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Trinity Episcopal Church Hattiesburg, Mississippi Advent 3 December 17, 2006 Go To Trinity's Home Page

Zephaniah 3:14-20
Canticle 9: The First Song of Isaiah Ecce, Deus
Philippians 4:4-7
Luke 3:7-18
Collect of the Day
From the Revised Common Lectionary as Adapted for Use by the Episcopal Church
and Authorized by the 74 th General Convention of the ECUSA

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. (Luke 3:7-18)

The Gospel According to Rudolph
The Rev. Dr. Bill Stroop

     Christmas is right around the corner. But even though the mall beckons us to park 300 miles away so that we have a coronary competing with 3000 other shoppers for one over-priced gift, we need to remember that we are still in Advent. We are still in that expectant season when the whole cosmos seems about to give birth to something vitally important.

     In today’s Gospel, John the Baptist continues proclaiming a baptism of repentance, and foretells the coming of Jesus. He tells the people at the Jordan River that someone more powerful than he will come into the world. He warns that the one who is to come will “clear the threshing floor, gather the wheat into his barn, and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. Oh, oh. “What should we do?”

     Luke’s gospel doesn’t explicitly tell us what to do, but it does tell us to act. The people who comprised the Lukan churches saw the Kingdom of God as something that was already here. It was not something about to come, but it was something tangible. It was recognizable in Jesus’ teaching and preaching. We know this because when Jesus was asked about when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The Kingdom of God is already in your midst” (Lk 17:21).

     And what exactly is Luke’s vision of the kingdom? That is most easily explained by comparing the Gospel of Matthew with the Gospel of Luke. In Matthew, Jesus is portrayed in ways that sound and look like Moses. In Matthew, Jesus, like Moses, climbs to the top of a mountain to deliver the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5). But in Luke’s account of this event, Jesus delivers this most famous sermon from a plain, where everyone is on the same level. Luke’s kingdom is a place of equals. It is a place where the valleys are filled, the hills are made low, and the rough places made smooth (Lk 3:4-5). Luke levels the earthly playing field portraying the kingdom of God as a place where everyone, regardless of their place in society, will be saved. As Luke puts it, it is a place where “all shall see the salvation of God” (Lk 3:6).

     In today’s reading, John, like the prophets Amos and Hosea, warns the people of Israel that they need to repent; they need to change direction. And twice in today’s reading the people ask John “What should we do?” And characteristic of Luke’s egalitarian view of the kingdom, John tells them “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise” (Lk 3:11). John also told the tax collectors to not extort money from anyone. He told the soldiers, who often collected bribes from the citizenry, to just be satisfied with their wages. In other words, Luke wants those of high estate to share, and to respect the dignity of all people. Luke sees the kingdom as being within the hands of the people themselves, and exhorts them to act in accordance with the commandments. He wants the people to usher in a new age of economic and spiritual equality and fair play. He wants people to treat each other with hospitality, invitation, dignity, and respect.

     Is this pie-in-the-sky thinking? Is Luke delusional for thinking that people would stop thinking about themselves, and actually help their neighbor? What would it be like if we actually lived like Luke tells us to?

     In 1938, the Great Depression was winding down, and many people were looking forward to increased prosperity. It was not the case for the Bob May family.[1] Bob May worked for meager wages for the Montgomery Ward Company. As Christmas approached that year, Bob was on the verge of bankruptcy and exhaustion, and his wife Evelyn, who had fought cancer for two years, was dying. “On a cold December night in 1938, after visiting her bedridden, emaciated mother, four year-old Barbara asked her father, ‘Why isn’t Mommy like everybody else’s Mommy’?”[2] Bob looked into the eyes of his daughter; he didn’t know how to explain to her that her mother wanted more than anything to play with Barbara and to be with her for every important moment of her life. He struggled to figure out a way to tell an innocent girl that illness and death were part of life. He knew that Barbara wanted more than anything for her mother to be like other mothers, but that illness and disfigurement had excluded her from all the activities that other children and their mothers normally experienced.

     As he held his daughter in his lap while the wind rattled the windows of their drafty two-room Chicago apartment that cold December night, Bob recalled the pain he felt growing up because he always felt different. He was a small man, often mistaken for a boy. He was called “sissy” and other names by other children growing up. Perhaps it was because of his stature that Bob worked his way through college. But despite his college degree, the depression made it hard for him to find a job other than the position at Wards which was way below his skill level. When he met and married Evelyn, for the first time in his life he had a place in the world where it was all right to not fit into the mold. He felt like a king. When Barbara was born he knew that good times were ahead. But then Evelyn got sick. The cost of fighting the cancer cost her all her energy, and depleted the family’s savings. Bob sold everything, and they moved into a slum apartment.

