is that!?”

At that moment…the shepherds knock on the door of the manger and Joseph yells to whoever is at the door:

• “Now is not a good time!”
• Mary catches her breath…and the animals calm down.
• Joseph hands the child to his mother.
• Mother and son hold one another.
• Covered in blood…sweat…and tears of both pain and joy.

The incarnation of God is messy business.

• Why is that so important?
• Well…because God makes himself at home in the messiness of our lives.
• If God only showed up when we were perfect and polished and in our Sunday best…we would wonder about God.
• You see…what God did was he slipped into the vulnerability of human skin and entered our dark disturbing world.

It was important to God to birth his son into a messy reality.

• God used a humble…modest couple from the Middle East…
• During the regime of a cruel ruler named Herod.
• It was important to God that his son not be born at the downtown Hilton in St. Pete.
• But in a humble stable in Pinellas Park.
• It was important to God to introduce Jesus to us in the same birthing process as you and I entered this world.

Because God just could not wait.

• Hope could not wait.
• Peace could not wait.
• Joy could not wait.
• Love could not wait.

And I hope that brings us all comfort.

• Because we all have tangled lives.
• Well…we expend lots of energy trying to hide that fact.
• But we know better.
• We have our struggles…our anxieties…our fears…our sorrows…our shortcomings.
• But…you know what?
• God will not wait for all those circumstances to resolve themselves to make an appearance.

And that’s the good news of Christmas!

• That in the middle of a world that is so broken…so bloodied…so divided…so dark…
• God cannot wait to walk with us through the mess!

God loves us too much that he did not wait for us to get our ducks in a row.

• He shows up before we can get our house in order…
• And showers us with love and grace.
• He just couldn’t wait.
• Happy Birthday…Jesus!

Matthew 1:18-25

 

There are three versions of the Christmas story.

• There’s the Gospel According to Matthew…where we get Joseph’s dream and the wise men and the star in the East.
• Then there’s the Gospel According to Luke…where we get the shepherds and the angels and the fact that there was no room in the inn.
• And then there’s the Gospel According to Hallmark…in which we get a smorgasbord of all the above including the wise men…the shepherds…a host of angels…lowing cattle and a partridge in a pear tree.

If you’d like to see a visual representation of the Hallmark version…just drive by the house near the intersection of Trevesta Place and Hevena Court in my neigborhood.

• In addition to Santa…Frosty…Rudolph and the other reindeer…it includes Mickey…Pluto and Donald Duck.
• There’s also a nativity scene…but you’ll have to look hard to find it.

The Hallmark version is the most popular because it gives us the whole nine yards.

• Yes…I’m mocking Hallmark…but truth be told…I have a subscription to Hallmark on my TV.
• Also…take a good look at our Nativity in the Narthex.
• It’s not true to the text.
• So…let’s take a look at Matthew.

We hear a lot about Mary…and rightly so.

• She was…after all…the mother of Jesus.
• The only person constant in the life of Jesus from the cradle to the grave.
• But what do we know about Joseph?
• In all the New Testament he never utters a word.
• Yet…he’s one of the principal figures in the Christmas drama.

Joseph was a simple man of an honorable trade: A carpenter from Nazareth.

• Sometimes you see Sunday school pictures showing him in a wood shop making furniture.
• But “carpenter” in Joseph’s day referred to a wide range of trades.
• Joseph most likely worked with metal…stone and wood.
• The Greek is “tekton” and literally means stone mason.
• The regional capital…Sepphoris…was under construction during this time.
• And it was within walking distance of Nazareth.
• Joseph…and his sons…were stone masons there.

Craftsmen worked with strong shoulders and callused hands.

• They were educated by apprenticeship.
• Their place was respectable but not on one of the higher rungs of the social ladder.
• Remember the flap in the synagogue in Nazareth when Jesus preached his first sermon?
• The elders raised their eyebrows and asked: “Isn’t this the carpenter…the son of Mary and brother of James…Joses…Judah and Simon?”

Jesus’ father was neither a rabbi nor a scribe nor one of the civic leaders.

