As we begin the third week of Advent, many churches will light the pink candle of joy during worship. The Christmas season is a joyous time for many people. There are parties, colorful lights, Christmas carols, Christmas bonuses, holidays, family times, feasts, presents, and even snow in some parts of the world (or so I'm told--in the southern hemisphere they have barbecues, or braais in South Africa). For those of us blessed with good health, good jobs, and stable family situations, life is indeed joyous, but what is life like for those who are not so fortunate? Today's reading from the prophet Isaiah speaks to a situation of exile from one's homeland and complete political powerlessness. The prophet is not despondent, depressed, or even downbeat. Amazingly, he proclaims a message of joy: "The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing." What does he know that the people in exile don't? Some might accuse him of a failure to grasp the reality of the situation. However, a careful reading of the chapter demonstrates a clear understanding of what's going on. The people are in exile, but redemption is coming, says the prophet. Others might say that he is a Pollyanna. I have to admit that I've never understood why being a Pollyanna is considered a negative. It's true that there are people who seem oblivious to suffering, particularly the suffering of others, and that's not a good thing, but Pollyanna was neither clueless nor heartless. My exposure to the story of Pollyanna comes from the Haley Mills movie version, not the book (and there's now a new TV version available), and in the movie, Pollyanna was certainly aware of the shortcomings and struggles of others. She just believed that joy was appropriate no matter the situation. The prophet has faith that exile is not the end of the story for his people. He sees beyond the current suffering to a time of renewal, when the oppressed will sing as they travel the road back to their ancestral homeland. While many of us celebrate the Christmas season this year with joy, we need to be on the lookout for those around us who are suffering or sad. Maybe this time of year reminds them of loved ones who are no longer with them. Maybe they are facing personal crises of health, finances, or relationships. When we run across these people, we should certainly be sensitive to their situations, but we should rejoice just the same. The sorrow we face in this life is never the final word, for redemption and joy are around the corner. If people look at you and wonder why you're so happy, if they ask, "What do you know that I don't?" you can answer, "I know that the suffering that we face today pales in comparison with the joy that we'll see tomorrow, when God redeems the people of faith."
Wangari Maathai was in Oslo on Friday to accept a prestigious award, the first African woman to win it. Maathai is no stranger to firsts. She was the first woman from east or central Africa to earn a Ph.D. and the first woman to head a university department in Kenya. A veterinarian by training, she led Kenya's environmental movement for years. She was beaten and thrown in jail on several occasions during the autocratic rule of President Daniel arap Moi, but she persisted in her efforts to preserve the environment from the encroachment of corporate interests. When arap Moi was defeated in December 2002 by Mwai Kibabi, Maathai also won a seat in parliament at the same time. She is an outspoken advocate not only for the environment but also for women's rights, democracy, and peace. When she was born in a rural area of Kenya in 1940, few if any would have predicted what she has been able to accomplish, but 64 years later, her name is forever associated with what is quite possibly the world's highest honor, the Nobel Peace Prize. Mary of Nazareth was also a woman of humble origins. Born in an obscure village in a backwater province of the Roman Empire, she is the kind of person who could have been easily overlooked. Despite her inauspicious beginning, she became perhaps the most revered woman in the history of the world by virtue of becoming the mother of Jesus Christ. Mary gives voice to the upheaval that God has wrought in her life in a song the church calls the Magnificat, based on the first word of the song in Latin, which begins, "Magnificat anima mea Dominum," "My soul magnifies the Lord." Mary's sings a song of change, a song in which the social order of the world is reversed. The rich are overthrown, and the poor are filled with good things. Mary herself was living proof that such a reversal of fortune was possible. Even within her lifetime, according to church tradition, she was honored for her role in the nurture of Jesus, and she died in Ephesus an old and happy woman (or, according to Catholic doctrine, she was taken up bodily into heaven!). The Magnificat is not just a song about Mary, however. It is a song that can be sung by all of God's people who long for a world of justice and equity. There are many good people who are rich, and there are many wicked or amoral people who are rich, but there are many more who live their lives with little awareness that their wealth negatively impacts many, many people. Money that is hoarded in banks, securities, stocks, and real estate is money that is not being used to feed, heal, or employ the poor. There is no magic formula that tells people how much money is enough. There is no set amount of money that is OK to keep in a retirement account, beyond which it is hoarding. God expects all of us to examine our own lifestyles to determine what we should do with the riches with which God has blessed us. Before we take too much comfort in that, however, we should remember these words of Mary: "He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly." We have seen God raise up the lowly to great heights, both in the distant past and in the present day. We can be sure that God is just as ready to bring down the proud and mighty today as God has been in the past.
For other discussions of this passage, click here or here.
