God is Coming

The Rev. Dr. John Judson

November 28, 2010

 

 

 

They appeared out of nowhere…or so it seemed. I suppose the billboards had always been there but I had never paid much attention to them. Suddenly they leaped out at me. Maybe it was their solid black backgrounds with plain white lettering. But more than that I think it was that each was a message from God. That’s right, God had gotten into the advertising business. On a regular basis the messages changed. Some were OK. Some were great. And here are four of my favorites. “If you are going to curse, use your own name.” “Why don’t we visit at my house before the game?” “That love thy neighbor thing…I meant it.” And last but not least, my all time favorite. “Don’t make me come down there.” This was my favorite for two reasons, The first is that it reminded me of my mother when she heard me picking on one of my younger brothers. “John Edward, don’t make me come down the hall.” The second reason it is my favorite is that it is exactly what God did. God came down here. God came down here in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. In fact that is why we are here…as Christians. That is why we are celebrating Advent. We do so because God came down here.

 

I will admit however is that there is a difference between what the sign implies and the act of God’s coming down here. The sign implies that we better not make God come down here because God would be coming to deal with us like my mother would have dealt with me. When God came down here in Jesus of Nazareth he did not come down to punish but to help. God came down to help us get along better with one another. Now I realize that the instant I said that, that God came down to help us get along better with one another, that many of you might wonder if I am being a bit simplistic, or even theologically suspect. After all we have grown up with many images of why God came down; to save us from our sins; to give his life as a ransom for many; and others. Yet in the end, all of those more theologically sounding reasons have at their heart the end result of helping us to get along better. I say that because this book (the Bible) and the story it contains is all about one thing; relationship. It is not about abstract theological ideas. It is about God’s relationship with us, our relationships with each other and our relationship with God’s creation.

 

We can see this in the teachings of Jesus. He tells us that we are supposed to love our neighbors…as ourselves. We are supposed to forgive…our enemies. We are supposed to treat others as we would want…to be treated. We can also see this in the story we read out of the words of the Prophet Isaiah. In fact it is the entire content of his message. Chapter one is about how God’s people are not treating each other the way they should. In fact many of God’s people are being bullies. They are being bullies to the poor, the widow, the orphan and the weak. It is a familiar story. In fact how many of you here have ever run into bullies; into someone who uses their size, strength or position to bully you? It’s not much fun is it, to be bullied? And what I have learned over the years is that bullies do not go away when you leave school. I have spent far more time working with adults and bullies at work than I ever have with youth and children. And that is what Isaiah is talking about, that God’s people have become bullies and that they better quit it…or else; or else God is going to come down that hallway and deal with them. This is what we expect in the Old Testament; which is why chapter two is such a surprise.

 

Chapter two us such a surprise because tells us that God is going to come down here, not to punish but to teach. God is going to come down here and teach the world, that’s right the whole world, how to get along better by leaving behind their bullying ways and learning a new way to live together. This is what Isaiah means when he writes, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD!” The image is that God has a plan to offer a new way of people getting along, a way that does not include using power to bully others, whether that is nation bullying nation, or husband wife, or the strong the weak. God’s people will not learn to bully but will learn to live as God created us to live…by loving God, neighbor and creation. This is why God came in Jesus of Nazareth. This is why we are here. This is why we celebrate Advent.