The path that we are taking to discover Advent, today we look at the word “proclamation” which is exactly what we’ve been hearing through music.  Las Posadas is a proclamation that Mary and Joseph are looking for a place, trying to find shelter, discover the inn and finally are taken in with hospitality.  How they were mentioned in both Spanish and English is that Mary proclaimed that this, through the words of God’s messenger and angel that this is the Son born, as we know, to all of us.  And yet, interestingly enough, as the Scripture is laid out through the Lectionary, today we do not deal with the typical Nativity meaning.  If we focus only Christmas on the birth of the baby, it’s a wonderful thing but it is not enough.  It is not the complete story.  In fact, in a moment you may wonder about the passage that I am going to read to you which is the one assigned for today to get me in preparation for Christmas as Advent is meant to be.  And when I read it, I questioned it also thinking I want to focus more on the birth narrative.  But yet somehow through it, as I read it, prayed about it, and I don’t often say this, but I think God spoke.  Did I hear an audible voice?  No, but I heard God speak through this Scripture and through others that are associated with it.  I hope today, I speak those words accurately and in truth because that’s the purpose of hearing God’s word. Only in your hearing them, though, in your heart will either of us know that it is today the truth that is spoken.   

For you see, the Scripture is from Matthew, Chapter 11.  This is about John, the Baptist.  You remember, John, the Baptist had baptized Jesus.  But now John, the Baptist is in a terrible situation.  He continued to speak against the sin of King Herod and King Herod finally said, “That’s enough.  Have him arrested.”  He’s now in jail and as is the common practice, John, the Baptist had disciples.  And these disciples had been with and tried to care for John as he’s in jail, (which by the way if you don’t know the rest of the story, he probably senses this will not end in a pretty way.  John, the Baptist will be beheaded).  But he sends his disciples to ask a question of Jesus and that’s where we pick up in Verse 2 of Matthew 11: 

            When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, He sent his disciples to ask Him, ‘Are you the one who was to come or should we expect someone else?’  Jesus replied to these disciples, ‘Go back and report to John what you see and hear—the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the Good News is preached to the poor.  Blesses is the one who does not fall away on account of me.’   

            Now, that’s the declaration that Jesus says, “Do you want to know whether I am the one?  Look and see the results of what I have done.”  And clearly we could ask the question, “Well, who are the blind?  Who are the lame, the lepers, the deaf, even the dead?  And just who are the poor?”  In Jesus’ context in that day and today, are these literally those who are physically healed from blindness, from deafness, from lameness, from skin diseases like leprosy?   Did Jesus heal the poor?  Well, all of these are possible.  God has the power, Jesus as God’s Son had and showed that He had the power.  But interestingly enough, He did not heal everyone.  And it is still true today.  Some people are healed from some of these forms of physical difficulties.  On occasion, God today will heal someone.  Miraculously it seems, many times through medicines.  But it does, this is temporary, for you see, God, unless he changes the rules, says we are all going to face a physical death.   

`           When it says that He raised them from the dead and He preached to the poor, we begin to get the hint.  Yes, Jesus did raise Lazarus from the dead and others.  But what we need to know now is that the basis of Christmas is not just this little child, but it is the greater opportunity for healing through Jesus, the Christ, that takes place.  It is an inward, spiritual healing.  It’s when our soul is healed.  It’s healed so that it will last for eternity.  The spirit, when made whole, is a gift forever.  A life saved by grace is salvation forever.   

            You see, Christmas is not only the simplicity of the baby Jesus born in a stable.  Christmas is not only the faith of Mary and Joseph seeking to travel all that Jesus, yes, to follow the rules of the government, but still in faith to trust that God will protect this baby.  And the shepherds and the magi, even though we display them on stage or out in front of our yards in some pastoral tableau, Christmas is not only the yesterday of sentimental memories longed for yet never to be relived.  It’s not just all of that by itself.  The basis and the foundation of Christmas is a proclamation which God makes sure we hear more than once.  You know what a proclamation is—it’s a public statement.  It’s not something that you keep in hiding or in secret.  It’s an announcement that is made for all to hear.  It’s a declaration. It’s a decree, not from Caesar Augustus but from God.  A decree from God, a proclamation that states this very simply—this baby, this Jesus, this human among us is Emmanuel, God with us.  The great God almighty, creator of all that there is, for 33 years comes and walks among us, is one of us.  Sure it’s hard to believe. You bet it is.  Otherwise the world would be much more open and receptive.  Do we sometimes doubt like John, the Baptist?  Yes, we do.  Is this a mystery that is hard to explain in human terms?  Without question!   Do we need to rely on faith?  Well, folks, there is no other way because you can’t prove it, not in scientific ways.  It is faith that we must clasp to. 

            But yet, like John, the Baptist, we even go to baptize Jesus and saw a dove descend and heard God’s word speak.  Even John, the Baptist, maybe because of the pressure being in jail and facing his own death, even John, the Baptist had questions.  He quavered in his faith.  He asked the question, “Are you the one to come or should we go and seek somebody else?”  A powerful word to which Jesus gave his response.  At times we may be no different than John, the Baptist.  It would be much easier for us if we could see with our own eyes Jesus here today, if we could know with our minds that there is fact to support faith.  Wouldn’t that be easier?  If we could feel with our souls the pure stream of God’s love flowing in and through us, the refreshing wind of God’s Spirit bringing new life.  If it was something that we could tangibly touch and feel all the time, it would be so much easier.  If we could grasp new hope that comes like water to a dry, thirsty soul. 

