The Child to be born will be Holy

 No, it’s still not Christmas, but as we move closer and closer and John the Baptist and his “brood of vipers,” fade into the background we hear the story a young woman, an angel and the Holy Spirit. It is a time of mystery and wonder and confusion, of hope and perplexity, of expectation, worry and perhaps a little fear. Emotions which are not unlike those that have faced expectant mothers and fathers throughout all time. Let’s listen in. 

“…the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The Angel said to her, ‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God...For nothing will be impossible with God.’ Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word…’” (Luke 1:26-38) 

This story has been shared from generation to generation and is full of mystery and poetry. It is a powerful story out of which more than a few questions arise for many of us. Whatever happened, it changed our world. How it happened, which we will never know exactly, is not as important as the questions asked and promises made, both by Mary and the Angel. The Angel assures Mary that she is favored by God and that God is in fact with her. That’s a good start, but Mary still wonders what kind of greeting this can be, and probably, ‘why me?’ After assuring Mary that there is nothing to be afraid of (yeah, right) Gabriel simply explains that she is about to conceive and give birth to the ‘Son of the Most High (God). 

Mary then asks, ‘how can this be since I am a virgin?’ Under the circumstances, this is a reasonable question. Gabriel’s answer is the most powerful proclamation in the Gospel, whether one takes this story literally, metaphorically or is simply confused by it. 

The Angel answers, “THE CHILD TO BE BORN TO YOU WILL BE HOLY; HE WILL BE CALLED SON OF GOD.” 

As we approach the Nativity of our Lord, the Birth of Jesus, what matters most is not how he was conceived, or whether we can or ever will understand the how. What matters is the answer Gabriel gave to Mary, ‘your son will be Holy, He will be called the Son of God!’ 

For when we proclaim on Christmas, “Joy to the world the Lord is come, let earth receive her King,” we are shouting out to the whole world the same message the Angel gave to Mary, “He is Holy, He is called the Son of God.” 

And like Mary, may we also proclaim, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

The Voice of one Crying out in the Wilderness

There have always been prophets in the world, and wherever there are prophets, there are rumors and questions. Who are they? Why are they here? And perhaps the most searching and desperate question: Really? Really? Is this person truly a prophet? The man we call John the Baptist was one such person about whom these and other questions were asked. 

Scripture tells us that, “John was a man sent from God. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.” (John 1:6-8) 

Even so “church and state” leaders of Israel sent representatives to find the truth. Who are you they asked? Are you the Messiah, Elijah, the prophet?” To all these questions, John answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you?” 

John answered “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’” as the prophet Isaiah said.” The priests and Levites then asked him, “Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.”(John 1:19-28)

 

John the Baptist knew that the prophet we call Second Isaiah was sent to proclaim the

restoration of Israel in the sixth century B.C., to make a spiritual path in the desert for God’s 

people to find their way home from Exile in Babylon and to prepare for the rebuilding of 

Jerusalem and the Temple. John was called to do the same for the Messiah, the one God was to 

send into the world to restore all people and all nations to a right relationship with God and with 

one another. John knew he was not the Messiah, that his message was tilling the soil, preparing the land and hearts to receive the seed of salvation from the one upon whom. . . .

 

“The spirit of the Lord God is, the one who has been anointed by the Lord; who has been sent to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. . .and to comfort all who mourn.” (Isaiah 61:1-2)

 

This is the hope for which we are preparing, the light which will come into the world and overcome the darkness and the darkness will never, ever extinguish it. (John 1:5)

 

Lift up your Voice with Strength

"Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid. . .” (Isaiah 40:1-2)                                                                                                                        

Five hundred and thirty-eight years (give or take a year or two) before John the Baptist “proclaimed the way of the Lord in the wilderness,” the unknown prophet we call “Second Isaiah” proclaimed the restoration of Israel from captivity in Babylon.

