The Second Sunday of Advent, Year B

The Prophetic Role

Readings: Isaiah 40:1-11; Psalm 85:8-13; 2 Peter 3:8-15a; Mark 1:1-8

Mark begins his gospel with a message of such hope. He begins with a claim that he is the bearer of good news for the world. He heralds in a new beginning, a fulfilling of the Old Testament as God breaks into the world in a new way. It is a big claim to say that you have something that is good news. What can be ‘good news’ for what is going on in the world, either in the early church of Mark, or for that matter in our modern world?

And so he sets the stage for telling the story of Jesus who is the Good News. ‘How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the one bearing good news to Israel and announcing God’s coming kingdom!’ It is John the Baptist, the last of the great prophets of the Old Testament, the prophet anointed by the Spirit to proclaim good news to the poor, to proclaim liberation whom Mark announces. John offers repentance as the way in which we enter into the kingdom of God. He points beyond himself, offering hope through renewing a right relationship with God. He preaches conversion, μετανοια. His is a call for a major change in direction, to turn their lives around. It is a call for the whole nation to repent as preparation for the coming of the Messiah. But that Good News may not be what people want to hear. The prophet is called to say what needs to be said, not what people want to hear.

I was leading a Bible Study on the prophetic role some years ago. I commented that we are all called to be prophets. One person replied, "Oh, no! You're quite wrong about that. We're Anglicans! It's a non-profit organization!" Although she was not serious, I think that it is easy for us to really believe that. After all, to be a prophet is to be at best strange and at worst fanatical.

But I have news for you. We are all called to prophetic ministry. And I can hear the clamour already. "I'm in business! I'm no prophet!" Or "I'm a teacher! A nurse! Retired!" Or best of all, "What do we pay clergy for anyway?"

And so we need to take note of what it means to be a prophet. What is the role of the prophet? What is God calling us to do?

The word prophecy comes from the Greek, προπηετεσ, "one who speaks before others." Often we take it to be some kind of ecstatic speech, but in reality the prophet is a person who is totally grounded, who speaks with authority what has been discerned through a close walk with God, and above all, one who listens to God.

Perhaps looking at some modern day prophets will give us insight into the role. I had such a person in one of the congregations in which I served. His is a much-maligned occupation. He is a meteorologist, so he worked at predicting our weather. He gave me some insights into how that happens.

Apparently in 1987, Pope John Paul was preparing for his trip to Los Angeles, and he wanted to know what the weather would be like while he was there. A weather consultant was hired by the Vatican to make some recommendations. He looked at the last thirty years of weather in Los Angeles at the time of year that the Pope's visit was to take place. He came back with his report. "At the time of your visit," he said, "it is likely to be very hot and dry." The Pope made his plans accordingly and the trip went off as expected.

The Farmer's Almanacs work on the same premise. They look at the past and make a prediction based on reasonable expectations. That explains why they are often so close in their predictions.

Parents do exactly the same thing. A child comes asking permission to do something. Based on experience, the parent knows what the outcome will be, says no and gives a reasonable explanation about why. There are the usual arguments. And if the parent gives in and the outcome is as predicted, with any luck the child comes and says, "How did you know?" But probably not until twenty years later.

The same thing is true of the prophetic role in Scripture. It looks back at the past in order to predict what is to come. So often the story begins with God recounting to the prophet all that God has accomplished for God's people in the past. "Wasn't I with you at the Red Sea? Did I not provide you with manna in the desert? Now go and tell my people ..." And the prophet is able to speak with authority, "Thus says the Lord!" The prophet is able to challenge the people on a moral level, to speak what needs to be heard in light of past experience. That is the role of John the Baptist. He is a predictor of what will be if the people continue on the same path without repenting and turning to God. He uses present behaviour to indicate what is likely to occur. In other words, he is a truth teller, and while we know that the truth will set us free, we are not always anxious to accept it.