When I was in Honduras earlier this year I stopped to talk to a man sitting on the sidewalk selling coins. He had coins from Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Argentina, and other Latin American countries, all of which he was willing to let go for a song (a somewhat overpriced song). However, when he showed me his prize piece, he wouldn't sell it for less than about five dollars, an amount far above its actual purchasing value. It was a small silver Cuban coin with the visage of Che Guevara on the front, and he considered it especially valuable. Or maybe he just knew that Che is currently in vogue in the West. Several new biographies have come out in recent years, and his autobiographical journal of early manhood, The Motorcycle Diaries, is selling like hotcakes, in part because of a new movie with the same title. Che Guevara was a native of Argentina, but he became famous for his role as Fidel Castro's right-hand man during the Cuban Revolution. Che saw injustice in his world, and he decided to act. He was not a patient man, and his impetuosity ended up costing him his life when he tried to export the Cuban Revolution to Bolivia. James speaks to a people who are similarly suffering at the hands of rich, unjust landowners. After urging the latter to repent, he encourages the oppressed to be patient and await the intervention of the Lord, which he assumes will be in the near future. "Patience is a virtue" the adage says, but "strike while the iron is hot" is a saying that encourages people to act. How do we know when to act and when to exercise patience? In the context of the epistle of James, it is clear that the Christian community expected the imminent return of Christ, so James undoubtedly considered his advice concerning patience to be sound in view of the coming Parousia. He was undoubtedly aware of the slave revolt led by Spartacus some 150 years earlier, and he knew its disastrous resolution (at least in the short term). He wouldn't want the band of Christians to whom he was writing to engage in a foolish, futile attempt to right the many wrongs that they faced, especially since literal redemption was right around the corner. When Christ didn't return during that generation, how did the Christian community react? How should people who are facing injustice today react? It turns out that patience and action are not mutually exclusive, as long as action does not take the form of violence. The world has seen several examples of revolutions that were characterized by little or no violence on the part of the revolutionaries: Gandhi's movement for the independence of India, the American Civil Rights movement, the Velvet Revolution in Eastern Europe, and the overthrow of apartheid in South Africa, to name just a few of the more prominent ones. The recent protests in Ukraine demanding new, fair elections is another example. Patience doesn't mean sitting around doing nothing, and Christians who want a world characterized by justice and peace will achieve nothing by mere wishful thinking. Now is the time to act. The Internet has given us the ability to communicate with likeminded people around the world, and it has made it possible to organize in ways that were never before possible. For the first time in years, the Democratic party in the U.S. raised more money in the 2004 election cycle than the Republicans, and they did it primarily by means of small donations solicited over the Web. Their candidate didn't win, but it is entirely possible that the groundwork was laid for major positive changes in the not too distant future. It's not just political parties that have the opportunity to organize for change by means of the Web. Environmental groups, civil rights groups, religious liberty groups, peace groups, anti-death penalty groups, and many others are all beginning to communicate with one another and take action together via the Internet. Because of the Net, likeminded people who live in the same city are able to meet face to face to discuss issues of common interest. People are able to solicit signatures on petitions that deal with matters of extreme urgency. It's a whole new world of activism. Yes, we need to be patient, and we certainly need to be circumspect in the actions that we do take--we must shun violence in order to maintain our Christian witness--but we don't need to just sit on our hands. Note what James says: "The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains." There is a time for patience and quiet contemplation of the situation, but there is also a time for action, when the rains come. It looks cloudy outside. . . .
When U.S. Treasury agents want to learn to identify counterfeit $100 bills, they spend their time looking at legitimate currency. They take $100 bills and study them carefully, looking at them with magnifying glasses, finding the magnetic strips that are in the new bills, looking for the watermarks, checking the color of the ink, observing what happens when the bill is marked with a marker. There's only one true $100 bill, all the rest are counterfeits. Why don't they bother studying the different types of counterfeits? Because they're so familiar with the real thing, they know it when they see it. John the Baptist was in prison, facing the end of his ministry as well as the end of his life. He had devoted himself to preaching a message of repentance, and he had had great success. He had told his followers to be on the lookout for one who would be greater than he was. He had baptized Jesus and had witnessed a miraculous event, as though God were speaking from a cloud. Surely Jesus was the long-awaited messiah. But now he wasn't so sure. Jesus' message was somewhat different from his, less fiery and more irenic, less prophetic and more didactic. His lifestyle was different, too. Whereas John led a Spartan life in the wilderness, a latter-day Elijah, Jesus ate and drank--wine!--and he hobnobbed with tax collectors and other people of questionable character. It was even rumored that prostitutes were among his followers. Discouraged that the messiah had not yet made himself known, John sent his disciples to ask Jesus point blank, "Are you the messiah?" Jesus' response is both humorous and poignant. Rather than answering the question directly, he invited John's disciples to spend time with him. Afterwards he told them, "Go and tell John what you are hearing and seeing: the blind are receiving their sight, the lame are walking, the lepers are being cleansed, the deaf are hearing, the dead are being raised, and the poor are having the good news preached to them" (I've translated all these phrases as continual present tenses, as the Greek allows and as the context requires). Jesus' response is humorous, because he suggests that if the blind can see and the deaf can hear, surely John's disciples ought to be able to "see and hear," that is, to discern the truth of who Jesus is. His response is poignant, because it provides John with a sense of accomplishment and closure to his ministry. The messiah he had announced had arrived, so his work was complete. John wondered whether Jesus was the messiah, and Jesus answered, in effect, "If you'll observe what I'm doing, you'll get your answer." Or, "You'll know it when you see it." Many in the world today are looking for the messiah, or a messenger from God, who has a message of hope in a troubled world. There are lots of people out there who are saying, "Look at me! Pick me! Follow my religion! Join my church!" Some churches even see themselves as "seeker-friendly" churches, purposely designed for those who are seeking God, or truth, or meaning in life. These churches have the right idea, for all churches should be seeker-friendly. The question is, what message do they offer to seekers? Some churches offer a friendly atmosphere, where people are welcomed into a family of faith. Other churches offer a well-defined set of doctrines, hoping to attract people who are seeking intellectual rigor in their lives. A welcoming atmosphere and a feeling of family is good. So is a church that offers intellectual challenges (but not one that offers only one set of "right" beliefs for almost every issue). However, neither of these responses to seekers is sufficient. Those who are seeking meaning in their lives need to see a church that is actually involved in direct ministry to the poor, the blind, the deaf, the lame, the oppressed, the refugees, the illegal immigrants. Seekers don't always know exactly what they're seeking, but they will know it when they see it. Our churches should be places where seekers see the people of God at work and are encouraged to join that work.