The Rev. Virginia W. Nagel
Ephphatha Parish of the Deaf
Episcopal Diocese of Central NY
Do you know the French phrase "deja vu?" It means that when you experience something happening, you have a strong sense that this same thing has happened before, in the past, and that you are going through that experience again. Most of us have had that feeling occasionally. It's a very normal part of life.
If you know your Bible well, and you have read today's reading from the prophet Baruch, and then the Gospel reading, you may have a deja vu feeling about them. They are very much the same....but they are different too. And we can learn some important lessons from them.
The reading from Baruch talks about how God will bring home to Israel the people who were captured and deported to serve as slaves in a foreign country. God will bring them home, and what's more, he's going to fix everything that was wrong with Jerusalem and Israel, so their homecoming will be truly wonderful and glorious. They will be covered with God's protection and surrounded with God's love. And God spells out the fact that this is a way of understanding his Covenant with Israel: Your security comes from your righteousness, and your splendor comes from your devotion to ME. The message is clear: God will do everything possible to care for and make life good for those people who are devoted to him and who live by his laws.
Look now at the reading from the Gospel of Luke. Luke first goes to a lot of trouble to help us understand the time he is talking about, and the situation of Israel at that time. He is not talking about the time before the birth of Jesus; it's clear from his gospel that Jesus and Johnt he Baptist were born only about six months apart, and Luke is telling us that John is a grown man now. That means that Jesus is also a grown man. But pay attention to Luke's description of Israel: the emperor Tiberius had been ruling in Rome for about 15 years. Historians tell us that Tiberius had become emperor some time in the year 14 AD, so that means Luke is writing about the year 29 AD, more or less. Pilate was governor of Judea, and we know that Pilate became governor during the year 26 AD. Herod was ruler of Galilee, and the historians tell us that was Herod Antipas who became ruler in 4BC and died in 39 AD. Annas and Caiphias were the high priests in Jerusalem, and while the dates for them are not completely clear, they cover the period from 14 AD to about 40 AD. You can see that Luke wants us to know the exact time he is talking about, so that we can know what was happening in Israel at that time.
And what was happening in Israel at that time? Well, the Roman army occupied Israel, so the Jewish people were almost slaves in their own land. Now part of what happens when people are slaves, or have to live like slaves in an occupied country, is that they learn to "get along" with the government or the occupying army or the slave masters. These people, who when they were free might have had strong principles, and been very careful about obeying the law and following their religion, had to change when they became slaves, or when their country became occupied. They might have to work on their holy day. They might not have been able to fulfill all the requirements of their religion. And they might have become overwhelmed with despair and began to think, "What's the use, anyway, it doesn't matter what I do, nothing is going to get better for me. I better go along with what the boss wants, just to have a little peace and to be free from persecution and punishment." We hear similar stories from people who survived concentration camps or who lived under occupying armies in our own time. Most people in that situation take the easy way out and "give up" their principles, and "go along" with the rulers. A few will try to start a revolt to break down the rulers' government.
So: Israel was occupied by the Roman army, and many of the people had given up trying to keep to the teachings of their religion, and just wanted to do whatever they could to make sure they continued to be alive and have some sort of a life under the occupation. And, of course, people whose faith was weak saw what was happening, and used what others were doing...or not doing...as an excuse to be less careful about following God's laws, themselves.
And here comes John, shouting, "Turn away from your sins and be baptized, and God will forgive your sins." It seems clear that the people were expecting something to happen. They did not necessarily expect that God would send the Messiah right now, but many people who had appeared throughout Israel at that time were claiming to be the Messiah, or were trying to organize the people to revolt against the occupation army. It was, we believe, a time of emotional turmoil. People were fed up with the occupation, and they were hoping that something....ANYTHING...would happen to free them. Maybe they didn't really care what would happen, just so something happened and made them free again. And here comes John telling everyone (probably at the top of his voice) to repent from their sins...that word repent means to turn around, come back to where you were before you messed up. Yes, the country is occupied by the Roman army; never mind, go back to living under God's law and keeping the rules of the Covenant, because something is going to happen, and you need to be ready for it! What's more, you need to be baptized to get rid of your sins, wash away the bad years and bad memories and bad habits. THAT was a shock for them. Jews did not baptize their own people; the people who were baptized were the folks who wanted to become Jews. What John was telling them was that they needed to make a fresh start with God, just as a new convert would have to be baptized in order to become a Jew. That was hard for them to accept.
And now, what about us?
No matter how good we think we are, if we are honest with ourselves, we know that there are things lacking in our observance of God's Law. Maybe we prefer the golf course to church on Sundays. Maybe we don't think we should give away our hard-earned money and our little bit of free time to feed the hungry or help the homeless or tutor kids who can't be bothered to learn to read and do math. Maybe we think we have the right to use all our money for our own plans and goals, not to help others. Maybe we don't want to bother to speak up against injustice and wrongdoing when we see them in government officers or neighbors or friends. Maybe we don't have much interest in other people and just want to focus on ourselves and our families. And here's John saying: repent, start all over just as if you were a new believer, because something is going to happen soon that will take away your sins!
Well, we like the Jews at the time of Jesus, have our pride. We were baptized before, why should we start over? Well, yes, we know we haven't been 100% good in keeping God's law, but nobody is, really, anyway, so why should we say "sorry" and start over again from the bottom? How do we know that God is going to do something wonderful pretty soon? And if he is, well, that's his business, why should we have to get ready for it? We are all good at making excuses like this. But deep down in our hearts, we know that John is right. It's time to tighten up our behavior, be more careful about obeying God's laws, and start doing things God's way again, never mind the Roman army, never mind the lousy economy or the war in Iraq, never mind what the neighbors or our best friends do. We do know. We just don't feel we want to do something about it....right?
BUT: it is Advent, HE IS COMING. That is what Advent means in Latin. Jesus is coming. We will soon remember the anniversary of his birth in Bethlehem, but, more important, he told us he is coming again at the end of time to judge the world. And he has made it clear that everybody will be judged on the basis of how they have treated other people. It's all in the Bible. You can read it for yourself. But it is also quite clear that we need to start to clean up our mess and get our lives back into the kind of lifestyle that Jesus would approve of....so that when we stand before him for that last judgment, we will be waved to his right hand side, with the "sheep" (not the goats, who get sent to the left side, and then to hell) and taken to heaven to live with him forever. Amen.
