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Sermon Archive - December 13, 1998
Pastor Danielson
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Matthew 11:2-11
John the Baptist had been sent by God to preach a baptism of repentance and
forgiveness of sin. And, because John also preached "truth" to Herod and
Herodias he was thrown into prison. There in prison John heard reports of what
Jesus was doing. Could this be the one who was to come? The one greater than
John?
This is surely among the more poignant moments in Scripture: An imprisoned
John, waiting hopefully for an answer to the question: "Are you the one? Or
do I keep on waiting, hoping, wondering?" Jesus sends his answer: "Tell John
what you hear and see!" "The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the
lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have
good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me."
In other words, "The proof is in the pudding."
Armed with Jesus' testimony, John's disciples now leave the scene, presumably
to return to their imprisoned teacher and report back to him what they have
heard and seen. And in their absence, Jesus now speaks about John instead of
himself ---praising John and celebrating his powerful witness and his clear
message. John was no reed bending with every breeze. Standing tall for God's
righteousness---luxury, soft robes, royal palaces meant nothing to John.
And yet, after heaping such high praise on John, Jesus slips in an addendum
that, in spite of John's greatness, "the least in the kingdom of heaven is
greater than he." In other words, to have the honor of heralding the coming of
the kingdom is nothing compared with being in the kingdom; to be sent of God
is nothing compared with being born of God.
By comparison, John, the "Wild Man of the Wilderness," certainly presented a
stark contrast to "Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild." John deliberately modeled his
image after the pattern of the Old Testament prophets. There was, of course, an
obvious difference in spiritual life style between John and Jesus. John's
style was an "In your face" style. Jesus' spiritual style was that of the Good
Shepherd ---we might say, an "In your heart" style. Our spiritual life style
can become a bit of both ---hopefully, more "In the heart" like Christ, but a
little "In your face" doesn't hurt either. Both spirits are "Advent Spirits."
Have you caught the "Spirit of Advent?" It is the third Sunday of the Season
you know! I like to think that such a spirit is like a virus in the air and if
we are exposed to it, we just might be fortunate enough to become infected!
Many have already been exposed to this virus, and I am suggesting that it is
possible that it can become epidemic. Some signs and symptoms of THE ADVENT
SPIRIT VIRUS are these:
- An unmistakable ability to enjoy each pre-Christmas moment.
- A loss of interest in judging other people.
- A loss of interest in conflict.
- A loss of the ability to worry.
- Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation.
- Frequent attacks of smiling.
- An increased susceptibility to the love extended by others, as well as the
uncontrollable urge to extend a little more love ourselves.
Please send this message out to all your friends:
"The Spirit of Advent Virus can infect and affect YOU!"
And, warn them further that, sadly enough, the workaday world can disinfect
the same spirit ---their Advent dreams and their Advent desires for love, joy,
compassion, empathy and the like. This good virus with which we should remain
infected all our lives can be suddenly irradiated.
To nurture along the "Spiritual Virus" until it can grow is the mission of the
Church's Advent Season. We can't properly prepare for the arrival of Christ in
our midst until we come down with this fever and try our utmost to spread it
around. The belief that Jesus was and is who he said he was ---sent from God
the Father to attest to God's saving and forgiving love.
Many of my all time favorite quotations come from the writings of, Dag
Hammarskold, former Secretary General of the United Nations, now deceased. The
following quotation eloquently addresses the message of the season and this
day:
"God does not die on the day we cease to believe in a personal deity,"
Hammarskold wrote, "but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined
by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder,
the source of which is beyond all reason." -Dag Hammarskjold, Markings (New
York: Ballantine Books, [1964] 1993), 46.
Do you want to catch the a virus that will so illumine your life but don't
know how? What do parents with several young children do when the first one
catches chicken pox? Attempt to protect the other children from the potent
pox? No! Often, they will place the healthy children in the same room
with the infected child. They will allow them to play together, watch TV
together in the hope that they, too, will catch the virus, so that this
childhood disease will visit all the children at the same time. The simplest
way to catch any virus is to expose yourself to the virus you want to catch
---the "Spirit of Advent Virus" is no exception!
If you want to catch the Advent Spirit Virus ---expose yourself to people who
have it! Search out the opportunities to revisit first the meaning of Advent
and then, by that path, the truest meaning of Christmas as well! Flee shopping
mall-madness, so that you might mingle with those for whom the
Messiah is a marvelously real presence in their lives. Seek out the community
of the infected and inflamed and the fervent and feverish. You'll catch the
Advent Virus every time!
AMEN.
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