Sunday, December 7, 2014

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Luke 7:28-35

“Wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

          The seasons of Advent and Christmas open us to the unexpected. The daily readings remind us that Jesus failed to fit his contemporaries’ job description of a promised Messiah. From the vantage point of faith, however, Jesus was not under qualified. On the contrary, he was over qualified for the task. The people had their own idea of the kingdom, but Jesus came to usher in the Big Kingdom, or to reveal the Big Picture, as spiritual teacher Richard Rohr likes to say.

We aren’t unlike the people of Jesus’ day.  We have our own preconceived notions of God’s “plan” for the world (strangely, it looks a lot like our plan for the world, instead of God’s.) Even on a small scale, we form pre-judgments of others, thinking we’ve figured them out, when our assessments couldn’t be further from the truth.

I’m sad to say that I’m guilty of forming pre-judgments of others, and then imprisoning them in my narrow expectations. Recently, I had a wonderful conversation with an acquaintance, and she shattered the initial and unjustified notions I had of her. I was humbled, and glad I was wrong.

During the preparatory season of Advent, we have the chance to interrogate our preconceived notions of our faith, and see how the ideas fall far short of reality. Each time we pray, “Thy Kingdom come!” we take the opportunity to mean “My kingdom go!”

            Today’s reading from Luke is one such Advent examination. Jesus is speaking to two audiences, it seems. One the one hand, he challenges the religious leaders who are as fickle as the children in the market place. The children constantly change the rules of the game, and are never satisfied with the outcome. In the same way, the establishment of Jesus’ day finds reasons to disregard both John and Jesus. They trap the two challenging prophets into their small vision of the kingdom, and are not open to the unexpected and transformative message each has to offer.

            On the other hand, Jesus confronts those who received John’ baptism. “No one is greater than John, and the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” The people did well to receive John’s message of repentance, but God’s Kingdom is even bigger still. John, you remember, knew himself to be merely a signpost, heralding the coming of a new age. John lived the Big Drama, and knew he played a small, but still significant, role in it.  

            During Advent, we are a third audience for Jesus’ challenge. What are all the ways we are like the religious leaders and the people in today’s story? How do we limit God’s Kingdom of radical love to our small agendas? 

- David Shumaker