 

        The Prophet cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:3-5)

 

The prophecy continues, “All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand for ever. Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Here is your God!’ See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.” (Isaiah 40:6-11)

 

The pastoral imagery of God lovingly feeding and gently leading his people must have been a comfort to people returning to the unknown after sixty years as strangers in a foreign land. Truly this prophecy represents the restoration of Israel after her long exile. The people will be allowed to go back home, to restore and rebuild the city of Jerusalem and their Temple. They will rebuild their identity as a people in relationship to one another and to their God.

 

Over five hundred years later Mark records John the Baptist using similar words and actions to proclaim the Advent of Jesus and God’s continuing love and desire to and lead us as a Good Shepherd.

 

“’The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.’ As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way;’ the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’ John proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’” (Mark 1:1-3, 7-8)

 

Both of these events, as well as many in between reveal God’s glory, reveal God’s love and care for God’s people. As we know from the Bible, ‘bad things happen to good people.’ These two powerful events demonstrate God’s love for all people in good times and bad, ‘in season and out of season.”

The Psalmist says it much better than can I. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” (Psalm 23)

 

 

 

 

Keep Awake

Today is the beginning, the New Year for Christians, the opportunity to start over, to begin again and to prepare for the coming of Jesus into the world. But wait, as we prepare for birth of a son to Mary, the coming of our savior as a child, born of a woman as we all are born, the church and the Christian year throw us a curve ball. That’s right, the first Sunday of Advent does not proclaim John the Baptist “making straight in the desert a highway,” or the Angel Gabriel conversing with Mary and Joseph, challenging them and/or encouraging them to do God’s will. No, we hear words of poetry and metaphor recorded by Jesus proclaiming, yes, the coming of the coming of the Son of Man into the world, but wait, not the first coming as a baby, but his second coming as the Cosmic Christ, the one who will bring all of God’s people together to shout “Halleluiah and Maranatha!” “Praise the Lord and Come Lord!”

 

“Jesus said, ‘In those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.’” (Mark 13:24-27)

 

As the world rushes toward Christmas, with John the Baptist, Mary, Joseph, Angels, Shepherds, Wise Men and Santa Clause, something quite understandable in the Year of our Lord, and the Year of the Pandemic 2020, the Church points out signs and portents in the heavens, reminding us that not only does God “have the whole world in his hands,” but also all of Creation and all people, truly, all people!

 

To help his listeners, and us, better understand, Jesus uses an illustration from nature. “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away”.

 

Yes, all the stories and songs and hope of the birth of Jesus will come to us over the next month, but before they do, Jesus and his church remind us that the end is the foundation of the beginning as well as the foundation of our hope. Beginning with the Second Coming puts the First Coming of Christ into Perspective. We are allowed to see the bigger picture, the hugeness of God and Creation and how it opens life in the Spirit of God up to all people, for As Isaiah proclaims,

 

“Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand…we are all your people.” (Isaiah 64:8-9)

 

As Jesus proclaimed to the people then, he proclaims to us. “What I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.” (Mark 13:37)

 

 

But you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord

 But you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord 

All of us are familiar with Jesus’ answer to the Pharisees when asked about the first and great Commandment. (Matthew 22: 24-36)

 

One of the Pharisees, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:34-46) 

However, we sometimes forget the origin of Jesus’ answer. In his answer, Jesus combines two commandments learned from the Hebrew Scriptures: The first, love God is recorded in Deuteronomy 6:4-7.

Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. 

The Second part, “Love your neighbor is found in Leviticus 19:15-18. While both parts are important and Jesus was wise to combine them, in 2020 with all of our divisions and hate and anger and fear and lack of trust I want to focus on loving our neighbors. Leviticus was written in the sixth century B.C. when the Jews were returning from Captivity in Babylon and were rebuilding Jerusalem, the temple and their nation. As you might imagine, there was a bit of fear, distrust, anger and doubt in everyone’s minds and hearts.

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.

You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the Lord.

You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

I fear that today it is far easier for many of us to love God than it is to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. I fear that we find it comforting to hang out, in person and virtually, with those who believe as we do, and worse yet, to let those who do not believe as we do know exactly how ignorant, stupid and even how inhuman they are. All of this while in the United States, eighty percent of us claim to be Christian and truly believe and proclaim Jesus’ first and great commandment.

