The Rev. Tommy Thompson
Christmas Day
25 December 2011

Good morning brothers and sisters in the Lord and Merry Christmas to you.  It is so good to be in worship on Christmas day and that happen on Sunday!  Today the good news of Christmas and Easter meet head on – and that’s what they should always do!  This opportunity brings me such joy…such fervor. 

That’s the word for a day such as today isn’t it!  Joy…we can’t help but to smile…to laugh…to be light.  We are joyful…we must sing and we must sing out loudly for all to hear!  Christ is born!  Glorify Him!!! 

Some of these Christmas carols we sing this time of year really do give us an opportunity to express such overwhelming joy, don’t they.  My favorite of them all is the one our very own Charles Wesley wrote.  “Hark the Herald Angel Sing.”  I think that hymn really does sum up why we are so joyful today…especially as Christmas and Easter Collide – December 25 on a Sunday (and every Sunday is a little Easter).  

Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King; peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.  Joyful all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies; with the’ angelic host proclaim, “Christ is born in Bethlehem. “

Christ by highest heaven adored; Christ, the everlasting Lord.  Late in time behold him come, offspring of a virgin’s womb.  Veiled in flesh the God-head see; hail the’incarnate Deity, pleased with us in flesh to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel.

Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness!  Light and life to all he brings, risen with healing in his wings.  Mild he lays his glory by, born that we no more may die, born to raise us from the earth, born to give us second birth! 

Wesley is right on...Wesley appreciates the deep mystery of the incarnation and his hymnology passes that joyful appreciation on to us.   But this theology of the incarnation of the Son of God did not originate with Charles; as a matter of fact, not much of anything originated with Charles.  Charles’ hymns are so biblical that one person said that if we no longer had bibles, all we would need is Wesley’s hymn and we would have just about all of the bible again.  The Gospel of John was evidently one of those Gospel’s in which Charles lived and breathed. 

As we know, John’s Gospel is unlike the other Gospel’s we read during Christmas.  John says nothing of the birth narratives of Matthew and Luke.  John’s goal is that we get to know the God that is revealed so fully through Jesus, the divine Word.  He allows for nothing that would possibly cause us to get off track.  Instead, John dives in head first, inviting us to dive with him into the deep mystery of Emmanuel, God-with-us.

John wastes no time…before he says anything else in his Gospel, he calls to our attention the reason for such joy and celebration: because the one who has taken upon himself our flesh is God! “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”  Jesus is the divine Word.  Do you remember back in Genesis 1?  God spoke and that which was not came into being?  Jesus is the divine Word that was spoken by the Father.  The One we are beholding this Christmas is the pre-existant one.  

He was in the beginning with the Father.  He is the divine Word through whom all things came into being and without him not one thing came into being.  He is the author of life, the light of all people.  His light, from the very beginning has shown in the darkness and the darkness did not, has not, and will never overcome! 

Who is this Jesus that we celebrate during Christmas?  What is the source of this uncontainable joy!?  Why do we celebrate? 

John’s Gospel invites us this Christmas to worship and adore Christ, 

the creative Word who is God!

Who is this Jesus that we celebrate during Christmas?  What is the source of this uncontainable joy!?  Why do we celebrate?

The Gospel continues, revealing that John the Forerunner was sent as a witness to testify to the light, Jesus Christ.  He testified so that all might believe.

Who is this Jesus that we celebrate during Christmas?  What is the source of this uncontainable joy!?  Why do we celebrate?

We are called to worship and adore Christ, the light of the World, testified to through John the Baptizer.

Who is this Jesus that we celebrate during Christmas?  What is the source of this uncontainable joy!?  Why do we celebrate?

We celebrate because He was in the world and even through the world came into being through Him, it did not know him.  Jesus was sent to those who were His own, the Jewish people. But  his own people did not accept Him.  And then there’s the “but!” We are called to celebrate because even though many did reject him and not see Him for who he was, some did!  And all who did receive him, who believed in his name, He gave power to become children of God, being born not of blood or through the will of the flesh, but of God. 

Who is this Jesus that we celebrate during Christmas?  What is the source of this uncontainable joy!?  Why do we celebrate?

We are called to celebrate because the divine Creative Word that knows no beginnings, through whom all things came into being, came to us and offered us adoption, to be children of God. 