Let’s face it! We do not always listen to truth tellers. Consider what happens when truth is suppressed. Is that not the story of the Christian faith? John the Baptist came to bring good news, to speak the truth. He preached repentance. He helped people to see their need to change their ways. He prepared the way for Jesus. He paid for it with his life. Jesus’ ministry was one of speaking the truth. He brought a message of great hope to the poor and to those in need. He befriended the outcasts of society. His message was offensive to the rich and powerful. His path was the way of the cross.

It is a story that is repeated over and over again in our history. It is the story of countless martyrs whose lives we celebrate. It is the story of Bonheoffer, executed for his faith. It is the story of Oscar Romero, murdered in his church for speaking words of liberation to his people. It is the ongoing story of many who speak out about the injustices that occur in our world.

Yet it is our call to bear the prophetic word, to be truth tellers. That is the message of the Incarnation. It is why Jesus entered into the sinfulness of our human nature. Can we be open to times of vulnerability as times of opportunity for change and renewal? Can we speak out against injustice and bring about God’s Kingdom of Shalom?

That is the message of Advent, after all. It is a season of fresh beginnings. The writer of Isaiah gives people a message of hope and comfort. The exiles will return to Jerusalem on a straight and level road. “God is always faithful,” he proclaims, “a God of power and tenderness.” John the Baptist heralds the good news of Jesus’ coming.

Today we are called to be heralds of this same good News. We announce to a hurting world that Jesus Christ has experienced the worst we face and has come through it. Our relationship with God helps us to see beyond our world. We are called to heal those who have been wounded by life, to relight candles that have been dimmed or gone out through all the tragedies that occur in peoples’ lives. How do we see the possibilities? How do we respond to the needs of others? Our life and witness as Christians is to shed light in human society on issues to which people remain blind. There is so much to do. There is so much injustice.

So yes! We need prophets. Those who prophesy encourage others. The prophetic word builds up the church. We need those in our day and age who are the encouragers. Such people witness through their actions, through their loving concern towards others. They speak out against the injustices they see in the world. They are the voice of the voiceless.

As Christians we follow an unknown path that leads us into new ways of being. There is a tension in being on that path. But we are offered grace, comfort and guidance along the road. We are offered hope in God’s promises.

Advent Wanderings

The Second Sunday of Advent
Year B

Readings: Isaiah 40:1-11; Psalm 85:8-13; 2 Peter 3:8-15a, 18; Mark 1:1-8

There is a poem that resonates in me with the message of Advent. It is written by Antonio Machado, a famous Spanish poet, and it became a song during the struggle for independence in Chile.

Wanderer, your footsteps are
The road and nothing more;
Wanderer, there is no road,
The road is made by walking.
By walking one makes the road,
And upon glancing behind
One sees the path
That never will be trod again.
Wanderer, there is no road--
Only wakes upon the sea.

As Christians we follow an unknown path that leads us into new ways of being. There is always tension as we search out new directions. Life is like that. Just when we think that we are at the end of the road, we discover a twist or a turn or a fork that leads us in new directions. Into new beginnings!

Perhaps we think that our children are lost to us, and we discover that they are simply looking for independence, that they are becoming adults. Maybe we think that we have lost a friend, and we find that it has turned from a dependency into a mutual friendship that will carry us through our whole life. Or we think that our parish is in a state of decline, and then we see signs of new, fresh leadership. We see energy and deep spiritual growth. We are in awe of the faith that we see in one another. Or perhaps we look at the world around us. We witness violent terrorist acts. “Surely,” we say, “these are the end times.” And as we are thinking that civilization is about to crumble before our very eyes, we hear about acts of great compassion. And as we worry about the economic climate in our country and throughout the world wondering where it will all end, we open our hearts in generosity so that no one will go without.

And hopefully through all the twists and turns of life we remember that God offers grace, comfort and guidance on the road. We are offered such hope in God’s promises. That is the message of Advent, for it is a season of new beginnings, a season of hope, a season of new found faith, a season of joy.