 

I believe that this is a great time to be reminded through the words of scripture that we are not the first nation to face trials and tribulations. We are not the first nation in which people of good will and love of country have different understandings of who we are and who we can be, and who God calls us to be. What better time for us to hear the words of the Lord and take them to heart.

 

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord

 

Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and love; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command. Amen. (BCP, p, 235)

 

 

Stand Firm in the Lord and do the Things you have Learned

The letters of St. Paul are written mostly to new churches made up of people who are “young” in the faith. He encourages, at times corrects, and almost always teaches. Paul not only encourages people to use the talents God has given them for the building up of the kingdom, he also encourages everyone in the community to help one another. In Paul’s letter to the Philippians we see him at his best.

“My brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved. I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.”(Philippians 4:1-3)

 

Paul encourages Eudoia and Syntyche in their ministry within the community in the proclamation of the Gospel. He encourages the rest of the congregation to help the two women as the share the good news of Jesus with the community. Paul then encourages the community to be gentle with one another and not to worry, but to bring everything (the good, the bad and the ugly) to God in prayer.

 

“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.” (Philippians 4:4-6) He then leaves them with a blessing, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7)

 

Finally, like Jesus, Paul, having blessed them sends them out with a challenge, a mission and a promise. 

“Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:1-9)

 

In our world today, in which we are sometimes not true or kind or just or honorable toward one another, I want to claim this challenge and mission and promise for those of us who have been called to share the Gospel of love shared with us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. 

Thanks be to God!

The Justice of God is Mercy

 “Are you envious because I am generous?” (Matthew 20:15b) Why ever would we human beings be envious because anyone is generous to other human beings? What would prompt Jesus to tell a parable where the main character even has to ask this question, especially if the person’s generosity to others did not take away from the justice and rights given to us? Most of us have heard the story behind this proclamation of generosity. The parable is Jesus’ story of the “Workers in the Vineyard” found in Matthew 20:1-16. As the story is related in Matthew, the land owner goes out at 6:00 A.M., the beginning of the work day, to find the necessary laborers to carry out the work that needs to be done, promising them the usually daily wage. As the day went on the land owner apparently decided that more workers were necessary to accomplish the day’s task and went out at 9:00 A.M. to recruit more workers, promising them “whatever is right.” He did this again at noon, at 3:00 and finally at 5:00 P.M., an hour before quitting time. 

At the end of the day, the land owner told his manager to call the workers and give them their pay, beginning with the last hired. When the manager gave the last hired their days wages, the others, especially those who had put in a twelve hour day in the hot sun, just knew they would make much more for their labor. When they were paid what had been promised, they were angry and complained to the owner that they had been treated unfairly. His reply, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” (Matthew 20:13-13) 

In Jesus mind and teaching, “the last will be first and the first last” never takes away from the first, it simply gives to the last what the master deems fair. Jesus, just as the Hebrew Prophets before him, always equates justice and mercy: “God has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God? 

We all come into the world, as well as the work place, at different times. It’s as if we enter a room where a conversation is going on and we enter into that conversation as it continues. When we leave the room, when we pass from life through death to life in the nearer presence of our Lord, that conversation continues without our presence but with our having added to and taken from it, hopefully making the world a better place for God’s people. 

Today, in the twenty-first century, it is important for us to again hear Jesus’ message of justice and mercy: to learn or remember that “unless all people are free, no one is free;” (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.), that giving the rights I already possess to those who do not does not take away my rights. The voting rights act that gave black Americans the right to vote did not take away my right to vote; the 19^th Amendment 100 years ago that gave women the right to vote did not take away my right to vote. Allowing Buddhists and Jews and Muslims and others to practice their religion does not take away from my right to practice my Christianity. 

One of my favorite prayers in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer is the “Prayer for the Whole Human Family.” I leave you with this sign of hope as we continue to “Seek and Serve God in all persons, loving or neighbor as ourselves.” 

“O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne. Amen.”