By the Rev’d L Nguyen

Season: Second Sunday of Advent

Readings: Malachi 3:1-4 | Philippians 1:3-11 | Luke 3:1-6

Today is the second Sunday of Advent – the Sunday of Peace, the Sunday of John the Baptist, John who called all Israel to prepare for the Messiah, to prepare for Peace by preaching to them a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (3)

While preachers in the northern hemisphere may draw on illustrations of notices about making footpaths and roads clear from heavy snowfall, we in the southern hemisphere at this time of year have a plethora of how to keep our lawns tidy and clear away weeds, not to mention the ever-present signage on our roadways with the now iconic orange cone.

Our First Testament message is from Malachi, the Hebrew word which means “my messenger”. This message was to a post-exilic community of Jews who had returned to Judah. It was in the period of Jewish history after the Babylonian captivity (after 539 BC). The prophet is serving as an arbiter between the people and God who are living in a complex society trying to follow their faith in a changing world. (1 pg 31)

And the people were complaining that God had failed to exercise divine judgment. The prophet reminds them that divine judgement rarely meets human expectations. God’s messages are often as much a judgment against the ones yearning for it as they may be a judgment against their enemies. (1 pg 31)

Ultimately, God’s justice is not the justice expected by the restoration community.  …

Confusing? Well, Malachi does not take sides. Instead, he offers another direction – go back to the principles of the covenant to be rewarded.  And while this may seem a springboard to that well-worn track of criticizing others …

… “This text is not an occasion to attack enemies or to point out all the things that some imagine others are doing wrong. Rather, those early listeners and we, if we insert ourselves somehow into this reading, are the ones who are going to be refined.

We are the ones in need of refining. (1 pg 38) And one may be forgiven for going straight through this reading with an understanding that the prophet’s call is to return to an idealised time of the past. Don’t we all long for the good ol’ days? And yet, we know every age has its glory and its shame.

No, this one-dimensional approach no longer works for us; we have insight and scholarship that simply was not available to those early people. We know that to understand and respond well, we need to pay attention to the fuller context of a person or situation, then and now.

In this case, the context, as noted, is the context of the Judeans under the Persian Empire.  Very simply, these 5th-century BCE Judeans were not only uncertain about which leader to follow. They were uncertain as to what fully constituted faithful living. (1 pg 38)

Malachi does not endorse one side; he says to go back to the basic principles. While the details are sketchy, the vision is of intergenerational reconciliation (Mal 4:5-6) (1 pg 36), and the promise is certain. “The refining is not waiting for us to feel good about it.” God’s promise is sure, and the story and our journey in it continues. We will be re-formed, and it will be good. Be challenged but not afraid, and carry on.  (1 pg 38)

And so, from our Gospel this morning, we have the messenger or, as Luke casts him, a prophet, John the Baptist. From those introductory words of Luke’s text this morning, we see that Luke wants his hearers to consider John as standing in succession to the early prophets. (2 pg 21)

John has a message, a message of repentance. And while again, this may seem a springboard to that well-worn track of criticizing others. “This text also is not an occasion to attack enemies or to point out all the things that some imagine others are doing wrong.  And while the listeners to the prophet were being guided back to Canaan from Babylon at the end of their exile following the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC.

In Luke “the way of the Lord” has become YHWH’s covenant for Israel to prepare for God’s end-time. Mark’s call is to prepare people for God’s coming. And repentance is the means of preparing. Not a message of undermining others. Rather a call to make amends and to care for one another.

Our First Reading and our Gospel Reading each offer a significant call for preparation and readiness. Calls that are perfect for this Season of Advent as we await Jesus’ coming.

Today, who are our prophets, and how do we, with our 21st ears and understandings, hear and respond to these readings, these calls? We may not have general agreement even in our own communities. Only history will tell us. What we do know is that we are not post-exile looking to return to land, nor are we envisioning this Christmas as an end time.

So, what are the paths the Spirit call us to leave?

What are the new paths we are to follow?

What are the messages you hear?

What are we hearing as a community of faith?

Our Advent candle this week is lit for peace.

One author dares to write: “all caring people want peace in this world, and in wanting peace, they want more than just the absence of war, they want true peace –

– peace that has in it justice,

– peace that has in it a sharing of the world’s resources,

– peace that has in it love, and joy, and hope.

In short, it is a peace like that the people of Israel hoped for when they hoped for the promised Messiah, for Christ.

Peace is perhaps the greatest social and political need that our world has. (3)

Interestingly, John, and indeed Jesus himself, never talk about peace in social or political terms at all, and this is not because these words and the ideas behind them were unheard of in those days. The writer suggests it is, perhaps, because in the end the words are true that say: peace begins with us. (3)

These texts being heard today are not an occasion for us to attack enemies or to point out all the things that others are doing wrong. God’s call to us, to you. And God comes to us through the most ordinary means and through the most ordinary people.

We are the ones to live the peace. And we do that in ways that may feel challenging even to ourselves. And as we live peace, we seek to do it in ways that people can understand. Yes, that may be in the language we now use. Words matter – and words have changed over the centuries.

What is important is how people feel. Do they feel peace radiating from us for them?

You see, it is a rare person who has a vision of God right out of the blue and completely gets it.

Real people, communicate God’s call, real people show God’s way of peace, and real people, lead us toward God’s kingdom, and prepare us for God’s work in our lives. (3)

Advent is about preparing ourselves, just ordinary people, to better be the people of God’s peace, to receive more deeply and freely the peace of God and be that peace in the world.

That’s our task in this season.

(4)).

Sources and readings included

1. Feastings on the Word, A Thematic Resource for Preaching and Worship, Advent Companion. David L. Bartlett, Barbara Brown Taylor, and Kimberley Bracken Long, editors. © 2014. Pgs30-38.
2. Keeping Holy Time. Ed by Douglas E. Wingeier © 2003. Pgs 18-23.
3. http://spirit-net.ca/sermons/c-ad02se.php © Rev. Richard J. Fairchild – Spirit Networks, 1997 – 2006
4. https://revdrmargaretwesley.substack.com/p/advent-of-peace-2 “Vocation”.  Rev Dr Margaret Wesley