• He had but two qualifications in the Christmas drama.
• He was a descendent of David and he was God’s choice.
• A common man who dared to be obedient to God.

His place in the Christmas story is that of Mary’s husband.

• OK then…Joseph and Mary were “betrothed” but not yet married.
• There were three steps in a Jewish marriage:
• The engagement…which was often arranged by the parents through a matchmaker when the boy and girl were children.
• The betrothal…which was a formal ratification of the marriage-to-be.
• Usually done a year before the couple was married.
• And the wedding itself…which lasted an entire week.
• During the week of celebration…the marriage was consummated.

During the betrothal…the couple was legally bound to each other so that…if the man died before the actual wedding took place…

• The woman became a widow.
• They were referred to as husband and wife…though they refrained from having sexual relations.

It’s at this stage in their relationship that Joseph learned that Mary was pregnant.

• I think it’s safe to say Joseph blew a gasket.
• Joseph was beside himself to learn that his fiancé was pregnant.
• He was angry and upset.
• If Mary were pregnant…the only explanation would have been that she had been unfaithful.
• In which case…he had a legal right to have her stoned to death.

It’s at this point Joseph proves his faithfulness.

• First to Mary and then…to God.
• When Joseph learned that Mary was pregnant…he was not willing to make her a public example.
• And so…he intended to put her away secretly.

Joseph was a man of quiet strength.

• He was a man of integrity…true to his convictions.
• Yet…he was compassionate and considerate of others.
• He found himself in a no-win situation.
• He could not in good conscience…go on with the wedding.
• Yet…he could not bring himself to humiliate Mary…much less put her to death.

Breaking off the relationship…but not making a big deal of it…seemed to be the most honorable thing to do.

• But wait! There’s more!
• Joseph had a dream in which an angel of the Lord appeared to him and told him that the child in Mary’s womb was of the Holy Spirit.
• And that he should become a father to the child.
• Well…there you have it…the angel explained everything.
• I don’t know many people who make major life decisions based upon what they think they saw or heard in a dream though.
• Yet…Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.
• Joseph took his wife to himself…and did not know her sexually until she had brought forth her firstborn son.

And then…in an act of faithfulness and obedience to God…

• Joseph publicly named the child.
• He named him Jesus…which means…the Lord is salvation.
• In so doing…he claimed the child as his own and gave him a noble ancestry.
• Making him a descendent of the house of David.
• Because of the faithfulness of Joseph…
• Jesus would have a father.
• And Joseph would have a place in the drama of God’s salvation.

I have a friend years ago whose girlfriend got pregnant.

• Naturally…he assumed he was the father.
• But the scuttlebutt around school was that she’d been seeing other guys…
• And that my friend wasn’t the father after all.
• Of course…back then we didn’t have paternity testing.
• So…there wasn’t any way to know for sure.
• But there it was…enough to give him an out…if he wanted it.
• He decided to ask his girlfriend to marry him.
• She accepted…and they got married and shortly after…she gave birth to a daughter.
• Who quickly became…and is to this day…the apple of his eye.

He would be the first to tell you that…beyond all his many accomplishments…

• It was in becoming a father to this little girl that he found his true vocation in life.
• When I think about my friend…I’m reminded of the faithfulness of Joseph.
• It has something to do with getting your own self out of the way and putting others first.
• It’s an exercise in humility and it’s based on a simple trust.
• That by God’s grace…all things really do work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to his purposes. (Romans 8:28)

To the world…the faithfulness of Joseph may seem foolish.

• But to those who are willing to follow his example and surrender their wills to the will of God.
• The faithfulness of Joseph is not simply a way of pleasing God.
• It’s a way of fulfilling your own life’s destiny.

Matthew 11:2-11

 

 

For some…the wilderness is a desolate place…devoid of human civilization…

• Where plants grow wild…or not at all.
• An arid desert or an exposed moor or heath.
• A place of too little food and water.
• A place of too many predators.

 

The wilderness can be an urban jungle…a city that never sleeps.

• With lights and traffic and honking horns and loud noise.
• Being lost without a map.
• Taken advantage of by a dishonest huckster or just feeling lonely.

