Online Sermons
3rd Sunday in Advent: December 14, The Rev. Mark Eccles
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Psalm 126
1 Thess. 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28
The great Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was imprisoned by the Nazis and was himself eventually executed, wrote a letter shortly before Christmas 1943, in which he said: “Life in a prison cell reminds me a great deal of Advent. One waits and hopes and putters around. But in the end, what we do is of little consequence. The door is shut, and it can only be opened from the outside.”
In a sense, a message of our faith and the message of Advent is that the door is indeed shut, and it can only be opened from the outside – and God is doing something about it. Someone outside ourselves needs to help us; we cannot navigate life, be people God intends for us to be through our own intentions and efforts. Advent is a time of waiting, of anticipating, and a time, with God’s help, of coming to see more clearly the one in whom our hope and help lies.
Our Old Testament lesson gives us the picture of God opening a door. Isaiah sees Israel returning from captivity in Babylon back to Jerusalem. God has anointed someone to intervene in her struggles and breathe new life into Israel once again - “To bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners.” Isaiah assures Israel that through the anointed one, God will provide a new day for God’s people.
Perhaps our lives have some parallel to Isaiah’s message. Because of her unfaithfulness Israel found herself broken and in exile. Yet, redemption orchestrated by God came to pass and she could return home again. In the same way you and I can, through our fault, someone else’s fault, or nobody’s fault at all, find ourselves in difficult circumstances. Yet God does not leave us alone to our own devices to face the hard times in life; through Jesus we are ultimately safe and cared for. No sort of captivity can hold us bound – through Jesus, God sends help.
It is God’s intervention of love in Christ that John the Baptist points to in our Gospel lesson. One thing we notice is that John the Baptist doesn’t say much of anything about who he, John, is, but mainly who he is not. I’ve read that John the Baptist likely had a significant following of disciples, but in our lesson he down-plays his own importance. The people of John’s day were looking anxiously for a messiah, for the one sent by God to set things right again, but John refused any such recognition for himself.
John is asked, “Are you the Messiah?” “Are you Elijah?” “Are you the prophet?” John says, “No.” “Well, tell us! Who are you?” I could imagine temptation whispering in his ear about this time – he could have presented himself in a good light and built himself up in the eyes of others. Instead, he simply quotes from Isaiah, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’” (Isaiah 40:3).
And referring to the one who is to come, John says: “I am not even worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.” There was a Rabbinic saying which said that a disciple might do for his master anything that a servant did, except untie his sandals. That was slaves’ work, the most menial of tasks. John saw himself as a servant.
In considering John the Baptist, you and I might learn something from him if we listen closely. In our lesson we heard, “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.” We could easily change the name here: “There was a woman sent from God, whose name was Barbara, or Edie, or Ann.” “There was a man sent from God whose name was Harold, or Dick, or Mike.” Each one of us, by virtue of our baptism, has been sent by God – to various occupations, people, and places.
The Gospel also says, “He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.” So too with you and me - we are sent by God to witness to the light. I know that many Episcopalians and others too do not think of themselves as evangelists; many call evangelism as the “E” word, something we are not comfortable with. But I think we give ourselves a bad rap and not enough credit when we think this way. Every one of us can be a witness to Christ.
Remember, a witness testifies only to what he or she knows. In a court room setting, witnesses simply relate what they have seen, what they experienced first hand. The results or consequences of testimony are not up to the witness; there is not any “success” or “failure” in terms of accomplishing a result. Witnessing to our faith is not a matter of convincing or arm-twisting anyone to come to a particular point of view. It is a matter of sharing with those who may be interested where we find meaning and hope. We testify to our experience, how we’ve sensed God work in our lives.
My job description in the hospital does not include proselytizing, or evangelizing or trying to convert anyone. Professional standards for chaplains prohibit this. What we are called to do is be present with and listen to people. We allow patients and families the space and freedom to share what they might want to share, to cry if they need to cry, to pray or to curse, or so say nothing at all. We are simply present with them in crisis. Chaplains do offer prayer and spiritual care to patients and families, but this is a consequence of being present and open to whatever the needs may be.
In a way, my service as Christian chaplain is no different from being a Christian anything else: a business person, a nurse, a carpenter, a teacher, a plumber, a lawyer, a farmer, or whatever occupation. We all meet persons in crisis and need. We all can choose to be present, to listen and not judge. We each can be someone with whom it is safe for others to share, or pray, or just sit in quiet. If asked, we can testify to what has meaning in our lives and how God has comforted and sustained is in difficult times. In the words from the First Letter of Peter, “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence” (1 Peter 3:15-16). We witness to Jesus by our demeanor and the concern we show for others, and we can point others to the one who stands ready to help.
Earlier I quoted Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s observation that the door is shut and can only be opened from the outside. I think we know what he meant. Yet I wonder if his words, while true, are not complete unless we look at the image of a door from another perspective as well. In Matthew’s Gospel we read: “Ask and it will be given to you; search and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matt.7:7-8). In Advent we look to know God more closely in our lives. The message of the Bible is that God is faithful, but on a personal level the Holy Spirit is a gentle Spirit and will not yank open the door to our hearts and minds if we are holding it shut, if we think we don’t need God and are okay as we are.
In the book of Revelation we read: “Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you and you with me” (Rev. 3:20). Have you seen the familiar painting of Jesus standing at the door knocking? There are several versions of this picture, but the one I remember has no handle on the outside of the door where Jesus is – the handle is on the inside. God gives us freedom to welcome Jesus into the everyday, nuts and bolts of our lives, the freedom to choose the forgiveness, comfort and hope he offers, or not.
There is still a week and a half remaining until we re-live Jesus’ coming among us at Christmas. This Advent, this time of looking for Jesus to come, can be more than just another season of the Church. It is an invitation to allow God to open the door into the kind of life he offers to each one of us. May you and I accept this invitation, and may we reach out to those around us who may be tired of facing closed doors in their lives. God is good. Jesus loves us more than we can imagine. Let the doors be opened. Amen.
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