Sermons from the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer

I want to be clear, I don't actually have a problem with New

Year's resolutions. I think they're great if they work for you and if they

don't, that's also fine. Some of us, we're going to actually try to do things

to make ourselves better and some of us are just going to be like, yeah, that's

just not going to happen. I just want to say that this text is for you, because

the presence of God that John the Baptist is proclaiming, is not actually about

you, it's about God. It's not about you making it happen. At first, it sounds

like that because he says prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight.

And you're like, ah, good, I needed some duties. Thank you for giving me some

clear concrete steps that I'll avoid. But then we start to think if I don't

make the world exactly what it's supposed to be, God's not going to show up.

We begin to think that it's on us to improve ourselves and improve this world

or else this won't be the kind of world that Jesus wants any part of.

Like, somehow, we have to make ourselves our hearts, our

souls, our lives, our communities, perfect or else God will not love us. But we

know the story of Jesus, right? Like when he shows up, does he show up and go,

oh man, you guys have been preparing such a great way for me, thank you so

much. And everyone's like, see the road we made it straight for you. Is

that what happens or does Jesus show up into an absolute bloody mess? Jesus

shows up into deeply complicated lives and impossible situations, into the

uncertainty of occupied Israel in a place where everything is falling apart.

That's where Jesus shows up. And the prophets tell us this, both John the

Baptist, and Isaiah, whom he quotes. Every valley shall be filled in every

mountain and hill shall be made low; we heard it in our reading from Baruch

as well today. And guess who does the leveling out? Guess who makes things just

in this world. You? No, God. Guess who is at work to make love apparent, manifest,

obvious, clear in this world, God.

Why wait? I mean really, why wait? I saw a six-foot-tall

statue of Santa Claus, all decked out in crushed red velvet and a bell encrusted

cap before Halloween. We don't want to wait. Waiting

makes us uncomfortable. And I don't know why, but for some reason, right around

this time of year, we all revert to our toddler brain where we've got to have

it right now. Not in two minutes right now. I mean, why would I wait for my

groceries to be delivered in more than two hours when Amazon can do that for me?

Waiting has always been uncomfortable for people and waiting in an age of

instant gratification, well, that is almost unbearable.

Our reading for today asks us to lean into that discomfort.

To embrace the Advent of the present age to sit in the discomfort and chaos and

mess and see that the thing we are waiting for is already here. The Gospel

lesson that we hear this morning positions us perfectly in a place of waiting

that we don't want to be in. We don't want to be there in the fear and

confusion and distress. The end of the world as we know it? The sea is roaring,

the heavens are shaking, and I don't know about you, but the whole thing is so

overwhelming. I'd rather just be unconscious for the whole ordeal. Apocalypse? No

thanks. Armageddon? Come again? No, I'll take that little, tiny baby wrapped up

like a burrito with all those little animals around and angels singing Silent Night.

While stars glimmer in the sky shooting to and fro, Is Jesus here yet? Is it

Christmas? Can we get it on the road?

"If we are serious about following Jesus, we will become

radicalized too. Dr. King spoke about this a lot, being a radical for love, a

love warrior and this is essential. It's

so dangerous to say our place is in heaven. Our citizenship is in heaven and

our primary belonging is to God because Jesus is our Lord, not Caesar or Trump

or Biden, but Jesus, the danger in that is that we have the capacity then to say,

so really, I don't need to be involved with what happens here in this world.

Politics doesn't matter. I love when people tell me that Christianity has

nothing to do with politics, Jesus, they're telling me, has no opinion or place

in what is happening in the world today.

Do you believe that? Do you believe that Jesus has no place

in how we live our lives in real time? Is Jesus just the abstract? The nice, pleasant

chap that we pray to so that we can go to the right place when we die? Or is

Jesus alive and living and working in this world for healing and reconciliation?

Is Jesus inviting you and me as Christians to participate in the healing, in

the reconciliation of this world? Jesus says this isn't my kingdom but then he

doesn't just disappear and escape death. Right? This isn't my kingdom, good

point, Pilate, I'm out, right? Pilate's the one who washes his hands, not Jesus.

