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12/11/22 – Waiting For Joy Is Hard To Do.

WAITING FOR JOY IS HARD TO DO

December 11, 2022
3rd Sunday of Advent
Isa. 35:1-10; Lk. 1: 46b-55: Jas. 5:7-10; Matt.11:2-11
Rev. Denise Clark-Jones

 

After moving to the Midwest, I learned more about the patience of Chicago Cubs fans. I had heard jokes about the optimism and the heartbreak of Cubs fans my whole life. But living among Cubs fans brought me to a whole new level of understanding of their enduring loyalty. For the oldest of fans, it was 71 years of waiting before the eruption of joy they experienced at the end of the 2016 World Series final game. The next World Series win hasn’t happened yet, but the loyal Cubs fans live in hope for that third title.

We are more than halfway through the season of Advent. The anticipation of Christmas is growing; but for some, the time is stressful trying to make the holiday joyous for others. For those grieving the loss of loved ones who are no longer here, the anticipation feels more like dread. Today is the third Sunday of Advent, which has traditionally been known as Gaudete Sunday, “Gaudete” being the Latin word for joy. We are anticipating a joyful event, Christ’s birth, the Incarnation of God’s Word to us, and a Savior entering the world. The problem with anticipation is that it is paired with patience, which is something most of us struggle to have. In fact, being patient sometimes feels like suffering. And having patience during times of suffering is barely humanly possible.

This situation pops up in most of the New Testament Epistles. It was centuries before the promised Messiah arrived; but as soon as the Resurrected Christ left to “sit at the right hand of the Father,” his followers became impatient for his Second Coming. Isn’t that the story of our lives, we wait for something we want to happen, and then, when it happens, we begin waiting for the next thing we want to happen.

In our Old Testament reading from Isaiah, the prophet presents a beautiful vision of a promised future. The Lord will restore Israel after the Assyrian occupation has ended and the new Israel will be wonderful.  “Waters shall break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.” (v.7) Israel’s most bountiful lands, taken from them, will be returned. This means they can have abundant harvests, providing them with plenty to eat and drink. Furthermore, the people themselves will be well: “the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.” (v.5-6)

The problem was none of that was their present reality. They could not make this happen now, because they had to “wait for the Lord.” That is a phrase found frequently in the Old Testament, particularly the Psalms: “Wait for the Lord.” Meanwhile, there was suffering, making it hard to have patience and wait. Isaiah told the people: “Say to those who are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, do not fear!” (v.4) This means to trust in God, do not despair and do not be tempted to trust another to save you. And did you notice the other catch: Isaiah instructed: “Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees.” (v.3) That sounds to me like they were expected to do some tangible and labor-intensive work too. Before there is “everlasting joy,” there would be enduring, waiting, and …working.

The author of the book of James wrote to Christian congregations, who were suffering from Roman persecution and conflicts among themselves. Like Isaiah, James offers a picture of what a life living in the hope of God’s kingdom looks like. If we go back to chapter 4 in James, we read more specific instructions, particularly in terms of how we are to treat our neighbors: “Do not speak evil against one another, brothers and sisters. Whoever speaks evil against another or judges another speaks evil against the law and judges the law …(v.11)  who are you to judge your neighbor?” (v.12) In other words: hating the same people may solidify a small group, but it divides and destroys the whole community. Caring for all people heals our own brokenness as well as the larger family of God. James encourages patience to the Christians who expected Christ’s second coming soon and had become impatient waiting, made worse by suffering persecution from outside the faith community and conflict within.

James goes on to condemn making wealth and personal privilege the center of one’s life and the primary object of one’s hope and joy. The hope of which James speaks is not hope as the world gives. It is not a hope that competes against one’s neighbor’s well-being or fuels enmity in any way. It is a hope grounded in justice for the less fortunate and less privileged and loving one’s neighbor as oneself. Quite simply, James tells us our joy is contingent on the joy of the whole community.

In our gospel text, John the Baptist is sitting in prison wondering if he had fooled himself that God had sent him to “prepare the way of the Lord.” John had been elated that God would be sending a Savior that would right all the wrongs that he, John, had been complaining about. Last week we read that John had the passion of a newly commissioned soldier, armed with the truth, justice, and the Almighty’s way. John was ready to do battle with the sins of the world. John was going to “drain the swamp” of all the corrupt government officials and religious leaders. Justice would prevail with a new king in town. John carried that glorious vision of Isaiah that a new king would bring his people, and all of creation, back to God.

John had been faithful to God. He answered his call to be the Lord’s messenger with ‘strong hands, firm knees, and a fearless heart.’(Isa.35:3) But now, sitting in prison, awaiting his execution by beheading, he began to have some second thoughts. Maybe he shouldn’t have confronted King Herod. Look where speaking truth to power had gotten him. If he had remained silent, he would have missed his opportunity to bring an unethical leader to repentance, to bring justice to his people, and to answer God’s unique call to him. But he would be free to go back into the wilderness, and his isolated and protected world would remain the same. Now, King Herod and his vengeful wife would continue to live the high life, while John, the righteous man, was living his last days on death row? This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. Had James been the one visiting John the Baptist in his prison cell, he might have encouraged him, as he did the congregations to whom he wrote: “Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.” ‘You did what God called you to do, John.

