Are you hopeful?
Advent 2, Year A
When you think about the future, are you hopeful or scared? I rely on the Bible to understand what God will do and I search its pages to figure out what God expects from me. What I’ve found in the Bible makes me hopeful about the future. At times I do get overwhelmed and sometimes I feel anxious about ‘what tomorrow will bring,’ but I remain hopeful. John the Baptist went around asking people to prepare for the future. He warned people to
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near. Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Matthew 3:1 & 3
John’s sermon in Matthew is full of “fire and brimstone.” Matthew 3:1-12 His dire warnings about the future seem designed to attract attention by scaring people. I cannot help but wonder whether John’s diet and clothing choices influenced his preaching. Would John have used Bible texts like today’s first lesson (Isaiah 11:1-10) if his meals included pleasant foods and his clothing was less itchy? John’s dire warnings have come to dominate Christian expectations about the future and our assumptions about the return of Christ. Christian Nationalists, the Southern Baptist Convention, and some evangelical churches use dire warnings like John’s to motivate members to engage in behaviors they define as righteous and to dismiss and even destroy people who do not meet these standards for righteousness. These Christian communities consider Episcopalians, United Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Roman Catholics broods of vipers. To them, we are just like the Pharisees and Sadducees of John’s day. To them, wars (especially those in the middle east), natural disasters, and famines are expected and acceptable because awful occurrences are precursors to the coming of Christ.
The influence of John’s fire and brimstone sermon reaches far beyond our biblically fundamentalist cousins. During the Bible study session this week nearly every person present asked whether we are in the end time. They thought events reported in the news were like the biblical signs of the Christ’s return. I responded to the group with the words we heard Jesus speak in last week’s Gospel.
…about that day and hour, no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Creator of heaven and earth. Matthew 24:36
After that, I asked the Bible study group a question. Are you ready? Now I ask you: bearing fruit worthy of repentance” (Matthew 3:8). Are you ready for the coming of Christ? Have you done what Paul asked of the Christians in Rome? Are you
Putting up with the failings of the weak and not just living to please ourselves. Romans 15:1
Are you …pleasing our neighbor for the good purpose of building up the neighbor. Romans 15:2
Are you …living in harmony with one another… Welcoming one another… just as Christ has welcomed us. Romans 15:5-6
Hyper-focus on doom and gloom texts in the Bible have caused us to overlook other predictions about the future and to ignore our role in bringing about the future described in Holy Scripture. The Scriptures, Paul proclaimed,
written in former days, were written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. Romans 15:4
The Bible is a resource hope.
The prophet Isaiah was hopeful about the future. Isaiah said the Messiah, the root of Jesse, would bring a time when
The wolf shall live with the lamb; the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the lion feed together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder's den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. Isaiah 11:7-9
The Messiah will bring a new heaven and a new earth. Revelation 21:1 According to Isaiah, by the time the Messiah gets here both animal and human nature would have evolved. Wolves, leopards, lions will no longer need to be predators of lambs, kids or calves. Child-like innocence, playfulness, joy, and expectation will be norms for leadership. No child will be left behind. Even the youngest of children, nursing and just weaned, will be able to play safely. The destruction of property and people, cultures and communities will be relegated to annals of history. Isaiah predicts that a future when every one will know God and serve God. Just as the waters cover the sea so too will be the knowledge and love of the Lord. The Bible’s testimony about the future offers hope.
The hope in God’s Word is available to those who make time to read, reflect, and act on its content. What we read in news papers, listen to in pod casts, and watch on news networks is scary. It is designed to capture and hold attention through fear. The theologian Karl Barth advised Christians to pray with the Bible in one hand and the news paper in the other. Karl Barth intended for Christians to be informed by what they read in news papers and empowered to action by what they read in the Bible. Are you using the Scripture to inform your leadership, evolve your person, and encourage you to tell stories about how, when, and where you’ve encountered God? Are you employing God’s Word to prepare yourself, your loved ones, your neighbors, and your community for the coming of Christ? The future holds great promise. The root of Jesse, “the sun of righteousness is coming with healing in its wings.” Malichi 4:3 Please balance your information sources. Make time to read, mark, and inwardly digest God’s Word so that you are able to identify the movement of the Holy Spirit and will recognize the Messiah when the Messiah returns.
Consider the thieves crucified on the crosses to the left and right of Jesus. The one who recognized that Jesus was the Christ, acknowledged his need for forgiveness, and was ready to seek redemption was welcomed into paradise. The other dud, was not ready. His refusal to acknowledge his sin and denial of his need for God, kept him from recognizing that God was with him. God was right next to him. The one whose sandals John was not worthy to carry, the root of Jesse, the Christ wants and needs us to be ready. God is present even when the news on the news is bad. God is always with us, right at our side, even at the last hour of our lives.
1982 Hymnal #632