 

We seek out the wilderness. But why?

• There is a common literary arc-type about the rugged individual who seeks time in the wilderness…
• To be alone as a balm for the trials she has met up with in life.

 

This is the idea that made famous the memoir and movie…Wild…by Cheryl Strayed.

• Strayed tells the story of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail without any prior hiking experience.
• Carrying a pack that was too large and boots that didn’t fit.
• Strayed took to the trail after her mother died of lung cancer at age 46.
• Her mother’s death left her emotionally bankrupt.
• Strayed’s behavior became erratic and sometimes dangerous.
• She left her husband…abused heroin and just lost herself.

 

What better way to find oneself than to take to the Pacific Crest Trail. Right?

• It was 1995 when Strayed decided to begin the more than 2,000-mile hike.
• The trail was known to be difficult and dangerous.
• Particularly ill-advised for single women.

 

This did not seem to deter the inexperienced Strayed.

• She walked and walked until six toenails fell off.
• She walked even after losing a boot down the side of a mountain.
• She walked through snow…rain…sleet.
• She kept walking when she was lost.
• Sometimes she had no choice but to depend on the kindness of strangers.

 

But…why? Why did she do it?

• It seems she was driven to the wilderness because she had lost a bit of herself in her grief and trauma.
• Indeed…her story is redemptive.
• She needed to find and learn a truth that only she could learn…
• In a way and place unique to her.

 

Near the end of the story…Strayed wonders what her life could be like if she forgave herself?

• What if she was sorry and just forgave herself?
• Sometimes it takes 2,000 miles on foot through treacherous conditions to conclude that we need to forgive ourselves.

 

Matthew tells another wilderness story in today’s Gospel.

• Jesus asks the crowds about John the Baptist:
• “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at?”
• People do not go to the wilderness to seek fame or to find power.
• People do not seek the wilderness to become rich or popular.
• What do you hope to see in the wilderness…Jesus asks?
• Why come to the wilderness? What do you expect?
• A prophet…we go into the wilderness to find a prophet…Jesus says.

 

Jesus did not mean a fortune teller or soothsayer or a clairvoyant.

• Real prophets are not future-casters.
• Genuine Prophets are people who can see and state the truth more clearly.
• Often uncomfortable truths.
• Like calling out corruption or advocating for the oppressed.
• Prophets tell us when we are not living up to the people God calls us to be.

 

Prophets encourage us to be courageous…to make the tough decisions that are the right call.

• Prophets push us to do hard things.
• They tell us when we are being overbearing or too judgmental.

 

Cheryl Strayed went into the wilderness to find a prophet.

• She sought an experience of time and space that prophets offer.
• She wanted to hear the truth about herself…about her relationships.
• About the world she lived in.
• She went into the wilderness to find hope…forgiveness…grace.

 

In the Bible God’s people go through the wildernesses.

• In every case the wilderness is a defining experience that refines what it means to be the people of God.
• Through the Exodus…the people of God received the Ten Commandments that shaped their identity as a people.
• It was in the wilderness that Elijah heard the still small voice of God.
• The wilderness can be an uncomfortable experience.
• But it is also one way people come to understand themselves more clearly…
• As individuals or as community.

 

John the Baptist invited people to the wilderness to hear about something new.

• Not just something new…but someone new.
• He wanted to tell people about the Son of God who has come to make them new.
• The blind will see.
• The deaf will hear.
• The poor will receive good news.

 

This wilderness experience would change the world.

• God sent his son to gather God’s people in.
• To upset unjust systems that enslave his creation…his people.

 

Every one of us will have a wilderness experience in our lives.

• Part of being human is walking through times and spaces where we wonder who we are.
• Wondering where we belong.
• Wondering what our purpose is.
• Wondering if we can be forgiven.

 

Few of us will choose to walk through a literal wilderness as Cheryl Strayed did.

• Though each of us will have times and places where we seek a prophet to help us see the truth.
• The truth of who we are and whose we are.

