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Sunday, December 12 2010

Third Sunday of Advent
Pastor Dena Williams
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Denver, CO

The Holy Gospel according to the Community of St.

Matthew in the 11th Chapter—Glory to you, O Lord
When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing,
he sent word by his disciples and said to him,
“Are you the one who is to come,
or are we to wait for another?”
Jesus answered them,
“Go and tell John what you hear and see:
the blind receive their sight, the lame walk,
the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised,
and the poor have good news brought to them.
And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”
As they went away,
Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John:
“What did you go out into the wilderness to look at?
A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to
see?
Someone dressed in soft robes?
Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces.
What then did you go out to see? A prophet?
Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
This is the one about whom it is written,
‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.’
Truly I tell you, among those born of women
no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist;
yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
The Gospel of the Lord—Praise to you, O Christ

Our Plans, God’s Possibility

The Gospel according to Matthew . . .

We will spend the next year with this Gospel
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and we need to understand some things about this book.

The writer of Matthew seems concerned with decency and
order and righteousness.
He says that the sheep will be divided from the goats,
the wheat separated from the chaff,
the good people rewarded, the bad people thrown into the
unquenchable fire.
He seems concerned with these things,
decency and order and righteousness.
He writes that he is concerned with these things . . .

He begins his Gospel story with the lineage of Jesus,

starting with Abraham,
a whole chapter of “begats.”
Then comes the infancy story of Jesus.
In this Gospel there’s no manger, no shepherds as in Luke’s
Gospel.
In Matthew’s Gospel,
the angel of the Lord comes not to Mary,
as he does in Luke,
but to Joseph.
Joseph, you see, knows Mary is pregnant
and plans to “dismiss her quietly”, to release her from their
engagement,
the decent and orderly and righteous thing to do.
Then the Angel of the Lord intervenes.
In Matthew, the Angel comes to Joseph,
announces that Mary will deliver a Son, named Jesus,
who will be the Savior of the world.

Joseph’s despair gives way to hope,

his decent and orderly and righteous plans give way to God’s
possibility.

The writer of Matthew continues his story

with the wise men coming from the East.
They follow the star to King Herod’s court.
He tells them to go on and follow the star,
and when they find the Messiah,
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to come back and tell him where the infant King dwells.
Then, Herod says, “I will do the decent and orderly and
righteous thing,
I will go and worship the child.”
The wise men find the child Jesus,
but they suspect Herod’s motives,
so the wise men go home by another way,
they never tell King Herod where the child can be found.

The Wise Men’s plans,

plans to report to their King,
as would be the decent and orderly and righteous thing to
do,
the Wise Men’s plans give way to God’s possibility.

King Herod has a plan in Matthew’s story,

King Herod plans to find and kill the new infant King.
He is thwarted by the wise men.
So he makes a new plan,
a plan to ensure that he will continue to rule,
as is, of course, decent and orderly and righteous
in his estimation.
King Herod plans to kill all the male children under the age
of two in and around Bethlehem.
Then Herod’s righteousness will be restored to the kingdom!
The angel of the Lord comes again to Joseph in a dream.
He flees with Mary and the child Jesus to Egypt.
They go by night and remain in Egypt until they hear
of King Herod’s death.

King Herod’s plans, his devious plans for his sort of decency
and order and righteousness
give way to God’s possibility.

John the Baptist is the next character to appear in Matthew’s

story.
He comes from the wilderness, wearing camel’s hair and a
leather belt,
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eating locusts and wild honey.

John comes, calling the people to repent,
proclaiming that the one who will come after him
will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Jesus comes to John to be baptized in the River Jordan.
John resists, saying to Jesus,
“I need to be baptized by you.”
Jesus insists. John consents and Jesus is baptized.

John’s plan for baptism,

For who would baptize whom,
In decent and orderly and righteous ways,
John’s plan gives way to God’s possibility.

So, we come to today’s Gospel.

John preached and baptized and was thrown in prison for his
efforts.
Remember his preaching?
He tells of one who is to come,
he tells of Jesus.
This is what he says:
“He’s carrying an ax.
He’s going to chop down the trees that don’t bear good fruit
and throw them into the fire.”
“He will baptize you with fire!”
“He’s carrying a pitchfork to clear the floor of the barn.
He’s going to gather the wheat,
but the chaff he’s going to throw into the fire.”

