Download Impossible Possibilities

Impossible Possibilities
Rev. Robert M. Watkins, November 29, 2015
I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near—
a star shall come out of Jacob,
and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel…
Numbers 24:17a,b
But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into
contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make
glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
on them light has shined.
You have multiplied the nation,
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as people exult when dividing plunder.
For the yoke of their burden,
and the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
For all the boots of the tramping warriors
and all the garments rolled in blood
shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
and he is named
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His authority shall grow continually,
and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time onwards and for evermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Isaiah 9:1-7
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Once when he was serving as priest before God and his section was on duty, he was chosen by
lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and offer
incense. Now at the time of the incense-offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying
outside. Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar
of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified; and fear overwhelmed him. But the angel
said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth
will bear you a son, and you will name him John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will
rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or
strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the
people of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him,
to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous,
to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.’ Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How will I know
that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.’ The angel replied, ‘I am
Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you
this good news. But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their
time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.’
Luke 1:8-20
What does Advent mean?
EXPECTANCY
I see him, but not yet; I behold him, but not here…
With these words, Balaam, a wandering holy man employed by a warlord to curse another troop
of wanderers roving dangerously close to his territory, fails in his task. Balaam can no more
curse Moses and the Israelites than he can fly. He is aware and awakening only to the presence
of God, a presence that hovers and surrounds the misfits dragging across the desert waste.
For some of us, that is an apt analogy for this whole Christmas season—we know something is
afoot—there is a change in the air—but we cannot really name it for what it is, even as it repeats
year after year.
That is intentional on God’s part. God knows how readily and how easily we claim to know all
about Jesus, the center of this season. The more religious we are, the more we assume we know
all there is to know. We have heard these stories a thousand times. We have seen the pageant for
decades on end. My goodness, we can turn the sound off and fill in the dialog for every blinking
Christmas movie on TV! We know the story! But God knows we don’t. If we did, then the spirit
of Christmas would never need be renewed. If we did, no one could ever say that it is right to
turn away refugees from the wealthiest nation on earth. If we did, there would be no more
grieving parents, mourning the death of a child at the hand of the authorities. God knows all that
about us. So, God springs Advent upon us each year, reminding us how little we actually know
about this mystery—God becoming human and living among us.
What we need is the expectancy of Balaam. We need to go ahead and admit we see, but dimly;
we hear, but faintly; and we know, but only a little. There are still surprises coming. There are
still things waiting to be unwrapped. There are still unexpected guests to come to the table.
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And we need to accept this truth openly and gladly.
SEEING
To meet the mystery of Christmas gladly with real and actual joy, we need to learn to see. That
may well mean learning where to look.
Isaiah would recognize our world, finding in it a strong sense of deja vu. His time and place was
also filled with tumult and angst. War bloomed and burned along Judah’s northern border as the
Assyrians laid waste to Israel. King Hezekiah read the morning news with fearful trepidation.
One more piece of bad news might well have undone him. Isaiah enters the royal presence with a
smile. Hezekiah, he says, you see only part of what is happening. Look more deeply…God is
here! The king, though, cannot see anything but the grim predictions and reports. He is blind to
all else. So, Isaiah tells him what to look for, A young woman will bear a son…he will be our
Savior. You can almost hear the doubt in Hezekiah’s silent frown.
What do we see as we get our morning news? It’s been an act of courage to read the paper or flip
on our favorite morning news hour. Who got blown up today? Where is the latest demonstration
happening? What idiocy did the candidate-du jour offer? Isaiah tells us exactly the same thing he
told Hezekiah—A young woman will bear a son…he will be our Savior. What young woman?
What son? Where? Right here, as always, right in front of us. Right there in the middle of the
dusty Nativity freshly drawn from its box. That woman. That son. That Savior.
And then we have to see that this scene is alive and well in the world—our world. The news is
the news, but the good news—the Gospel—is beneath, behind, and betwixt the news in TV and
in the paper. The Gospel assures us that Christ is born anew and afresh, always and forever,
wherever there is love. Where there is love, there is God; where there is God, there is hope;
where there is hope, light dispels the darkness forever and ever, amen.
RESURRECTION
Our word for that is resurrection.
Resurrection is the assurance and the certainty of new life, no matter how much death be present.
A hopeless cause sparks with possibility. A lost life breathes a new inhalation. A missed
opportunity opens into a second chance. A grave cannot hold its resident, even if that resident is
as ephemeral as a broken promise or shattered dream.
Zechariah was a priest. Daily he went before God with the offerings, sacrifices, and prayers of
his congregation in the Temple. One day, God actually showed up. Well, actually, it was Gabriel,
our well-known angelic friend. He comes with an astounding promise. Dried up and fertilely
dead Zechariah and Elizabeth will welcome a son. Can’t be, muses Zechariah. Oh, but it can,
retorts the angel. And because you doubt, you can just shut up until you’re holding that baby boy
in your arms! Priest of God, indeed… And the angel huffs off.
We are the people of resurrection. That’s what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Yet, like
Zechariah, we have hard time actually believing it. It seems too good to be true. It is a nice
thought, but one we won’t put too much stake in.
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So, maybe we should just shut up until we trust God to be God!
I do not mean to be flip or obnoxious, just asking us to seek to hold onto what we believe and put
it into practice. Our world is covered in darkness. Too many voices are more than willing to play
to the darkness. Too many voices seek to make us terrified, hopeless, and desperate, ready to do
all sorts of unthinkable nonsense, empowering them to take our lives from us. We are people of
light. We are people of life. A child is born anew to us. A son is given again to us. Claim that for
what it means—there is life; that life is the light of the world; that light shines in the darkness
and the darkness cannot overcome it!
That’s what this Advent season is all about.
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