 

During Advent we listen again to the stories of a young…pregnant Mary perched on a donkey making her way with Joseph…

• The expectant father…to be counted as part of the census.
• Talk about a wilderness journey!
• Not only would this trek through the wilderness claim Mary and Joseph as citizens of a particular region.
• But it helps define them as people…too.

 

No longer simply “Mary.”

• She is becoming the mother of God.
• Not “just” a carpenter.
• Joseph will soon be the father of the Son of God.

 

We can imagine that Mary and Joseph were seeking their own prophet on this journey.

• Someone who would tell them the truth about the mysterious baby that was coming.
• And the truth about who they are in relation to the baby.
• And they get just that when the angels…shepherds and Magi come to bear witness to the birth of the Christ child.

 

 

Jesus taught us that individual people can be spiritual.

• But that societies and institutions cannot…because they have completely different purposes and motivations.
• There has never been such a thing as a “Christian society” or “Christian Nation.”
• Even though we hear those words a lot.
• What I am saying is that no society…including our own…has ever been willing to live the actual teachings and values of Jesus Christ.
• Theocracies (that is…governments run by religions) simply do not work.
• Take a good look at the country of Iran (their world cup soccer team) and you will see what I mean.
• That’s why in the USA we have the separation of church and state.
• In this way the church is able to challenge the state when it has lost its way.

 

There have been societies that have used Christian institutions and doctrines to consolidate their power:

• Such as The Holy Roman Empire.
• Such as Jim Jones’ People’s Temple in Jonestown Guyana and their mass suicide…drinking “Drinking the Cool aide.”
• But the relationship of these societies with real Christianity is at best flimsy.
• As was the relationship of the Jewish hierarchy with real Judaism in the time of Jesus and John.

 

In other words: Societies and institutions are guided by the principle of self-interest and Self-perpetuation.

• A Christ disciple is guided by the opposite principle of selflessness and sacrifice.

 

When John attacked the religious leaders of Judea…

• He was showing people that what they called “Judaism” was a sham…a fraud.
• He was saying: “What you call ‘spiritual’ is not spiritual at all.”
• He was saying that the entire conventional fortress of religious tradition was so far from the truth that it could not even be rehabilitated.
• He was saying that it could not be rehabilitated.
• He was saying that it could only be uprooted and demolished.

 

We should not be surprised…then…that John…and Jesus…

• Were perceived as a threat to the state.
• And they were a threat!
• And they died like lambs.
• But the challenge they raised was the challenge of lions.
• The state and the religious hierarchy acted to preserve itself by killing them.

 

The Hebrew preoccupation with the bloodline of Abraham was based on a dark tribalistic idea of spirituality.

• Now…I need to explain this.
• Most ancient peoples…the Hebrews included…
• Did not perceive themselves as fully individualized beings…like we do.
• But instead saw themselves as parts of groups…and clans…and tribes…
• With whom they shared a common identity.

 

The blood link with Abraham was believed to reward them with salvation.

• Because Abraham was pleasing and acceptable to God.
• All who descended from him would likewise be pleasing and acceptable to God.
• And John was saying that this was not true.
• It was as if I said: ”I know that I’m not a good person but my grandmother was good…so that makes me good.”

 

John was saying that a sorting process was underway.

• Symbolized by the winnowing fork.
• Ties to the group…the clan…the tribe…were not enough.
• A million people agreeing to a false or shallow idea of spirituality could not give it credibility.
• The winnowing fork would scatter falsehood and retain only the kernels of truth.

 

What John was saying went against the whole fabric of conventional Jewish belief:

• He was saying that the Messiah was not going to embrace the whole of the Jewish nation in one vast uniform glob.
• And that Christ was going to look at people as individuals.

 

For example:

• Immediately following World War II…
• The court of war crimes heard the repeated defense of Nazi criminals.
• That they were only following orders when they slaughtered defenseless civilians.
• The reaction to this…across the world…
• Was of horror and self-righteousness.
• The horror was real.
• The world had never witnessed such well-orchestrated and mechanized brutality.
• But the self-righteousness was hypocritical.
• It obscured the fact that most of us…
• Most of the time…
• Live in a state of compliance to the dictates of the group.
• That is…we do not call the person out who tells a racist Joke.

