I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I love Advent. (Thanks to my dear friend Barb who really helped me grow in my appreciation of this season.) This week’s Gospel lesson is a case in point as to why this time of year is so precious. It gifts us with a countercultural perspective on the nature of reality. At a time when we are being distracted by bright lights, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, BOGO, free shipping, today only hot deals, thank God for this crazy locust-eating, camel-hair-wearing fellow standing outside of the ruckus and calling our attention to the True Light that is about to come.
The first week of Advent was about waiting and watching, staying awake. This second week is all about hope. What’s that? Hope? Really? With all of John’s talk about vipers and axes set to chop at the root and unquenchable fire? Where’s the hope in that?
Let’s back up a few chapters. Remember how the book of Matthew begins? “An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” The promised Messiah was to come from this lineage. And so Jesus did. Not as if that would be a challenge for the Creator. But the story of Jesus was bigger than his human bloodline. The Pharisees and Sadducees failed to grasp this. Salvation for them was all about circumcision, family lineage, rituals, customs, laws, tribal requirements. In the first century, if you didn’t have credentials of some sort – temple status, Roman citizenship, some worldly entitlement – you were pretty much powerless, next to nothing. Your future? Not so bright.
John shot all that righteous security to pieces. “So you think it’s a big deal to be children of Abraham? God could turn stones into offspring for Abraham if God so chose.” That must have been a real identity crisis for some. Jesus brought a new identity, a true and right salvation, an eternal hope. It’s not about where we came from, our earthly paternity, family tree, ethnicity, financial status, national citizenship. It’s about our divine bloodline, the blood of Christ, shed for all for the forgiveness of sin. We are made heirs of the Father and joint heirs with the Son. God stepped into time and space and everything is different. Everything is made new.
Now that is hope that can’t be bought, boxed, or bargained for.
Prayer: Father, this Advent season, burn away the chaff of greed, selfishness, covetousness, and vanity. God of hope, fill us with all joy and peace in believing, so that we may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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