Sun, Dec 5, 2004 - The Spirit of the Lord

Isaiah 11:1-10
http://bible.oremus.org/browser.cgi?passage=isaiah+11%3A1-10

Romans 15:4-13
http://bible.oremus.org/browser.cgi?passage=romans+15%3A4-13

Matthew 3:1-12
http://bible.oremus.org/browser.cgi?passage=matthew+3%3A1-12

Well, it’s a wilderness out there! There’s all kinds of chaos, people everywhere, voices yelling about the upcoming season, how everything’s going to be perfect, noise, noise, noise, and the entire experience out there in the wilderness can be described as exhausting, bewildering, and stressful. It just makes you yearn for that time of peace, when the wolf shall live with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the baby goat. In the wilderness, it seems as if the wolf and the leopard have already devoured the baby lamb and they’re coming after you next.

Think I’m talking about the shopping malls these days? Well, I could be, but actually, I’m talking about the wilderness where John the Baptist was, the wilderness of Judea, where our Gospel story takes place. Whether you’re talking about the desert in Judea or the chaos of the malls, a lot of things are similar. For one thing, they’re both places that make us wish for the world to be a better place. In the wilderness of Judea, John was constantly proclaiming that things were about to change, that the kingdom of heaven, a place of justice and mercy and life, was coming and that all sadness and despair and inequality would be banished. And in the malls, we hear a similar message - one that tells us that soon we will be happy and content, and all feelings of loneliness and sadness and meaninglessness will be gone, and everything will be different. Granted, John was talking about the coming of Jesus Christ, and the malls are talking about the coming gift-giving and unbelievable sales season, which they coincidentally call the Christmas season, but the desire for a better world is still there.

And as in the wilderness so in the malls, and so we have all kinds of people coming out seeking that kind of happiness. In Judea, people from all around the neighbouring area went out to see John and to hear about Jesus, and here, well, the malls are just packed. Everybody wants a part of the new, wonderful world.

But along with all the genuine seekers, there are those who are insincere. There are those who go out, not because they’re truly seeking something better, but because they want to see what the fuss is all about. Because they want to do what everybody else is doing. Maybe even because they want to laugh at everybody else for their foolish hope. The Pharisees and the Sadducees went out, not because they really cared about what John was saying, but because, they wanted to see what was drawing everybody else. They weren’t interested in a new kingdom, they were just going to carry on the way they always had. Their motivations were wrong. And it happens in the malls, too. People go out, not because they’re interested in Christmas, or even in any of the other religious holidays, but because they just want to buy more stuff. Everyone else is doing it, and so they want to, too. They’re only seeking gratification, not real change.

And how do we react to these people, to these insincere seekers? Well, John called the Pharisees a "brood of vipers!" and warned them that they were about to get chopped down by an axe and then thrown into the "unquenchable fire." Pretty violent imagery! John had absolutely zero tolerance for those who came seeking Christ for their own personal gain or glorification. He was sure that when Jesus came, boy, were these fake believers going to get it! No mercy, no second chances, only judgement and condemnation.

Now, we might not be as harsh as John, but, let’s admit it, when we go out to the malls and see all the people clamouring for the "next big thing" instead of the light of Christ, we get annoyed. We get resentful and angry towards these people who "don’t know the real meaning of Christmas," who don’t know the real Christmas story, who think that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a legitimate Christmas hymn. And we sometimes even secretly think, like John did out loud, that when Jesus comes, boy, are they going to be in for a surprise. Boy, are they going to be sorry they spent more time shopping than they did attending Christmas service. And the sooner Jesus comes and brings an end to the craziness of this world, the better!

But here’s the thing. Along with John’s wilderness of anger and retribution, we also have this gorgeous vision of a new world laid out for us in Isaiah. Isaiah, who’s just seen his country laid waste by invading armies, not just once but twice, nevertheless manages to speak beautiful words of hope and light. He expresses his belief that God will cause something new to come out of all the chaos and destruction he’s experiencing. God will cause a green shoot to grow out of the chopped off stump of the tree of Jesse. Not only that, but God will bring about a time when all of the hurt and destruction will be ended, when the nations will be genuine in searching for a new way of living, when, as we might put it, the old ways of mass consumerism and meaning through merchandise will be replaced with meaning that comes from living in God’s glory.

