Homily
by The Rev. Marcia McRae
St.
Francis Episcopal Church, Goldsboro, NC; 3 Advent, 11 Dec. 2016
Year
A RCL: Isaiah 35:1-10; Psalm 146:4-9;
James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11
We
see reminders everywhere that Christmas is around the corner.
Among these reminders, we see the pink
candle lighted on the Advent wreath to
mark today as Rose
Sunday, the half-way point in our
Advent journey to Christmas.
Christmas
is our special opportunity to give joyful thanks to God for God's
coming to live among us to show us how to live fully with love, with
compassion, how to live in Holy Community, as we
hear James say in today's lesson:
“Beloved, do not grumble against one another...”
When
we live in Holy Community – reflecting God's Holy Unity – we work
with God to fulfill what Isaiah tells us:
“The
desert...shall blossom abundantly,
&
rejoice with joy & singing.”
How
lovely does this sound to you?
Sometimes
that desert lives next door to you as a grumpy, sad person, thirsting
for fuller life to blossom. Maybe this person sits near you in
church!
What
if you invite this person to sit with you?
Today’s
scriptures take us centuries back in time & far away
geographically, yet the information fits us in this century & in
this place. We still have problems in the world & individually.
We still have hopes. We still see glimpses of us “getting it
right,” of finally learning how to live as God calls us to live
humbly, with mercy, loving God fully, loving others as we love
ourselves.
When
we do this, we work with God, as we joyfully say in our
Psalm, so that:
The
LORD sets the prisoners free; the LORD opens the eyes of the blind;
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
The LORD loves the
righteous; the LORD cares for the stranger,...sustains the orphan &
widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked.
As
the Body of Christ here, we are one way God does this work of justice
& freeing, of bringing sight to the blind, lifting up those who
are bowed down, loving the righteous, caring for strangers, orphans &
widows. When we do this, we frustrate the wicked!
Our
scriptures tell us: across the ages, across the globe, God keeps
reaching out to God’s creation, reaching out to all people to draw
them into God’s love. God calls us to reach out in Jesus' name to
draw more people into God's love – this gift of joy & wonder we
know through Jesus.
Know
this:
It
is
easier to SAY “the
Good News of Jesus is for everyone” than to live this truth. It may
be harder to share this Good News at this sometimes hectic season
with all our to-do lists, traditions to uphold, & activities to
attend.
How
many have your house decorated for Christmas? How many have your tree
up? What kinds of decorations do you have on it? Lights? All the same
color lights? Tinsel? What kinds of ornaments? Angels? Snowflakes?
Candy canes? What else?
A
star?. . .
.[Other
answers included: cats, dogs.]
Who
has hung a nail on your tree as an ornament? Why? Why not?
I
read in
a gift catalog
some
people place a nail on their tree as an ornament to serve as a
reminder “that the Christmas tree...foreshadows the Christ-tree
[the Cross on Calvary that] only [Jesus] could decorate for us.”1
Only
Jesus can decorate the Christ-tree of Calvary for us. For US – each
of us: you, me, the irritating neighbor, the stranger, the widow, the
orphan, the prisoner, the blind, the lame.
You
& I know this Good News. You & I have this Good News to share
– EVEN in this hectic season & all seasons.
This
Good News is why Jesus says in today's Gospel John is
the
least in the kingdom of heaven.2
Wonderfully faithful as John is obeying God's call & speaking
God's truth, he lacks the whole story of the depths of God's love.3
While he is still alive, John does not know the profound depth of
God's love Jesus expresses on the Christ-tree. The saints in heaven
know the whole story & live in God's profound love.
Even
without having the full picture, John helps prepare the way for
people to hear the message. Throughout the ages, God sends people as
messengers to prepare the way for people to hear God's Good News &
to learn God loves them.
Who
prepared the way for you? Who helped you hear God's Good News: God
loves you so totally, so profoundly that he dies for you on that
decorated Christ-tree? Who prepared the way for that person so he or
she could share God's Good News with you?
YOU
have Good News to share. You & I individually & corporately
as the Body of Christ have a message of Good News to share. Our
message is: Jesus is risen & works among us & through us &
LOVES us – LOVES us BIG time!
This
is Good News to share.
Blessed
are you when you share this Good News.
Blessed
are you when you prepare the way for a person to hear God's Good
News.
Blessed
are you because Jesus’ works through you & this means, as our
Gospel today says, the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear, the dead live again, & the poor have Good News.
And
blessed is anyone who takes no offense at our message!
You
have this Good News!
How
can you keep it to yourself?
Bibliography
Barclay, William. The
Gospel of Matthew: Vol. 2. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press,
1975.
Barclay, William. The
Letters of James and Peter. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press,
1976.
The Catholic Company
Christmas Gifts for Everyone.
CatholicCompany.com. Charlotte, NC. Christmas Catalog of The Catholic
Co. (Charlotte, NC). Also http://www.catholiccompany.com/
Accessed: 6 Dec. 2016.
Harper’s Bible
Commentary. General Ed.: James. L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper &
Row Publishers, 1988.
Holy Bible with the
Apocrypha. New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1989.
Howard, Katherine L. Waiting
in Joyful Hope: Daily Reflections for Advent & Christmas
2005-2006 Year B. Harrisburg: Morehouse, 2005.
Jewish Study Bible:
Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation. New York: Oxford
University Press. 2004.
The New American Bible
for Catholics. South Bend: Greenlawn Press. 1970.
New Oxford Annotated
Bible with the Apocrypha. Herbert G. May, Bruce M. Metzger, eds.
New York: Oxford University Press, Incorporated,
1977.
Villapando,
José Manuel. La
Virgen de Guadalupe: una biografía.
México, D.F.: Editorial Planeta Mexicana. 2004.
1
Note: Information from Christmas Catalog of The Catholic Co.
(Charlotte, NC). P. 30. Also CatholicCompany.com.
http://www.catholiccompany.com/
Accessed: 6 Dec. 2016.
3
Ibid. P. 6.
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