HISTORY, MYSTERY, AND MAJESTY
Advent 2C 2024
JB---2 readings
The Gospel and the Psalm for today…It’s listed as Canticle 16,
the Song of Zechariah, the Benedictus
But today it is chosen as the Psalm for the day
Because it, too is about John the Baptist
And though the words are very familiar
And we pray it so very often
we rarely step back and consider what Zechariah is doing and Why
I recall a line about Advent from a teacher long ago:
Advent celebrates Christ’s coming in
HISTORY, MYSTERY, AND MAJESTY
The Majesty bit…we had last week…those Gospel passages we call apocalyptic
Which deal with imagining the end times when all wrongs are righted
And in today’s Gospel we get the HISTORY bit
Christianity is not some sort of philosophy originating in someone’s mind or imagination
In the first instance it is grounded in events
Events that happened
Events that happened in historical time
That’s why we hear details about:
Mary and Joseph set out because of the census ordered by Augustus the Emperor
“in the days of King Herod of Judea…’
The angel appearing to Mary is carefully set in space and time
And same with the song of Zachariah
And in Today’s Gospel
Luke is very intent…To name 7 leaders…some secular…some religious
And then
In stark contrast
He names John…the small town nobody hanging out in the wilderness somewhere
And it is to him that
“the Word of God came”
All those 7 leaders:
Tiberius, Pilate, Herod, Philip, Lysansias, Annas, and Caiaphas
Will oppose the One fortold by John
One will behead John
One will crucify Jesus
They are all dead at the writing of this Gospel
But what is not dead
What is very much alive
Is the Community for whom the Gospel is written
The community who gathers in Jesus’ name
The community that continues to extend through time to NOW
including all of us
History Mystery and Majesty
History is Chronological time
we live in history---we get it!
Majesty…we might not get it…but I think we can imagine it
But it’s the Coming of Christ in the Mystery
The mystery of Christ present NOW
That needs our daily attention
And I think the story of John the Baptist
And in particular the story of his birth from Chapter 1 of Luke’s Gospel
Canticle 16/the Benedictus
Has something to offer our daily attention
Let’s rewind a little because to recall the story of John
Earlier in Chapter 1
Zechariah is in the Temple, He is a priest, it is ordinary for him to be in the Temple
A quiet and dark place…the place of The Holy of Holies
Where God’s finger touches the world…
And…enter stage left…Gabriel…with a message
A message that is a promise
A really big promise
Elizabeth will bear a child…
Well…that alone is super-big…they are really old
Biology says “No-Way”
But there is more…we are not talking just any child
He will be great in God’s eyes
He will come filled with the Holy Spirit
He will come like the great prophet Elijah
Turning hearts to God, turning disobedience to wisdom
…as he prepares the way for the Lord
Zechariah doubts…How can this be? That is not surprising!
But Gabriel gets a little irritated… and reaches for the MUTE button
Zechariah will say nothing until the child is born.
Then Gabriel comes to Mary
Who, by the way, does not doubt…no mute button for her
Mary visits Elizabeth
Mary sings her Song…her canticle…her Magnificat
Then its time
For the birth of John
In the Benedictus
we arrive at John’s ritual naming and circumcision
Luke not only grounds his story in History
But squarely in Judaism
This is the scene of today’s Psalm/canticle
…and I’m going to call it Zechariah’s ARIA
As a thought experiment…what would you finally say or sing or shout
After 9 months of being mute???
9 months where you were forced to listen like you had never listened before
I hope it would be an ARIA
Something big and emotional and profound
And…That is what erupts out of Zechariah
“Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophesy”
A biblical prophecy isn’t about predicting the future
Its more about naming what has been promised
And what will happen
In God’s time
It is full of hope…full of trust
On the ritual occasion of his son’s naming and circumcision
Zechariah begins with his wife’s cousin’s kid!
It is in Jesus that the promises and prophesies of old are coming to fulfillment
And it is John who paves the way
[I think he overheard Mary’s Magnificat and he was paying very close attention!]
In the second half
We hear about John
Who will prepare the way by turning people to repentance
Why repentance?
How does repentance “pave the way”
How does forgiveness bring us knowledge of salvation?
… lately
The image that comes to mind
is when you are driving someplace you’ve never been
And you are following the way…The google map way
And you make a wrong turn
And you know that little moving circle that says “re-routing”???
I’m thinking of repentance, like that
A kind of re-calculating
Again…lately…in the past couple of weeks
Too many people I love have been getting more than their share of bad news.
And I can’t seem to feel the truth of the promise
I’m not seeing the “dawn from on high…”
I don’t feel my feet being “guided into the way of peace”
I said before that it is Christ coming in Mystery
In the NOW
That needs our attention
The work of repentance…of recalculating
prepares us…in the now…in every now
Because it helps us see
And remember
And notice
What we have forgotten in the midst of our trouble.
It is the “Coming of Christ in Mystery”
The NOW of the promise
That makes room for me to live in the meantime
We use the phrase “lean into it” these days
There’s this challenging change happening in my life?
“lean into it” I here from well-intentioned friends
I know I say this a lot
…But isn’t that why
The rhythm of the week
And the weekly celebration of Sunday
Is so important
And can be so healing?
Here, alongside each other,
it’s easier to for me to remember
And notice what I’ve forgotten in the midst of my trouble.
Being here helps me lean with trust and faith
I like to think that here
For 1 hour
We live out of time
Out of chronological time
Here, with a little imagination, we live in God’s time
Where once again we confess that the promises of God are not only trustworthy
But fulfilled in God’s time…assured.
We sit and listen and sing
And are gripped by the word of God
And suddenly…mysteriously
We are invited…we are included…in this ongoing story of repentence, forgiveness, and mercy…a story whose end is written.
I hear Paul’s beautiful words
Writing to the Philippians…not an individual but a community
And also writing to us and praying for us:
“I pray always with joy in my every prayer for all of you
Because of your partnership for the Gospel from the first day util NOW…
I am confident that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus…
And he continues…praying that OUR love may increase ever more and more
In knowledge and every kind of perception,
To discern what is of value”
Paul’s words inspire courage
They invite all of us (to borrow words from Zechariah)
to be persons who travels “the way of peace” within a community that reaches for the same.
What if each of us…As we sit up in the morning…that morning NOW
Maybe we could glance at our feet…And as we plant our feet on the floor
Maybe we could imagine God setting their direction…
Guiding them, NOW, this day, into the way of Peace.
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