Year C Advent 3 Rejoice, really?

 Year C Advent 3, 15 December 2024

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Rejoice, really?”

Collect

Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

Philippians 4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Luke 3:7-18

John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

And the crowds asked him, "What then should we do?" In reply he said to them, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise." Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, "Teacher, what should we do?" He said to them, "Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you." Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what should we do?" He said to them, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages."

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

Rejoice, my friends! Again I say rejoice!

This is the rose Sunday of Advent. Rose, mind you, not pink, the proper liturgists insist. Though for the life of me, I cannot tell the difference between Rose and Pink. 

While Advent is a penitential season, there is joy in our penance. Why? Our prayers are heard. Forgiveness is extended. We have much for which to hope.

The stage for our Gospel reading can seem so hostile in the first reading. But there is hope and redemption even here. It may seem harsh, and that is the style of the prophets to give us a wake-up call we cannot ignore. As our passage finishes, “So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.” Even in his harshness, this is GOOD NEWS to the people. To the Brood of Vipers and the repentant sinners who were thronging to hear him and receive his baptism of repentance this was life-giving GOOD NEWS.

Though it hits our ears harshly, think of someone standing beside a road, yelling. “You idjits, STOP! The road you are on is certain doom! The bridge is out and this way leads to certain death!” You might get upset he called you an idjit, but he is trying to save your life! John directed his ire with intent at the religious elite who worried in minutia about doing right, but were not concerned with being right. They went through the motions without once thinking of transforming their heart and mind. They thought they were right by the right of their birth. But then they see John standing against them, which they were not used to. They thought their birth credentials were enough, and their self-righteousness added to their sanctity.

This is John, the whack-a-do it seems, trying his best to wake up our complacency and have us change the path we are on. But to some of those coming to him to be baptized, they were doing it because it was the thing to do. Nothing more. A cultural fad that will soon pass. All the performance, none of the repentance. Some of those were not trying to change their ways, they were just taking a dip.

You can see him winding up the pitch. In their finery and robes he sees the religious leaders coming but he knows who they really are…

"You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance.”

John was wanting people to change their ways. They need to do what they ought to do, what they already know how to do.

[Paraphrasing] Do you have two coats? Let someone he does not have one have the one in your closet.

Are you a tax collector? Then take only what you should, not extra to line your pockets.

Are you a soldier? Do your job, do not use your power to abuse those in your path.

This way of standing up to the powers that be was refreshing and got the people to thinking…

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah…

People were filled with expectation. That is where we are as well. We are in Advent. We are in hopeful anticipation. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

We want things to change and we want things to change wholesale.

There has been a horrifying and fascinating moral debate in our country over the last week and a half. When the CEO of United Health Care was assassinated in broad daylight in New York City I do not think a single person in this country questioned what the motive would turn out to be. We knew in our guts. Our health care system is broken and insane, even with great strides in recent decades. The costs are astronomical and rising for worse things delivered. My increased costs for my insurance is insane. We talked about it at last Monday’s Finance Meeting. We all know that things are wrong. What the suspect in the shooting did was wrong. It is unjustifiable.

But…

And therein lies the moral quandary. As soon as I said, “But…” some of you may have expected me to take a turn there. Ease your minds and fears. Violence is never the answer.

There are several that would finish the sentence that starts with “But…”

As if to prove my point that there are problems in our world, the McDonald’s employee who called 911 which enabled the suspect’s arrest was reported to not be eligible to receive the reward money collected because they did not call the tip line, but 911 instead. There was a public backlash. A correction was made. I saw this yesterday:

“…it could take time before the McDonald's tipster gets a financial reward for assisting in the case. Additionally, the employee might not take home the full $60,000, after paying taxes on the reward.” [Source CBSnews.com]

Insult to injury. We are living in a broken and hurting world. We know there is a problem but we await leadership and courage to fight billion dollar industries who fund the leaders’ campaigns. Is change even possible. People frustrated resort to murder thinking that might make a difference. Sin is alive and well on planet earth as you all know full well.

Friends, it has been 2,000 years and we are in hopeful expectation that one day, some way, things will get better. Jesus started a revolution to turn the ways of the world upside down. John prepared the way. Next week Mary will prophecy through her Magnificat. And we sit her in our penance, preparing our hearts and minds for what is to come.

If you read through Scripture it seems like God repeatedly chooses the side of the powerless, and reminds us who have two coats that maybe we could do with less. One of my favorite thinkers of the 20th century, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, wrote: “Christianity preaches the infinite worth of that which is seemingly worthless, and the infinite worthlessness of that which is seemingly so valued.” Hear that again…

“Christianity preaches the infinite worth 

of that which is seemingly worthless, 

and the infinite worthlessness 

of that which is seemingly so valued.”

That is the revolution we are talking about. Not a revolution with guns and violence, but one of the heart. A place where the least of these receive and those with the most are content. The last are made first and the first are made last. That is what John the Baptizer preached to his Brood of Vipers. He loved them in a harsh way so he could break through the hardness of their hearts and perhaps make way for Jesus and his teachings to come in.

When people asked how to change their ways it was about Doing, not Believing. It was about changing who they were, not a change of clothes and a haircut. It was about giving coats and taking only what was required and not abusing power.

But I bring us back to the Pink, I mean, ROSE candle on our Advent wreath. We have looked at how bad the world is. We have looked at how bad we are. And then I have the audacity to say that we should rejoice, really? Really, Rock? 

Yes, that is the point of this Sunday. “Rejoice in the Lord, always. Again I say, rejoice.”

I rejoice because I can. My attitude is my choice. No one can steal the hope and promise I have in Christ. No one. If I give it away that is on me, no one else.

I rejoice because I see light at the end of the tunnel. I might not make it, in this life anyway, but I rejoice that we will get there one day and the Kingdom of God will reign. Moses said the same, and Martin Luther King, Jr. They could see where we will get, one day. One day.

I rejoice in that we have passed a time of bleakness and fear. Like a parent whose child’s fever starts to go down, I thank God and I rejoice. Like a patient who is told that the cancer is shrinking and responding to therapy, I rejoice because it is better today than it was yesterday. Like someone who faced their worst fears and learned that when they hit bottom, the bottom is solid and they can start the ascent back up, I rejoice.

I rejoice because I hope, and I have the power to hope because I rejoice. We all have a choice, friends. We can choose to spiral downward, and there are a lot of reasons to feel that. Or we can choose to spiral upward, there are hints and glimmers and promises from those I believe that let me feel that. I can choose my trajectory. You can, too.

You can if you are in a brood of vipers, or tax collectors, or soldiers, or any one on the wrong path, you can turn around and change your ways. In a word, you can repent.

I close today, as did our Philippians passage for the day. St. Paul says it pretty well…

Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Amen.