2nd Sunday of Advent
December 8, 2019
Isaiah 11:1-10; Matthew 3:1-15
We began our Advent series last week with Hopeful Joy and
preparing room for Jesus to be born. This week is about love and the phrase
from “Joy to the World” to “repeat the sounding joy.” Have you ever thought
about what it means to “repeat the sounding joy”? That second verse is about
all people and nature singing and repeating the sounding joy. This is getting
at the power of music and singing together. Singing is created by our breath
and vibrating sound waves, that’s how your voice box works. It’s all reverberations
that literally pass through your body. That’s why we often have a physical
response to music, whether it’s clapping or dancing or singing along. Even if
you’re just listening, these vibrations still resonate within your body. That’s
why there’s something powerful about lifting our voices together. There have
been studies done showing that singing in a choir has physiological benefits
including making you feel happier, helping to forge social bonds, and just
overall improving your sense of well-being.[1]
Now, back to “repeat the sounding joy” – this is reverberations of love
spreading throughout the world. It’s repeating and passing on the good news of
love, of God loving the world so much that God sent Jesus. And before we get to
the cross and Easter, one atonement theory is that God saved us when Jesus was
born. Becoming incarnate, God becoming man, putting on flesh, being born here
among us, begins the story of how Jesus saves us. That’s the good news of
Christmas! Jesus is born! Gloria in excelsis deo! Now there’s a tune that reverberates within your body and everyone
around you! Most music has a memorable phrase and melody. The phrase and sound
that should be vibrating through you so that you know it and those around you
can feel it is one of love: God’s radical, unconditional love for all people. God
loves you. And God’s love often shows up in radical and unexpected ways.
Let’s
look first at Isaiah. “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; and a
branch will grow out of his roots.” This is new life, a shoot, coming from
something that appears to be dead. Right? The stump’s what’s left after you cut
down the tree. It’s not good for much, other than to spark a child’s
imagination when they play on it. Picture a stump you’ve seen in your mind.
Have you ever seen a new branch come out of it? Yet that’s what God’s saying
here. From Jesse’s family tree, this great family tree that you can find in
Matthew chapter one, and includes Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, includes King
David, apparently the family tree has stopped growing. It’s been cut down to a
stump. Yet a new shoot is going to come out of it. New life is going to grow in
a place that is not only unexpected, but a place that we had given up on new
life happening. It’s like John the Baptist’s parents. They were old. Elizabeth
was post-menopausal. And Elizabeth and Zechariah in their old age become
pregnant. We have a tendency to decide too soon where something can’t grow. Whether
we’re impatient, or just decide we’re being realistic, when something looks
dead, we don’t expect new growth out of it. We give up on it. Too much has
happened. Too much is broken. It can’t be fixed. It can’t become life-giving
again. Now, here’s what’s true. It may be unfixable. And it will never look
like what it did before. But God is at work here. New life is emerging and that
stump, instead of anchoring a tall, strong tree, is now anchoring a new branch
that needs just as much love and care as the big tree did. God will make a way
where there appears to be no way. Watch if he won’t!
Can you think of times when you saw something growing
that shouldn’t have been? A plant that came up between the cracks. A house
plant you thought was dead and then suddenly has a new shoot on it. A couple
who has struggled with infertility finally getting pregnant. Life will find a
way. In the Pixar movie, “Wall-E,” Eve the robot’s one job is to find signs of
biological life among all the trash and debris left on Earth. The only sign of
organic life you see previously in the movie is a cockroach (because
cockroaches can survive anything). Then Eve finds a small plant. One small
plant, and it changes the course of the movie.
 |
| The plant Wall-E and Eve find is growing in an old boot |
Another vision comes in John the Baptist, not just in his
roots, but in his ministry. John the Baptist has one basic message, which is
the same as Jesus’ when he starts preaching, “Repent, the kingdom of heaven has
come near.” Repent. Turn back to God. Do something that shows you’ve changed
your hearts and your lives. Why? Because the kingdom of heaven has come near.
Jesus has come near. God has bent low. And John doesn’t preach and baptize the
people out of anger, although he’s certainly pretty angry with the Pharisees
and Sadducees. They only came down to the river to be baptized because it was the
popular thing to do. They don’t intend to change their ways at all. But John,
out of deep love for God’s people, is
standing in the river, with them, in the waters of baptism with them, for the
sake of their salvation. John is the voice of one calling in the wilderness,
God is at work here. New life is emerging here. Here in the wilderness, here in
the darkness, here in the desert, here in your brokenness, God is at work. John
is meeting the people in the wilderness of their lives, meeting them where they
are, yet loves them too much to not encourage them to change their lives, to
draw close to God, who has literally drawn close to you. It’s like that phrase
you may have heard, God loves you as you are, unconditionally, and God also
loves you too much to leave you the same. I love you. I want what’s best for
you. And these things you’re doing that are life-draining are not what’s best.
These things you’re doing that are drawing you away from God are not what’s
best. Seek after those things that are life-giving, those things that draw you
closer to God. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” John
has such deep loving joy for God’s people that he feels compelled to share that
love, to share that God has bent low, that God is still at work, that God is
bringing forth new life where you thought there was none. That’s John’s radical
love for God’s people. That’s what his refrain means, when he says, “Repent,
the kingdom of heaven has come near.” That’s the love that reverberates through
his action of baptizing the people and encouraging them to reorient their lives
back to God.
One final example that I’ve been saving til the end,
because I didn’t want you thinking about it for the whole sermon, is Judy
Duvall. Many of y’all knew her much, much better than I did, as I only met her
once, when we Christmas caroled at her house last year. The end of her obituary
says, “In lieu of flowers, the family asks for you to love everyone you meet
without conditions. Just, be kind to one another. She would have wanted that.”[2]
Love reverberates out and spreads. Kindness is
contagious. It’s like the story of the passenger smiling at the taxi driver who
then smiles at a lady walking by who then arrives cheerfully at work. The
reverberations keep going. And not just in this day and age but also at this
time of year, make sure your reverberations of full of love and kindness. People
are more stressed. People feel more pressure with 4th quarter and
end-of-year reports. People are busier with holiday gatherings and events. We’ve
got to-do lists that are a mile long and what feels like very limited time to
get them done. What happens when overwhelmed people meet overwhelmed people? Raised
voices, miscommunication, and hurt feelings. And those spread to the next
people they interact with. Instead, find your favorite Christmas music and sing
along. OUT LOUD. Take a deep breath before responding because what feels like a
criticism may be intended just as a comment. Choose to be kind and gracious.
Assume the best of others. Love them unconditionally and let those
reverberations spread out from you. And lest you forget, this isn’t just giving
off good vibes. These are reverberations of love that come from the deep joy
that you’re connecting to during this season. We talked last week about that
being why we do many of the traditions and rituals during Advent: because
they’re a way to tap into the deep joy of knowing you’re unconditionally loved
and accepted; because it’s time to draw near to God, who is drawing near to us
in this baby about to be born. Repeat the sounding joy. Connect to that well of
deep joy and love found in Jesus and share it, with everyone you meet. Have
more patience in the parking lot and on the roads and in the store. Greet
people you don’t know with a smile and a welcome, as if you’re about to invite
them over to your house. Feel the loving joy that runs through your very being.
And repeat the sounding joy of God’s radical love for all people.
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