Rejoice always…
Advent 3 Sermon by The Rev. Paige Blair-Hubert
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[00:00:00] I pray that God's word is spoken and that God's word is heard. Amen. Please be seated.
I have to admit, I know it's, it might not be a popular opinion, but I love when I get to preach on John during Advent. And in this case, uh, what some scholars tongue in cheek call John not the Baptist. Because in John's gospel, John of a different John, John's Gospel.
He's never called John the Baptist, as he is in the Synoptics. That's just an interesting distinction between those Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel that bears John the Evangelist's name. He's John, a man sent from God, whose name was John. And yes, he does do some baptizing, but they don't name him in that way.
And a close reading even of the text of the [00:01:00] baptism of Jesus in John's Gospel. It's not entirely clear that it's John the Baptist doing the baptizing. We'll get to that later. So John not the Baptist, but John nonetheless. Same scruffy, kind of grouchy character. I love him. And I love him in Advent because he is a reminder that this incarnation we anticipate turns the world on its head.
Is, is a, oh, an act of God with an intention of radical transformation. Changing the whole world. That's why, that's why we had the passage from Isaiah this morning, that if, if your, if your gospel reading ears got a little ticklish, yes, that is the passage. That John, um, that Luke has Jesus reading from before his first sermon in Galilee, you know, the one where after which they are so [00:02:00] disgusted by his turning the world upside down words that they try to throw him off a cliff.
Remember that? Yeah, it's not Luke wasn't that long ago And so it's this is the Isaiah passage Jesus is preaching from in that moment It's also why we had a choice this week between hearing the Magnificat It's not Mary's revolutionary song of turning the world upside down or Psalm 126. We're saving the Magnificat for next week, given that next week we actually get to hear from Luke's gospel.
We thought, well, let's just keep the Mag and Luke's gospel together, but that's why it's referenced in our opening candle lighting liturgy as well. That image of the toddler knocking over the thrones of empire. That is all about this expectation. That Jesus, the incarnation of the divine among us, comes [00:03:00] not for the sake of entrenching the status quo, or making us all feel comfy and cozy and complacent, but rather brings the expectation of radical transformation, our transformation and the world's transformation.
And that's why We come together, week after week after week, not simply to make us feel comfy and cozy and reassured and complacent in the status quo, but to bring about transformation, our transformation and the world's transformation. This Eucharistic table is all about transforming our hearts, transforming our spirits, getting us moving.
As the Renewal Works folk talk about. Remember Renewal Works, we did that spiritual vitality survey almost two years ago? And it said, y'all at St. Peter's, for an Episcopal church, actually have significant spiritual vitality. But there's this little, there's this little [00:04:00] quality of complacency. Of being kind of satisfied with our spiritual growth.
And not really thinking we need to be much more transformed than we already are. Guess what John the, not Baptist. would like you to reconsider because John is all about transformation and ongoing journey of transformation within us and in the world. He is the one crying out, the voice in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight.
That is actually The Isaiah passage that the choir sang last week, that we heard last week, Isaiah 40, one of my favorite Advent readings from the Hebrew Scriptures. Did you recognize that, oh choir? Hey, wait a minute. Why, why do they have this passage of John, not the Baptist, paired with a different Isaiah reading?
Good question. Maybe it's so we can hear those words twice. Week after week. [00:05:00] Make God's paths straight. Seek the transformation in our hearts that allows us to work with God for the transformation of the world. And I love, I love this about Mark's year because Mark is such a short gospel. We get a disproportionately high representation of John's gospel in this year.
Not just in Eastertide when we're used to hearing from John, but Scattered throughout this liturgical year, we'll be, we'll have John's Gospel kind of pop up and surprise us periodically. And, I gotta love the choice made by our lectionary editors. You don't often hear me say that, but let's just note, in this case, I really do like what they did.
Um, and they give us this passage about John, from John's Gospel. And I will have more to say about this [00:06:00] when we get to actual Christmas. Um, but, but this passage is powerful because, okay, here, brief quiz. Do you remember what comes right before this in John's Gospel?
Call it out. You're allowed to look in the bulletin. You're allowed to look in the bulletin. I've said a lot of things since you heard Deacon Bob read it. What comes right before this? What passages of John's Gospel is this? Almost a shorthand, which is not really a shorthand. The Pro The prologue to John's Gospel, which begins, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was The Word was God.