We all have known times in which we looked at our lives and lamented: “this is not who or where I had hoped to be.” And do we not shake our heads in wonder that such terrible things are happening in our world, so much evil trampling the good? Haven’t we all experienced at least a moment of doubt in which we questioned all the major choices we have made in life and wondered if we have made the wrong ones?

 

We might ask ourselves if we are following the One God sent to us or is there a better way? If a man with the strength of faith and conviction of principles as John the Baptist could waver, what hope is there for us? If numbers are the judgement of success, what do we make of there being more Presbyterians in South Korea than in the U.S.? More Muslims in the country than Episcopalians? Should we look for another “One?” What if Westminster had rebuilt the church in the suburbs, where there are more people just like us? Would we be a bigger church? In a society that judges the value of a church by the size of the congregation and the amount of money in its coffers, would we be happier if we left to join another faith community? Or, perhaps we would we find more joy in sitting at home, relaxing on a Sunday morning than being in church with fellow Christians.

Following the daily news, it is easy for us to become mired in the world’s suffering and the mud pit of division and anger in our society. It is easy to become cynical or apathetic. It is easy to retreat into our own private lives where we try to create our own joy, which never lasts because it isn’t shared.

In his anguish, John the Baptist sends his disciples to ask Jesus: ‘Have I been spreading fake news? Are you really the One or should I have been looking for another Savior?’ Jesus doesn’t give him a doctrinal creed upon which to swear allegiance, he just tells John’s messengers, and the crowd listening in, to look around with eyes and ears open to the evidence at hand: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” We hear the echoes of Isaiah’s prophecy of the King that would redeem Israel and Mary’s song about the child God placed in her womb.

You’ll notice that these signs to which Jesus points the disciples are not in heaven but on earth. Jesus tells them, and us, that these things that God has promised are already happening – the blind are seeing, the lame are walking, and the lepers are being cleansed. You’ll also notice that all these signs have to do with the well-being of one another. This is the hope and the joy in which we are called to participate. If James, the epistle writer were one of those disciples reporting back to John the Baptist he might use his words: “Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord.”  ‘Meanwhile, carry on working for God’s kingdom.

The crowd listening to Jesus were looking for something the world, particularly the political empire of Rome could not give them. God had planted in their hearts the desire to be part of God’s big plan for the world’s redemption. Jesus told them that while they were ‘waiting for the Lord,’ they had the opportunity to experience their own redemption if they looked at God’s inbreaking into the world every day and participated in the work of healing this broken world.

Now Mary is someone who really had reason to doubt! She was a young teenager, near the end of her engagement period to Joseph and she was going to give birth to God’s Son? Naturally, she asks: “How can this be?” All she needed was the assurance: “Nothing will be impossible with God.” Then with words echoing Hannah’s Song in 1 Samuel, Isaiah’s poetic vision in chapter 35, and Psalm 146, Mary breaks into a joyous song praising God.

Notice the verb tenses in her song we heard earlier. Her praises for God are not in the future tense. “He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham, and to his descendants forever.” (Lk.1: 51-55) The verbs are in the Greek tense which indicates an action that has been done and is continuing in the present. As Jesus instructed John’s messengers and the crowd, look around you and see the signs of God already at work ushering in the Kingdom, Mary’s joy comes from what God already has done for her and the world and what she trusts God will continue to do.

Patience in suffering happens when we go out into the world with values in conflict with God’s kingdom values. This patience is experienced and encouraged by the Christian community that protects and cares for one another. “Doing good” for the neighbor within a faith community strengthens the believer to go out into the world and do good for neighbors outside the congregation. James tells us not to be in such a hurry, just keep seeking the kingdom of God first, take care of one another and God will fulfill the promises in God’s own time.

With patience and hope the signs of the kingdom’s in-breaking into the world, and into our lives, will be more easily perceived.  There is a joy to be found. With the Holy Spirit guiding our way, our once-blind eyes will see. Our feeble knees will be made firm and will walk confidently with Christ out into the world. Our faint hearts will grow strong in compassion for our neighbors.

The hope and joy Isaiah encouraged in the exiled children of Israel, Mary glorified in her song, Jesus encouraged in John the Baptist and to which James pointed, requires patience grounded in faith. It is not idle patience but one that works in between the time of promise and fulfillment. This kind of patience requires actively working toward a goal that one may not yet recognize or see the benefits for oneself.

So, look for joy, bring it to others, and may our hearts and minds be strengthened by the love of Christ, the wisdom of the scriptures, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Amen. May it be so!

 

 

 

© Rev. Denise Clark-Jones, 2022, All Rights Reserved
Westminster Presbyterian Church | 1420 W. Moss Ave. | Peoria, Illinois 61606
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