Wilderness Time, Matthew 3:1-12

Do you remember the story of Adam and Eve? Do you remember the story of Moses and the Israelites passing through the Red Sea to freedom? Do you remember hearing the story of the Babylonian exile and how Cyrus freed God’s people to return to Judea and Jerusalem to rebuild the temple? Do you remember the day that Jesus was baptized and how God spoke as Jesus was coming up out of the water? And, do you remember the story of the crucifixion and how the tomb was empty on that first, early Easter morning?

Today I am here to tell you that each of these major faith events was followed by a wilderness experience. The same wilderness that we find John in today.

Last week I told you that Advent was all about time. Well, the time that we are going to be looking at today is wilderness time. Wilderness time in the Bible is really important time. It is the time when God’s people learn more about their relationship with God. It is the time God’s people learn to rely on God and the community God gives rather than relying on ourselves alone. It is an already-but-not-yet time of being released from the old life condition or situation but not knowing the reality of the new world we are living in.

 Adam and Eve, when they leave the garden, are dressed for success by God with leather clothing and then sent out to learn about their new relationship with God and one another. After passing through the Red Sea, Moses and the Israelites need to learn how to be God’s people in the world and how to live with one another. (I must admit that they were slow learners because it took them forty years to cover what should have taken forty days. Today it takes about eight hours in a car with lots of stops.)

After the Babylonian exile, we first hear the words of God’s highway in the desert, “A voice cries out in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord.” From the Babylonian exile, God’s people come home changed, with another new relationship with God and God’s people.

 And when Jesus was Baptized, the heavens opened and the division between God and God’s people was forever changed. Even Jesus went into the wilderness to learn about his relationship with the Father, as the Son of God, and with God’s people, as the Son of Man.

Yes, and just before the Baptism of Jesus, John comes to us in that already-but-not-yet wilderness time. I am sure that you will be surprised to know that theology has a word for this kind of time. The word is proleptic time. In this proleptic time, John comes to us in the wilderness saying, “The kingdom of heaven HAS come near.” This is not some theoretical possibility that John is speaking of, it is already a fact. The kingdom is so near that in the verses that follow our reading today, Jesus comes to be baptized.

What is this Baptism of Repentance that John is talking about?  Repentance literally means to “re-think” or more appropriately, “wrap your mind around this instead of what you have been thinking.” It is a mindful life-changing way of doing things that allows reconciliation to be a reality.

So, in this wilderness time, John is challenging people to change the way that they think about God and their relationships with one another. John is asking them to put their old ideas of what it means to be God’s people aside for something new that is coming.

One of the sins that John is addressing, the reason he calls the Pharisees and Sadducees a “brood of vipers”, is that they believe they are more worthy to call themselves God’s elect by claiming Abraham as their ancestor.

Another sin is the people do not take seriously the laws God gave the Israelites in their earlier wilderness time to care for the widow, the orphan, the stranger, the poor, the blind, the lame, the deaf, and the maimed.

And, since we too seem to have so much trouble learning how to do that, we need to think about a world where God comes to be among us to teach and lead us into these new ways of living. In our wilderness time today, we are challenged to wrap our minds around a way of living which recognizes and names the issues of injustice in the world and of oppressive or abusive behavior we participate in in our daily lives. Then, regretting those destructive behaviors, we listen again to God’s desire for us to live in harmony and re-orient our lives so that our relationship with God and the community around us can go forward in a new direction.

Does this mean that we will be able to be reconciled with everyone? No! Jesus was never able to be, or even willing to be. reconciled with the power of the Roman Empire, but he made it possible for us to be reconciled with the true ruler of our world, this is Godself.

The reason that Jesus could not be reconciled with the Roman empire is that reconciliation is something that has to happen with all of the parties involved. If all parties are not willing to recognize the problem, or regret the outcome of previous conditions, then being able to reorient our ways of living together are not possible. Since the Roman Empire and the temple authorities were not able to recognize Jesus as God’s anointed, no regret was possible, and therefore re-orienting reconciliation could not take place.

Do not despair! We are reminded that the tree of life in our old ways has been cut down before. The temple has been destroyed, and the people of Jerusalem have been taken away as slaves to foreign lands, but, from the stump of that faith tree, a shoot of faith can grow. In this new growth of the stem there is hope, promise and joy.

Indeed, John tells us that the one who is coming, that is Jesus, will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. With this image, we foresee the Pentecost event. We recognize the fire as the purifying fire of the refinery, the fire that sterilizes and makes safe and good. Indeed, the winnowing fork is in his hand that will separate us from our sins and bring us into the granary, the Eden place where God’s relationship with us is made right again and our sins will be cremated and accounted to us no more.

In this wilderness time of Advent, we are called to bear the fruit of the tree from which we have gained new life, that is the cross. We are called to be the new shoot of faith growing up from the stump of old ways. We are called, in the darkness of our world, to be the welcoming light to those who are traveling in the dark.

And so, with the empty tomb, we recognize that God’s kingdom is not only near, but among us, and that we are living in that wilderness time of the already-but-not-yet, the wilderness time before our entry into the Promised Fullness of God’s Kingdom. We enter that world as the seeds of wheat not as the sheaves that have been harvested.  We enter the world as the harvest that is yet to be planted to be the new way of living with God and one another.

So may the God of hope fill you with joy and peace in Christ Jesus, that we will always know hope in our wilderness time together.

