Christ Episcopal Church
December 16, 2012
3 Advent C
On Friday morning, I checked my email and read the news online when I got up, then I went about what was a fairly busy day. Somehow I managed to avoid all contact with the outside world until about 3:30 that afternoon when my husband checked his email and had a news alert. "School massacre: 26 dead including 20 children," Don read out loud. The only appropriate response in the moment seemed silence, a stunned silence for there were simply no words. Don and I did not even talk about the tragedy. There was nothing to say in the face of such loss.
So here we find ourselves, just over a week from Christmas, with tragedy fresh on our minds and breaking our hearts. That is the backdrop against which we hear the stirring words of Zephaniah calling us to rejoice. "Sing aloud, o daughter Zion, shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem." The canticle from Isaiah echoes the call to rejoice "Shout aloud inhabitants of Zion, sing out your joy, for the great one in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel." And we hear from Paul in the letter to the Philippians "Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say rejoice." How can we possibly rejoice in the face of unspeakable tragedy.
As we grieve with those who have suffered great loss, John the Baptist does not seem terribly helpful this morning, either. Did any of us really need to hear these words this morning? "You brood of vipers. Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" Or did we really need to be told about the unquenchable fire?
The response to John the Baptist, however, is not unlike our response to a tragedy. Three times we hear people respond to John the Baptist with the words "What, then, shall we do?" People did not flee from John the Baptist, which might have been the rational response. Instead, they engaged him. "What shall we do?" When tragedy strikes, we also say "What shall we do?" What shall we do to prevent this from happening again, or to comfort those who grieve, or to reach out with material help. "What shall we do?"
John’s response is quite concrete. To the crowds he said "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none. Whoever has food must do likewise." To the tax collectors, he said "Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you." To the soldiers he said "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusations, and be satisfied with your wages." Quite frankly, John’s demands of the people he has just called a brood of vipers seem a bit lame. Share. Be fair. Do not extort. How hard is that?
What John is actually demanding, however, is that the people live their lives, their regular, every day lives, faithfully and in accordance with the law of God. We think of Jesus when we think of sharing coats, or fair business practices. But these laws are rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures. When John says "Do not begin to say to yourselves ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’ for God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham," John is telling the people (and us, by the way) that they can make all the sacrifices at the Temple they like, and observe the dietary laws, and pray in the synagogue, but if they do not live their every day lives faithfully, then they are like the chaff that will be burned with unquenchable fire.
At the end of the gospel lesson, we hear the words "So with many other exhortations, John proclaimed the good news to the people." Exactly which part of John’s rant was good news? The bit about the brood of vipers? Or the part about burning with unquenchable fire?
Thus far in Luke’s gospel, the good news has been proclaimed three times, twice by angels and once by John the Baptist. The first time, the angel Gabriel appears to John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah, to tell him that his wife, Elizabeth will bear a son. With good reason, Zechariah doubts the angel’s message. So the angel says to Zechariah "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news." The second occasion of good news occurs after Jesus’ birth, when the angel of the Lord appears to the shepherds and says "Do not be afraid; for see~ I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people; to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah the Lord." And now, with many exhortations, John the Baptist proclaims the good news to the people.
Here is an often overlooked fact about Good News in Scripture. The Good News almost always goes hand in hand with judgement, which means that the Good News demands something of us. The words we hear from Zephaniah and Isaiah this morning ring out with joy, but both follow words of harsh judgement that come before our readings this morning. Both Zephaniah and Isaiah warn the people of the consequences of behaving as they do, ignoring the widows and orphans, worshiping false Gods, and otherwise not living according to the covenant they have with God. Those consequence would be grim and the people would suffer greatly. Which they did. Paul’s command to rejoice in the Lord always follows some harsh criticism of the Philippians’ failure to stand fast in the face of false teachings, and their failure to keep the peace among themselves. And John the Baptist warns the people about what will happen to the tree that does not bear good fruit, and he tells the people what repentance looks like, calling them to live according to the Covenant with God. Only then does he proclaims the good news that the Messiah is coming.
In these cases, unlike the tragedy in Connecticut, the darkness the people found themselves in was of their own making. The promise of the prophets is that God’s mercy always follows God’s judgement. In Connecticut, the tragedy had nothing to do with God’s judgement and God’s heart is shattered in the midst of the deep darkness of human brokenness. But whatever the cause of the deep darkness, the promise of Zephaniah, Isaiah, the Apostle Paul, John the Baptist and Christmas is best summed up in the opening words from the Gospel of John: "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot put it out." In the midst of darkness, there is cause to rejoice.
Amen.
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