Jesus recognizes the disconnect between our world and the kingdom of God, and

then stays, stays engaged, stays connected, dies even for us."

Now Messiah means as we, many of us know the anointed one in

great, the Christ or king, I guess I prefer sovereign if you will. So, they

have an interesting conversation. Pilate asked Jesus, are you the king of the

Jews and Jesus so artfully deflects; my kingdom is not from this world. Then Pilate

jumps on that asking, so you are a king? Now everyone is listening very intently. The

reason for the somber reading today is because of what Jesus says next. He kind

of like comes out. He declares publicly to the entire world what he previously

only shared with his disciples. Jesus says, you say that I am king for this, I

was born for this. I came into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone who

belongs to the truth, listens to my voice. Well, Pilate continues to be a great

straight man. He asks Jesus that classic question, which is one of my favorites

in the Bible. What is truth? It's not in today's reading because I think the

folks that developed the lectionary wanted Jesus to have the last word, but he

just stands there.

Jesus just stands there. So, Jesus, how can we listen to

your voice. If you stand there in stark silence and say nothing? Jesus's

getting the last word by saying absolutely nothing. Saying nothing sometimes

says the most. Emily Dickinson said that.

Jesus just stands there. Can you get your head around that?

In silence, God, in silence waits. And that is because Jesus, The person; Jesus, is the Word, is the Truth.

"The gospel is very apocalyptic today...It's talking about

destruction. It's talking about signs of the end times... thinking of those

topics immediately took me back to one of a very clear memory of when I was in

second grade, and there had been a widespread prediction that the world was

coming to an end... I felt very scared and very alone. And I'd lie awake with my heart

pounding, wanting to see; would tomorrow come? Well, obviously tomorrow did

come, but I think that was my first taste of some of the predictions that we

encounter over and over in our culture.

There are voices that will say, okay, this is a sign of the

end times. This is a sign that we have been waiting for. This is a sign of destruction.

And as Christians, we have a different view of that. We have a view of God's

kingdom. We have a view of the promise that may accompany this, but still, we

see these words of destruction and it's very, very sobering... Through

Jesus we understand God's kingdom as not some distant vision, but something our

divine creator continues to bring forth in our lives, even now. Even in the

darkest moments, something is waiting to come forth, bringing new life."

This is one of those scenarios where, when I read the words

of the people who are skeptical, I like to distance myself from them and

pretend that they're the ones that are faithless, not me. I know what Jesus

will do. Not me. I know the power of God. And yet, when those who are skeptical

look at each other and say, this guy healed the blind, why couldn't he have

helped Lazarus? There is something so true in their skepticism. And this is not

new either for the church in the very first century of the Christian Church,

the first communities of people who call themselves Christian, who followed

Jesus. One of their primary concerns was, hey, wait a minute you said, if we

believed in this guy, we would have eternal life and people keep dying. What's

the deal? And it's a fair question...

Jesus doesn't explain why it happens, instead what Jesus

does is cry too. In the story today, when the people are deeply

troubled in their spirits when they grieve, Jesus grieves. And when the

people cry, Jesus cries; weeps. I was so confused about that when I was growing

up, I thought he knows what's going to happen next, why is he crying? Now I get

it. He's crying because it's sad when people die. He's crying because when our

friends and those we love suffer, we suffer too, and that's not wrong.

Allow me to shed some light on a spooky Halloween phrase

that has been deeply misunderstood. You all have heard the term Hocus Pocus,

right? Hocus Pocus. The phrase is most commonly associated with magic

and witches and bubbling cauldrons filled with mysterious liquids, right? Did

you know that this phrase Hocus Pocus is actually just a misunderstood

pronunciation of our Eucharistic prayer?