Yes. Um, and, uh, and, the Word became flesh and dwelt [00:07:00] among us, and we have seen his glory, right? It's, that is the passage of John's gospel, this kind of ethereal, cosmological, mystical reflection on the incarnation and it's all this, God was made, what? Flesh. Flesh. It's not the word anthropos, it's not that God was made man, but God was actually made It's a much more earthy, yes, a much more earthy choice of words that John gave us.
And then into that, the first human we meet who's got a name is John. This, this enfleshed being is interjected into the middle of this cosmological, mystical, poetic reflection on the incarnation. Out of almost nowhere, it feels like there was a man sent from God whose [00:08:00] name was John. Boom! And that's where we come in this morning.
I'll have more to say about that on Christmas, I promise. But it's into this space When, when we hear him confessing who he's not. Oh, not, not the Messiah, not Elijah, not the prophet. I am the one crying out in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord. And then he, he will, okay. We who were sent from the Pharisees, what are we going to tell the folks who sent us?
Because if you're not any of these things, why are you baptizing? And he says, I baptize with water among you, stands one whom you do not know among you. Oh, Pharisees. Wild, isn't it? It's one of the reasons why some scholars think maybe besides the fact that he [00:09:00] also is very familiar with the law, that Jesus may have started out as a Pharisee himself.
There is one who stands among you whom you do not know. So here we have John, as Mary referenced last week, pointing to Jesus, pointing to Jesus, pointing to Jesus, and even saying, he's already among you and you have no clue. Which leads me to our wonder at our task this week.
As we anticipate celebrating the incarnation. As we make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Who is the one among us whom we do not know? Who God intends to work some incarnation through. [00:10:00] Is there someone in our lives through whom God is speaking? Is there someone in our world Who is our intended moment of interaction with the incarnate one.
Pay attention. Keep watch. And expect our world to be transformed. And expect our hearts to be transformed. And how can we go about all of this day to day in a world that just seems
Oh, so painful. So challenging. So desperate, so dangerous.
Where we start seeking joy. You've heard me preach before, that joy and happiness are not the same thing. [00:11:00] Happiness, if you even look at the etymological root, comes from the root from what happens. Happiness is entirely, entirely dependent on circumstance. Happiness depends on happy things happening.
Things that make us what? Happy! Joy. Joy is different. Joy is what we find despite the circumstances. Joy is what we find when we trust God's ability to transform the world. Joy anyway. And Paul's letter to the church in Thessaloniki gives us a beautiful way into this, perhaps a prayer for this week. And it's really fun the way that Paul, uh, uh, takes, uh, practices from the early church and he [00:12:00] saved them for us.
This is actually considered by many scholars to be the oldest, of texts in the New Testament. This first letter to the Thessalonians doesn't come in that order. That's not how it got assembled. Um, but this is considered one of the oldest, oldest texts in all the New Testament. And many scholars believe that this, uh, refrain that we have here in English, of course, uh, was actually something of a call and response or an opening liturgy for worship or something that the people would share because in And in the Greek, it reads alliteratively, with the same sound repeated over and over and over and over.
Like, we recently had Wealth, Wisdom, Works, right? Time, Talent, Treasure. It reads like that, only the refrain in Greek that's repeated is the panto, pante, it's the all. Panto, right? All. Pan. It's that rephrase, that phrase over and over and over again. [00:13:00] And you can find it if you look really hard in the English.
But in the Greek, it reads like a litany. A litany of reassurance, a litany of joy, a litany of gratitude. In all circumstances and friends, these were truly persecuted Christians. They were not concerned about how Starbucks designed their holiday cups. They knew real persecution. Their friends and loved ones had been killed for their faith.
This was a desperate community. A desperate community praying, Rejoice always, give thanks in all circumstances. Do not quench the spirit. Hold fast to what is good. Rejoice always. Give thanks in all circumstances. Perhaps in [00:14:00] this next week. Between now and advent four, we can look for those transformative moments.
We can ask God to help us see the possibility of joy. We can ask God to continue to transform us so that we can be equipped to work with God for the transformation of this world. And we can keep our eyes open for the one among us, the one among us, whom we do not know, but is God's. Very intended moment and connection for transformation and healing and grace.
The one who calls you is faithful, Paul writes, and he will do this.