 

Fortunately…that compliance has never led us down a path as destructive as Nazism.

• For most of us…compliance remains relatively nondestructive.

 

The attitude of consumerism…for example…is one which is not consistent with being a follower of Jesus.

• To be a follower of Jesus in America…then…means resisting the preoccupation with acquiring stuff.
• Even while living and working in the middle of it.

 

What John is saying is that our relationship with Christ cannot be given to us by anyone else.

• Our relationship with Christ will…at times…isolate us from other people…
• And exile us from our own cultures.
• This is the cost of being personally accountable to Christ.

 

When John talked about “unquenchable fire”…

• He was saying the fire and winnowing fork of the Messiah will sweep through the lives of us who are in the process of wide-awake redemption.

 

We are missing his meaning if we think that the fire and fork will spare the believer…will spare us.

• The reality is that we suffer the advent in a personal way.
• Remember…Advent is a penitential season.
• We are brought face to face with realities we may very much wish to avoid.
• The fire and fork pass through our lives as a sorting out of truth and lie.
• What is false is burned and scattered.
• And we feel…at these times…that the very roots of our identity are being hacked to pieces by an unmerciful force.

 

One of the problems with “cosmic ‘left behind’ scenarios” is that they project the idea of judgment onto everybody else.

• With the hidden smugness that some are going to be spared.
• And allowed to watch from a safe distance.
• But Jesus wanted us to understand that we are all part of this winnowing.
• Each in our own way.
• That no one is to be excluded from the process of being purified.

 

John sounds as though he is warning of damnation in this passage.

• But this is only because of the tone of his message.
• John is really talking about the spikey and knotty personalized process of redemption.

 

Our story is of us trying to find something other than God to make us happy.

• Resulting in poverty…war…prostitution…classes…empires…slavery.
• But God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from himself.
• John is saying that there is no such peace apart from the grace of God.

Matthew 24:36-44

 

 

What we might think of as “the rapture” in our Gospel reading is really a collection of war images:

• “Two men will be in the field…
• One is taken and one is left.
• Two women will be grinding at the mill…
• One is taken and one is left.”

 

When Babylon was capturing Judea…this is what was really happening:

• Those who were fit and skilled and young enough to work were taken away into captivity.
• They took the best and the brightest.
• Those who were old…ill…
• Or who posed no threat to the state were left behind.

 

So it was that two men working side by side were separated by enemy soldiers.

• One woman was carried off in conquest.
• But not the woman at her side.
• All of this had already taken place centuries before.
• At the time when Jesus made this prophesy it would occur again…
• Forty years later.
• When the Romans would finally put down the Jewish insurrection in 70 CE.

 

So…Jesus was telling his followers that his advent would be like a war.

• Like the onslaught of a powerful army.
• It is important for me to say that what Jesus predicted here literally took place.

 

The Jewish Diaspora (the dispersion of the Jewish people beyond Israel) was a trauma from which that nation never recovered.

• And which today involves the entire world.
• It was a wound that will not heal.
• Which continues to bleed into our present day.
• The middle east muddle: Israel…Iraq…Iran…Saudi Arabia…Libya…Syria…The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)…Dubai has replaced Casablanca as the black-market capital of the world.
• A day does not go by that one of those places is in the world news.

 

Christ’s Advent was not limited to his physical incarnation though.

• Christ’s advent really is the detonation…the explosion…of his spiritual work in the world.
• This work is varied and all-encompassing and ongoing.
• And so…we find contradictions like the Prince of Peace announcing a coming war.

 

We must get rid of the idea that spirituality is passive.

• Spirituality is a dynamic energy that changes…breaks up…alters and transforms the world.
• Without a single act of violence.
• Note our first reading: He shall judge between the nations…and shall arbitrate for many peoples…they shall beat their swords into plowshares…and their spears into pruning hooks…nation shall not lift up sword against nation…neither shall they learn war anymore.