And if that ain’t enough, here’s another reason, to adore Him…to celebrate….to be joyful this Christmas! 

This divine Word who is pre-existant, through whom all things were made, the One who is the author of life, the light of all that is, has chosen to come and pitch tent with His children.  “And the Word became flesh and lived among us and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth…From His fullness, we have received grace upon grace.  … No one has ever seen God.  It is God the only Son, who is in the Father’s bosom, who has made him know.

Who is this Jesus that we celebrate during Christmas?  What is the source of this uncontainable joy!?  Why do we celebrate?

We are called to celebrate because the Father has sent the Son to become flesh among us and because of his incarnation, the glory and splendor of the everlasting Lord is among us.  We have received grace upon grace upon grace!  And The One who is in the Father’s bosom is “with-us,” Emmanuel. 

In Jesus, the God incarnates himself among us,  and the One who is in the Father’s bosom dwells with us, making the fullness of the Godhead present and intimate with us.

That’s why we celebrate!  That’s why we are so joyful!  God has appeared among us, like us, so that we might be healed and become like God again.  He has come to restore and heal us so that we might again be the image and likeness of God. 

Have you been celebrating?  You haven’t missed the point have you?! I hope none of us have focused too heavily on what the world has made Christmas into?  Have you made material gain the fake magic of Christmas?  If so, no wonder your not joyful.  Maybe you are happy.  But why?  Are you warm and fuzzy inside just because of the carols and the lullabies?  Because of a sweet baby and a bunch of precious animals?  Or are you celebrating because you cannot fathom how the everlasting Lord of the universe, the Creator of all things, the Prince of Peace, the fullness of the God-head, would humble himself so and come down on our sinful level and become fully what we are so that we might become fully what we were intended to be in the first place: like God—in His image?!  I hope you cannot stop celebrating because God took our flesh upon Him and knew no sin and was faithful even to death.  I hope you are joyful because death could not hold the God-man down, but He is risen with healing in His wings.  I hope you are excited not because of Christmas presents, but because God has chosen to give you second birth, to call you His daughter or His son.  I hope you can’t stop rejoicing because God has chosen to come and live among us, making the fullness of God present where we are, inviting us into constant communion and conversation with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Hark! The herald angels sing! Glory to the newborn King!  Amen.

Christmas Eve 2011

The Rev. Tommy Thompson

Christmas Eve 

24 December 2011

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! 

It is with great joy and thanksgiving that I greet you tonight; for this night is a holy night.  It is a night that shines with splendor.  The twelve days of Christmas has begun.  So let us celebrate with festive joy!  For God, out of His great love for us, has appeared in human flesh to save us from sin and death!  

Oh this day gets romanticized as much as any day of the year.  Many see Christmas as simply the birthday of baby Jesus without much more thought put into what it means that Jesus was once a baby.  Many of us receive the warm fuzzies when we consider the manger scene...the shepherds, the animals, Mary, Joseph, the baby Jesus.

Somehow we miss the fact that for the holy family, this night was not very cozy or comfortable at all.  Somehow we miss the fact that this record of the birth of Jesus as presented in Luke’s Gospel, is a story full of tension and threat. 

Luke begins the narrative of Jesus’ birth with these words: “In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered.”  

This statement is not simply a statement given to us for the purpose of locating in history when the event of Jesus’ birth took place.  More than that, this statement demonstrates the vastness of the Emperor’s rule.  The emperor who was understood, at the very least, to be quasi-divine, has summoned not simply a region or a nation, but “the world” to be registered.  All people are to report to their own towns to be to participate in the Emperor’s on-demand tax burden.

As much as anything, this census is yet another reminder to all people, particularly, the people of Israel, that the Roman Emperor is in control.  The census reminds God’s people of an alien, unwelcome intrusion into the affairs of the Jewish people.  It reminds them of the allegiance they owe Rome as a conquered nation. 

The people of God have been waiting for the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.  These descriptions that Israel only attribute to the one true God, the Roman empire attributes to the Emperor.  For them Augustus is Lord; he is the one who was understood to be the prince of peace as he supposedly unified the world under Roman rule.  The census reminds the people of God that if Augustus is Lord and Ruler of what he understands to be the entire world, then no one else is. 

It is against this political backdrop that the story of Jesus’ birth comes to fruition. While the emperor thinks he is in control...while he calls all to their birthplaces to remind them who is in charge even in those intimate places, God is at work, using the the emperors decree to bring about His purposes. 