Allow me to explain. Hundreds of years ago and still in some

places today, when the mass of our liturgy was set exclusively in Latin, the

priest would go to the prayer and say, hoc est corpus meum, meaning this

is my body hoc est corpus meum. And the wonder and unexplainable nature

of transubstantiation, of turning bread and wine into the body and blood of

Christ. It led so many people to associate this prayer with something magical

happening. And then the people who didn't experience it, but had heard about it

said, oh, that's those words they say, when they do that magic. Hocus Pocus.

After all something magical and transcendent was happening in that moment,

something they did not fully understand, something we don't fully understand.

And years later, as it goes, it came to be associated with a

phrase that reminds us of witches and dark magic. And misunderstanding gave way

to fear of the unknown. But we who know the true meaning of this phrase, we

know that its meaning and its intention is actually an act of love, not

something to be feared, but something to be exalted and it might seem a little

strange to be talking about fear on a day when the gospel reading is all about

love, but actually I find it the most appropriate time to talk about fear

because fear is actually the opposite of love. Most people think it's hate, but

hate is just a symptom of fear.

"We worship self-reliance. We adore the idea of a

person who doesn't need anything. And we, in our own lives strive to be people

who don't need anything from others. Despite the fact that this is a complete

impossibility. We are built for one another. We are created as people in

relationship. And while we may have fleeting moments of independence and self-reliance, even those are, but shadows

that mask the true reality of our total and utter inter-dependence. That we

belong to one another, and that we need one another for life. We need one another

so that we can live in a way that actually means anything at all.

Bartimaeus is an obvious case. They've set it up perfectly.

He's blind and in his society, in his time, this means that he really can't

contribute to the workforce. Which makes him useless, according to probably us,

if we're being honest. And so, he just sits there, not being able to see, not

being able to do for himself and begging for food, for help, for whatever comes

his way. And I think it's important for us to stop right there and acknowledge

in our hearts, whether we want to admit it or not, how shameful we find people

who need and how deeply we desire, never to need, like that.

Bartimaeus doesn't feel shame. Bartimaeus is not embarrassed

about the fact that he needs. It's one of the things he understands deeply in

his heart; that he needs help. And so, he shouts out help me when he hears that this

Jesus who heals people is nearby. He knows he needs healing. He shouts out

Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! And the people around him, instead of

saying, yeah, someone should help Bartimaeus, that's a great idea. They go, shhh,

don't embarrass yourself, and us."

So what do we ask of Jesus, and what does Jesus ask of us? Our gospel from Mark begins with James and John, the sons of Zebedee coming forward to Jesus and saying to him teacher, we want you to do for us, whatever we ask of you. It's kind of hard to get past that opening gambit. ..We might find ourselves in such a scenario as James and John are setting up with Jesus, but likely not too often, we learn, because the very framing of the statement to agree to whatever is asked before, knowing what is a sure sign that it may not be something we would readily agree to. And in all honesty, we may not just be on the receiving end of that. We may have done that to some other folks along the way, either in our youth or our adulthood, or even yesterday. We may pose that same question to people because we are very human and we can be pretty wily at times and Jesus is clearly wise to this. He responds with neither a yes nor a no, but simply asks James and John, the question, "What is it you want me to do for you?" James and John respond immediately, "Grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory." What are these two disciples thinking?.. Have they lost sight of their ministry? James and John have witnessed so many miracles of Jesus, Jesus healing, the incurable, the feeding of thousands. Jesus walking on water. James and John were present with Peter at the transfiguration and witnessed Jesus in dazzling white with Elijah and Moses and heard the voice from the cloud.

Every time Jesus says follow me, he is not saying, "Hey, let's you and me go for a one on one walk, so that I can teach you how you can go to heaven." Every time Jesus says follow me, he is inviting people into a community that is already begun and is growing and is drawing from the Holy Spirit to be filled with the love of God and participate with Jesus in the healing of the world. Follow me is not an individual command, but an invitation into a life shared not only with God but with one another. Follow me is a thing that Jesus says so that we will recognize that if we go with Jesus, we will be drawn outside of ourselves, outside of our own fears, outside of our own false security and into real life, love and relationship with the God made us.