Bible Text: Matthew 3:1-12, Isaiah 11:1-10 | Preacher: Rev. Jenn Geddes |
A while back, while in the middle of a really stressful week, my Mom texted me and asked, “is there anything I can do to help?” I snarkly replied, “put more hours into the day, find a cure for cancer and rid the world of dementia.” I know that all Moms are superheroes in their own right, and my Mom can accomplish a lot, but those three tasks seem out of her scope. In that heated moment I was feeling the deep emotional grief that comes from hearing that further members of our church family were dealing with difficult diagnoses. This year in particular saw changes in the congregation that I knew were on the horizon, I’m not that naive, but that were still challenging to face nonetheless. And this internal unrest, seems to be spilling out into all avenues of life. There is political unrest in various places around the world, certainly there is a generation of young people who are feeling restless over climate inaction, and losses of people and abilities in our congregation adds to this upheaval on a personal level. Peace, particularly the kind of peace I referred to in our children’s time, peace that brings wholeness, seems to be alluding us despite the fact that we are “celebrating” the second Sunday in Advent in which peace is the main focus.
Over the many years that I have preached on John the Baptist I have always taken to calling him a prophet. A prophet’s role was to call the people to attention. It is not a far stretch to compare John to the prophets in part because his entire outward appearance mirrors that of the prophet Elijah And John’s call to preparation and repentance echos words by various prophets, namely Isaiah. But as I have listened to the young climate activists or the student protestors around the world, or even as my own passion regarding social justice was fired up after my visit to Palestine, I have begun to hear John’s words more as a protest, a call out to those in power that we are fed up with the current state of affairs. In today’s reading John addresses the Pharisees and Sadduccees and announces that judgment is coming and declares that these leaders are like vipers, assuming an entitlement that does not actually belong to them. John is warning that God is fed up with the state of affairs. To be honest, however, in some ways I feel this protest, of being fed up, extends to God. I have always argued that when we are angry, or hurt, or frustrated, we should indeed direct those emotions to God- because God is the one who can take it, who can handle it. As creator of the universe God can handle our anger or our pain. And God indeed does that and responds. That is what God is doing in the protests of John and in the person of Jesus.
I’m not the only one to see this connection between John and modern protestors. The Rev. Dr. Janet Foggie writes, “[John] was a protestor, a voice shouting in the wilds. The protestor John grabbed attention, Jesus followed and hammered home His gospel.” And the protest that John is proclaiming is one of repentance. Repentance is imperative because God is coming and things are reaching a crisis point. I have to admit that I thought of Greta Thunberg. Most of us know the name now because she has managed to rally an entire generation behind a moment of crisis. But it didn’t start that way, in August 2018 she was the only one who protested outside of the Swedish Parliament buildings. Less then a year later, a million people worldwide participated in a climate strike and in September that number quadrupled to 4 million worldwide. I would argue that Greta inspired these protests so quickly in part because what she is protesting is speaking to the deep concerns of an entire generation.
In this same way John’s success is also impressive. It says, “the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region around the Jordan.” Keep in mind this is all before social media. Word of mouth about John’s “protests” spread so quickly in part because what John was saying, spoke to the pain and suffering, concern and unrest of the people.
But this is also why the Gospel message of peace is so important to our own unrest. I was mentioning how at the time that my Mom texted me I was feeling grief. I have felt grief often this year. Grief because people like Rita Tingle, Doug Beatty, Ron Jackson, Ray and Lee Ellis, Pieter Riedyk, and Al Wedel are no longer a part of the life of this church. Grief because we have all been affected by the ageing process, people we love and care about have lost their abilities or memories. Grief because there are programs and ministries I would have liked to have done or seen occur but couldn’t because of other demands. Grief because I am watching this denomination that raised me tear apart at the seams over issues of sexual orientation. It’s enough for me to protest to God and say, “Enough is enough!I’m fed up!”
And then it is in those moments that I remember what John was protesting and what Jesus hammered home. Isaiah also touches upon this as he prophesies about the peaceful kingdom. Peace is found in restoration and God promises us that the realities of paradise will be restored and they are restored through a shoot from the stump of Jesse, a king from the house of David. Blessed with the gifts of the Spirit, he will be equipped with the qualifications to govern on God’s behalf. And not only are we restored but all of creation.
Today we have an opportunity to give our grief, our anger, our unrest to God and seek that peace, that wholeness and be restored. This is done in a multitude of ways, one of which is through the act of anointing. Anointing is an ancient practice. In the Old Testament prophets, priests and kings were anointed as a symbol of their holy calling. Anointing is also a blessing, that in body, mind, and spirit we may be made well and be made strong for the work of healing the world. Today may it serve as a way in which we find peace. Amen