Texts: Isa 11:1-10; Ps 72:1-7, 18-19; Rom 15:4-13; Matt 3:1-12
The
people streamed out of
John’s
voice was
… the voice of one
crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths
straight.’
And
John proclaimed
… the kingdom of
heaven is at hand.
John
was a prophet, coming at an unexpected time, when the voice of prophecy had
been silent for centuries, and the people of
The
people longed for the Kingdom of heaven, as it is phrased in Matthew’s Gospel.
They longed for the time when the branch of Jesse would bring eternal peace and
justice to God’s people.
John
said. “I am not the one, but one is coming after me who will baptize with Holy
Spirit and with fire.”
Prepare,
therefore. Make yourselves ready for the coming of the Kingdom of heaven. Repent!
I
need hardly say that this message is not the message that the world of commerce
pushes at us in these days. Preparing for Christmas is a world apart from
preparing for the coming of the Kingdom. John the Baptist is no Santa Claus…
And
yet—John addressed a people’s longing for the gracious reign of God in their
lives, and a whole nation flocked to hear him.
Today
we struggle to hear John’s call—to repent and believe, and make God’s pathways
straight. Our political system and situation is vastly different from 1st-century
We
have a Messiah: we have Jesus, called Christ. We gather in his name week by
week, we pray in his name daily, we bear his sign on our persons. And yet we
continue to pray the prayer he taught us, and to say “Your kingdom come…” We
continue in our own way to long for God’s kingdom in its fullness. We look at
our world, with war, disease, and poverty—all those things that hold people back.
We look at this world and wonder “How long, oh Lord, how long?”
And
so we today may long for the coming of God’s kingdom, and we today may work for
its fulfillment. There are signs—peace has a way of breaking out in remarkable
ways, as people work to feed the hungry, house the homeless, and care for the
lost and the lonely. We see much of this activity in a special way during the
Advent & Christmas seasons.
But
let it never be said that a hamper at Christmas is enough. For this is only one
time of year—one month out of twelve. Poverty and hunger have no respect for the
calendar. Isaiah set out a remarkable vision of the kingdom in chapter 11—often
called “the peaceable Kingdom,” a vision of the world being restored to the
simplicity and sinlessness of Eden, brought into being through God’s chosen and
anointed one—the Messiah.
What
stirs in our hearts when we hear these words?
What
longing for peace and justice does it evoke?
And
what does that longing prompt us to do?
All
the longing in the world does nothing if it does not result in action. As Bishop
Jeremy Taylor wrote over 300 years ago:
“Whatsoever we beg
of God, let us also work for it.”
Much
good work has been done and continues to be done from and within this
congregation. It is work that reflects a longing for the Kingdom, a desire to
see God’s people live quiet and peaceable lives wherever they may be. It is not
work done with the hope of reward, but with the wish that one other person may take
one small step closer to the
God
led the people of
In
this season of Advent, let us then rededicate ourselves to living into our
longing for God’s kingdom, recommitting our lives to the working out of God’s
plan for all of God’s people. Let this Advent and Christmas commitment carry us
forward into the year ahead with a renewed sense of our Church’s mission, and
of our own individual vocations.
‘Prepare the way of
the Lord, make his paths straight.’
May
it be so.