A good friend of mine has a pair of silver boots, great accent to certain outfits, but more especially a reminder of days and fashion gone by. They have that retro feel- designating the style of an earlier time. I think Austin Powers would be proud. Now if we are honest, we might have some treasures in our closet that we have hung onto so long… surprise they have come back into style.
John the Baptist is a retro man himself. Wearing camel hair and a leather belt, he is calling to mind the prophet Elijah who is described in 2 Kings as “a hairy man with a leather belt around his waist” (1:8) who called the people of Israel to repentance. By his dress, what does John gain by bringing to mind the prophet Elijah? First Elijah established God over all other gods when he won the battle of the prophets, with God lighting a bull offering on fire and ending a drought. Remember Elijah was the last of God’s prophets and he even had his offering drenched in water, after the 450 foreign prophets prayed to their God to light a fire, but failed. The fire lit when he prayed to God. Elijah demonstrated God’s almighty power. Secondly Elijah encountered God in a very personal way, not in a lighting storm, or in a burning bush, but in the still small voice- in sheer silence. The prophet Elijah epitomizes a powerful and a personal God. So when John, Jesus’ cousin, is called to prepare the way of the Lord, he dresses like the prophet that represented God’s power and God’s personal connection. John will need God’s power and personal connection to make repentance and confession a reality. John is looking back to move forward. Let’s do the same.
“Imagine you live in Galilee around 70 A.D. There is a war on. Some radical Jews revolted against Rome, and Jerusalem is under siege. Reports are that conditions in the city are bad. People are divided. Some see God raising up leaders to push the infidels from the Holy Land. Others urge submission to Rome as the path to peace and security. Everyone is anxious, caught between resentment of heavy-handed soldiers and fear of extreme guerillas. Emperor Nero died last year, and there is unrest in Rome. Four men have been acclaimed emperor, only to be assassinated. Now Vespasian, the very general besieging Jerusalem, has been crowned. Things are uncertain. The price of oil is skyrocketing- olive oil that is. The world is in turmoil. Where do we look for the future? …. Neighbors [Jews and Gentile] fear one another….One small sect refuses to fight on either side, followers of the Galilean rabbi named Jesus, who was crucified for insurrection about forty years ago” (Feasting on the Word B1, pg. 44). This same group claim Jesus’ crucifixion is a symbol of God’s “good news” and hand you a scroll with “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Good news! Our historical time in Jerusalem sounds a lot like our world in the Middle East today and we ask, “Where is the good news?”
John the Baptist looked back to Elijah to help people see God and repent in his day. We looked back on Jerusalem to see that our world is still in need of salvation. Retrospectives help us to see our continual need for God and God’s timeless nature. Hear again these words from Peter, “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like one day” (8). What is retro for us is simply a continuation for God. God is patient as we strive to repent. To repent means we turn around, turn towards God. Peter makes it even clearer. Asking us what “sort of person you ought to be?” What is the person you want to turn into and become? Are you kind and thinking of others or is it every man for himself? Generous or consuming? Full of hope and peace or stress-filled and holding grudges? What sort of person do you want to be?
A psychology professor walked around on a stage while teaching stress management principles to an auditorium filled with students. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they’d be asked the typical “glass half empty or glass half full” question. Instead, with a smile on her face, the professor asked, “How heavy is this glass of water I’m holding?”
Students shouted out answers ranging from eight ounces to a couple of pounds.
She replied, “From my perspective, the absolute weight of this glass doesn’t matter. It all depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute or two, it’s fairly light. If I hold it for an hour straight, its weight might make my arm ache a little. If I hold it for a day straight, my arm will likely cramp up and feel completely numb and paralyzed, forcing me to drop the glass to the floor. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it feels to me.”
As the class shook their heads in agreement, she continued, “Your stresses and worries in life are very much like this glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and you begin to ache a little. Think about them all day long, and you will feel completely numb and paralyzed – incapable of doing anything else until you drop them.”
How is your glass feeling? Are your worries getting heavy? Are you rethinking how you deal with stress? If so then the professor in this story could be your John the Baptist- the one who prepares the way for God to work in your life. She allows you set down the stress and resentment just long enough for God’s love to hold you; for you to find peace. You can hear Jesus saying “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS” (Matthew 11:28-29). John prepared the people to hear Jesus, he prepared the way for God’s love to become real. Jesus wants to take your glass full of stress and give you peace.
You say, Anne I can’t do that. I say God is patient with you. God wants you to know peace and love. You don’t have to do this perfectly. God has all the time in the world. Peter tells us we are to “strive to be found in peace… and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation” (2 Pet. 3:14-15). God will wait for you to set down your glass, to seek out God’s love. The Good News is that God is patiently waiting for you to set down your burden and rest in gracious peace of Jesus.
Come to Christ’s table without your resentments, having set down the heavy glass of your past.
In exchange lift the cup of salvation, the cup of forgiveness offered to you.
Come and taste- God’s love is timeless.
So let NOW be your advent, your coming, your healing, your time of peace.
For the coming of Christ is always in style! AMEN!!!