So how do we get from John’s wilderness to Isaiah’s new kingdom of God? How do we move the world from this choas it’s in to the paradise that awaits it? Well, we don’t do it by behaving like John with the Pharisees and Sadducees, that’s for sure. Although we want the authenticity of those seeking the kingdom of heaven, although we want the world to experience the true light of Christ, the way we’re currently going about it, complaining about insincerity and being resentful of shoppers, just isn’t going to work. People have never moved towards the light because somebody yelled at them to. The Judeans didn’t follow Jesus because John scared them into doing it. People don’t truly welcome Jesus into their hearts when they’re forced to under threat of condemnation. They do it when they can see for themselves that the light is truly a better place to be, when they can be shown that the kingdom of God is a far nicer place than warehouses full of 50% off electronics. People embraced Jesus when they were shown that the kingdom he was bringing was full of love and mercy and welcome, not judgement and condemnation. In fact, it’s only when someone comes along who can truly communicate that message to us that we find ourselves opening up to God.

And that only happens, that true communication of God’s love for us, only happens when the messenger is endowed with the Spirit of the Lord. Which, Isaiah tells us, is the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. It takes a lot of spirit to tell people about the kingdom of God! Now we know, through John the Baptist and through the accounts of the Gospel writers that Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, was one such person who had the Spirit of the Lord. Jesus came, and he was able to deal with the seekers, both the sincere ones and the insincere ones, in such a way that they did not feel condemned but loved, they did not feel judged but forgiven. That they did not fear the kingdom but welcomed it. Jesus had the Spirit to do that.

But Jesus wasn’t the only one who was given this spirit of the Lord. We are, too. Yes, us. We are given the same Spirit of the Lord. If the words sound familiar to you, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, spirit of counsel and might, spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, take your LBW and open it up to page 124, in the service of Baptism. There, near the top of the page, you’ll see that we pray for this Spirit to come upon the people, usually babies, that we baptize, and we repeat the prayer again when they are confirmed as teenagers. We prayed these words, we prayed for God’s Spirit when You were baptized. And, since this is no idle prayer, we know that God hears us, and we know that God sends this spirit into all baptized Christians. And that’s awesome - not only do we have Jesus, the Son of God, working to make the kingdom of heaven a reality, but now there’s millions of us Christians who are helping, as well.

And that means that the kingdom of God is closer than we think. And Advent is only as long as it takes us to understand that. Now, I know that I’m messing a little with the seasons of the church year, that I’ve now dragged us straight from Advent into the middle of Pentecost, but even though it’s only the 2nd Sunday of Advent, we’re not pretending that Jesus hasn’t been born, or that he hasn’t died and been resurrected, or that he hasn’t sent the Holy Spirit to live in our hearts. Jesus Christ has indeed done all of those things. And that means that we are indeed closer to the day that the kingdom will come than we were before. Thanks to the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ, the gap between John’s wilderness and Isaiah’s paradise is getting smaller every time we go out and speak words of love and joy instead of anger and vengeance. Thanks to the presence of God’s Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord, the kingdom of God comes among us even more fully every time we allow that spirit to shine forth from our hearts, speaking words of reconciliation and forgiveness instead of axes and fire.

Isn’t that wonderful? The world is not doomed to live in John’s wilderness forever, with the peace of Isaiah constantly out of reach. People aren’t doomed to be cut down and burned in unquenchable fire. The vision of wolf with lamb, lion with calf, children playing with snakes is becoming a reality. God has already begun the work of reconciliation, and is continuing that work through us. So, as we make our way through Advent, waiting for Christmas, waiting for Christ to come again, waiting for the kingdom of heaven to come among us, we pray "may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Amen.