The emperor summons Joseph and Mary, along with “all the world” to go to their own towns for yet another reminder of who is in charge.  But Augustus didn’t realize that God was toying with him, bringing to fulfillment the song of Mary through his own decree. 

Because the command for all to go to their own towns is an opportunity for God to bring his promise to fulfillment when he said of Bethlehem:

“But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,

   who are one of the little clans of Judah,

from you shall come forth for me

   one who is to rule in Israel,

whose origin is from of old,

   from ancient days.

Therefore he shall give them up until the time

   when she who is in labour has brought forth;

then the rest of his kindred shall return

   to the people of Israel.

And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord,

   in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.

And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great

   to the ends of the earth;

and he shall be the one of peace.”

This is the last place the Emperor would expect a king mightier than he to appear.  In Bethlehem?  really?  humble Bethlehem?  Future kings and emperors are born into this world with pomp and circumstance...Bethlehem? 

But not only the Roman Empire, but the people of God themselves, aren’t looking for anything special to come out of Bethlehem. Maybe they’ve been told for too long that their Lord is Caesar?  Maybe they’ve settled ... maybe they’ve forgotten.  Maybe they’ve  become so accustomed to the world’s use of power and authority that they couldn’t recognize the reign of God coming to fruition even if it were right under their noses?  Because the one who is to rule the world, and his name is not Augustus, is born and no none even notices...well, shepherds, and animals...but in Roman society, who are they? 

The text says that, “while Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem, the time came for Mary to deliver her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.”

While the Emperor is flexing his muscles, reminding the world who is in charge, God appears in Bethlehem of all places, and there is no room made for him.  There was no room made for him...

Why not!?  If God is God and not Augustus or anyone else, can’t God just command a royal entrance?  Can’t God overthrow Augustus and make it known immediately that He is in charge?  Why this kind of entrance?  For not just a king but THE King?  Why was there no room made for Him?

Maybe our world has be so diseased by sin...so confused by the abuse of power...that we truly have no room for God in our lives. 

And this is the point of Christmas.  Christmas if anything, is about the mystery of God becoming human.  God becoming creature...God putting on flesh.

I like the way my little Hannah put it one of her Christmas prayers when she prayed, “God thank you for getting Jesus dressed.”  This is what Christmas is really about!  The Son of God gets dressed.  He puts on as clothing, our flesh and bone so that we might be dressed in the life of God! 

The God we made no room for has made room for us in His very life by becoming one of us!  And this good news was confirmed when the Son of God who was truly human overcame death and ascended into heaven as a human being. Now a human being sits at the right of God the Father with the prints of love in his hands and feet ever visible! 

God has made room for us in His life.  God has begun a new reign...the rule of love.  And He did this knowing full and well we couldn’t make room for Him...knowing that we are in sin...knowing that we are in error.  Augustus rules for His own benefit; God’s reign is for the benefit of the other.  Augustus sits in a palace, on a throne...God walks with His people most especially through the messiness of their lives and brings them through the mess to victory in Christ. 

I think this is why God firsts appeared to shepherds and in the city of David, the one who was the shepherd-come-king.  God appears on earth to shepherd his people...not bully them.  He is willing to stay with us day and night and even smell like us at our worse in order to save us.  This is the good news of Christmas.

Maybe your life is in disarray this Christmas?  Maybe you’ve accepted the mask the world has given you to wear during the “holiday season?”  It may even be that you’ve wore the mask for so long, your face has grown to fit it...

I have good news for you: Christ is born in Bethlehem!...in Bethlehem!  the Shepherd of God’s people is here and he wants to walk with you even through --No! most especially  through --the messy and deathly places and toward grassy green pastures and quiet streams of water. 

Christ is born!  Glorify Him!

“The God of the Meandering Mission”

The Reverend Tommy Thompson
Fourth Sunday in Advent
2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16, Luke 1:46b-55, Luke 1:26-38
18 December 2011


In the Name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Old Testament lesson for this fourth Sunday in Advent comes from a place with which many of us “First-Worlders” are quite familiar...it comes from the warmth of a nice home...where all is safe and secure--from a grand, luxurious house made of cedar. Warm fires, plenty of food, a bit of leisure...good times. That was the situation “King” David found himself in...after much roving and contending, he is finally safe and secure...and that’s such a good place to be. It is a place that the majority of us gathered this fourth Sunday of Advent also find ourselves...We can identify with David...we have our own “houses of cedar,” if you will...they’re safe and secure ... warm and pleasant...