Jesus, according to John, is going to restore decency and

order and righteousness with an ax and a pitchfork and a
roaring hot fire.

These are John’s predictions of what will happen when Jesus

comes.

Then Jesus does come.

John, in prison, hears of Jesus’ preaching and teaching.
What he hears confuses him.
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He preached that Jesus will come with an ax and a pitchfork

and fire
to restore decency and order and righteousness.
What John hears about Jesus’ ministry does not meet his
expectations.
So John sends his disciples to Jesus with a couple questions.
The disciples and John want to know:
“Are you the one who is to come?”
or
“Are we to wait for another?”
In other words:
“Where’s the ax, the pitchfork, the fire?”
“What about decency and order and righteousness?”
“Who the heck are you and what have you done with
Jesus?!”

Jesus responds:
“Go and tell John what you hear and see:
tell him the blind receive their sight, the lame walk,
tell him the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear,
tell him the dead are raised, the poor have good news
brought to them.
And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

John’s plans for the restoration of decency and order and

righteousness,
brought with an ax, a pitchfork, and fire,
John’s plans give way to God’s possibility.

Joseph, the wise men, King Herod, John the Baptist,

worshippers at Good Shepherd Lutheran church:
all of us pretty confident that our plans for decency and
order and righteousness are the very best plans.
Our plans are sensible and reasonable.
Our plans support the status quo,
don’t involve risk or change or the unknown.
Our plans are controllable and predictable and perfectly safe
— and precious to us.
Our plans . . .
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Let’s leave Matthew’s Gospel for a few minutes,

let’s leave Matthew’s Gospel and look at Luke’s Gospel.
It’s here that we find Mary’s Song,
the Magnificat,
the song we heard as our Psalm today.

Mary has a plan.

She and Joseph are engaged to be married.
Mary has a good plan,
a plan for life.
Joseph is a good man—
goes to synagogue,
works hard as a carpenter,
is respectable and kind and responsible.
Mary has a plan.
They will marry.
Joseph will build a house.
They will raise their children in the village,
where the grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins
will provide the love and support of extended family.
Then their own grandchildren will come.
Then their children will care for them,
there will be joy and happiness to sustain them in their old
age.
The family will live,
comfortable and content,
going about their daily lives.
Mary has a plan.

Then the angel Gabriel comes to her in Luke’s Gospel,

comes to tell her that she will bear a child and his name will
be Jesus,
the chosen one of God most high.

Mary’s plan gives way to God’s possibility.

How will she respond?

Will she resist?
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Refuse to accept the new possibility?

Will she panic?
Refuse to let go of her plan for her life?
Will she forsake her community?
Run away and hide from those she loves?
Those who have nurtured and cared for her—her friends and
family, her community?
Will she desert them?
Will she get angry?
Angry at God, angry at herself?
Or will she be afraid?
Will Mary’s fear keep her from embracing God’s possibility?
Will she cling to her plan of decency and order and
righteousness?
Will her fear keep her trapped in her own little world,
resisting risk and change and the unknown future God has
planned for her?
Will Mary’s fear prevent her from living into the bright future
God has planned for her?

Will ours?

Or will we sing with Mary,

will we rejoice in the bright, but unknown future God has
planned for us?
Will we sing with Mary:

Our souls proclaim your greatness, O God,

our spirits rejoice in you,
You have looked with love on this community of faith
and blessed us for over fifty years.

You are great and mighty, O Holy One,

your strong kindness lasts forever.
You have shown us favor,
the weak and lowly ones,
giving us humble hearts.

You have lifted our hearts,

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you have continuously satisfied our hunger

with wondrous blessings.

You are great and mighty, O Faithful One,

your justice and love are strong.
As you promised to Sarah and Abraham,
so you promise to us—
kindness forevermore.

Our souls proclaim your greatness, O God,

our spirits rejoice in you,
You have looked with love on this community of faith
and blessed us for over fifty years.

May we sing with Mary!

May our plans, like her plans, give way to God’s possibility!
Amen