Someone recently mentioned to me that it seems like our country has changed over the past years from one that wanted to be good to one that wants to feel good. I tend to agree. And, quite honestly, as we experience this horrific pandemic with thousands of people dying, the deep divisiveness among people, the acute pain and profound woundedness in our culture, I really do understand the desire to feel good, to long for a feel good sense of hope within ourselves. The truth is, we are a brokenhearted people, and the desire to feel hope is normal. I deeply feel that desire within myself. In fact, I will confess that is why I will sit and watch a Hallmark movie because there is always a happy ending that evokes a feel-good sense of hope. Yet, that feel good sense of hope is very short lived. Frankly, our culture is very good at offering all kinds of things and stuff that provide a short-lived, feel good hope. But such hope does not last because it is a false hope. Friends, far too often we try to stem our hurt by running away from our pain to selfishly focus on what makes us feel good. However, we cannot create the hope and peace we so desire by focusing on self. Real hope only comes by facing our pain and opening our hearts to God. And, real hope is what comes with a broken, vulnerable, open heart that is willing to be mended.
In today’s Old Testament reading, Isaiah is speaking to people who have returned to Jerusalem following political exile in Babylon. They, too, desired hope and they did not sense God’s presence to them. We hear the prophet Isaiah waiting and calling out for God to break into the peoples’ lives. Isaiah calls the people to repent, to turn back to God, and he laments and prays to God saying, “No eye has seen any God besides you who works for those who wait.” Isaiah pleads that God would tear open the heavens and break into the lives of the people to bring hope, peace, and a restored life.
As we begin Advent, we begin a time of waiting. Like Isaiah, we wait and we, too, pray that God breaks into our lives, bringing the promise of hope, peace, and restored life. However, Advent waiting is not a form of passive waiting and watching. It is a time to allow ourselves to turn back to God, to become vulnerable, to open up our lives, our hearts, and our souls with active anticipation as we trust God’s promises to us. It is a time to live with our hearts broken open so that compassion, caring and God’s reckless love can find a way to break into our hearts and the heart of the world.
As we look at today’s gospel reading from Mark, we are given words that ultimately address the brokenness of our hearts. Initially, the 13th chapter of the gospel of Mark is frightening and chilling to read. And, while it has sometimes been interpreted as a prediction of the future to frighten future generations, we must look at the historical context and think about what was happening when it was written. These words are NOT a prediction about the future. It is true, the people were waiting for Jesus to return. However, this writing from Mark follows a long tradition of apocalyptic literature and it is all about providing comforting words to people as they faced their present life and present experience. Written around 70 CE, Mark is writing to a community of people who were facing horrific situations. Christians were being dragged before local authorities, sometimes by members of their own family. War was on the horizon and, in fact, already happening as they experienced the Jewish Revolt of 66-70 CE, a war that brought the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. For these early Christians, it felt as if the world had ended, and in some very real ways, it had ended.
You see, when people are experiencing fear and going through great pain, you’ve got to acknowledge that pain, that grief, and not bury it or cover it up by simply saying, “Don’t panic, everything will be ok.” As the people wait for Jesus to return, Mark tells them to acknowledge the pain and challenge, but trust God’s promise, stay awake, be alert and be ready for God to break in. When discussing this passage in scripture, theologian, Sarah Dylan, writes that Jesus is addressing the disciples and each one of us by saying:
Yes, there is serious pain in the world, in your community. There are wars and rumors of wars. There’s strife within families, and even within the family of faith, those called to be one in Christ……So, when you see these horrible things happening, don’t think it’s a sign that the kingdom of God Jesus promised is late in coming or has been derailed. We don’t know the day or hour, but we know that God is faithful, and Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is a sign to us as it was to Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter and our own wounded communities: Jesus is coming, and God’s kingdom, inaugurated with Jesus’ ministry, is being revealed and finding fulfillment.
Friends, this word from Mark’s gospel is Good News for us. Yes, there is serious pain in our world. Yet, as we again wait for the coming of the Christ child, we know something that many don’t seem to realize: the person we call Lord is none other than Jesus of Nazareth, who has already come. This Jesus taught and healed, he welcomed the outcast and broke bread with anyone willing to eat with him. It is Jesus, whose way of life and manner of death underscored what his words taught. His life and words were all about love, love for God and all others. He truly lived this every day of his life and we are also called to live it every day of our lives. When we know Jesus, the Jesus of the gospels, we know that God is love, and love drives out all fear, whatever our present circumstances.
The writer of Mark’s gospel is not pointing us to a future apocalyptic event, but rather a very present one in which Christ’s death and resurrection change absolutely everything we know. For once and for all, in Christ’s death and resurrection, Jesus suffers all that the world and empire and death have to throw at him…and is raised to new life and nothing will ever be the same again! And, that includes our present lives and even our present painful situations.
So, get ready! Jesus is here and Jesus is coming! Do not be afraid! Stay awake and be alert! God comes to us now and is still entering into our lives in ways that align with God’s coming in the vulnerability of a baby in a manger and a man dying on a cross. God comes to us now as we embrace all those we and the world consider “other.” God comes to us now as we collect food for the hungry. God comes to us now as we work to offer a hope and future to the guys who are living in our Parish House. God comes to us now as we collect food and goodies for the hospital staff who are caring for Covid-19 patients. God comes to us now as Caring Committee participants check on other members of the congregation. God comes to us now as doctors and nurses lovingly care for our loved ones who are sick. God comes to us now as we walk with relatives of those who are sick or dying. God comes to us now as we see friends and relatives become healed after having this virus. God comes to us now, even as we are only able to gather online for worship. God comes to us now, as we are, in our vulnerability, in our messed-up family lives, in our deep brokenness, in the pain of this pandemic, in our imperfections, telling us we are deeply loved as we are. God is already present, but God’s reign is not yet fully here. And, this is what gives us true hope, a hope that is not just a feel good hope, but real hope, a hope that endures even the pain of life.
In the person of Jesus, God is pulling back the curtain of false hopes and the many things in which we unwisely place our trust, to reveal a very present reality, the reality of God’s commitment to enter into and redeem our lives and world just as they are. And, this is what gives us real hope, a hope that endures and a hope that lasts, even in the depth of this pandemic. Yes, life is messy, there is much pain, and there is so much that is not right in this world. But, newness and hope are on the way, a hope we can trust. So, as we go through Advent, stay awake, and be aware of the many ways Christ appears in the present! God is always breaking in through time and space to be present in our lives and the lives of others. Christ is arriving now, in this present moment, meeting us in our pain just as we are, right before our very eyes. And, God breaks in bringing true hope, a hope that lasts and endures.