            That’s why Isaiah, in Chapter 35, a link chapter for today flows very beautifully from the understanding of what God is speaking to the prophet when he says, “The desert in the parched land will be glad, the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.  Like crocus, it will burst into bloom.  It will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.  And the glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.  They will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.  Strengthen our feeble hands; steady the knees that give away.  Say to those who are fearful of heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear, your God will come.  He will come with vengeance, with divine retribution.  He will come to save you.’  Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf stop.  (Have you heard that before? ) Then will the lame leap like a deer and the mute tongue shout for joy.  Water will gush forth through the wilderness and streams in the desert.  The burning sand will become a pool; the thirsty ground bubbling springs.  In haunts where jackals once laid, grass, reeds and papyrus will grow.  And a highway will be there.  It will be called “The Way of Holiness”.  The unclean will not journey on it.  It will be for those who walk in that way; wicked fools will not go about on it.   

            What a blessed view this is that Isaiah has given to us.  An image of hope for all the world, to desperate people in that time.  But why hasn’t that happened in full array since then?  Why hasn’t it ever fully come about?  Maybe simply because there are plenty of unclean who can not journey upon it.  There are more than a few wicked fools who will not go about on that highway.  We can look around and wonder why so many are still wandering in the desert.  It is because even here in a church, any gathering of Christians, there will be the unclean and the wicked fools.  In truth most of us have or are giving in to unclean thoughts in our minds, the wickedness of our hearts.  The old joke for pastors is, “Well, you have a direct connection.  You can stop this snow.”  And I could say, “Well, yes, all right I’ll take credit for it.  We were supposed to get 6 to 10 inches and we didn’t so we could have church this morning.”   

But the psalmist says that the snow, the rain, falls on the just and the unjust.  The issue is for us to know which is which but we all get wet eventually.  You see, we’re in this together.  And what bothers me is that as a country and as a church we have so much to give God praise for but yet we tend to want to earn the acclimation of others.  How successful are we, as Grace Church?  Why won’t the rest of the community like us?  Or as a country, why won’t the rest of the world like us?  We’re just good folk here, we’re just getting along.  There’s nobody too wicked, there’s nobody that’s too sinful.  We enjoy the bounty that we have so richly received and we kind of get used to it so we believe we richly deserve it.  Yet God pulls back the clothing of our haughtiness, our arrogance, our overblown sense of importance and exposes the nakedness and baroness of our lives when we hear these words today. 

The writer of James, in Chapter 5, strongly decrees that we get ahead of God but we should keep in God’s timing instead.  And for the purpose of our lives, this culture and the country and this church, his words in Chapter 5, Verse 7 say, “Be patient then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming.  See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains.  You too be patient, stand firm because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against each other brothers for you will be judged, for the judge is standing at the door.” 

 Even in the sacred community of the church we forget that we are all broken and in need of God’s grace.  God is ready to remind us through this Scripture for today.  We are all too quick to be the police, the judge, and jury to condemn and sentence others when it is we, each of us, for whom the judge waits outside the door.  Instead we proclaim to the community, “Come and look and see what we have done.  We are good people.  We want other good people like you to be here.  No other need apply.”  Is that the way we say it to the world?  Or do we take up B.T. Niles understanding when he says, “We are merely beggars telling other beggars where to find the bread of life.”  If we see ourselves that way, then this Scripture can speak to us today.  If we see ourselves as not needing this Scripture, well we shut that off. Not one of us, not me, not you, not any one of us can claim any of this righteousness on our own goodness. God will frustrate our sinfulness and our wickedness.  Let us proclaim this Christmas, but first in our own hearts, when our own lips and lives will do what the psalmist declares in Psalm 146, “Blessed is the one whose help is in the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord, His God, the maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them.  The Lord who remains faithful forever, he upholds the cause of the oppressed, gives food to the hungry.  The Lord sets prisoners free.  The Lord gives sight to the blind (There it is again).  The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down.  The Lord loves the righteous.  The Lord watches over the alien or the stranger and sustains the fatherless and the widows.  But he frustrates the way for the wicked.  The Lord reigns forever, Your God, O Zion, for all generations.  Praise the Lord!”   

I hope it becomes clear to you, as it has for me, why God is repeating so often that the Lord comes to show the signs of healing those who are lame, blind, death.  That the Psalms, the profit, Isaiah, and Jesus’ own words, why these words are the words at the center of the Christian message, not just a baby born, even cute as a baby, but born for the purpose of declaring these words—that we are all broken, but the one who comes brings healing.  Physical on the outside, for a moment, maybe; but much more important, spiritual healing. It’s because these words of God are very important to God and He wants us to know them, to hear them, and to take them in so they become a public statement in our own hearts, an announcement that we can share with others, a declaration that we can make in our faith, a decree that we stand firmly with as a church, as a congregation.  We are to, each one of us; proclaim this on our pathway of the Advent as we discover this step. For God is here for you and for me. God is here as Emmanuel.  The disconnect is that we keep proclaiming it only on the outside and forget that what we are to be is inwardly living it.  

May this Advent be a time when we can live as we mean it.  Live the way God calls us to.  So that when, as John, the Baptist has his wavering of faith, and when we might have our faith shaken, we can reclaim it again and say, “This is the One who comes to save all of creation.”  Yes, so powerful to heal the blind and the deaf and the lame, but who are the poor?  The poor of spirit is what the Beatitudes says when Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor of Spirit for they shall see the Kingdom of God.”  May that be the best Christmas gift you can ever receive--to see not just the baby in the manger but the very living Kingdom of God.  And may we be a part of that.  In the name of Christ our Lord, Amen.

E-mail Comments to: Pastor Bob Coleman

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