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Trinity Episcopal Church Hattiesburg, Mississippi Second Sunday of Advent (Year A, Advent 2) December 9, 2007 Go To Trinity's Home Page

Isaiah 11:1-10
Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19
Romans 15:4-13
Matthew 3:1-12
The Collect of the Day
From the Revised Common Lectionary as Adapted for Use by the Episcopal Church
and Authorized by the 74th General Convention of the ECUSA

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume 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. “I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:1-12)

Empathy + Love = Unity
The Rev. Dr. Bill Stroop, Rector

     I met John the Baptist. I was a small boy, and my mother and I had walked into town. It was a cold day – probably about this time of year – and my mother had properly clothed me in a heavy shirt, sweater, and a coat so bulky that I couldn’t put my arms down. It was cold enough that the heat rose from the vents in the street like a kind of dense, spooky fog that moved as if alive, close to the street. I was walking ahead of my mother, and rounded a corner. And there he stood, right in front of me.

     He was dressed all in black, and stood up straight. He seemed nine feet tall, and he had a black beard and a black hat. He was holding a book, and he was ranting about the end of the world. People were crossing the street to avoid getting too close, but I stood there fascinated and terrified. He called me a sinner. My mother quickly grabbed my hand and pulled me into the safety of the nearby Piggly-Wiggly market.

     The vision of that strange Adventist still haunts me, just as I imagine the people who saw John the Baptist were haunted by his appearance and his message. But John wasn’t just a doomsayer like the man in black of my childhood. “Like the prophets of old, John threatened Israel with Divine judgment … But, unlike his predecessors, he offered a sacrament of repentance. As far as can be determined from the evidence available, John’s once-and-for-all water lustration was without precedent in the Jewish world … John’s [sacramental] baptism was apparently a sacramental sealing of those who responded to his preaching, and through repentance, joined the faithful remnant of those who would survive the fiery judgment.”[1]

     Matthew’s description of John’s appearance and lifestyle underscored Matthew’s need to identify John the Baptist with the prophetic tradition of Elijah (2 Ki 1:8). John wore camel’s hair and his scraggly beard was festooned with sticky honey and the bits of locusts on which John dined. Some of John’s follower’s saw him as a new Elijah. John called the people to be ready for something new: the incarnation of God in their midst.

     The incarnation of God as newborn baby is a cause for great celebration, and it’s what we look forward to this time of year.[2] But John quickly brings us back down to earth. The child John sees comes with an axe, with a winnowing fork, and with purging flame. The prophecies that we hear today in the reading from Matthew and from Isaiah sound discordant when they sit side by side. In contrast to John’s prophesy of harsh judgment, Isaiah speaks of new growth from the stump of Jesse; a new kingdom even greater than the kingdom of beloved David. But I think both prophecies are true – and accurately describe what Jesus was about. He is the incarnation of God. But God wants from us something better and more godly than we have ever been.

     The incarnation is God coming into an unprepared world, and taking it by storm, gate crashing our human party and living out among us and inviting us to participate in a whole new vision of life.

     The apostle Paul gave us a very tangible way of seeing this new vision, and that was the description of the Body of Christ. In the twelfth chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he describes the Body as an organism made up of different members, but all dependent on one another, and all equally important for the functioning of the whole. In our reading from Romans, Paul continues this line of thought about the Body, praying that we will “l ive in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul tells us to “welcome one another … just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”

     God asks that we live for one another. While I think most of us would agree that this is the implicit message of the Gospels and the Epistles – particularly the letters of Paul – it is probably the hardest thing for us to do, and the thing we do with the least success. And that is because it goes against our instinctive need to categorize people into neat groupings. Groups like our friends, our favorite people, our family, our co-workers, and others.

     We each have our own “in crowd.” Cell phone companies have known this about human nature for years, and have capitalized on it as a marketing strategy. One carrier lets you designate your five favorite people with whom you want to share unlimited free calling. Another carrier has an “IN” network which causes the phone book to be divided into the freebie IN friends, and the pay-to-contact “OUT” group. Arguably this is a good strategy for cell phone carriers to get groups of customers, it is nonetheless, a reflection of our tendency to self-associate with those most like ourselves.[3]

     The gospels tell us though that we are to love all people; to show compassion to all; to extend the hand of kindness to everyone regardless of where they are on the social ladder and without regard to the prospect of recompense or reward. It means to embrace the whole Body of Christ, the nagging, the opinionated, the angry, the malcontent; the Eore.

     Henri Nouwen coined the phrase, “voluntary displacement” to describe how we can move ourselves and create unity in the middle of difficult diversity. And we need to figure it out because the gospels compel us to move from where we feel content – perhaps a little self-righteous – toward other perspectives. The gospel asks us to move from a place of self-interest toward group-interest.

     This is the kind of unity we seek in the church. “Unity” does not demand strict conformity, agreement, or cohesiveness. What it does call for is empathy: thinking and feeling from another person’s perspective; it requires tolerant altruism.

     Christian unity can and often does involve elements of cohesiveness and agreement, but it is rarely, if ever, homogeneous. Rather it is something that produces a kind of harmony where multiple voices create something that is greater than the sum of the individual parts. It is complex and requires energy to achieve; it takes training and practice and a whole lot of patience to maintain. In our Christian community it requires forgiveness, because it is through the offer of forgiveness and the acceptance of forgiveness that unity is achieved despite the diversity in the Body.

     Unity requires direct communication, healthy conflict, commitment to self-examination, and a desire to be totally empathetic. Each of us has our own unique ways of experiencing and communicating with the divine. We might be able to achieve the kind of unity the gospels and Paul’s letters speak to when we learn to appreciate diversity of expression toward God, and when we find ourselves the instruments of grace.

     The grace of Jesus works in us and then works through us to affect others. I believe that it is grace that allows us to be empathetic and to see and feel the world through another person’s eyes. It is the grace of God that lets us “get” the message of Advent: that God so loved the world that he sent Jesus to us to teach us how to live in harmonious unity through respect, inclusion, and love. “By this everyone will know that [we] are [his] disciples, [by our] love for one another.” (Jn 13:35)

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Isaiah 11:1-10

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19 Deus, judicium

1 Give the King your justice, O God, *
and your righteousness to the King’s Son;

2 That he may rule your people righteously *
and the poor with justice;

3 That the mountains may bring prosperity to the people, *
and the little hills bring righteousness.

4 He shall defend the needy among the people; *
he shall rescue the poor and crush the oppressor.

5 He shall live as long as the sun and moon endure, *
from one generation to another.

6 He shall come down like rain upon the mown field, *
like showers that water the earth.

7 In his time shall the righteous flourish; *
there shall be abundance of peace till the moon shall be no more.

18 Blessed be the Lord GOD, the God of Israel, *
who alone does wondrous deeds!

19 And blessed be his glorious Name for ever! *
and may all the earth be filled with his glory.
Amen. Amen.

Romans 15:4-13

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles, and sing praises to your name”; and again he says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people”; and again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him”; and again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope.” 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.

Matthew 3:1-12

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume 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. “I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

The Collect of the Day

Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. 

[1] Douglas R.W. Hare. Matthew: Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1993), p. 18.
[2] Synthesis: Advent 2, Tradition. Vol 17, No. 4, Boyds, MD: Sedgwick Publishing Co. 2004.
[3] Timothy F. Merrill (Exec. Ed.). “My Faves.” Homiletics. 19(6):52-59, 2007.

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Copyright © 2007, William G. Stroop - All Rights Reserved.
7 December 2007

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