The text reads, “Now when the king was settled in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, ‘See now, i am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.’”

I wonder what was going through David’s mind here? I mean this God he serves...the one that has given him this season of rest and security...has always been meandering about, hasn’t he? David hasn’t know of a time where this God was settled in one place...maybe YHWH needs to know more of this life I’m living -- the good life...stop rocking the world’s boat...calm down for a while and settle and relax.

So he comes up with a solution.

It is too risky, once we finally find a bit of security symbolized by a house of cedar, to let God continue to be the uncontainable roving God on a holy mission.  I like the security and the comfort I enjoy, so rather than waiting around for him to challenge me to continue the risky business of following his elusive, unpredictable mission meanders, what if we built God one just like ours…maybe it will domesticate him…tame him…if he no longer roves, maybe we’ll no longer rove.  If he is domesticated and tame, our mission is easy…and can be accomplished from the comfort of this position where I sit in my recliner, looking out the window past my beautifully decorated Christmas tree as I listen to the crackle and pop that resounds from the splendid warmth of my fire place.

I wonder...could that be David’s motivation for wanting to build YHWH a house? Contain what so far has been uncontainable? For once to control that which has been elusive and unpredictable? I wonder if that’s what we’d like to do as well? Build a nice building for God...I wonder if that’s what we think we’ve done? So many of us call the building the church, after all. We go to it. We enjoy it and what happens in it...we hope God enjoys it all too... Rather than the building being the hub for following the meandering missions of the Holy One, could it be that we too have made it a way of containing the uncontainable? A way of projecting our own understanding of the Divine in a space?

Regardless of David’s motivation...and regardless of ours, God has something to make clear. “I am not the God of cozy cedar houses...I am not the God who is contained within the four walls you build to contain me...no, as I said to Moses, so I say to you, “I will be whoever I will be.” I am the uncontainable One...I am the God who will continue the risky rovings of mission until the whole world finally enjoys the home I am building for them. I, the King, not you, my prince, David, (I love how the Lord doesn’t call him King here...), am the provider. The tabernacle is meant to be on the move...and that’s who I am --I am the God who is on the move, tabernacling/pitching tent with all until all find their home in me.

I am the God, not of the cedar house but of the messiness of life ‘in the flesh.’ I have no desire to be domesticated with you in the world of sin...to eat and drink and be merry as if tomorrow will be just like today, great beyond measure...No, I’m on a mission, and I invite you to step down from my throne and be my servant. Don’t try to contain me...don’t try to detain me...don’t try to slow me down...I will be who I will be.

So here’s how God responded, “Are you the one to build ME a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day i brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but i have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle.” He continues later, “the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make YOU a house. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.”

The tables have been turned on David; and whether David knows it or not, it is in his best interest. God is the home builder...he is the provider. He needs no one to take care of him...he’s already at home within himself in His triune life. Those who need a home -- that would be us. And THAT is just what God will do -- he will make a house of the kingdom of David.

But that will require more insecurity...more risk. God is not to be domesticated. he will continue going before David and the whole of God’s people, doing His home building. We cannot contain him. Instead, he invites us to join him on the journey of bringing the divine possibility to fruition in the midst of human impossibilities. Because that is the brick and mortar He will use to build his house.

______________________________________________________________________

“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David.”

The angel showed up to announce that God had not been domesticated as of yet--He is not tame...He still seems crazy in the face of human reason. He is still working on that new home for his fallen world to find it’s refuge and rest once and for all -- for the establishment of that royal kingdom where the world will finally be “at home.”

And we know it is this same God at work because He does what the world would never do...he doesn’t call forth a great army; he doesn’t call on the power of rulers; he doesn’t call on the proud or the rich...no he calls on one that understands herself to be lowly and servant. He is about to lay down the cornerstone to the home. The most pivotal step toward building that everlasting home for the world is about to begin...and he calls a lowly, young, virgin, teenage girl named Mary who was engaged to man named Joseph, of David’s line. And through her, home will, possibly, appear in our midst.

