Advent I - A
December 2nd, AD 2007
Meadowvale
Lutheran Church, Mississauga Pastor Peter Lisinski
"OUT
OF THIS WORLD"
(Text.
Matthew 3.1-12)
We all know the importance
of belonging. God created human
beings with a deep need for social interaction; and, since our fulfillment as
human beings depends so much on belonging, we know the fear of being rejected,
and the anxiety of trying to fit in. We want to feel welcome, comfortable, and
at home in the company of others, and so we do things we hope will please the
people we want to fit in with. We
dress like them; we behave like them; we believe like them...
Most of the time, the things
we do to fit in are good -- for others, as well as for ourselves; they build
community and strengthen our mutual sense of belonging.
But sometimes the things we do to fit in are not so good.
How many people have taken up smoking, gambling or dieting, or turned to
gangs, drugs or alcohol and become trapped in addictions and lifestyles destructive
not only to their own personal health and well being, but to the health and well
being of those who love them?
At the time of John the
Baptist, baptism was one of the things people did in order to fit in.
It was
a common ritual for welcoming Gentile converts into the Jewish faith.
Baptism allowed people who once stood outside the holy communion of God's
chosen people, to take their place inside the holy communion of God's chosen
people. But John began his own
baptismal ministry in the wilderness of first century Judea with the very
opposite purpose. Instead of turning outsiders into insiders, John wanted to
turn insiders into outsiders.
The world in which John
lived; the world in which Jesus was born and baptized, was a world filled with
violence -- not just the physical violence of war and slavery, but other forms
of equally destructive violence: the
psychological violence of racism and sexism; the economic violence of greed and
poverty; and, yes, the religious violence of self-righteousness and intolerance
which often became aggressive -- as we continue to see in our own day. And the
people of God among whom John lived had learned how to fit in to their violent
world! It
may not have been perfect, but it worked for most of
them -- they felt welcome, comfortable, and at home in it.
So John, like the prophets before him, held God's people accountable for
their complacent faith, and their indifference toward their suffering
neighbors. "Repent, for the
communion of God has come near...Do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have
Abraham and Sarah as our ancestors'...Bear fruit worthy of repentance.."
Today our world remains full
of all the same forms of violence that plagued the world at the time of John the
Baptist. And so today John
continues to call the people of God out of this world and into God’s new
world.
It’s
not an easy call for Christians in our western civilization to answer.
We have become insiders – we have mad ourselves welcome, comfortable,
and at home in our violent world. We
have become complacent in our faith and indifferent tot eh suffering of our
neighbors. With very few notable
exceptions, Christians have remained silent in the face of our own culture’s
violence and injustice – afraid of losing our position of power, prestige, and
privilege in this world. But there comes a time when our silence becomes a part of the
world’s cycle of violence. It
happened in German during the 1930s and 40s; it happened in Rwanda during the
1990s; it’s happening today in places like Darfur!
And there’s no reason to believe that it won’t happen somewhere else
tomorrow.
So today before it is too
late, John the Baptist – the epitome of all the prophets who came before and
after him – call us who feel welcome, comfortable, and at home in this world
to turn our inside lives outward, to stand up with and for the world’s
outsiders – the poor and the powerless, who are all too often the victims of
those who enjoy positions of power, prestige and privilege in the world.
Today, at the beginning of this new year, John the Baptist’s call rekindles the fire of our Advent faith in Jesus Christ – this violent world’s only hope, and God’s surest promise for peace on earth. And today, at the beginning of her new life of faith in Jesus Christ, Addison Margaret Davidson, reminds us that baptism is not just a good way to fit in with God’s people in the church, but that it is the very foundation for building a global community, and strengthening the whole world’s sense of belonging to the out-of-this-world holy communion of all God’s children.