The Joy in Conflagrations?

I am wondering what it might sound like if we read this week’s lessons through, seemingly, John the Baptist’s lens:

Let your bountiful grace and mercy, oh Lord, speedily help and deliver us from the ax lying at the root of the trees.

Sing aloud, you brood of vipers; shout, for the winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire!

Rejoice and exult with all your heart, because every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire!

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice, you brood of vipers.

I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Did you happen to notice which candle we lit this morning?

The candle of joy?

And is this not the season of joy?

Is this not the season of Christmas wreaths hooked on our arms as we carry home shopping bags full of gifts and boxes filled with food?

Is this not a time of anticipation, a feeling of even greater joy regarding the arrival of the Christ child than the secular nature of the holiday which approaches?

As we watch the candles lit, as we move through Advent week to week and day by day, this feeling of joy can be a thing to behold.

What memories do you hold, not just of this season, but overall?

What memories do you hold of joy?

Were you a child once in brown leather Thom McCann shoes with hard leather soles tramping through church practicing the pageant?

Were you a child once in black and white saddle shoes tromping down the aisle dressed as the Virgin Mary, a lifelong goal realized?

Do you remember that joy?

Do you remember the innocence of joy?

Yes?

Then why is John the Baptist, in the words of my daughter, yuckin’ our yum this week?

Because right there in our Collect this morning is this: Let your bountiful grace and mercy, oh Lord, speedily help and deliver us.

And Zephaniah writes about the coming Messiah,

Sing aloud, O daughter Zion;
shout, O Israel!

Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter Jerusalem!

And Isaiah,

Sing the praises of the Lord, for he has done great things,
and this is known in all the world.

Cry aloud, inhabitants of Zion, ring out your joy,
for the great one in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel.

Even dour old Paul writes,

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

But then there’s John,

 You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance… Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Sing!

Rejoice!

Sing!

Ring out your joy!

Rejoice!

You brood of vipers!

In Advent, in our preparing for the birth of Jesus, John the Baptist tells us to prepare not for the joy specifically, but also for fire and tempest.

How do we square the circle here?

How do we anticipate joy when before Christ’s return, we are to experience the winnowing of the chaff from the wheat?

Perhaps John is the realist in the conversation.

Perhaps he is pointing us to the tough times with the expectation that we must experience not just the naïve joys we experienced as children in our Buster Browns.

And maybe, well, not just maybe, that is exactly what John is saying.

With the coming of the kingdom there will be tumult, yes, but the promise John makes and Christ’s birth confirms is ultimately, that the kingdom will arrive.

And we see evidence of this in the world around us.

Yes, we might want to Advent to be preparing the way for Jesus, but we must prepare ourselves for those times before that so we can eventually realize the joy inherent in our faith.

Even as children, we may have known the tortuous wait, the countdown to Christmas, the utter frustration felt from seeing so many closed windows on our Advent calendars meaning there were still so many days ahead before our rich rewards were to be presented.

And still as adults, our childhood lens shifts, we understand that waiting is not about material things but the return of Jesus.

So, we wait once more for a child born and understand through grown up eyes the human things that will happen to that child.

The witnessing of depravations and experiencing the degradations he would eventually endure along their path to Calvary.

John warns us of the suffering to come because there is suffering in the world, though ultimately that suffering will be eased by God.

Even if we look at the circumstances of Christ’s birth we will see the difficulties Mary and Joseph went through to have him born.

According to Luke the couple had to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem, an arduous journey in ancient times.

The child was then born in a manger, a feeding trou for animals, since there was no room for them to stay in Bethlehem.

And all around them was evidence of a hard world, one in which the messiah was born to confront suffering because again, there was suffering.

Even before his birth, Mary sings of God in the Magnificat; God who favored her with child:

His mercy is for those who fear him

   from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm;

   he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,

   and lifted up the lowly;

he has filled the hungry with good things,

   and sent the rich away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel,

   in remembrance of his mercy,

That there is pride in the powerful and that the powerful needed to be removed from their thrones, that there is hunger and injustice in the world is evidence of a world that needs to be confronted by feeding the hungry and insisting on justice.

These are hard things.

These are things that cause upset.

And still, we sing of joy?

We light candles in the name of joy?

Yes, because John is talking about joy.

Fire and chaff and winnowing, yes, but performing redemptive acts or as John states, “Bear fruits worthy of redemption.”

That is the work that leads to joy and still, before that joy is the work.

If we hold onto our coats, our fellow citizens of the world are left cold.

If we continue systems of exclusion then we are not sharing the full fruits of God’s love and, in fact, growing trees bearing bad fruit.

Look also who is looking for these redemptive works.

Those in need of redemption.

Tax collectors who as a profession were famous for skimming off the top are now looking for redemption.

They ask John what they are to do if they wish to avoid the coming fires and are told to be fair with those from whom they collect taxes.

Soldiers ask John, “What can we do?”

Now, we might imagine these soldiers to be in Rome’s army but they are most likely soldiers in Herod’s retinue.

So, these are neighbors of the crowds, they might even be family members, and they are told not to take advantage of their position.

Do not extort from the citizenry.

Do not reap financial gain through extortion.

Be satisfied with the wages they earn.

John is telling the crowds to give as they can and John is telling those who are known to take advantage of their neighbor to change their ways.

And is that not our way?

Is that not our command?

Give what we can and amend our deficiencies.

Where we have two coats give one; where we are sinful, change our sinful ways.

Notice too though, John is not telling the crowd to give everything and the tax collectors and soldiers to stop being soldiers and tax collectors.

In who we are, in our lives as who we are, we are to be just and we are to be generous.

And there is joy in that work.

There is joy in feeding, for there will be less hunger.

There is joy in building so that those without homes might find a place to rest.

There is joy in all of this for we become closer to God when we serve each other and are just towards each other.

John speaks of fire but the implication is the fire is to be avoided and therefore can be avoided.

There is joy in that.

There is joy in sharing and joy in amending our ways.

And there is joy in God removing disaster from us and dealing with our oppressors and saving the lame, et cetera.

There is joy in the work to be done, rejoice!

There is water to be drawn, rejoice!

The Lord is near, rejoice!

Redemption is ours, rejoice!

With the naïve joy of a child, we await the Christ child and with the keen-eyed view of the adult, we do the work to necessary to prepare for that arrival.

In that waiting, in that preparing there is joy.

Always joy.

Let’s return to the original readings:

Let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us.

Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice!

Again, the time is near.

Christ is soon to be born.

And for us is the opportunity to be begin anew.

To serve.

To amend.

To love.

That is the joy Christ’s birth promises.

Rejoice!

Amen.