Sermon – The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Us (What’s in Your Wallet)
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; John 1:6-8, 19-28
Farmville Presbyterian Church
December 17, 2023
– Pointing through ambiguity in the coming of Christ
This is the most precarious sermon I will preach all year, the most risky. Eddie knows why. Because in a few minutes you will get to vote on my salary. What does the minister do? Does he go big and hazard offense, or does he keep it safe and plain? To add to the conundrum, this week has been all kinds of crazy.
That is why (to make it worse) this is perhaps my worst titled sermon ever. When I was planning my sermons a while ago, this is what I had thought I might preach on today. I try to come up with a sermon title for the music planning, in addition to the scripture texts, so that our church musician might have more insight into what I might be doing for my message. This week, however, I found myself scrambling. And my message does not really have anything to do with that title. It’s a nice idea but sorry. I conducted a wedding yesterday, so I had that on my mind, and it has been rather busy enough around here. We even hired a new music director this week. While we will miss Gabrielle, and it has been a true blessing to have her with us, I’m glad to say we should be in good hands – more about that another day. Life has been topsy-turvy on so many levels – family illness. I was beginning to really wonder what I might share with you today. It crossed my mind to punt and just use an old sermon. And I never do that. When I have tried the very few times in the past, I end up rewriting the whole thing, anyway. In the middle of all of this confusion, I sat down and read the text, again, from John’s Gospel, and I said to myself, “Wow. Yes, I want to preach on this passage.“
You may not have had that same feeling as I read it, but maybe you find yourself in a similar boat to mine. And John is just as caught up in things as maybe we are, probably more so. I love that people are bombarding him with questions, and he is caught in this great swirl of confused anticipation: Are you THIS person? Are you THAT person? Are you ANY person? WHO are you?
It is almost as if he does not really know what to say. He knows he is not the Messiah, even though he is doing some Messiah kinds of things. He knows he is not Elijah, even though Elijah is supposed to announce the coming of the Messiah (so says the prophet Malachi in the last passage of the Old Testament). He knows he is not some new, exciting prophet like the prophets of old, even though he really is functioning as a prophet and sounding like a prophet and acting as a prophet. Who are you, John? He even responds with words of prophecy from one of the greatest prophets in Hebrew history, the same one we just read, good ol’ Isaiah, and he announces himself in Isaiah’s own words: I AM that one calling you to get ready for the Messiah. That’s who John thinks he is, but he sure sounds like prophet to me.
John is so important to the story, so critical. Jesus says that no one alive is more important, but even the least of the Kingdom of Heaven is greater. Question after question remains. What John knows for certain as he goes on baptizing people out in the wilderness at the Jordan River is that he is pointing the way to Christ. He is calling our attention to the Light that is coming. Hold that thought. He is emphasizing God’s coming Light in a world that only has natural light. In that dark world, John was promising true Light.
One of the amazing things about religious art hundreds of years ago was the way the artists infused God’s characters with light. John is coming to tell us about the Light. Those who know his message glow in these paintings. Their very faces glow if they know the good news of the coming Christ. That’s how you can tell the saints and followers of Jesus. Even though the folk in John’s day lived in horrendous brutality under a rule that celebrated gladiatorial games, torture, and mass executions, John is convinced there is still light. The Light of God was coming into the world, and John was that lighthouse, that candle, that star pointing us to Jesus.
Isn’t this what we are desperately trying to do today – point to Jesus? I certainly hope so, and I’m pretty sure that is the whole reason for Advent. As much fun all the Christmas festivities are, Advent is about pointing specifically to the coming Jesus. Everything about us and all that we do should be pointing to the coming Lord.
Our first dog when Anne and I got married was a SPCA hunting dog mix. She was very good at just sitting on her pillow all day and not much else. Sadly, she had been abused. There were a few times, however, when she acted more like a healthy, happy dog. She loved snow desperately and would run around in it until her coat was covered with snowballs hanging down her sides. She also loved to play with other dogs. The other time was when we would go on walks, and we’d see a bunny. I only had to say, “Katie, where’s the bunny?” for her to stop and point wherever she thought there might be a bunny. There was actually a bunny statue in one yard that we could always rediscover to her delight. It boggles my mind how that kind of behavior can be so innate. How can that be a DNA thing that those dogs just know how to point at things?
We are not so good at pointing, but there are those who help. German preacher, teacher, and theologian Detrich Bonhoeffer wrote that God is
There, where our understanding is outraged, where our nature rebels, where our piety anxiously keeps its distance – that is exactly where God loves to be. There though it confounds the understanding of sensible people, though it irritates our nature and our piety, God wills to be, and none of us can forbid it. Only the humble believe and rejoice that God is so gloriously free, performing miracles where humanity despairs and glorifying that which is lowly and of no account. For just this is the miracle of miracles, that God loves the lowly. God has “looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.” God in the midst of lowliness – that is the revolutionary, passionate word of Advent. [Sermon on Luke 1:46-55]
Bonhoeffer was thinking about Mary and the birth of Jesus, how actually offensive it would have been for the Son of God to be born that way, but the very story points to the kind of free, passionate God we have. This is not the God who plays by human rules or human expectations or human norms. This is not the God who fits in a box or is even easy to understand. Our God defies human minds and understanding because true love is too big for our little brains, but it is real, and we can help point to it, too.
You may remember those credit card commercials that posed the question, “What’s in Your Wallet?” This is a very interesting question that goes far beyond a piece of plastic. Our wallets represent what is important to us, perhaps most important. Our spending shows our priorities, our very hearts. This is a season of great spending, and people are trying to show all kinds of things with their spending and giving, even if they do not realize they are doing it. It is so easy to equate our giving as a level of our love. The more we give someone, the more we love them. When you say it, however, it doesn’t sound so nice.
“What’s in Your Wallet” is also a pointing expression. It points people to something else, not to you but to what’s important to you. John had no illusions about showering the people with gifts or favors, though. He was washing the people in warning. The Messiah, God’s Anointed, the Christ is coming and the world is going to change. Are you ready? This prophet who was not a prophet stood out because of his appearance, his message, his actions, and his refusal to go along with a dark and broken world.
If we are going to claim our Savior in this time of Advent, we are following in John’s steps. If we are going to find a God who loves the lowly, the different, and the outcast, we also need to point. The same God who called Mary to become the mother of Jesus, the same Mary who had to run for her life when she became pregnant, is also calling us to welcome Jesus, to look forward to Jesus, to point to Jesus.
This will only happen when we are different. We must be kind where people are not being kind. We must be compassionate where people are not being compassionate. We must be forgiving where people are not being forgiving. We must be honest where people are not being honest. We must be servants where people are not being servants. We must be hopeful where people are not being hopeful. We must be humble where people are not being humble. We must be faithful where people are not being faithful. We must be community where people are not being community. We must be more like Christ Jesus where people are not being like our Lord and Savior and friend. Where are you pointing right now in your life? Where are we pointing as a church? No notion of church is for us to serve ourselves. We are a light to the nations because Jesus is our Light. We are all pointing to something. I hope it is to the heart of God.
To God be the glory. Amen.