Isaiah offers the people of Israel a message of hope and comfort. He reminds them of God’s promises. After years of exile, they will return home and God will be with them. God is bigger than all the suffering they have endured. God remains faithful and strong. They are to prepare the way through the wilderness as they might for any monarch. The exiles will return to Jerusalem on a straight and level road. “You can depend on the promises of God,” Isaiah tells them. “God will be there with you, leading, guiding, comforting. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.” What a message of hope it is! It touches the very depth of human longing and hope.

The early Christians found themselves travelling a new and strange road filled with twists and turns, taking them in directions they hadn’t imagined. They had expected the imminent return of Jesus. When it did not happen, they found their hopes and dreams of a kingdom of shalom shattered. Peter told them that the delay was part of God’s plan. He knows that God wants the whole of creation to be transformed. He challenges them to prepare themselves for the day when Christ will come again. Can we hear in his message that the promise of God is a promise of transformation? We are to be a transformed and transforming people. We are to seek peace by being reconciled to one another and working for economic and political justice. It is through us that the kingdom of God will become a reality.

In the Gospel we hear the call to change direction on the road of life. In this Advent season, John the Baptist is a primary figure. He figures in two weeks of Gospel readings. There is no denying the impact that John the Baptist had on the people of his day. Only slightly older than Jesus, but by far the more provocative character, he drew attention for his bizarre behaviour and his edgy preaching. Even Jesus in being baptized by John acknowledges his charisma. Those who traipsed out into the wilderness did not go out to look at the scenery. They did not go out into the wilderness expecting to find luxury and royalty. They went out seeking a craggy, cranky prophet dressed in animal skins and eating locusts and honey, calling them to repentance. They were looking for someone who would tell them as it is. They were not disappointed. It led them into new ways of being.

That is strongly the message to us at this wilderness time of the year. We are called to repentance, to a new way of living our lives. John offers repentance as the way of entering into the kingdom. He points beyond himself, offering hope through renewal of right relationship with God. It is a call to change focus, to literally turn our lives around, to be converted. It is a call to faith.

How do we answer that call? Do we all really need conversion? The whole subject of conversion always brings to mind my mother, a very faithful Christian throughout her whole life, I might point out. I must have been about ten. We were in downtown Toronto. A man came up to us on the street. “Are you saved?” he asked us. “I’m an Anglican,” my mother quipped back. I suspect that many of us find it 'unanglican' to speak in such terms. But the gospel clearly calls us to allow God to transform our lives. It calls us to be converted.

So the answer to that question is a resounding “yes”. But I do not think for one moment that we all experience conversion in the same way. We think of it as a sudden transformation, a flash of insight, a moment of enlightenment or awakening. And that can be the case. For some people, there is a definite and distinct time in their lives when they experience God's call in a new and life changing way.

I suspect that for most people in church this morning, conversion has been a lifetime process, a lifetime of following God, a lifetime of commitment to the Gospel. For such people, conversion comes as a quiet recognition of how God continues to work in their lives. I know that when I look back on my own life I cannot remember a time when I was not a Christian. For that reason I would find it difficult to pinpoint a time of conversion. There are low times when I wondered if God cared. There are also times when I had mountain top experiences. And there have been times along the way that I can only describe as 'aha' moments when God gave me insights that deepened my experience and strengthened my faith.

What we all need is an authentic faith that we claim as our own. I think for that to happen we must have a sense that something is, not necessarily wrong, but that something is missing from our lives. Then we need a glimpse of who we are meant to be. That happens in many ways and at many times in our lives if we let it. It demands openness, honesty, integrity, and above all, courage. It means working at it. It means spending time in study and prayer, in examining our way of living, in committing as much time and energy to the spiritual dimensions of our lives as we do to the secular.

No matter at what stage of our Christian life we may be, there is possible a deeper encounter with the Christ who waits to enter our experience. So be prepared to search. Be open to the possibilities. The road is, after all, made by walking. Each discovery takes us deeper. It becomes a new beginning, a new birth, as Christ is born in us.