Second Sunday of Advent

Collect

O Lord, raise up, we pray, your power and come among us, and with great might succour us; that whereas, through our sins and wickedness we are grievously hindered in running the race that is set before us, your bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit, be honour and glory, now and for ever.

or

Almighty God, purify our hearts and minds, that when your Son Jesus Christ comes again as judge and saviour we may be ready to receive him, who is our Lord and our God.

Post Communion

Father in heaven, who sent your Son to redeem the world and will send him again to be our judge: give us grace so to imitate him in the humility and purity of his first coming that, when he comes again, we may be ready to greet him with joyful love and firm faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Readings

Old Testament

1    A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

2    The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

3    His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

    He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;

4    but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

5    Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

6    The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.

7    The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

8    The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.

9    They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

10    On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

Isaiah 11.1–10

Psalm

1    Give the king your judgements, O God, ♦
and your righteousness to the son of a king.

2    Then shall he judge your people righteously ♦
and your poor with justice.

3     May the mountains bring forth peace, ♦
and the little hills righteousness for the people.

4    May he defend the poor among the people,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; ♦
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

    deliver the children of the needy and crush the oppressor.

5    May he live as long as the sun and moon endure, ♦
from one generation to another.

6    May he come down like rain upon the mown grass, ♦
like the showers that water the earth.

7     In his time shall righteousness flourish, ♦
and abundance of peace till the moon shall be no more.

18    Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, ♦
who alone does wonderful things.

19    And blessed be his glorious name for ever. ♦
May all the earth be filled with his glory.
Amen. Amen.

Psalm 72.1–7,18,19

Epistle

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,

‘Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles,

and sing praises to your name’;

and again he says,

‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people’;

and again,

‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,

and let all the peoples praise him’;

and again Isaiah says,

‘The root of Jesse shall come,

the one who rises to rule the Gentiles;

in him the Gentiles shall hope.’

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15.4–13

Gospel

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,

‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.” ’

Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

‘I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’

Matthew 3.1–12



Sermon on Second Sunday of Advent

When I was growing up in the States, there was an advertising jingle based on the song “Love and Marriage” – perhaps you know it? Sung by Frank Sinatra, it is all about things that go together – just like love and marriage and then there is the pair of a horse and carriage. But the jingle paired “soup and sandwich” which made perfect sense because it was a Campbell’s advertising campaign. But this came to mind because of today’s gospel reading. The pair I want to match up is John and Jesus, this pair even fits the song, doesn’t it? But I would have to be very clever to come up with alternative verses in order to make it a hymn or an Advent carol.

The hymn-writers often did that though, didn’t they? They used well known songs and crafted words to fit. “Ilkley Moor Bar Tat” is a famous example of the reverse. It is one of many tunes for “While shepherds”. There is even a Ramsbury tune. We used to sing While shepherds with gusto in that village where we lived when we carolled around the village. However, writing a new hymn is not what I want to do. Rather, I want the association of John and Jesus to be stronger in our minds at least for today. I also want to see John and Jesus as prophets, as that is the theme for the second Sunday of Advent.

The first thing we are told in our gospel reading is that John appeared in the wilderness of Judea. But Jesus also rose to fame there in Judea. “In Bethlehem of Judea” the narrative starts, doesn’t it?

Jesus’ message was the same as John’s, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.” And Paul wrote to the Thessalonians that that kingdom was right on top of them. Preparing the way of the Lord was imperative for the kingdom to become a reality here and now. That was the corollary to this message about the kingdom. All must actively engage in the grace and mercy, and the justice and righteousness, of God’s kingdom. Both John and Jesus proclaim as prophets the imminent arrival, the advent, of the kingdom and what that means for all of us.

Then there is “the voice of one crying out in the wilderness.” These words from Isaiah have always been quoted incorrectly. Scholarship agrees that we should be saying, ‘A voice cried, “Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness.”’ We are living in that wilderness where there is no mercy and justice, where there is no grace nor righteousness. We live, it seems, where there is no royal road for our God. This quotation sets the narrative about John – that he dwellt in the wilderness, that he ate locusts and wild honey, that he wore clothing of camel’s hair and a leather belt. He preached out there in the wilderness, proclaiming the word of God, so that we might change our ways. He can be likened to the homeless in our city centres. However, instead of being avoided like the homeless people we know, John became a tourist attraction. Do you remember the film Jesus Christ Superstar? Jesus is brought before Herod who asks him to do a miracle for him. As the children taunt their playmates when they say, “We piped for you, so dance for us,” it seems John was out in the desert to perform for everyone who made their way to the River Jordan.

You might say John was a performing seal in that river. But something happened. Although curiosity led people out of the city, away from the comfortable everyday, away from the chattering crowd that presses down, they were freed from social constraint foisted on them. People of all sorts on the banks of the Jordan listened to John speak about preparation for the kingdom of God. These words did affect them, to the point that some were offering themselves for his baptism. They let that water cleanse them and they took a different view on everything – well, at least they did when they were with John.

John saw that a great many different sorts of people had made their way to the Jordan, like those crowds around Jesus – however, he must have been very perplexed, for he even saw the religious leadership from the temple there by the water. John reacted very strongly to them, didn’t he? He condemned them. “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance.” The water of baptism alone is not sufficient, though it is a start. Fleeing to the waters of baptism to avoid the wrath to come is commendable, but the water alone does not save all. John demands they bear fruit worthy of repentance, fruit that will last. He condemns these vipers as the children of the ancient covenant – they are not the real heirs of the kingdom since their lives are superficial, they have only washed their skin, neither have they dedicated themselves to the work of the kingdom. In other words, their lives have not borne the fruit of the kingdom, acts of mercy and love.

Doesn’t Jesus do the same? Doesn’t he call down woe on that same group of people? He calls them hypocrites, doesn’t he?  They have not purged themselves, what he called the sepulchres of filth have not been cleansed. He has no time for people who will not love their neighbours.

John and Jesus do go together so very well. Their prophetic messages reinforce each other and their disciples form a living pool between them. They all understood the closeness of the coming of God in power and might. In time and space, the apocalypse is about to happen. The final time will be the next moment of life in all its fullness. At that point when the four horsemen, with all the disasters and all the bloodshed, appear, then the final trumpet will sound and we will all be called to account for our sins seen by our neighbours and the sins in our hearts unseen except by our conscience and our God. At that very moment will we stand like the rich man who had built his new barns and hear the words, “Now is the time for reckoning.” We will hear the commendation of all the Lazuruses of our time and we will beg for respite from those we despised when we had not shown compassion.

The visions of the Bible are not all sweetness and light, but a believer’s eyes sees the delight of a life lived in mercy and love, don’t they? Don’t we, when we act charitably and recognise acts of altruism all around us?

This is what John and Jesus proclaim in the wilderness. This is the message of evangelism. “Repent, for the Kingdom of God has come so very near” – it is all around us, if only we would see. John and Jesus do go together, both as a story and as a part of our lives because we are the people expecting the coming of the kingdom of God proclaimed by the prophets.

Amen

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