This year, in Advent and Christmas, we are doing things a little bit differently - instead of a more traditional "sermon," each week our reflection is going to take the form of story-telling, told from the perspective of someone who was waiting for Jesus.
Two Rivers Pastoral Charge
Sunday December 5, 2021 – Second Sunday of Advent
Scripture Reading – Luke 3:1-18
My name is Deborah bat Ya’akov. Don’t go looking for me in that book that you read from every week – you’re not going to find me in its pages. But I was there. I was there by the River Jordan. I met this man, this John that you read about. I listened to what he had to say, and I was baptized by him, right there in the river.
My family lived in Jerusalem, the biggest city that I have ever seen. But even there in the city, we had heard about John. We heard that crowds of people were going out to listen to him. We heard that he was saying amazing things. It has been so many years since God-Whose-Name-Is-Holy had sent a prophet to our people, we thought that maybe John might finally be the one.
And so we decided that we too would make the journey from Jerusalem to hear him for ourselves. My parents and my two younger brothers and I prepared for the journey and we set out. From Jerusalem we headed north and east to Jericho, and then from Jericho we continued east until we reached the river where John was preaching. It seemed like half of the city of Jerusalem was heading to the river to hear John speak! All along the way, we kept meeting families we know.
It took us a couple of days to reach the river – with my younger brothers, we couldn’t travel too quickly. But when we got to the river, it wasn’t hard to find John, because there were crowds of people around him. But there was John, standing up to his waist in the river, with the sunlight sparkling off the ripples and waves that surrounded him.
But whenever John started to speak, it was easy to hear him because people quieted right down. My first thought when I saw him was that he was Elijah, one of our prophets from hundreds of years ago. The scroll of Kings that is read in the synagogues and in the temple tells us that Elijah wore clothes made of hair and had a leather belt around his waist; and here was John wearing clothes made of camel hair with a leather belt around his waist.
I started to wonder if this John person was really Elijah, returned to earth. After all, Elijah never died, but was carried off in a whirlwind to be with God-Whose-Name-Is-Holy. And the prophet Malachi wrote on his scroll, “Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.”
For longer than I’ve been alive, for almost 100 years, our land has been governed by the emperor in Rome rather than by our own people. And yes, people talk about the “pax romana,” the Roman Peace, but it isn’t really peace. There isn’t any war these days, but that doesn’t mean much since everyone is living in fear. If you dare to disagree with the rulers, you will be put into prison or worse. And there are always rumblings of revolt underneath the so-called peace.
But people are talking that maybe God-Whose-Name-Is-Holy is going to send a Messiah to us – an anointed one – anointed like a king – anointed to free us from Rome and free us from the fear that we are living with every day. If John is really Elijah come back to earth, then this Messiah might be coming next, and then maybe God-Whose-Name-Is-Holy will come to earth!
My family and I, we listened to John. He kept saying that he wasn’t the Messiah; that he wasn’t the one we were waiting for. But he did tell us that we were to get ready. He told us that we had to change our ways; that we had to turn back to God-Whose-Name-Is-Holy. He told us that another one was coming, someone even more powerful than he. He said that he, John, wasn’t worthy to serve this one who is coming – not fit to be a servant who unties and ties his sandals.
Even now, telling you about it, I can feel the fire of his speaking running through me. I so long for God-Whose-Name-Is-Holy to come to earth, I was willing to change anything, to do anything. And so I made my way to the front of the crowd, and John asked me if I was ready to repent, to change my heart and mind, to turn back to God-Whose-Name-Is-Holy. I said “yes!” I wanted to shout it from the mountaintops! Yes! And so I went with the people who were being baptized, and John pushed me under the water, and it was like I was re-born to this new way of living and being.
I wonder what God-Whose-Name-Is-Holy has planned for us? John didn’t tell us how long we were going to have to wait. He just said that this mighty and glorious one is coming after him.
Ever since that day, John has started talking more about this one coming after him. He calls this one “the light.” I don’t know what he means by that. He says that he himself is not “the light” but he has come to tell us about “the light.”
I wonder if this light is God-Whose-Name-Is-Holy? In the beginning, God-Whose-Name-Is-Holy said, “let there be light” and there was light.
For now, I’ve told my family that I am going to stay with John and this group of people who are with him. I want to wait and see who this one to come after him is going to be. And while I’m waiting, I’ve started telling people around me about this one who is coming; this one whom John is calling “the light.” I’m so excited about this that I can’t keep it to myself – I have to share it too!
Won’t you wait with me? Won’t you join our group of people who are waiting for the light to come into the world? Won’t you help me to spread the good news about the light? John says that the light is coming – let’s wait together!
“John the Baptist Preaching in the Desert”
JESUS MAFA
Used with Permission.
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