Year B (Advent 6 / A 7-Week Advent)
 Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
 Canticle 15 (The Magnificat – Luke 1:46-55)
 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
 John 1:6-8,19-28

May the words of my mouth O God…  speak your truth…

Advent is a penitential season… like Lent…  but not as severe…  and historically…  the primary color for both was purple…  the color of penitence and fasting…  but in modern times…  the penitential aspect of Advent has been softened…  with an emphasis on hope and anticipation…  and some Protestant churches use blue to distinguish Advent from Lent…  but much like the Lenten season…  there is a slight adjustment around the midway point…  in Advent…  it comes today…  in the form of Gaudete Sunday… when rose-colored vestments…  or a rose-colored candle is used to represent that softness…  and the significant difference between the two…  is that Laetare Sunday reflects a lightness and joy that is expressed externally…  whereas Gaudete Sunday reflects a joy and lightness that is expressed internally… 

This morning’s Gospel tells us that John came as a witness to the Light…  and it recounts the testimony he gave…  and that his was the voice of one crying out in the wilderness…  to prepare the way of the Lord…  and make God’s paths straight…  and interestingly…  surprisingly…  the Greek word from which we get both witness and testimony…  is the same Greek word from which we also get martyr…  now John wasn’t a prophet in the traditional sense…  but he foretold the One who was to come after him…  but I wonder…  whether we loathe the words of the prophets…  because John…  like many of the prophets before and after him… many of the prophets who challenge the status quo…  many of the prophets who call out the rich and powerful…  end up as outcasts…  or dead… 

The Jewish Scriptures contain more information about the prophet Jeremiah’s life than any other prophet… ]  though there is no biblical record about how he died…  church tradition suggests that he was stoned to death in Egypt…  ]  it seems that there’s just something about lifting up God’s truth and justice…  that is both difficult to speak…  and that is difficult to hear…  that when the testimony of the Lord comes to us…  and that when we decide not to mention God…  or speak any more in God’s name…  then there may be within us…  something like a burning fire shut up in our bones…  and we may get weary from holding it in… ]  it may seem reasonable to hold it in…  in order to protect ourselves…  and reasonable because then others won’t have to change…  but often…  we reach a point when we simply can hold it in no longer…  and when we cannot…  there are almost always unwanted consequences…  for both ourselves and for those who hear our words…  who may feel forced to change…

In Luke 4:16-17…  Jesus comes to Nazareth… his hometown…  where he had been brought up…  and on the Sabbath… he goes to the synagogue…  and stands up to read…  and the scroll that is given to him…  is the scroll of the prophet Isaiah…  and he unrolls the scroll…  and as he reads…  the words he speaks are the same words that we heard this morning…  the Spirit of the Lord is upon me…  because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor…  he has sent me to proclaim release to the captives…  and recovery of sight to the blind…  to let the oppressed go free…  and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…  and what is the year of the Lord’s favor…  it is a Jubilee year…  listen now to Leviticus 25:10…  And you shall hallow the fiftieth year…  and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants…  it shall be a jubilee for you…  every one of you shall return to your property…  and every one of you to your family…  or as Luke says…  to your hometown…  and Jesus’ witness to God’s justice…  expressed in Isaiah’s words…  Jesus’ testimony expressed in this prophet’s Good News…  may have been something like a burning fire…  shut up in his bones…  and he could not hold it in…  I mean…  why would he want to…   ]  and after Jesus’ truth telling…  after the exchange with those in the synagogue…  those he challenged drove him out of town…  where they tried to throw him off the brow of a hill…

It’s impossible for us to know…  to really know…  what daily life…  what the felt experience was like…  two-thousand years ago…  in Israel…  in Jerusalem…  but it’s not hard to imagine that there were some people who were quite content with how their lives were going…  like the Romans who had lavish homes with inlaid mosaic tiled floors…  who ate imported food…  and who even had indoor plumbing…  who may have been like the wealthiest top 1% of Americans…  ]  it’s not hard to imagine there were some people who were fairly content but who tried to improve their and their family’s lives…  who may have had a home but who worked hard to stay afloat… ]  but there were also people…  maybe by far the largest number of people…  who were day laborers and whose daily existence was a daily struggle…  who lived hand to mouth…  like those at the bottom of the American caste system…  who are now unhoused and who live with food insecurity… who live at the whims and the mercy of those with wealth and power…

And because of these stark disparities…  it’s not difficult to imagine how unbelievable and at odds these ancient promises were against the weight of the oppressive rule under which they lived…  it’s not difficult to image how out of reach God’s promises… to the oppressed and brokenhearted… spoken through Isaiah…  seemed…   ]  and God’s promises… also spoken by Mary in this morning’s Magnificat…  must have seemed unattainable…   like pie-in-the-sky…  unbelievable that God would scatter the proud in their conceit…  cast down the mighty from their thrones…  and send the rich away empty…  ]  and when God does this…  when the words of the prophets change hearts and minds…  and inspire repentance…  I don’t think God has ever taken pleasure in doing these things…  I don’t think God does these things with smug satisfaction…  I don’t think God will continue to do these things with joy…  that’s just some people’s psychological immaturity and perhaps vengeance…  being projected on to God…  but I do think…  that when we’re not yet experiencing…  and sharing…  the abundance that God offers…  because the deck is stacked against some of us…  ]  and when we hear in Mary’s prayer…  that God uses what is insignificant to bless the lowly…  and that God will continue to use that insignificance to heal the places which fall short of God’s aspirations for us…  we know that God will use us to establish God’s glory… ]  because remember…  it wasn’t the signs and wonders that made people want to follow Jesus…  it was his unconditional welcome and love…  and the beloved community to which he pointed…

John the Baptist was a witness…  was like a supporting character in God’s unfolding story…  the church is a witness and a supporting character too…  we point to Jesus…  not to our gifts…  or our buildings…  or our programs…  or ourselves…  ]  our scriptural passages this morning…  are all about those who witness to God’s spirit…  and peace…  and truth…  and justice…  so how can we…  and will we…  kindle this fire in our bones…  so we continue the work of witnessing…  and speaking God’s truth to power…  so that we…  and all of our neighbors…  may fully rejoice…  always…