     Somehow, Bob wanted to make his daughter understand that there was hope. Like Luke telling his people about this wonderful kingdom that was ushered in by a small child born in a stable, Bob May wanted his daughter to know that being different didn’t mean that you had to be ashamed. Like Luke telling all the people that they were all included in God’s kingdom, Bob May wanted Barbara to know and to feel that she was loved. So, the Wards copyrighter made up a story about a reindeer with a large, bright red nose. Barbara listened and began to comprehend the pain felt by those who were different, and the joy found when someone finds her special place in the world. Barbara loved the story, and over the next several nights, the story became more elaborate. Rudolph became a member of the family.

     Unable to purchase a gift for Barbara that Christmas, Bob decided to carefully craft his story about Rudolph into a homemade book. Working late at night, after his sick wife had fallen asleep with Barbara at her side, Bob May drew on his own ability as an artist to illustrate the book. But, tragedy struck. Just before Christmas, Evelyn May lost her battle with cancer. Though the last few pages of the book were stained with tears, Bob did not give up on Rudolph. He knew that now, more than ever, Barbara needed to hear the uplifting story of the reindeer who saved the day. When Christmas morning broke, Barbara was thrilled with the completed copy of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

     At the Wards store Christmas party that year, Bob’s co-workers asked him to share his children’s story. He was not in a joyous mood, but he read the book for them anyway. They loved it, and wanted copies of their own. The head of the company thought that Wards could benefit from the story, and so, Stewell Avery, chairman of the board, bought all rights to the book for a small sum from cash-strapped and debt-ridden Bob May. The book was a huge success for the Montgomery Ward company. Six million of the books were given away between 1939 and 1945 to each child that visited a Santa in a company store.

     If the author of Luke was around, what would he say about this? Did Stewell Avery, who bought the rights to the book play fair, or was he a viper in the brood taking advantage of Bob May’s sorry plight? In 1946, Avery was besieged by offers from every major publisher in the United States to print a new version of the book.

And the crowds asked Jesus, “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.”

     I don’t know if Avery read Luke, but in an amazingly generous act, he gave all rights to the book back to Bob Mays. A year later, the mass-market release of the book made the Wards copywriter a rich man. And in time, Bob’s brother, Johnny Marks adapted the story into a song which Gene Autry sang in 1949 at the Madison Square Garden Rodeo to a wildly enthusiastic crowd. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” became the second best-selling Christmas song of all time, just behind Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas.” Crosby, incidentally, turned down the opportunity to record the song.

     Over the past 60 years, Rudolph has become as much a symbol for the secular wonder of Christmas as Santa Claus. But a real lesson of this story – and the story behind the story – is pure gospel. Luke saw the kingdom of God as a level playing field, where those of high estate – like the CEO of Wards – and those of low estate – like the Mays family – are equal in God’s eyes. And when we heed the gospel, and share a sincere gift of love from the heart, the kingdom is released from our grasp and let loose in the world.

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Zephaniah 3:14-20

Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem! The LORD has taken away the judgments against you, he has turned away your enemies. The king of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands grow weak. The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing as on a day of festival. I will remove disaster from you, so that you will not bear reproach for it. I will deal with all your oppressors at that time. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you home, at the time when I gather you; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the LORD.

Canticle 9: The First Song of Isaiah Ecce, Deus

Surely, it is God who saves me; *
I will trust in him and not be afraid.
For the Lord is my stronghold and my sure defense, *
and he will be my Savior.

Therefore you shall draw water with rejoicing *
from the springs of salvation.
And on that day you shall say, *
Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his Name;

Make his deeds known among the peoples; *
see that they remember that his Name is exalted.
Sing the praises of the Lord, for he has done great things, *
and this is known in all the world.

Cry aloud, inhabitants of Zion, ring out your joy, *
for the great one in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be 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.

Collect of the Day

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.

[1] The story of the creation of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer as related here was adapted from Ace Collins. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” In Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas. ( Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2001), 146-151.
[2] Collins, 146.

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Copyright © 2006, William G. Stroop - All Rights Reserved.
14 December 2006

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