What does resurrection mean? Luke 20:27-38

Before I begin, how many of you have thought about the willingness of the seventh brother on the eve of his wedding? When I was in catechism and had to study this story as a means of getting us to talk about what the resurrection meant to us, I have to admit that the only thing I could think of was, “How dumb are these guys?” I was 14, and I knew that I would be heading for the hills if I were the seventh brother. Actually, I thought that I might be on the road if I were the fourth brother. I imagined that I didn’t really like my third brother, so I didn’t want to warn him, but I knew my place. I had no idea about the resurrection and what it meant, but I knew that I would have serious concerns about my future wife’s mental health.

Although this is the alternate text for All Saint’s Sunday, I feel that it is wonderfully appropriate that we read this parable today. How wonderfully rich to question life in the resurrection at this time in particular as we celebrate All Saints Sunday. So let us consider this brazen affront to Jesus and to our faith in this time of grateful remembrance.

Within the context of this day and the challenge of this text, we are confronted with “What does the resurrection mean?” We have to understand that life after death was not a new idea in Jesus’ time. But that there was a debate between some Jewish people about life after death. Those who only read the Books of Moses, thought that there was no after life. The Sadducees were part of this group, but they were already in the minority in Jesus’ time. Many of the cultures around the Mediterranean Sea and around the world already believed in an afterlife, but they would be vastly different from what our Christian understanding of heaven is.

The Greeks had hades, a place where warriors could fight and die day after day, only to awaken the next day to fight again. Okay, it wasn’t all that great for women and children, but none-the-less, they had a place of life after death.

The Egyptians had the great necropolis, the city of the righteous dead, who passed the judgment of Osiris, where they lived in comfort, served by those who were righteous enough but not the most righteous. They ate well and were able to take many of their earthly riches with them. Life in the necropolis was highly ordered and reflected the order of the society and culture they had lived in during this life time. It was a great place for the wealthy who had many possessions to bring with them, but not so hot for the poor.

The Norse had their own twist on life after death with Valhalla. It was a place of drinking and fighting, with valorous storytelling and songs, great feasts, and dancing. It was not a place where women faired very well either. They were expected to cook the meals, brew the beer and mead, serve at the tables, clean the victory halls and entertain the men throughout eternity. Women were sent to Valhalla with their men as sacrifices. Children need not apply.

These conceptions of the afterlife were highly restrictive. Only the best of the best were welcomed. At best it was a segregated space for the elite of the world. It reminds me of the story. When this man died, Saint Peter welcomed the person at the pearly gate and said, “Well, there are several places in heaven that you might want to live in throughout eternity. So, let me show you around. He and the person went from place to place. Saint Peter was excited to point out the high points of each place and why the person might choose that location. As they were walking along one of the golden paths, Saint Peter suddenly said, “Now you are going to have to be very quiet until we get to the other side of those trees.”

The person wanted to ask why, but Saint Peter put his finger over his lips. As they tip-toed by, the man saw all kinds of people singing and laughing, playing games and having a picnic. It really looked like a lot of fun.

So when they got beyond the trees, the person finally blurted out, “Why did I have to be quiet there. They were making more than enough noise by themselves. I doubt that they could have heard me if I shouted. What’s the deal?”

Saint Peter said, “We have to be quiet because they are the pious Lutherans and they think that they are the only ones up here.

These stories of heaven as a place of privilege depend on a significant part of the population not being allowed in. Those people are usually resigned to hell. I mean, what kind of fun is heaven if there isn’t a hell? How can the presence of God be open to just anyone?

When we say those words, “He descended into hell, and on the third day he rose again,” we aren’t really saying that Jesus might have taken those people with him into heaven are we? Seriously, when I get to heaven, am I going to have to live next door to that person who never mowed the yard and left trash all over the place am I? We have all kinds of ways of asking the Sadducees question about whose wife will this woman be? And when we do that, we miss the point that Jesus is trying to make.

Living in the eternal presence of God means that life will be different. We will be able to live in a place where God will be first in all that we do. The order of this world will no longer determine our behaviors. Jesus tells us that in a world that thinks of women as property to be sold, traded, or given away in marriage, that that will no longer happen. All people are going to be recognized as valuable and loved. We will no longer belong to one another, but we will belong to God, in relationship with one another in ways that lift up our value. Indeed, this is not a land of the dead that practices deadly games of war. Heaven is not a place that continues to grant privilege to the wealthy, at the expense of the poor. It is not a place where we celebrate our own actions on earth like recounting the tenth inning of the Cubs/Indians game. Heaven is that place where we are invited into Sabbath time to be guests in God’s presence with the angels and like them we will die no more but be called the children of God. As such, we will live in the fullness of our relationships with God and one another.  

In the meantime, in anticipation of that great banquet time with Christ, we continue to see the imago dei, that is, God’s image. reflected to us in the face of our neighbor. We mourn and celebrate the relationships we have with those who have gone before us and value those around us. And, with the promise and hope of the resurrection we continue to lift our neighbors up into the relationships we have with one another and Christ. Claiming, with confidence in the one who is risen from the dead, that God is God of the living, and, although some are dead to us, that they continue to be alive with Christ in the fullness of their relationship with God. In the midst of the craziness and chaos of this world, in the midst of the pain and the sorrow that we know, we can still say with Job, “I know that my redeemer lives and at the last he will stand upon the earth...Then…I shall see God.” With the writer of 2 Thessalonians we can say to one another, “Now may our Lord, Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.”

What will heaven be like? I really can’t tell you, but I can say that the one who is risen from the dead, that is Jesus Christ, has gone before us and waits for us there with welcome and love.