Sermon Preached by Rev Coralie McCluskey
at All Saints Datchworth

Sunday 12 December 2004

Advent 3, 2004

 

Last week it was gazing at a shoot growing out of a burnt tree stump, this week it was sleeping under the stars.  When we take the time to stop and look we may glimpse the ever present God revealing the beauty of creation, his wonderful presence, the mystery that can enthral, inspire a sermon and uphold us in the darkest moments of our lives.

 

Many of you know that on Friday evening I, with St Mary’s 14+ group and many other Christians, slept out at the west end of St Albans Abbey as part of a diocesan event to raise much needed funds for people who often live in darkness, in my case it was those who use the Open Door Project in St Albans - the homeless, the troubled, the lonely, those who do not fit neatly into society’s expectations. 

 

Friday night was cold, the ground was hard, the crowd was noisy but at some point in that long night I glimpsed the glory of God in the darkness, in the beautiful starlit sky and rejoiced in the space, time and freedom to just gaze, to just be in the presence of God.

 

And as I lay there I thought how far removed was my moment in the darkness of the night from that of those for whom we were sleeping rough and from John the Baptist who after the freedom of the desert at the end of his life found himself in the darkness of a prison.

 

John was the last and greatest of the long line of prophets who prepared the people for the coming of the Messiah.  He was one of those selfless and courageous prophets who kept alive the hopes of the people during the long night of expectation, when it seemed that the dawn would never come.  Jesus paid a great tribute to him.  He said that John was no reed shaken by the wind, he was different, his own man, a man of principle with a strong personality, rejecting the trends and opinions of society and living a life stripped of comfort and ease, his home the desert - a place of sand, sun, thorn bushes, extreme heat, cold, hunger, thirst and loneliness.  John devoted himself totally to the mission God gave him, to prepare the way for Jesus and Jesus reminded the crowd that it John about whom it had been written, I am sending a messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you. 

 

And when it was done John had moved aside to make way for Jesus.  An act of true greatness.

 

John was a true prophet, his lifestyle and his personal integrity both lent credence to his words.  He was a living example of what he preached and people flocked to see and hear him but as Jesus points out great as John was he missed out on the greatest thing of all.  He did not see the coming of the Kingdom of God.  And in this morning’s gospel reading we find him in a dark narrow dungeon awaiting death.

 

There was too a spiritual darkness, John was troubled by doubts, disappointed.  He had heard what Jesus was doing and it did not match his expectation of the Messiah.  He had been expecting an Elijah type character who would sweep through Israel.  Just as Elijah had dealt with the prophets of the pagan god Baal,  Jesus should confront Herod, topple him from his throne, become king in his place, a king who would herald a new age of judgment and mercy.    Jesus however seemed to be working quite differently, he was gaining a reputation and a following but he was befriending tax collectors and sinners and healing people.  John wanted him to bring judgement, mercy and healing should follow. 

 

Jesus was one step ahead of John, he wasn’t thinking of himself in terms of fiery judgement, he was thinking of passages like Isaiah 35 our first reading this morning.  The great prophecies of what would happen when Israel was not so much judged and condemned but restored after judgment.  Exile would be over, the blind and the lame would be healed.  God’s people would be set free at last.  As we read Matthew’s gospel this year it will become increasingly evident that mercy and healing are central to the Messiah’s task.  

 

So John sends two of his disciples to find out if Jesus really is the one who was to come.  The truth of his life depended on a positive answer, if a negative answer came back it would mean he had wasted his time and his life would lose all its meaning.

 

The answer came back: 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 the man who does not lose faith in me.

 

We all have our own struggles.  Life can become very dark at times.  We do our best but things turn out badly and so we doubt.  Then we need to hear those comforting words Jesus sent to John, blessed is the man who does not lose faith in me.

 

We should draw inspiration from John, who is a wonderful example of unselfish love.  But it is in Jesus that our hope lies.  He is the one who gives meaning to all our work and suffering, to our living and dying.  He alone can fulfil our deepest longings.

 

So as I lay in the cold, in the presence of the one God who came to us in human form, our hope and light in the darkness, I reflected once again about mercy being at the heart of Jesus’ messianic mission and so it remains at the heart of the church’s work today.  It may not be what people want but that’s the way we have to go.  This is where and how God is at work.

 

John did not sit comfortably in the norms of his society, Jesus did not match up to the picture of a king, we do not know when Jesus will return, what he will be like - he may be among the homeless, those who have no place, those who live in darkness.

Blessed are we if we do not lose faith in Jesus but doubly blessed if we show our faith in love and mercy.