You see God turns out not to be the God of cedar houses but of the risky business of entrusting future peace and security with the wavering wills of human beings who might not say, “Let it be with me according to your word.” God builds through the unpredictability of the other end of the invitation. Will she says yes? Will salvation grow a step closer to fruition today?

Oh but it is so impossible...this work God is doing. The most pivotal event in human history rests upon the response of a young virgin...and the mission? -- to conceive in her womb and bear a son and name him Jesus... ?

Mary wondered, “How could this be? I am still a virgin!?” But that’s exactly the point...and Sarah was barren...and the people of Israel were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Red Sea stood between promise and fulfillment, and Joshua wasn’t supposed to be...and Ehud, the left handed Benjamenite, killed the great fat king Eglon...and Gideon’s clan was the weakest in Manasseh...he was the least in his family...and yet he was the mighty warrior YHWH had called him...David was a young handsome shepherd boy called to fight the giant Goliath... The point of all this...God was with these servants, who, even if but for a short time, said, “Let it be for me as you wish Lord.”...and the divine possibility sprang forth into existence in the midst of human impossibility. And so here we have it again...I am going to act and when I have won victory, no one will be able to say it was by the strength of their own hands...because left handed Benjamenites don’t kill powerful kings...young handsome shepherd boys don’t defeat giants and virgins don’t give birth to the awaited Messiah of Israel whose kingdom shall have no end! God is at work...he is not contained...his mission meanders continue.

So the angel responds to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” That’s how it’ll happen...that’s the only way this house get’s built. So will you be the tabernacle for this period of time...to bear forth God into the world...to bear forth the world’s future --it’s permanent home that God is giving as a gift?

And Mary, fully aware of the consequent coming accusations and all that comes with that in the first century world, responds, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” That is the sound of the nail being hammered into the wood of the everlasting home. Yes, Lord; I am your servant...I am not in charge...i do not have all the answers, but I believe you do...and I don’t have to know how it will happen...i trust you. I believe you. You will protect me even in the disgrace of rumors and hatred and your will will come to fruition. Let it be Lord, let it be!

Do we need to ask why Mary has such a high place in the life of the church throughout the centuries? This is the perfect picture of Christian discipleship, sisters and brothers. What we need is more “Let it be’s!” and less “Let me build a house of containment for you!” More “I am your servant” and Less “I am the king.” Mary is blessed in and by all generations because she is the ultimate picture of obedient discipleship -- faithful house building.

Oh for a few more yes’s to the impossible possibility of God’s will to build this ultimate home for His world. Let the sounds of construction resound here in Clifton Forge and beyond as God’s people join Mary and the countless faithful voices throughout church history who have said and lived “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” and watch the ultimate home of all creation -- Jesus -- be born into the wanderings of broken human life. Amen.

In The 'Meantime'--Rejoice!

The Reverend Tommy Thompson
Third Sunday in Advent
11 December 2011

In the Name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again! This is the mystery of our faith--past, present, & future tense. Christ has died, Christ is risen ... presently and eternally...but there is one event in the life of God we still await --his re-appearance...the ultimate coming of God in God’s world. The mystery of our faith tells us where we are on the journey...and it is a place we are used to being--a place of tension.

We experience tension every day...in the political atmosphere...sociologically, economically, religious tension and so forth. We are pulled this way and then pulled back that way...it’s tough to make an absolute decision about this political party or that one...this candidate or that one...whether or not to donate to this charity or that one...whether to post this Facebook status or not...to go to that party or this one...whether to take the red pill or the blue pill...we live in tension. And some tension is healthy...it is the working out of our lives.

This tension we constantly find ourselves living in...that was the place the first century church found itself living. Paul wrote his letter to the Thessalonians before any of his other letters...not too awfully long after the first two events of the mystery of our faith occurred: Christ died and Christ arose. But as closely linked as these two events were, so too, the church expected, the third would follow very shortly after. They believed that “Christ will come again” could not be much longer...as a matter of fact, most believed the coming of Jesus in ultimate and everlasting glory would occur in their lifetime.

Imagine the tension such belief caused for the church. He has died and has risen...the battle has been won. Salvation is accomplished...now it’s time for the victorious kingdom to restore peace, prosperity and security once and for all. The old regime has fallen...the people God await the newness God’s victorious kingdom promises.