 

Spiritual energy will often provoke violence from the opposing side:

• As in the case of Gandhi’s campaign to free India from Britain.
• Spiritual action forces hidden realities (the elephant in the room) out into the open.
• And much evil is exposed.
• Along with signs of grace…mercy and redemption.

 

So…the Advent…Christ’s detonation of spiritual energy…is compared to war.

• Jesus was saying that his Advent would have that kind of powerful impact on the entire world.

 

Every time Jesus spoke of his Advent…he was speaking to two different kinds of listeners.

• On the one hand: some people wanted to know what was going to happen in the course of history.
• With Israel and Rome.
• With the prayed for return of the kingdom of David.
• Their military hero and warrior king.
• This had been the arena of prophecy recorded in Old Testament scripture.

 

But there was also a second kind of listener:

• The one who wondered.
• “What will this man’s appearance here mean to me personally…
• In my relationship with God?”

 

In other words:

• What is the importance of human history…
• Whether happy or horrible…
• If the individual is not restored to a state of intimacy with the Creator?
• What good is life if life ends in oblivion?

 

What is the worth of God…if God cannot be personally known?

• This person has learned that nothing in life is important unless one is somehow important to God.
• “If I am not loved by God…then there is nothing worth living for.”

 

This new awareness brings the realization that we cannot love unless we are loved.

• Nor can we live if we believe that life can be taken away by physical death.

 

That is…what enables a Christ disciple to become selfless is that a hole or ache in the center of his being has been filled with love…

• And the recipient discovers there is a surplus to be given away.

 

Christ spoke to many people who were on the fringes of orthodoxy but were not friends of the Temple…

• They were seekers of God but enemies of the Jewish priesthood.
• And they were looking for direct… personal answers.
• Our gospel reading pertains to them!

 

Jesus is saying that the world at large will go on eating and drinking and living in its customary rut.

• When the Advent comes…who will know its meaning?
• Who will be aware of the spiritual riches suddenly flooding creation?
• It will happen to one and not to the other.
• Identical citizens…having the same jobs…the same duties…the same general look about them…
• Will come to a different experience.

 

One will be taken…in a spiritual sense…

• Will come awake…
• Will become connected to Christ…
• And the other will remain oblivious.
• One will realize that creation is being reborn…
• The other will only see hard times and wonder what it is all coming to.

 

God’s “Advent”…Jesus is saying…has signs and symptoms that appear in advance.

• Yet when it happens it happens in its own way.
• And despite all the warnings…
• It always comes as a surprise.
• Like a thief whom everyone knows is likely to invade the house…
• But whose plans and strategies we cannot fully predict.

 

So…for those of us who are hungry and thirsty for God…

• Jesus’ instruction is to stay alert and awake and look for him.
• We must look for him as though he were a thief…
• Hiding somewhere out there…
• Because suddenly one day we will find him not out there…
• But in here…in our lives…and in our hearts.
• And we will be transformed beings.
• A New Creation.
• In this way…
• The Advent will have happened in us.

Colossians 1:11-20

 

 

“Hope springs eternal in the human breast” wrote the poet Alexander Pope.

• To an aspiring U.S. citizen…no hope sings more compellingly than the hope of a green card.
• Few things in life appear more attractive than the vision of themselves…some day in the future…taking the oath of US citizenship.

 

It’s a story that was played out in the lives of most of our ancestors.

• Most of the masses of immigrants processed through Ellis Island arrived in this country with no papers.
• They carried with them little more than a battered suitcase or a sack slung over their back.
• And not much money.
• Many had yet to learn English.
• But still they came…so eager to have their citizenship transferred from one country to another.

 

Paul…in Colossians…speaks of another sort of transfer of citizenship:

• “God has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son…in whom we have redemption…the forgiveness of sins.”

 

We have been transferred into God’s kingdom.

• We continue to dwell here making our mark on this world for good…the best we know how.
• But our true citizenship is elsewhere.
• Paul says: “we are in…but not of the world.”

 

Advent is just around the corner…and it reminds us how much we Christians are out of sync with the rest of the world.

