Advent 1c 2006
Jack Hardaway
“Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, 2just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word,
3I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.”
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter one, verses one through four.
Today we begin a new year, we begin the season of Advent, and we begin the Gospel according to Luke.
Now while I just read to you from the beginning, the introduction of Luke’s Gospel, the gospel lesson for today is from chapter 21, toward the end of Luke’s Gospel, the vision of the Advent, the arrival, of the Son of Man in Judgment over the world.
In order to understand rightly the vision of the Advent of Christ as Judge, we need to rightly understand what Luke is trying to accomplish in writing his masterpiece.
Luke is writing to a friend of status, most excellent Theophilus, that he may know the truth about Jesus. Luke is not writing to prove the literal historical accuracy of Jesus life, he is doing something else. He is writing so that we may know the truth about who God is, the good news that Jesus makes known.
So what we are reading and hearing is proclamation, propaganda, God’s propaganda, God’s agenda.
I had a great 10th grade English teacher, Mrs. Bridges at Eastside High School in Greenville. This one time when she was having a bad day a student asked her in class if we had to do a certain assignment, wanting more clarity on what was required. Mrs. Bridges took it as a complaint against having home work, and she said “All we have to do is live and die.”
What are the expectations, the requirements for God’s agenda, while we live, before we die? That is what Luke is up to. Who God is determines who we are to become like. Luke is giving clarity for our assignment.
So what does Luke say? Luke is full of the stories and parables that we all love, that are etched on our conscience, that make our hearts skip a beat as we see life anew.
Here are some of Luke’s unique remembrances of God’s agenda: The annunciation of Gabriel to Mary, the visitation of Mary and Elizabeth, the shepherds visiting Jesus in the manger,
the story of Martha and Mary, “Zaccheus come down out of that tree,” the parable of the good Samaritan, the parables of the lost and found sheep, the woman sweeping for the lost coin, the rich man and Lazarus, the widow and the poor Judge that she woke up in the middle of the night demanding justice, the road to Emmaus where Jesus was made known in the breaking of the bread.
Then there are the songs that keep interrupting the story with disturbing news about God’s plans. The song of Zechariah that we call the Benedictus, the song of Simeon that we call the Nunc Dimittis,
and then the song of all songs the Song of Mary, the Magnificat, “My soul magnifies the Lord…he has brought down the mighty from their thrones…lifted up the lowly…filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.”
Luke specifically shows how prayer precedes action, that women have a place of importance, that the poor are at the heart of God’s attention, he integrates Jew and Gentile into God’s people.
So we will be spending most of this next year hearing God’s agenda from Luke’s perspective. What will this show us about God and about our assignment?
We see that the Advent of Christ as our Judge rescues a world where both human society and the earth itself are collapsing from the abuses of human sinfulness. This is good news for all the victims, for all those who are left out, and it is bad news for all the bullies who benefit at the cost of the wellbeing of human society, at the cost of the wellbeing of the earth itself.
Most of us have a bad habit of only being able to be thankful if someone else is worse off than we are, if some one else has less wealth, less health, less happiness, less freedom. How often have we heard ourselves thinking or saying basically that “I’m thankful I’m not as bad off as those folks?”
Luke’s Gospel has a different understanding of thanksgiving.
It doesn’t matter who we are, everything we have and are is there for only one reason, to give away to those who don’t have it. That is the Christian understanding of Thankfulness, it doesn’t call us into pity, it calls us into relationship with those in pain, it calls us into generosity.
If we can see we are to be the eyes for those who can’t see.
If we can hear we are to be the ears for those who can’t hear.
If we can walk, we are to be the legs for those who can’t.
If we are strong, then we are to lift up those who are weak.
If we have a voice, if we can be heard, then we are to speak for those who can’t.
If we have we are to be for those who have not.
If we can remember then we remember the forgotten.
If we can find then we are to find those who are forsaken.
If we are insiders then we are to bring in all the outsiders, all those left out.
Our life is not our own, our life belongs to God, and we are stewards of all that we are and all that we have. Our gifts our not ours, they were given to us to pass along.
This is God’s agenda, God’s propaganda, the Good News, because Jesus is God giving all that God is all that God has to a world that has lost its faith, lost its memory, lost its mind, lost its relationship with the God who creates and loves with a devotion beyond all scope.
The good news is that in the midst of our self destruction, we can stand up and raise our heads because our redemption is drawing near. God’s fullness and generosity is greater than any misery, any emptiness, any pollution, any abuse we can create.
We reap what we sow, we harvest what we plant.
If we plant God’s generosity then we will receive the fruit of God’s generosity.
If we plant our own advancement at the cost of others, then we reap our own destruction and emptiness. If we give we receive, if we take we are taken.
If we live a life that is contrary to the generosity, the mercy, the reaching-out-ness of God , then we will be left without mercy, without generosity, with out being reached out to, without God, Godless, and that is a lonely place, that is the Gospel truth.
So we begin Advent and we begin Luke, a season and a book of expectation, of looking forward, of hoping, of preparing for the redemption of the world. We begin with Judgment, with God’s agenda, with repentance and starting over with God’s help.
I conclude with the Lyrics of a song by Si Kahn:
You must know someone like himHe’s strong and tall and leanHis body like a greyhoundAnd his mind so sharp and keenBut his heart just like a laurelGrew twisted on itself’Til almost everything he didBrought pain to someone else Chorus:’Cause it’s not just what you’re born withIt’s what you choose to bearIt’s not how much your share isBut it’s how much you can shareAnd it’s not the fights you’ve dreamed ofBut those you really foughtIt’s not just what you’re givenIt’s what you do with what you’ve got Now between those who use their neighborAnd those who use a caneBetween those in constant powerAnd those in constant painBetween those who run to evilAnd those who cannot runTell me which ones are the cripplesAnd which ones touch the sun ChorusFor what’s the use of two strong legsIf you only run awayAnd what good is the finest voiceWith nothing good to sayAnd what good is strength and muscleIf you only push and shoveWhat’s the use in two good earsIf you can’t hear those you loveChorus ‘Cause it’s not just what you’re born withIt’s what you choose to bearIt’s not how much your share isBut it’s how much you can shareAnd it’s not the fights you’ve dreamed ofBut those you really foughtIt’s not just what you’re givenIt’s what you do with what you’ve got