But the sun comes up, and the sun goes down...and the world still wears a frown. The church in Thessalonica had trouble with this reality. Why are our loved ones dying? Why is aunt Louise so sick? How come the rich get richer and poor get poorer? Jesus rose from the dead...

Many Christians were sitting on their hands, as Paul put it...idle, refusing to work but being so spiritually good they were of no earthy count. They simply didn’t know what to do with the “already - but - not - yet” of God’s kingdom. The battle is won, so on with the consequences of that victory already!

The Thessalonians represent the earliest Church that we know of...the church that was trying to make sense of what it means to be the church in that “in-between” time betwixt climax and resolution...between already and not yet. What do we do in the meantime?

But before we look to Paul’s direct response to this dilemma in the church of thessalonica, I believe the prophet Isaiah and our Master, Jesus himself, has some light to shed on the situation.

In the aftermath of exile, the people of God awaited restoration. All they had ever hoped for had been stripped from them. They lost all that was comfortable and familiar. They were ruled over by foreigners...they were beginning to see the consequences of their rebellion and stubbornness in refusing to join in the mission they agreed to join their God, YHWH in, so long ago when he made covenant to be their God and they His people.

In the tension of already (exile) and not yet (restoration), which wasn’t so much different from the tension the first Christians lived in, Isaiah had a word to proclaim. “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to provide for those who mourn in Zion--to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, to display his glory.

Ah...how well do you know your bible? Did you catch exactly what God is promising through Isaiah here? The people of God in exile wouldn’t have missed it. Straight from Leviticus 25. It is the ultimate time of restoration for the people of God. Isaiah has brought back to the memory of Israel the promise of the year of Jubilee. It means return. It means deliverance. It means restoration. It means relief. It is the fiftieth year...when the trumpet sounds and liberty is announced to all who live in the land. It is time to remember who really owns the land...time to let the land rest from its work...time to restore land to the families who once owned it but fell into trouble and had to sell...time for those who had to sell themselves as hired hands to wealthier land owners to be set free and returned to their own family and returned to their ancestral properties. Jubilee was time for restoration...time to let mercy and grace flow like a mighty river. Time to remind God’s people that no matter how hard they’ve worked, ultimately all they possessed and enjoyed belonged to God and God could give it to any as He pleases...just as he brought Israel out from Egypt and made them his people to prosper! Jubilee was an announcement -- don’t think too highly of yourselves! “For I brought you out from the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.” Don’t forget where you came from and don’t forget whose you are!

But as much as anything, the time of jubilee was an opportunity for the people of God to demonstrate a form of living to the nations of the world that was unique and holy. Jubilee, as Isaiah proclaimed, gave Israel the opportunity to display YHWH’s glory for the nations to see.

That’s it. Don’t get settled Israel...don’t get too comfortable with the present arrangement of things...you don’t exist for yourselves...you are a people of mission. You exist to point others to the Glory of the God who has redeemed you and made you his precious people. You are to be a light to the nations.

I wonder if Israel heard this goal through the prophets speech? I wonder if she only heard the lingo of restoration of land, prosperity, material possessions? If so, she missed the point altogether! The point is: God is renewing his people SO THAT they might get another chance to do what they have been called and formed to do -- display the unique, holy life of God to a world that God wants to redeem--just as he redeemed Israel so long ago. He wants Israel to be his hands and his feet...to announce to the world the salvation that is coming in and through their God, YHWH.

I like the way Isaiah puts it in verses 61:8-9: “For I the LORD love justice, i hate robbery and wrongdoing; i will faithfully give them their recompense, and i will make an everlasting covenant with them. Their descendants shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge that they are a people whom the LORD has blessed.”

There it is again...the goal and purpose of God’s coming restoration after exile. The form of life lived by the people of God that is a displaying of God’s glory will make them known to the nations of the world...the nations will acknowledge YHWH’s blessing of his people...YHWH will be made known through the faithfulness of His servant Israel.

This is really the hope of the people of God in exile. I wonder though...did they get it? Did they only hear about what was being restored and not the purpose of the coming jubilee?

According to the New Testament, not quite. The people of God never quite understood the point of restoration...they forgot who and whose they were...they lost their mission and purpose in life.

