Not Yet
David C. MyersDecember 9, 2007
2nd Advent
Isaiah 11:1 - 10
Matthew 3:1 - 12
Text: "I baptize you with water, for repentance. But after me will come . . . . . . Matthew 3:11
The cartoon scene is set: Lucy sits behind her outdoor stand sporting the sign, "Psychiatric Help, 5 cents"; Charlie Brown mopes out front with a dismal look on his face.
"I find myself always worrying about tomorrow," he confesses. "When tomorrow becomes today I start worrying about tomorrow again. I guess I'm afraid to face the future."
"I think I can help you, Charlie Brown," Lucy says as she strides up to him. "Now the first thing you have to do is to turn around. The future is over this way. There, that's better." She says lining him up to face the opposite way.
"Now, the next thing is your posture," she decides. "If you're going to face the future, you've got to do it with your chest out. That's the way! Throw out your chest and face the future. Now, raise your arm and clench your fist . . . that's right! Now look determined."
Lucy sits back to gaze at Charlie Brown standing with his determined posture and fierce look.
"Well, I think I know why you're afraid to face the future," she announces.
"Why?"
"You look ridiculous!" And she walks away.
This is the season of Advent, a time of looking forward, a time of preparation, and a time of anticipation.
Sometimes, as Charlie Brown discovers, looking forward is not always filled with anticipation, sometimes it is filled with anxiety and fear. And we find ourselves looking foolish as we try to look brave, when our souls are trembling with fear.
However, the future is inevitable. So face it we must. Advent is the season of the church that helps. It is the season of the great "not yet". We are anxious to sing, "Joy to the world, the Lord is come!"
But, not yet. The time will come soon enough. But, not yet.
But . . . how soon? And what do we do while we wait? I have three short points.
1.) The first point is the faith perspective of living in the "not yet"; it is the difference between promise and prediction. Some look for predictions of the future, they follow the stars, or listen to the Jean Dixons. Some try to dig into the Bible and take the apocalyptic prophecies and interpret them in light of current events. But that is not what Advent is about.
The Advent season is full of promise, not predictions. We need to learn the difference. Predictions are practical and can be somewhat scientific, especially if they are based on probability. You don't need faith to believe in predictions; all you need is a calculator.
Promise is something else; it is a faith category. And the bottom line is that is what Advent is all about; it is the season of the great "not yet".
It is true that Jesus has come - after all this is not the first Christmas - but there is still the "not yet" for Christ's reign that is still emerging. It's as if God were saying, "You know the promise of the Vision of the new Realm; here is the first fruit which will help you to work for that Realm."
This promise is the big one! This promise is the one on which all else matters - that God will accept us in spite of our bumbling, in spite of our faults. There is no way to overstate how important this promise is and what a difference it can make in our lives. It's living in that anticipation of the coming realm, yet knowing that in the meantime God accepts us and will forgive our mistakes as we try to live out our faith.
2.) The second point is that trusting God's Promise we can act on our faith with confidence trying to live out our visions of God's new realm. We move ahead with all our faults, knowing that God can be trusted. We do the best we can even though we know we still sin and fall short. In the knowledge of God's accepting forgiveness we, as Martin Luther said - we "Trust God and sin on bravely," trying to live out and bring about the promised visions of Advent.
One of those visions comes to us in Isaiah's incredibly hopeful message. We see, in the first half of the passage a vivid vision of the justice that will come. God will be known as One Who has "justice as His belt, and faithfulness will be the sash around His waist."
But more than that, in the last half of the passage we see the utter transformation of the world. "The calf will feed with the lion, the goat and the leopard will lie down together and the wolf will live with the lamb." This is the vision of Advent. This is the promise of our future.
But, . . . not yet.
And boy, do we ever know that that vision is a "not yet". All we need do is read the Newspaper or listen to the news.
3.) The third point is how to live in the "not yet?"
As we encounter John the Baptist in the Matthew passage we see how people flock to him, some thinking he is the one who is to come. But it is John who reveals that there is one Who was coming Who would be mightier than John. We don't at this point know who that is going to be. Today, we are still dealing with the Promise and the preparation. Today we live in the "not yet". So today we deal with John and his preaching.
It is a familiar message - one that calls us to repent. John's message over and over again is "Repent, the Kingdom of God is at hand."
So often we hear the word repent and we equate it to saying "I'm sorry." And after we've listened to "I'm sorry" enough times we all know how empty that is. Ask any recovering addict. They know that saying "I'm sorry" are empty words. They know that until they change their behavior, there will be no future; there will be no reconciliations.
Saying "I'm sorry" is not repentance. Quite simply, repent means "to change". It means taking stock of who you are, acknowledging your shortcomings and to change and begin again. Repentance is the practice of the belief in the resurrection; for to repent means to change and make a new beginning. We change our perspective from wondering about "who we are", to discovering "Whose we are!"
And when we discover Whose we are we have an identity - we are the chosen ones of God. After we have changed or repented, things that once were important lose their importance because our values have changed.
Repentance transforms our frustrations. This gives us renewed energies. We are no longer subject to our failures; our frustrations lose their power.
But for most people change - repentance - doesn't come like a lightning bolt and happen instantly. And this is the importance of preparation - which is the dominant mood of Advent. It's not some great announcement that will suddenly turn us around. It's not some great intervention in our lives. It's not something out of a Cecil B. DeMille movie that so calls attention to itself that we can't miss it.
No. Advent's message is much more subtle; and at the same time, much more powerful. We read it in Isaiah's passage; "a shoot shall come forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his root."
A slow growing shoot or branch - something so easily overlooked amid the clamor of the false promises society splashes all around us. It's our own preparation in the form of repentance - in the form of change - that will save us. Preparation that begins as we are aware of the Promise that God accepts and forgives us as we turn to God. The change is living in the assurance and sure knowledge that, on the one hand, we are imperfect people; and; on the other that God has chosen us and forgives us that we "can trust God and sin on bravely."
Henri Nouwen wrote in his book, Gracias!: A Latin American Journal, words that help us understand the ongoing frustration that happens in this period of Advent. He wrote:
"These words from Isaiah have stayed with me, "Our salvation comes from something small, tender, and vulnerable, something hardly noticeable. I find this a hopeful message. When I have no eyes for the small signs of God's presence - the smile of a baby, the carefree play of children, the words of encouragement and gestures of love offered by friends - I will always remain tempted by despair. The work of our salvation takes place in the midst of a world that continues to shout, scream and overwhelm us with [empty] promises. But the promise is hidden in the shoot that sprouts from the stump, a shoot that hardly anyone notices."
Well, since Advent is a yearly season - and this is obviously not the first Advent that has come - we can rejoice that the Kingdom is come; that indeed, God is at hand. Oh, indeed, the promise is there and, yes, it has fully come into the world. Most every other Sunday of the year we study and proclaim that promise; but in the four Sundays of Advent, we need to examine how to prepare for that promise, how to hear it, how to discover it, how to receive it. Maybe, even just being aware that the promise is there. It is a promise that you are loved; a promise that you are forgiven. The promise pulls us forward into time, into the promise - if we have eyes to see and ears to hear.
May this Advent be a time for you to fine-tune your hearing to the voice of the Promise that is in your midst. This is the beginning of change, of repentance - of knowing not only who you are, but Whose you are!