• Out of sync because our citizenship is elsewhere!
• When the rest of society is engaged in a frantic…materialistic rush toward December 25^th.
• That huge secular holiday called Christmas.
• We will be engaged in Advent observances.
• A time of preparation for the Nativity of Our Lord.
• When the shopping-mall sound systems are crooning: “Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”
• We will be singing “O Come…O Come…Emmanuel.”
• And we will still be singing Christmas Carols for weeks after the holiday.
• Even as secular society is dispiritedly waiting in line at the department store returns department.

 

Now…please…do not misunderstand me about the secular calendar of the Christmas season…

• Which in present day starts up several weeks before Thanksgiving.
• What I want to say is that our Lord is just as involved in the Spirit of Christmas…the church calendar…
• Jesus is the reason for the season…
• As he is in the Christmas Spirit…the secular calendar.
• God came into the world in the form of a baby…the incarnation.
• God so loved the world!
• There is no judgement here.

 

But what I also want to say is this:

• On New Year’s Day…the secular year begins with a hangover and ends twelve months later with overindulgence.
• The Christian year…on the other hand…begins with the bright hope of Advent.
• And ends with the all-encompassing reign of Christ…Christ The King.
• A much more uplifting vision…wouldn’t you say?

 

Around the turn of the twentieth century…the Jansen family of Norway…father and mother and two young children…had booked passage on a steamship to America.

• They had used up all their savings on the tickets.
• Sympathetic neighbors had given them bread and cheese for the journey.
• Which they took with them into their accommodations in steerage…
• The humblest part of that mighty ocean liner…the Stavanger.

 

The parents calculated they had enough cheese and bread to last the ten-day journey.

• They were grateful for the simple food they had and figured they would find much better fare in America…once they got established.

 

About six days into the trip…the couple’s young son…Ole…let it be known that he could not look at another cheese sandwich.

• His father took pity on him.
• He gave the boy a few coins to go to the ship’s store and buy an apple.

 

Well…two hours went by.

• Ole did not return.
• His parents grew worried.
• Jansen set out to find his missing son.
• Up and up he climbed…up each successive ladder out of steerage.
• With each flight of stairs…the surroundings grew more luxurious.
• Jansen felt more and more out of place.

 

Finally…after a very long time…he found Ole…in the grand dining room.

• There he was…seated at a table…surrounded by a veritable smorgasbord of food.
• Everything good you could possibly imagine.

 

“Ole…Ole” the father earnestly scolded:

• “What have you done? I can’t pay for all this food. They’ll arrest me for sure…and send us all back home!”

 

“It’s all right…Father” Ole replied…as he gave back the coins.

• “None of this food costs a thing.
• They told me it’s included in the price of our ticket.
• We could have been eating like this the whole trip!”

 

How very much like us is the Jansen family…when it comes to our spirituality!

• Christ says we have been rescued from the power of darkness and transferred into another country…another Kingdom.
• Yet we live as though we do not believe it!
• We sit on the edge of our bunks down in steerage.
• Gloomily munching on week-old cheese sandwiches.
• When all the while a rich banquet awaits…up on the main deck.

 

We look around at our situation and we see so much scarcity.

• When in reality…we have been blessed with more riches than we can imagine.
• Many of us fear that we are about to slip into poverty.
• Viewing ourselves as members of the rapidly shrinking middle class.
• A detached observer would find either insight very hard to believe…
• From one glance at our Thanksgiving tables this coming week.

 

“In Christ” writes Paul to the Colossians… “all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.”

• The Greek word for fullness…pleroma…ple-roma…was often used…in ancient times…to refer to merchant ships heavily laden with cargo.
• It’s the same word Mark uses as Jesus feeds the five thousand.
• When the miracle was all over…Mark tells us…they had 12 baskets of leftover fragments of bread and fish.
• Those baskets were full: pleroma.
• And Jesus…as Christ The King…reigns with a pleroma of grace.
• “And the Word was made flesh…and dwelt among us…and we beheld his glory…the glory as of the only begotten of the Father…full of grace and truth” (John 1).
• The proper response to all this fullness is to give thanks.