DIVINE PRESTIGE: LOOKING FOR GOD’S PRESENCE & PURPOSE

Isaiah 35:1-10; Matthew 11:2-11

3RD Sunday of Advent, December 11, 2022

The Rev. Dr. Ritva H. Williams

I begin this morning with these images of exile: the woman glancing back over her shoulder as she heads into an unknown future; the Holy Family fleeing their homeland to escape King Herod’s murderous rage; a crowd banishing from their community the person in orange; and a person who experiences life as being exiled, excluded, isolated and alone. 

This morning’s scripture readings address the question of exile from two different directions. 

Isaiah’s message was historically directed at Israelite exiles in Babylon, forcibly removed from their homes as prisoners of war, and resettled in a foreign land. Cyrus of Persia has brought down the Babylonian Empire and announced that the exiles can return to their homelands. Isaiah is encouraging them to do so, promising that God will ensure the road home will be paved with abundance and safety. 

At the end of 2021, the total number of people worldwide who were forced to flee their homes due to conflict, violence, persecution, and human rights violations was 89.3 million. We know about that. For 75 years St Stephen’s has welcomed and supported refugees from Germany, Eritrea, Haiti, Congo, and more recently Afghanistan. While the majority of us are not exiles in the same way these people are, we very well may be exiles within our homeland, community, workplace, school or family. How often do we find ourselves excluded due to things we cannot control: race, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, size, age, physical disabilities, mental health issues, poverty, and all too often the biased and prejudiced perceptions and and judgments of others? We know that feelings of exclusion and isolation increase this time of year. 

Isaiah shares God’s dream for all who are exiled and excluded whether far from home or in their own homes. The promise of weak hands made strong; feeble knees made firm; fearful hearts filled with courage; blind eyes opened; deaf ears unstopped; the lame leaping like deer; the tongues of the speechless singing for joy. All people walking together along the Holy Way where no one can be labeled unclean, where no one can get lost, where no predators lurk. As God’s people are rescued, ransomed and saved, the creation responds with joy. Deserts rejoice and blossom. Ravaged hills are reforested. Waters break forth in the wilderness, springs bubble up in deserts, burning sands become pools and wetlands. 

Alongside God’s dream for exiles, stands John the Baptist. Last week we met him in the wilderness having opted out of normal society. Witness his weird camel hair clothes, and bizarre diet of locusts and honey. We might think of John as a person who in response to God’s call chose to be an exile, living off the grid, on the fringes of society  — a posture beautifully highlighted in Donald Jackson’s illustration in the St. John’s Bible. Contrast that posture to the painting on the right: John the Baptist in Prison by Benjamin Miller. Freely chosen opting out versus exile imposed. 

Herod Antipas imprisoned John for publicly challenging his honor and prestige. John condemned Herod’s second marriage to Herodias, his sister-in-law and niece, as contrary to God’s laws. As VIPs who imagined themselves to be above the law, neither Herod nor his new wife took criticism very well.

So here is John the Baptist in his prison. Some months or even years have passed since he baptized Jesus and proclaimed him God’s chosen one. He hears what Jesus is up to and wonders what is going on? John had proclaimed Jesus as God’s Messiah who would bring in God’s kingdom. But nothing in the world has changed. Jesus has not taken an axe to the deadwood, nor burned any chaff, nor led a revolt, nor caused any prison walls to fall. 

Allowed at last to see one of his followers, John sends the man to carry a message consisting of a single question; “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Jesus responds: “Tell John  … the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleaners, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor hear the good news that God is on their side.” 

I wonder how John received Jesus’ answer? He already knew about Jesus’ healing ministry. It is what provoked his doubts in the first place. The people Jesus spends all his time with — the lame, the deaf, the poor, the ill, and the dead — aren’t exactly the movers and shakers of the world. They’re the social outcasts and economic losers. They can barely fend for themselves let alone help anyone else. These people are not going to change the world. 

Could it be that as John paces and ponders in his prison cell, he finally realizes that he is just like the poor and lame and outcast — all those in exile, all those who can boast of nothing except their dependence on God’s grace, mercy, and protection? Could it be that John finally realizes Jesus has come for him too?

What are we to make of the last last part of Jesus’ answer to John, the part about not being offended by Jesus. The clue is in what follows as Jesus turns to the crowd telling them that John the Baptist was a prophet, in fact, the greatest of human prophets, yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than John the Baptist.

As Pastor John van de Laar writes, “It can be tempting to interpret Jesus’ teaching as creating a new prestige system based on turning the world’s values upside-down.” Something along the lines of: in God’s prestige system, the most important VIP in the world would be at the bottom, John the Baptist would rank somewhere above that, and the least and lowliness person on earth would rank above him. 

“But that’s not what Jesus meant at all … Jesus wasn’t creating a new hierarchy … There is no system of prestige and importance in God’s world. Every human being, every non-human being, and every created thing is valuable, beloved, and important, and is a carrier of the divine image and presence.” 

What’s so offensive about that? Ask yourself how often do we compare ourselves to others? How often do we look down on those who we think are below us—even if in our minds we are all equal? How often are  we envious of those we believe are above us—even as we try to tell ourselves we are content? How often do we forget that our worth is not rooted in our bank balance or our achievements? How often do we claim we’ve made it on our own? That we don’t need help? How often to we allow the ends to justify any and all means of achieving them regardless of how many people get hurt? To the extent that we are embedded in and committed to the prestige games of our society and culture we will be offended by Jesus, who tells us that God doesn’t give a hoot about all that stuff. 

Hear again the good news of Christ, delivered long ago to John the Baptist in prison, and shared today with all who are exiled and excluded whether far from home or in their own homes:

Your weak hands will be made strong, your feeble knees made firm, your fearful hearts filled with courage, your blind eyes will be opened; your deaf ears unstopped, the lame will leap like deer, the tongues of the speechless will sing for joy as all people will walk together along God’s Holy Way where no one can be labeled unclean, where no one can get lost, where no predators lurk. As God’s people are rescued, ransomed and saved, creation will respond with joy. Deserts will rejoice and blossom. Ravaged hills will be reforested. Waters will break forth in the wilderness, springs will bubble up in deserts, burning sands will become pools and wetlands. Amen.