Change Your Hearts and Lives! An Advent Lectionary Meditation
Change
Your Hearts and Lives!
Change
is not something any of us deal with well.
I need to lose weight, but I find it difficult to make the necessary
changes in my life style that will allow this to happen. In other words, I find it difficult to get the
necessary exercise and find the discipline to consume either less food or the
right food. Dr. Oz may have a plan for
my life, but I’d rather watch Guy Fieri and contemplate dining at one of those
diners that serve a ½ pound burger covered with bacon and blue cheese and maybe
some chipotle mayo, accompanied by a heaping helping of deeply fried French
fries! I’ve heard the message – my
doctor has already told me to change my eating exercise habits, but it’s not
something easily accomplished. Whenever
we hear these calls to change the way we live our lives, which is the way that
the translators of the Common English Bible render the Greek word we usually
translate as repent, we tend to acknowledge the need and then move on with our
lives. It’s not that we don’t know any
different, we just don’t seem to have the will to make the necessary changes.
Seasons
like Advent, like Lent, serve as reminders that if we want to get to the
desired place in our lives, which is union with God in Christ, we must make
changes in our lives (repent). The texts
that are featured this second week of Advent focus on this call to change our
lives and hearts in preparation for the coming of the Lord. They remind us that God is present in our
midst, so that if we will let go of the distractions that cloud our hearts and
minds, then we will find peace and purpose.
When I use the word “purpose” I don’t mean, as Rick Warren has defined
it, God’s eternal purpose. Rather, I
mean that when we attend to the call of God, we will discover what God is
doing, and therefore join with God in this work.
There
is a strong connection between the reading from Isaiah, a word that comes out
of the time of the Babylonian Exile, and Mark’s Gospel. As we’ll see, Mark roots John the Baptist’s
calling in the message of Isaiah 40. For this unnamed prophet whose message was
taken up into the Isaiah tradition, there is a word of hope and comfort to be
delivered to an exiled people. As the
prophet says to this people, your time of compulsory service has come to an end
and your penalty is paid, so now it’s time to go home. And thus the prophet speaks of a voice crying
out in the wilderness that calls for clearing a way through the desert. The valleys will be raised and the mountains
flattened so that the way forward will be clear, easy, and safe. No mountains to climb or valleys to traverse
(they may have scenic beauty, but there a bear when it comes to travel).
And
why should the people heed this word?
Well, unlike the grass and the flowers, which dry up and wither under
the hot wind – or just people in general – the word of God is true and
lasting. You can trust the word of
God. So shout the message, raise your
voices and declare to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that the Lord is here, “coming
with strength, with a triumphant arm, bringing his reward with him and his
payment before him.” This word of
triumphant entry is paired with the picture of Yahweh as gentle shepherd,
tending the flock, even gathering the lambs in his arms and lap and leading the
nursing ewes to a safe place.
As we move through Advent,
we remain in a difficult economic climate, where it seems as if we are living
in some kind of exile, and so this word of hope and comfort is welcome
news. It is a reminder that we don’t go
through these trials alone. When all
others fail us, even our friends and family, God’s word lasts forever.
The Gospel reading from
Mark picks up on Isaiah’s word of comfort.
The good news about Jesus, who is God’s son, begins in the prophecy of
Isaiah. We hear the word of God that God
is sending a messenger to prepare the way in the wilderness for the Lord. Whereas the first reference concerned the
return of the exiles to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon, this word comes to a
people who are spiritually lost, who need to make a change in their lives. And so the word comes through John, this
rather radical looking guy living in the wilderness who has taken up the task
of baptizing folks in the Jordan. His
message is simple – Be baptized to show that you are changing your hearts and
lives (repentance). And amazingly,
despite his attire and his diet, the message is hitting home, and according to
Mark, everyone in Judea and Jerusalem
was coming to the Jordan to be baptized.
But this work of John is only preparatory. It is the foundation, the making of the paths
straight, so that the one who is coming, the one whom John is unworthy of
unloosening the straps of his shoes, may be revealed, and with this revealing
will come the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
It is preparation of a new age of the reign of God.
Mark lacks a birth
narrative. He starts with the baptism of
Jesus at the hands of John. But with
this baptism comes the revealing of the new age of God’s work in the
world. The Holy Spirit, who will descend
upon Jesus in this baptism experience, will be shared with all who will hear
and respond the message. But according
to the narrative, that is yet to come.
In the meantime we wait and we prepare.
We examine our lives, and discern areas that need God’s attention. We allow the God who is faithful to God’s
word to make the way straight, so that the transforming presence of God will be
able to flow through us. So, we wait and
we prepare for the time of God’s revealing in the person of Christ.
I’ve left the passage
from 2 Peter for the ending of the conversation. Here again we have this theme present – a word
about changing hearts and lives, which is the translation that the CommonEnglish Bible uses for the Greek metanoia
(repentance). It is, according to the
author of this letter attributed to Peter, but written long after Peter’s time,
the Lord’s desire that no one should perish, but that everyone should change
their hearts and lives. That is the Lord’s
desire, which is why God is patient, and why we should not think God is slow in
acting. Consider that for God, a day is
as a thousand years, and a thousand years a day. Of course, by the time that this letter is
written, perhaps as late as the early second century CE, the earlier
expectations of a quick return of Christ have begun to give way to a realism
that maybe the Christian community might be in this for the long haul. But hearkening back to Isaiah, God is
faithful, so keep focused. The reason
for keeping focused is that the day of the Lord will likely come like thief,
taking us by surprise. On that day the
heavens will pass away, the elements consumed by fire and the earth and its
works will be exposed.
You get this
apocalyptic feel here, but the point is simple – be ready, be prepared, make
the necessary changes to your lives, because the question that is asked will be
this: What kind of people should we
be? And the expected answer is that we
should be people living holy and godly lives, living in hope of the promise of
a new heaven and a new earth, “where righteousness is at home.” With this hope set before us, we are called
upon to live in this time of transition in a way that demonstrates that we are
living in peace and purity. And as we
do, let us consider the patience of God, who would that everyone experience
this new heaven and new earth. That is,
God is seeking to bring all into God’s realm, and we should live now as we
would in that realm.
Words like these offer
us hope, but they can also prove problematic.
Although we are called to prepare ourselves to meet God face to face,
too often we take words about purity and righteousness to their extremes and
pass rules and regulations that we impose on others, forgetting that these rules may not reflect the wisdom and desire of God, and that we too
need grace. So, as we prepare for the
revealing of the reign of God in all of its fullness, let us take strength in
God’s patience and God’s presence with us as the gentle shepherd who gathers us
up in God’s lap. May this Advent journey
be a season of divine blessing!
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