Year B
Isaiah 61:1-4,8-11 & John 1:6-8,19-28
The Rev. Denise Vaughn
Rejoice in the Waiting
Is there anyone here this morning who enjoys waiting? It seems we are always waiting for something. Whether we are waiting in line, waiting for our next vacation, waiting for our favorite TV show, waiting for Christmas and the coming of the Messiah, it seems we are always waiting. Waiting can be at times an aggravation to us because we like doing, we like to make things happen, we want things to happen now. Waiting means we have to stop, listen, look, wonder and possibly at times pray because waiting means we are not always in control. Just think how hard it must have been for John the Baptist to wait for that someone whom he did not know, but was coming after him. How hard it must have been for him to be set apart by God to do one single thing with his life which was to proclaim the coming one and to witness to one whom he didn’t even know his name.
All four of the gospels include John the Baptist. Matthew and Mark give us a visual of him. Wild prophet clothed in camel’s hair eating locust and honey. John offers us no visual. He is just plain John, son of Zechariah, who is questioned by the authorities. They want to know who he is and why he is baptizing with no license but all John will say is who he is not. He is not the Messiah…no one asked him this question but he offers it. Luke does tell us in his gospel “A feeling of expectancy had grown among the people, who were beginning to wonder whether John might be the Christ.” John does tell them he is not Elijah, not like Moses instead he paraphrases the prophet Isaiah. “I am the voice.” I exist to testify, to witness to the one who is all those things. John was very sure of his identity and purpose in life.
Yet, the priest and the Levites what they wanted was to try and fit him into some religious category they knew about. John, sent from God, knew that his role was to recognize the true light that no darkness can overcome and to call attention to it so that others may recognize it and believe and through believing commit themselves to the light, “to the Word made flesh,” that was coming. John the Baptist, according to some, may not be the best example but he is an example for us of the possibilities and limitations of a witness sent by God to bear witness to the light, to the Messiah who is ever present and real today, through the Holy Spirit living inside of us. The good news is like John our quirkiness can be used for the Kingdom. God has also anointed us to serve God and God’s people. In the end, John is a good model for us because life should not be about us, but about God.
This Advent text reminds us that this very human witness to Jesus arrived on the scene not to get everything ready for Christmas, but to make ready for the anointed one; the one with the spirit of God upon him who was sent to “bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives….to comfort all who mourn.” These words of Isaiah tell us that this promise of transformation is not to be an empty hope but a sure promise. A promise hoping to be fulfilled every day until Christ returns. Advent reminds us that we are to be preparing for and hoping for God to transform the world through Jesus Christ.
So where is God’s transformation being revealed today? What is God doing in the lives of the people that offer hope and restoration to our broken world? And where are the ones pointing to the coming one? They are here and out there but there are more needed. Isaiah reminds us that God’s advent is a transformation that will change our lives and the world in which we live in. We do not need to look very far to see the injustice of poverty, abuse, hunger, oppression, terrorism, and war. Advent asks us, what do I need to change in order to allow God’s transformation to take place in me and ultimately the world? Isaiah guarantees us that God will cause “righteousness”, being made right before God and praise to spring up before all the nations.” God is with us through Jesus Christ our savior who proclaims that he is the one who will bring God’s transformation to a broken world but we are to ask what we can do to prepare and point to God’s transformation. The two questions of Advent always seem to be the same: “How is the advent, the coming of God trying to come into our lives, into our world? And, what do we need to change for this to happen?
In 1 Thessalonians, one of the earliest Christian writings we have, Paul talks about this change and what we need to do to bring it about. He says, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of the prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil…..the one who calls you is faithful.” This is how we are to live in the light of expectation of Christ’s return someday. First Thessalonians seems to be a litany for living in the “meantime.” For, Paul reminds us that the essential part of the Christian life as we Advent wait is about thankfulness and joy living every day in the light of God’s Spirit.
The mystery of our faith is that in this waiting and in the living of our lives as children of the light, we find the joy of who we are and our purpose which is to live in a way that pleases God. God calls the faithful to be ready for the coming and enables their readiness. This knowledge brings us joy in knowing that whatever we humbly present to God can be used by God and that this joy, is the good that is expressed as we rejoice, pray and give thanks for God’s love in Jesus Christ and in this, we find completeness and wholeness. Giving thanks in every situation is the openness which will allow us to let God work within us and will make us whole for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
On this the Third Sunday of Advent, Rejoice Sunday, Isaiah, Paul and John the Baptist remind us that we are to be about pointing to God, witnessing, giving thanks always, praying, holding to what is good as we wait because we are shaped by whatever it is we are waiting for. What are you (we) waiting for, because, we are always waiting for something. Why can’t our waiting, our vision, be about Isaiah’s, Paul’s and John the Baptist’s vision of peace and justice for those who hunger to know the joy we have in waiting? The main difference between John and us is he was willing to forgo the details, and the need for control and wait for God to reveal the coming one.
All he could tell those who questioned him, was that he was the voice sent to prepare the way. If we are honest, we are very much like John as we wait for God to transform this world. Could it be that we are also to be the voice sent to prepare the way, to point to the light of Jesus Christ? When we testify to the light, we embody that light as believers who reveal the life of Christ anew in the world. So whatever happens while we are waiting let us bear witness and prepare the way. Rejoicing always and giving thanks because God is with us. Come, Lord Jesus, come!