But thanks be to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit did not forget. No, God remembered. And at the right time, Jesus arrived on scene -- the representative of God’s people Israel. God was so serious about this mission for the sake of the whole world, that when his people failed and rebelled, he was faithful. He took on their jewish flesh and appeared among his own people and announced that that which the prophet Isaiah spoke so long ago is now standing right in front of you---you are staring fulfillment in the face. Listen to what Jesus says about himself as he unrolls the scroll of Isaiah and reads from the very passage we just reflected upon:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight of the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor...today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’”

Oh, let the church in Thessalonica hear and understand...let the church in all places and at all times hear and understand. The time of Jubilee, set forth in Leviticus and promised through the prophet Isaiah to a people in exile has come to fruition in Jesus Christ. But as you hear, understand the POINT of Isaiah’s proclamation of hope -- not for you to simply be set free...to be released...but to be set free for a purpose...to be released from oppression to live for a new kingdom -- a new lord...with a new mission!
If Jesus is the fulfillment of Isaiah 61, then those who are his liberated followers participate in the rest of the story...there was always supposed to be an ‘in-between’ time...a time for God’s people to be be God’s image in the world...the image restored. To join John, the forerunner, in pointing the nations of the world away from ourselves and to the God who has delivered us!

Jesus responds to the church that lives in the tension of ‘already-but-not-yet’ and says, “This was my intention all along...ever since we announced the promise so long ago...that my people would be a holy nation, a royal priesthood, and share in my mission announced in Luke chapter 4...and display my glory to the nations!”

So Paul responds to the church in Thessalonica, “Don’t sit on your hands...don’t live life in a spiritual bubble...don’t keep it all to yourselves...do the work of the Lord, and do it with the joy of a people who have experienced jubilee!”

Hear what Paul says to the church in the midst of the tension she found herself in: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Rejoice! That is the response to God’s faithful work in Christ Jesus for us and for our salvation isn’t it! Jubilee people who display God’s glory for the sake of God’s world are people who are characterized as people who always rejoice, always pray, and always make eucharist (the same word that means thanksgiving in the general sense and thanksgiving in the particular sense -- the kind we make when offer bread and wine to God through Christ at His holy table).

And it is exactly what the response of Israel was to Isaiah’s proclamation too--”I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my whole being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels!”

On this third Sunday in Advent, the church has lit the rose colored candle...that candle is the candle of rejoicing! As we await the coming of our Master in final glory, we are called to continue Jesus mission with utter joy and thanksgiving. It is not a burden for us to go out and take good news to the oppressed...not a burden for us to go our and proclaim the Gospel of comfort to those who mourn. No, we are people who rejoice with every captive who is liberated, who give God thanks as the brokenhearted are bound up in God’s loving care and who exult in God’s salvation as the oppressed are set free! We are people who do our mission out of a response of joy and thanksgiving to our God who has set us free and made us the people we are. People who the world knows as “blessed by God.”

In the midst of the tension of already-not-yet, we are called today to rejoice in our mission in God’s world; for that is the next step towards the final redemption of the world. And as Scott Bader Saye says so well, “Being missional, in light of [Isa 61] means profoundly challenging all forms of cultural Christianity that would make ‘church’ and end in itself, a community of the saved devoted to maintaining a building, a set of programs, and a fellowship of the like-minded...Mission happens when Christians turn their attention to those who are named as the recipients of the good news: the oppressed, the brokenhearted, the captives, the prisoners, the mournful, the faint of spirit...So, mission is not primarily something that goes out from God's people--by sending money or sending missionaries--but something that defines God's people, as existing for the sake of the oppressed, brokenhearted, imprisoned, and mournful.” And this existing for the sake of the oppressed, brokenhearted, imprisoned, and mournful is not a burden but the utter joy and thanksgiving that characterizes our time of jubilee.

Scott continues, “So long as Christians live as divided people, known to the world as those who judge, fight, and exclude, the church will fail to be missional, no matter how much money it gives and how many missionaries it sends."

There’s something about living in all circumstances with utter joyful thanksgiving in communion with God that displays God’s glory to the world. It is through this response of holistic joy and thanksgiving that the church continues in Jesus’ mission as little John the Baptizers in our own time. Pointing away from ourselves, with John, saying, “I am not he, but let me show you the one that clothed me in righteousness in the waters of baptism...i am not He but let me introduce you to the One who has brought forth jubilee in our lives! Let us introduce you to the source of our joy -- the reason for our perpetual eucharist! It is He--Jesus, who has died, who is risen, who is coming again!
Amen.